Despite the obvious curiosity in the air, everyone was kind enough to leave Luna alone as she silently brooded about the meeting. Our late dinner had been quiet as all of us ate our food and reflected on what had happened. It had been a pretty long day, so the moment we finished, Maxwell asked Seilfreid to show us to our rooms.

  "This one is Miss Luna's and this last one is Miss Helena's," he told us.

  Luna shook her head and clung to my arm. Seilfreid had been paying close enough attention to her that he paused and raised an eyebrow. He looked at me, then looked back at her. "Miss Luna... It would be indecent to share a bed with a woman you are engaged to but not yet wed..."

  ("Tell him I refuse to part with you.") Luna's tone was irritated.

  I cleared my throat. "Luna wants to stay with me. She refuses to sleep in there alone. Indecent or not, you can understand her not wanting to let her guard down all alone in an unfamiliar place, right?" I tried to be diplomatic about it. It wasn't as if Seilfreid himself was holding us here. He was just doing his job and he had been polite so far.

  He frowned. "I... suppose the princess did not give me any directions regarding this. I won't trouble you about the matter again unless Princess Celeste wishes it."

  "Thank you," I replied with a nod. Luna didn't say anything. She just squeezed my hand.

  I decided it might be better to share Luna's room rather than mine since it was farther away. I stood next to the door to see what everyone else was doing.

  "Goodnight, you two," Maxwell said. "We'll talk in the morning about our... predicament. I hope the two of you are able to sleep alright tonight."

  "Can I share a room with you, Aria?" Iris asked. "I don't want to be in one of the rooms alone..." Iris looked like she could barely stand the moment she had finished eating. It had been an exceptionally long day for her. She had fought in the dungeon for the first time today, and she hadn't had time to recover properly yet.

  "Sure, kid. Sorry, Maxwell," Aria said with a lopsided grin.

  "Don't worry about it." Maxwell nodded as he quietly went into his room. He had seemed wiped out as well.

  "Can I have my wind grimoire back?" Iris asked me.

  "Sure, don't stay up all night reading it though." I pulled it from my storage ring and handed it over.

  "Thanks... I wouldn't be able if I wanted to though... Too sleepy," Iris said before following Aria into their shared room.

  Piper took a look at Luna and frowned. ("Take care of her Helena,") she told me using the rings.

  ("I will... Though I'm not sure if I'll get anything out of her tonight,") I replied.

  ("I know. Just do your best.") Piper turned and went into her room alone.

  When the two of us entered our room, Luna collapsed into one of the chairs off to the side of the large bedroom we had been given. This room was bigger than two or three of our rooms at the inn combined. The floor was covered in thick rugs, and the walls colorful tapestries, which I assumed was to somewhat dampen the cold from the stone walls and floors.

  "Are you okay, Luna? Do you want to talk about it tonight or just cuddle?" I asked as I worked at removing my armor.

  ("What is there to talk about?") she asked.

  I frowned. "Luna... You started to cry the moment she said she was your mother..."

  Luna sighed. ("I don't know how I'm supposed to feel... I thought my mother was dead. Father... he blamed me that she left. I heard it too many times to count in the Lost Halls, but I always assumed that he was talking about her dying in childbirth. I don't know what to think anymore...")

  I placed the unclipped breastplate and padding on the ground before storing my blindfold into my ring. I rubbed my eyes as I got used to having the blindfold off again before settling in the chair across from her. She reached over and took my hand. We sat there quietly for a few minutes while I tried to process everything that had happened. All of the pent-up anxiety I felt when we walked through the castle had evaporated, and now I felt worn out.

  "What if she is your mother?" I asked.

  Luna slumped back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. ("I... don't know. I didn't have the greatest relationship with my father, but... I used to have daydreams about the mother I never got to know. As much as I don't like the situation... a part of me is eager to learn more about her. I think I'd like to have a relationship with her.")

  "Even despite finding out who she is?" I asked.

  ("Yeah... though if I'm honest... Finding out that she's a princess and I'm her secret child... it's perhaps one of the few explanations that I could accept for her abandoning me there. Maybe that's stupid...") she said quietly through the rings.

  "No, I think I understand. It feels better to be left behind for a reason... not abandoned because she didn't want you. Something like that?" I asked.

  ("I guess... But I don't know about being claimed as her daughter now... Why now? If I wasn't good enough before...") she trailed off.

  "She said her other children had been killed. Murdered, I think she said. It sounded to me like she's focused on you now because she doesn't have any other choice. Especially if she was serious about protecting you..." I squeezed her hand.

  ("My father didn't have a title or a last name... He was rich and owned a fully staffed manor, but he would never tell me what he did or how he had gotten it all. I suspected it all came from my mother somehow, but he would tell me even less about her. He got angry and mean if I ever tried to bring her up and none of the maids knew anything about her... All of this makes so much sense, but I worry that I'm being tricked. Like this is some kind of sick joke being played on me... Come on, let's move to the bed.") Luna stood up and began stripping off her delving gear. She was a little sweaty from all the work she put in today, but mentioning it would only make her self-conscious. I didn't mind anyway, even though it clashed with my modern sensibilities now that we were in an actual bedroom again. I'll convince her to try out the bath with me tomorrow.

  I got comfortable and joined her on the bed. The two of us slipped under the quilts and I held her against my chest. She laced her fingers with my own and took a scratchy breath as she cuddled against me. She often liked it when I held her from behind like this, but tonight, I think she needed it more than usual.

  ("What do you think, Helena? What should I do?") she asked.

  "I think you should follow your heart. I don't think it's a bad thing to get to know her if you believe she's truly your mother," I replied.

  ("That's the thing... I think I want to believe that it's true, but I don't know if it is. What if she's lying?")

  There was a pause while I considered how to reply. "This question might be a bit tasteless... but does it actually matter if she's lying or not? She acted like she was 'adopting' you whether you wanted it or not. It seems like you don't have much choice in the matter. She seems powerful enough to get her way regardless. Our only recourse would be to try and escape the castle and flee the city..."

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  ("That's true, but... it would matter to me. Even if I had no choice, if she is actually my mother, I want to get to know her...")

  I kissed the top of her head. "Then, why don't we walk ourselves through it? Would a random princess have any reason to adopt you if you weren't her actual daughter?"

  ("I'm sure there might be some political reason to... She said I'm her only heir, so she might need someone. I don't know why she would choose me though. Unless it's only because we look similar and my story sounds likely enough to be useful as a believable cover...")

  I nodded. "That's kind of the problem though. The story is a little too believable to be fake, isn't it?"

  ("Maybe... Because my father kept me in the dark about everything, I don't have anything to contradict it... I didn't know anything about my mother in the first place,") Luna said sadly.

  "I... was watching her pretty closely when she was talking with you. I got the sense that she was actually angry when she found out you had gotten hurt and looked genuinely sad when you asked her what she wanted with you. I can't say for certain that she wasn't faking those reactions, but she would have been trying really hard to mislead us if she merely saw you as a political pawn," I said.

  Luna covered her eyes with an arm. ("Only a few hours ago, I was so excited to learn more about lightning magic and now I wouldn't even be able to focus if I tried. What are we going to do, Helena?")

  "I think the way we approach this depends a lot on how you want to deal with it. But I'm here for you every step of the way. I'll stay by your side and I'm sure Piper and Maxwell will too."

  ("I can always count on the two of them. They're like my brother and sis- Wait. If what she said was true, I had siblings... and they got murdered...") Luna began to cry.

  "Shhhh," I hugged her tightly against me.

  ("I always wanted a brother or sister, but...") Luna quietly sobbed.

  I held her against me until she got her emotions back in check. She seemed a lot more fragile than usual, more fragile than I had ever seen her before. She had been a little shy and timid at times, especially initially, but this was something else. I had never seen her this emotional and vulnerable. It made me sad to see her hurting like this.

  ("Sorry... I'm okay now. I don't know where that came from...") Luna sniffled.

  "It's okay, Luna. All of this is a lot to take in..." I whispered to her.

  ("Helena... I think I believe her. I think she may really be my mother. I... I think that's why that hit me so hard. The idea that I had actual siblings... but now they're all gone... Sorry, I'm okay now.")

  "It's okay to feel sad. You don't have to hold anything back. Go ahead and let it out. It's not healthy to keep all of that pent up inside you," I told her.

  ("It's alright. I'm okay now. I think that helped though... thank you.")

  I kissed the top of her head again. "You're welcome."

  Luna squeezed my hand and kissed my knuckles. ("If she really is my mother, I'd like to get to know her better. It's a little embarrassing to ask of you, but will you come with us and talk for me?")

  "You don't need to be embarrassed by that. I don't mind helping you," I replied.

  ("I feel a little bad asking you to talk for me all the time... First Milana, and now this... This will probably be worse because it might make the whole thing a lot more awkward for you... You don't have to agree to do it if you don't want to. I'd understand...")

  "Luna, this is important. I wouldn't mind talking for you even if it wasn't important, but I can tell this is important to you. I don't mind, I promise," I said, trying to reassure her.

  She sighed. ("I hate having to rely on you to talk for me...") Her free hand reached up to trace along the scars on her neck. ("Do you think she'll try to have me healed? If she's really a princess, she might have the resources to actually do it...")

  I paused. "Is that what you want? I know we talked about this a little before..."

  ("I don't know... I just feel so helpless sometimes... I don't like having to rely on others all the time... even when you tell me you're happy to do it.")

  "I don't mind helping you no matter what you choose to do. And just like we talked about, even if you do have your throat fixed, we can still talk to each other with the rings anytime you like," I said.

  ("I feel like I was just starting to feel more comfortable now that this new ring lets me talk whenever I want. All of our friends have one now too, even Iris... I don't know... Will you help me talk with her tomorrow? Even if I could speak with her myself... It would be easier for me if you were there anyway.")

  "Sure, we can talk with her as soon as you're ready," I said before squeezing her from behind.

  Luna pulled away a little and turned around so she could look at me. After a moment, she started to smile and reached up to the top of my head. ("You still have your ears.")

  I reached up and touched the other one. "Oh... I forgot I still had these."

  ("Looks like you don't need to focus on them all the time after all,") she said with a smile.

  "Hmm, I guess not." Something must have clicked into place because they felt a lot more natural than they had before.

  Luna leaned forward and rubbed her cheek against mine in a way that made me giggle.

  "What are you doing?" I asked with a laugh.

  ("Scent marking you,") she replied.

  "You seem to like doing that a lot."

  Luna smiled. ("I do. I'm staking my claim on you, I want everyone to know that you're mine. I'm marking you and I want you to mark me back.")

  "Like this?" I asked tentatively as I rubbed my cheek against hers.

  She giggled. ("Yes, but do it in your wolf form. Your scent is stronger like that...")

  I shifted, and this time my umber hound instincts helped me along. I rubbed my cheek against her and could even smell my scent on her. As an added gesture, I licked her face with my long tongue.

  Luna laughed and wiped off the spit before hugging me. ("I love you, Helena.")

  I wrapped my arms around her. "I love you too, Luna. Let's get some sleep."

  I shifted back to my human form and curled under the covers with her. She lifted her hand, and with a simple gesture, all the candles in the room were snuffed.

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