A Luna for Alpha Kieran-Chapter 282: Our daughter

[Blackmoon stronghold – Old World...back to the corridor]

Autumn’s body shook with every sob that left her. Her face pressed into Freya’s hair, lips brushing those unruly curls as if each kiss might anchor the child in her arms... secure her there...all these years of guilt and longing... everything was being undone all at once.

"I really thought I lost you, my baby..." her voice fractured, hoarse and wet. She peppered desperate kisses across Freya’s temple.Her damp lashes dragged against the girl’s warm skin. "Never again... never again will I let you go...do you hear me? Mommy promises you this. I will never let you go! "

Freya stood in the circle of her arms, small and almost swallowed whole by Autumn’s embrace. Her golden eyes blinked up, uncertain. She did not struggle, though her little frame went stiff now and then beneath the torrent of grief clinging to her.She didn’t understand this outbreak of emotion but she felt sympathy somehow... and warmth.

"Shhh..." she whispered softly, patting Autumn’s shoulder with a clumsy rhythm. "...It’s alright. It’ll be fine.I think you are just a little confused and sad. But it’s ok. I am confused too. I don’t understand where my Mamma went either...but I can call you Mommy if that makes you feel good."

Her tiny palm slid awkwardly along Autumn’s cheek, smearing tears across flushed skin. Her voice was so light, but it carried an odd steadiness, as though she was borrowing strength from somewhere far beyond her years.

Autumn choked out another cry and rocked her gently, whispering through cracked lips, "You don’t know how cruel it was... you don’t know, Freya. I cursed myself...I blamed myself over and over..." She broke off, burying her face deeper against the child’s neck, breath coming ragged.

But then...something shifted.

Freya stilled in her arms. Completely.All of a sudden.

Her hand, still pressed against Autumn’s cheek, froze mid motion.

Autumn’s brows furrowed. She pulled back just slightly, brushing damp strands from her eyes. "Freya?"

The girl’s gaze..those soft golden eyes...suddenly flared. For a heartbeat, Autumn thought the light in the corridor caught them strangely. But no. The color... it was changing.

From warm gold to something sharper, otherworldly...an iridescent pale, as if moonlight itself had melted into her pupils.

Autumn’s breath hitched. She shook her head, her heart clawing at her ribs. " Freya? What’s wrong? Freya baby, stay with me...Freya! Look at me!"

She cupped the girl’s face, frantic, shaking her just slightly. Freya’s body slackened against her, eyelids fluttering as though she hovered on the edge of sleep...or something far deeper.

"Don’t do this... please...what’s happening..." Autumn’s voice rose, splintering. She cradled the girl closer, rocking, pressing trembling kisses against her brow as though they could summon her back. "Stay with me, darling. Mommy’s got you. Tell me what’s wrong. Are you in pain?"

And then Freya’s lips moved.

At first only faint murmurs spilled out, soft, garbled...like whispers torn from a dream. Words tumbled incoherent, broken pieces that made no sense.

Autumn’s panic flared.

Her arms tightened, every muscle quivering as she pressed her cheek against Freya’s. "No, no, no...wake up, my love.Shit! This can’t be happening...shit!!!"

And then, through the fragmented whispers...Freya babbled something clear. Something sharp.

Words that did not belong to a little child.

"Blood will... call to blood..."

Autumn froze.

Her entire body went still, breath trapped in her lungs.

Her head pulled back slowly, as if afraid to look, her wide, tear stained eyes locking on the child’s pale, glowing ones.

Freya’s lips trembled again, and this time her voice was stronger. Direct. Aimed at her.

"...you cannot run from what you are..."

The words echoed like a bell in the silence of the corridor.

Autumn’s heart plummeted. Every sob died in her throat.

Her arms went rigid around Freya, the world narrowing to those impossible eyes and that voice that did not belong there.

Her tears still clung hot on her cheeks, but her body felt cold.

So very cold.

And she couldn’t breathe.

Autumn’s breath hitched in her throat, caught like glass.

Her arms tightened around Freya’s tiny frame, but terror made her fingers tremble.

"FREYA!!" Autumn snapped. " What are you talking about,love?" Her voice cracked, raw with desperation as she closed her eyes... razon focused. As the blue mist swirled around...

The very air around Autumn shifted...thickened...her skin prickled, her veins burning like wildfire as she tried to pry into Freya’s mind....until...

Fwoooosh!

Blue flames burst to life around her, licking up her arms, spiraling like celestial ribbons. They weren’t fire that seared...no heat, no pain...they shimmered, otherworldly, bending the air with a soft hum like the beat of wings.

Even the celestial energy had answered her.

The corridor glowed, drenched in that eerie blue light, shadows curling back against the walls. Her tears sparkled against her cheeks, lit like stars.

Autumn clutched Freya tighter, rocking her, flames swirling with each desperate movement.

"Wake up, baby, please..." She pressed her forehead to Freya’s, whispering against her skin. "Don’t drift away from me. Stay here. Stay with me." He pried harder.

Her flames flickered higher...like lanterns in a storm...until they split.

Out of the fire, shapes began to form. Ethereal silhouettes. Winged beings, faceless yet radiant, circling close, bending their heads as though to listen.

Her celestial guardians. Summoned not by will, but by sheer desperation.

"Help her..." Autumn’s voice shattered into the space, barely audible. "Bring her back... bring her back to me.Tell me what’s going on inside her head. Even I can not breach it."

The beings leaned low, their hands of light reaching for Freya. The air pulsed with a low hum...an ancient, resonant note that made the stone walls tremble.

But Freya didn’t stir.

Her head lolled faintly against Autumn’s shoulder, eyes glowing that impossible pale light, lips still moving.

Murmurs.

Low. Distant. Like voices caught between worlds.

"...shadows... breaking... the gate..."

"...blood... the throne... a crown of fire..."

Autumn’s heart pounded so hard she thought it might burst. She shook her head wildly, cradling Freya’s face in her hands, pressing frantic kisses against her brow, her cheeks, her lips.

She shook the girl gently, her own body trembling, as if sheer force could drag her out of that trance.

But Freya’s whispers only grew more hollow, slipping further away, spilling like water through clenched fingers.

Autumn’s flames roared in response...her desperation feeding them until the blue fire swelled high against the ceiling, painting the corridor like the inside of a star.

The celestial beings stretched their wings wide, their glow intensifying. One of them reached its blazing hand closer, brushing just above Freya’s crown.

And still... Freya mumbled, her small voice haunting, alien, faraway.

"... the sky burns... the wolves drown... the bloodline can not be severed..."

Autumn froze. Her sobs silenced. Her flames flickered with the force of her stillness.

Her wide eyes locked onto Freya’s pale ones, her whole body taut with terror.

And she whispered...barely audible..."What are you seeing, my darling?"

But Freya only kept murmuring, lost in that distant storm.

Autumn’s flames guttered, sputtering against the stone walls as her panic mounted. The celestial beings flickered uncertain, as though even they could not reach the child’s mind.

Her hands shook violently as she cupped Freya’s small face. The girl’s lips still moved, those pale words still spilling...but now more broken.

"She is hurting isn’t she? " Autumn’s whisper was strangled as she questioned those celestial entities. Her tears hit Freya’s cheeks, cooling instantly in the glow of blue fire.

But nothing.

Freya was drifting further, her little body limp, only the haunting mumble proof she was still tethered to this world at all.

Autumn’s chest caved. She pressed her lips hard against her daughter’s brow, rocking her desperately, rocking like it could anchor her soul back where it belonged.

"I will not lose you again!" Realisation cracked through her like lightning.

And then without thinking she scooped Freya up into her lap, her arms tightening to secure her further.

Her boots struck the stone hard...one, two, three...pounding straight down the corridor, her flames trailing behind like a wild comet.

Each step felt endless. Too slow. Too far.

Freya’s head lolled against her chest, lips still moving, mumbling incoherent fragments that kept stabbing into Autumn’s ears like shards.

"...bloodline... can not be undone... mother of ruin..."

Autumn shook her head violently, choked a sob, and ran harder.

At the chamber doors she didn’t even hesitate. Her body crashed into them, and the wood splintered...CRACK...flying open with the force of her panic.

Inside...

Kieran and Malrick sat locked in that suffocating conversation, father and son bent over the table, tension snapping like taut wires in the air.

The sound made both their heads jerk.

But neither was prepared for what they saw.

Autumn stood in the doorway, chest heaving, blue flames licking off her shoulders, her hair wild. Freya lay cradled in her arms, limp, her glowing eyes fluttering as whispers leaked from her lips.

Autumn’s whole frame shook.

Her gaze locked on Kieran...frozen, unblinking, wild...and her voice tore from her throat, broken but commanding, almost a scream.

"Kieran..."

She staggered two steps inside, clutching Freya closer, almost collapsing under the weight of terror.

"Kieran, come here. Right now!" Her eyes spilled over, tears searing tracks down her cheeks as her flames writhed in helpless spirals.

Her voice fractured, pleading and fierce all at once.

"There is something... very, very wrong with our daughter!!!"