The Castle Under The Moon

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Asher!" Luna squeals, a feeling of security instantly following the burst of joy she felt when she saw her best friend standing in her doorway.

Asher himself was relieved that Luna was standing in front of him, not missing any body parts.

Every terrible feeling that he had been feeling the past few days left him as Luna threw her arms around him.

"Thank you." Asher mumbles as he wraps his arms around Luna, enjoying the simple fact that he could.

"For what?" Luna asks, pulling away with a wide smile on her face.

"For being alive." Asher shrugs, a small smile appearing on his face when she smacks his arm, a small laugh barreling its way out of her mouth as she shakes her head.

Asher pokes his elbow out, ready to face the world with his best friend by his side, knowing that he could do anything with her there.

The pair was quiet as they made their way to the throne room, both simply enjoying the others company.

By the time that they had made it to the throne room, Asher and Luna had both given themselves pep talks in their minds, prepping for the conversations and decisions that were about to happen. The only thing keeping either of them from turning right back around was that they had the other one there with them.

When Luna makes her way down the carpeted path to where Valda and Gabriel were standing, the two of the them bow their heads out of respect.

"Come, let's sit down." Luna smiles at everyone, her good mood seeming to follow her around, affecting everyone around her.

As everyone gets situated in a seat, the mood immediately changes, all of them were prepared for the worst.

"The first thing that needs to be addressed is what Gheorgie hasn't said or told me." Luna states strongly, hoping that she sounded more confident then she felt.

When Luna's eyes meet Gabriel's he nods and leans forwards, folding his arms on top of the table and using them to hold up his upper half.

"Jaiyana had a plan for you. A plan that was set in stone. You were supposed to start the duties of The Moon Goddess the day after you turned thirteen, but Gheorgie thought that you shouldn't do any of that until you were crowned." Gabriel sighs and looks away from Luna, unable to go on.

"One of those duties was to pair mates with one another." Valda says, placing a gentle hand on Gabriel's shoulder, knowing that he was completely ashamed of the way he had acted, ashamed of the way he went along, unbothered by Gheorgies plan.

"So, our people have been suffering for ten years just because Gheorgie didn't want me to do the job that I am supposed to be doing?" Luna asks, her heart hurting for the people that were looking up to her, thinking that she was taking care of them.

Luna closes her eyes, not expecting anyone to answer her, knowing that what she had just stated was all true. Before she could even think about the souls who were not assigned another half she continues.

"I was informed that we have a dungeon." Luna states, wondering what else she didn't know about.

"Yes, we also have the stone room." Asher speaks, causing everyone's eyes to land on him as he shivers.

"A stone room?" Luna asks, confused.

"Its a room that was designed for harming people under the guise of getting important information out of them and being able to have an easy clean up." Asher explains, wishing he didn't know about said room, or have the memories of watching men and women die in there.

Luna's face pales as she looks away from the man beside her to look at the table.

"Anything else?"

"Jaiyana wanted you to be able to travel to the small villages around the world and meet the people who are dedicating themselves to you. To make many friends. Not be stuck here like its a prison." Valda hisses, her anger making an appearance as she thought about the way Luna and Asher both grew up only having each other when they were younger.

Once again, Luna closes her eyes, but this time, she feels like a small child playing the role of a grown up.

"What will happen to Gheorgie?" Luna asks aloud, wanting the small group around her to help.

"Whatever you feel the need to, Goddess." Gabriel states without hesitation.

"Please don't call me that." Luna whispers, thinking that she doesn't deserve such a high title.

Gabriel bows his head.

"Asher, help me." She begs, turning to look over at her best friend, her first in command.

"Well if you want him to live then demote him, find another Alpha." Asher gave his true thoughts, knowing that there was no need to hide them.

"What will he be then?" Valda asks.

"He will have no power. He will just be one of the people. The man doesn't seem to do very well under the pressure of power and making decisions." Luna says, liking Asher's idea.

Everyone nods, agreeing with her.

"How do we find a new Alpha?" Luna looks over at Gabriel, expecting him to have the answer but frowns when the man shrugs.

"Gheorgie has been the Alpha since the beginning." Gabriel mumbles.

"You can choose a few that you trust, Luna, and then have them do certain challenges to prove that they are worthy." Valda speaks up, remembering Jaiyana say something of that nature. The thought makes Valda feel as if Jaiyana had warned her before her death that this kind of thing could happen.

Luna nods, letting the idea run through her head.

"Jaiyana wanted you to have this option so that when you were old enough you could choose to have someone else as your first in command. She wanted you to have more of a friend and less of a father figure in that role." Valda sighs, remembering what Jaiyana had said completely.

"Then that's settled. Gabriel and Asher I would like you to pick nine people that you would trust to take over the role of Alpha and first command. Asher, would you like to join?" Luna glances at him, laughing when he shakes his head vigorously.

"Only nine?" Valda asks, her confusion clear in her emerald eyes.

"I have someone else in mind." Luna smiles, her giant man appearing in her mind.

"What are we going to do with the elf and Shadow?" Gabriel meets eyes with Luna.

"Shadow?" Luna whispers, her heart stuttering.

"The giant man." Valda smiles, everything coming together in her mind.

Instead of answering Gabriel, Luna jumps up, and begins to make her way to the throne room doors as fast as her left leg would let her.

"Where are you going?" Asher calls out, not bothering to stand from his seat.

Luna stops and turns around, remembering that she had no clue were she was going.

"Show me where Shadow is." Luna speaks hurriedly, not wanting to waste anymore time.

As both men ask her 'why?', Valda stands up from her seat, saying 'gladly!', and then makes her way to Luna.

"Valda I swear If you-" Valda cut Gabriel off as she grabs Luna's left arm and says a few words in a different language.