03

Chapter 3 – Frescoes of Blood and Moon

Kevin did not appear the following day. Gisèle came to fetch her late in the morning, a cautious smile on her lips.

"The Alpha King bid me tell you that you may explore this floor, if you wish. Under my guard. He thinks it will do you good to know a little of the place where you will live."

"I will not live here," Annabelle murmured out of habit, but she agreed to follow her.

The corridor that ran alongside her chamber was an endless gallery, lit by dancing torchères. Ancient tapestries covered the walls, depicting scenes of nocturnal hunts in which gigantic wolves fought nightmarish creatures. Annabelle slowed before a monumental fresco that covered an entire wall: a woman with fiery hair stood upon a promontory, her arms raised toward an enormous moon that seemed to weep blood. At her feet, dozens of wolves bowed.

"The first Luna," Gisèle murmured. "The one who united the packs under a single crown. It is said she was human, too."

Annabelle shivered. That woman had something familiar in the curve of her chin, in the way she bore her solitude. She averted her eyes and resumed walking.

The gallery opened onto a rotunda of raw stone, where daylight entered through tall ogival windows. An elderly man, dressed in a robe of unbleached linen, was bent over alembics and gently bubbling vials. He raised his head as they approached, and Annabelle caught eyes so pale they seemed transparent.

"This is Elias, our healer," Gisèle said, stepping aside. "He wished to examine you, with your permission."

Annabelle instinctively stepped back.

"I don't want any injections. No treatments. I've given enough."

Elias smiled without showing teeth.

"I am not a human doctor, young lady. I will do you no harm. I only wish to speak to you about your blood."

He gestured to a stool, and Annabelle, after a hesitation, sat. Elias took a vial containing a golden liquid and set it on the table.

"You know your body destroys itself, do you not? The sickle-shaped cells obstruct your vessels, your bones suffer, your organs exhaust themselves. This poison I distill is not a medicine. It is a bond liqueur, drawn from the blood of our Alpha. If you accept the bond, your organism will be rewritten by this essence. Your sick cells will be digested by a new, lupine strain. The bearing of an heir will complete the process."

Annabelle flushed violently.

"I have never... I am not going to..."

Elias raised a soothing hand.

"I am not speaking of today. I am speaking of what might come to pass if you open your heart. For the moment, I simply offer you a natural calming remedy. For the difficult nights. Nothing more."

He handed her a small linen pouch filled with dried leaves. Annabelle took it without a word, her fingers trembling. Gisèle escorted her back to the gallery, and they passed more frescoes: battles, crownings, wolf cubs playing under the watch of a grey she-wolf.

"King Kevin is the sovereign of all the Northern packs," Gisèle explained in a hushed voice. "The Alphas of the other territories owe him allegiance. Such power is a burden. He needs a Luna to share this crown, and the pack needs a queen to avoid sinking into civil war."

"Why not choose a she-wolf?" Annabelle asked, stopping before an image of a bloody wedding. "There were surely dozens ready to do anything for him."

Gisèle lowered her head.

"They were many, indeed. But none was chosen by the Moon. The day you were born, the King knew it. He went on a hunt for eighteen years to find you. Many she-wolves wept with rage. Chloe, the Beta's daughter, never recovered. Be careful."

Chloe's name sank into her mind like a thorn. Annabelle sensed that Gisèle was not telling her everything, but she dared not press. The visit ended before the door of her chamber. Before going in, Annabelle brushed the carved wood and asked:

"Why are you helping me? Are you human, too?"

"I was," Gisèle answered in a breath. "A very long time ago. I loved a wolf, a simple warrior. He died in battle before he could mark me. I stayed, because I had no world left to return to. Now, I see in you what I lost. A chance to be saved by love. Do not waste it."

She turned on her heel and disappeared into the dimness of the corridor, leaving Annabelle alone with a new weight on her chest.

That night, she took a pinch of Elias's leaves in her herbal tea. The taste was bitter, but a gentle torpor soon overcame her. In the half-sleep, she saw again the frescoes, the first human Luna, and wondered in spite of herself whether this destiny of blood and moon could truly become her own. In the depths of the silence, she perceived a distant pulse, a steady beat that was not her own: Kevin's heart, still keeping watch, and which, even from afar, was driving the pain back.