Part 3When His Angel Luna Returned to Heaven

On the drive back from the temple, Cassian started talking about my birthday and the Marking Ceremony.

“Everything is ready,” he said. “Once we seal our vows before the Moon Goddess, we can finally start planning our future.”

He took my hand.

“Then we can start trying for a pup. You’ve always wanted one.”

I looked out the window without answering.

By this time tomorrow, the ceremony would have bound my celestial light to the mortal realm forever.

That was what Cassian truly wanted.

The car had barely left the temple when his phone rang.

Cassian glanced at the screen and frowned before answering.

A woman’s panicked voice filled the car.

“Your Majesty, Lady Evelyne collapsed again. She’s coughing up blood, and the healer can’t stop it.”

Cassian’s hand tightened around the phone.

He looked at me. “Seraphina, I—”

“You should go.”

“I promised to take you sailing.”

“I’ll go ahead and wait for you at the marina.”

He hesitated. “I won’t be long.”

He kissed my forehead, then asked the driver to stop.

I watched him disappear into the night.

Only one person could make the Lycan King forget every promise he had made to me.

By the time I boarded the yacht, the moon hung high above Moonmere Lake.

“His Majesty will join us later,” I told the captain.

While the crew prepared to depart, I opened my phone and saw that Evelyne had posted a new photo.

She was lying in bed with a bowl of soup beside her. A man’s hand appeared at the edge of the frame, holding a spoon to her lips.

Her caption read:

When the darkness comes, the one who truly loves you will always stay.

The comments were filled with admiration.

This is what real devotion looks like.

Whoever he is, never let him go.

Some bonds are stronger than any mate mark.

My gaze settled on the black onyx ring on the man’s hand.

The royal signet of the Lycan King.

Cassian had worn it every day for five years.

I called him.

The phone rang several times before someone answered.

But it was Evelyne’s voice that came through.

“Seraphina?” She sounded amused. “Were you looking for Cassian?”

“Where is he?”

“Right beside me.”

She lowered her voice.

“You can stop waiting. He won’t be joining you tonight.”

I looked across the silent lake.

Five years ago, Cassian had marked me on its shore and promised that wherever I went, he would always find me.

Tonight, he could not even keep his promise to watch one last sunrise with me.

“You knew he promised to come,” I said.

“Of course.” Evelyne laughed softly. “But whenever I need him, he always chooses me.”

Then her voice turned cruel.

“You may be his Luna, Seraphina, but whenever I call, he still comes to me.”

I ended the call.

The captain approached me. “Should we wait for His Majesty?”

“No.”

I locked my phone.

“Take us out.”

The yacht moved across the dark water, leaving the lights along the shore behind.

Cassian never came.

I remained on the deck all night, remembering the man who had carried me out of the vampire’s dungeon. The man who had held me through every nightmare, prepared my tonics himself, and whispered that I was his greatest blessing.

His tenderness had been real.

Shortly before dawn, I called him one last time.

His phone was off.

I opened the folder I had prepared and scheduled two files to be uploaded at sunrise.

By the time the Lycan realm woke, everyone would know the truth.

Evelyne would lose the honor she had stolen.

And Cassian would no longer be able to hide what he had planned.

I placed my phone beside Cassian’s cloak on the deck.

A pale line of light appeared along the horizon. The lake began to glow beneath it.

“Turn the yacht around,” I told the captain. “Go back without me.”

He stared at me. “Lady Seraphina?”

I stepped onto the railing.

As the first ray of dawn touched Moonmere Lake, the water turned silver, becoming a mirror to Heaven.

The celestial gate had opened. I took one last look at the mortal realm.

Then I stepped forward.

Behind me, the captain shouted my name.

To him, it must have looked as though I had thrown myself into the lake.

But the cold water never touched me.

Silver light closed around my body. The mate mark above my heart burned once, then shattered.

I was no longer the Lycan King’s mate.

As the first light entered Evelyne’s room, Cassian rose from the chair beside her bed.

“I have to go. Seraphina’s birthday is today. I promised to watch the sunrise with her.”

Evelyne caught his hand. “Stay a little longer. I still feel weak.”

“Not this morning.”

Cassian pulled free and reached for his coat.

A sudden agony tore through his chest.

He staggered, one hand gripping the edge of the bed as his wolf released a broken howl inside him.

Then the mate mark above his heart began to burn.

“Cassian?” Evelyne reached for him. “What’s wrong?”

He could not answer.

For five years, Seraphina’s presence had lived quietly inside him—a warmth he had never noticed because he had never imagined losing it.

Now it was gone. The mate bond had been severed.

The bedroom door burst open.

A royal guard rushed inside, his face pale. He dropped to one knee before Cassian.

“Your Majesty.”

Cassian’s blood turned cold. “What happened?”

“The yacht captain saw Lady Seraphina step over the railing.”

The guard lowered his head.

“She jumped into the lake.”