Chapter 115 – The Luna Trials Novel by Marissa Gilbert

Filed To Story: The Perfect Luna by Marissa Gilbert

Then she took the first two groups in each hand and carefully put them on the scales, waiting just a few seconds for them to get even.

“As you can see, these two groups have the same weight,” she announced with the tone of a teacher. “If the fake coin was in any of the two groups, the scales wouldn’t be even. So, we can forget about these six coins. Now we have only three left.” She cleaned the scales and took another two coins from the third group.

“Now,” Savannah smiled charmingly, “if I am correct, then these two coins will have the same weight, meaning that the remaining coin is the lighter one. Also known as the fake one.”

She placed the coins on the golden cups, and smirked when the scales got even again.

“Ah,” she took the last coin, the one she bet was the fake one from the very beginning. “And here is the one we’ve been looking for!” It was quiet at first, but soon someone started clapping. Then another person joined them, followed by many others.

Savannah bowed gracefully before the crowd.

“Congratulations!” Elene almost growled, trying to end this fast and hurried to their side. “You were lucky and solved your riddle.”

“It wasn’t a riddle, Princess,” Savannah commented calmly so that others couldn’t hear them, “And I wasn’t lucky. I just have a talent for seeing fakes easily.” Their eyes met, and it was nothing less than a war announcement between the two of them.

“Introduce yourself!” Elene walked back to the throne, not even bothering to pretend to be polite anymore.

Savvy tried to remove her mask but had a slight problem locating the ties in her complicated braid hairdo.

“Here,” Kai tried to help her, covering her fingers with his. The simple motion made them both freeze, and he felt his breathing getting ragged. Absent-mindedly, he brushed his thumb over hers, making her shiver.

But remembering where they were, he pulled one of the ties and helped her to get rid of the mask, announcing her himself. “Princess Savannah Stormhold of the Western Kingdom. Our honourable guest and the twelfth contender of The Luna Trials.”

Whispers and gasps erupted through the crowd while Savannah walked to the centre of the line of the contenders. This was where he was supposed to stand for their group shot, and something told him that she was aware.

Penelope shot him a concerned glance which he ignored as he stood right next to the Western Princess, trying not to inhale her intoxicating scent of bluebells..

“I am honoured to have such wonderful, strong and beautiful women come to our palace to honour our traditions by fighting for the title of the Luna of The North. I hope to be worthy of their efforts.” The words came out dry, and he could swear he heard a little snort. She had a right to this if he was honest with himself.

However, she completely shocked him when she slid her arm around his elbow and stepped closer.

“Your Majesty,” Savannah beamed at the cameras. “I think it’s time for us to announce the main part.”Kai looked at the princess in confusion. What was she doing? That dangerous glint was back in her green eyes..

He was about to laugh it off and lead her out of the ceremony hall. But she turned back to the cameras.

“I guess the honour is all mine.” She chuckled. “When I was invited to participate, I only agreed since it was such a wonderful and ancient tradition. As I have already told you, I love history, and I am especially fascinated with the history of the North. One of the ancient rules of The Luna Trials was that it wasn’t just the King making his choice. The people of the North were choosing their Luna as well!”

His lips parted, and her lips curled into another smirk as she continued, “During each test, when contenders are eliminated, the people of the North can save one person by giving her the vote of their hearts. You are all a part of this! Up until the final trial!”

The guests started buzzing again.

“That would be all news for tonight,” Kai announced before she threw something else at him with a curt smile and then gestured for the musicians to start playing. “Enjoy the night.” Now all that he wanted was to take Savannah, drag her out of here to his own room and… have a proper conversation.

Nothing else. Nothing… funny. The bedroom wasn’t probably the place for it

“Well, this was fun,” the princess chirped, and before he managed to do anything, slipped away from him and dissolved somewhere in the dancing crowd. Kai had the firm intention to follow her, but Penelope stood in his way along with several other contenders.

“You already danced with one of us.” The girl teased him. “How about giving the same honour to all of us? We‘ve been waiting  for  this  all  night.”

“Sure,” Elene appeared at his side and jabbed him with her elbow. “Kai will pay equal attention to each contender. We don’t have favourites here.”

He glared at his sister. Now she was talking about having no favourites? Really? The Lycan King quickly looked around, but the Western princess was nowhere to be found.

No matter what she was thinking, she wasn’t getting away with this so easily. He danced with each contender, trying to be polite as his title called for. Some of them were chattering the whole time, especially that Petra girl with pink hair who seemed way too young for all of this. So young that he asked for her birth date just to make sure Elene didn’t make a mistake. The last thing he needed was an under aged contender.

She just turned eighteen and he sighed hearing that. It would take her years before she was mature enough to become a Luna.

The white werebear was silent, although she was probably the only one to whom he was at least remotely interested in speaking. Not many bears visited his pack. But he didn’t want to push it. Especially since tonight he wanted to wrap this up quickly and go find… her.

He was done in an hour and a half. Much longer than he expected. And, of course, Savannah was nowhere around, leaving him no choice to go look for her.

Savvy was so angry that she couldn’t stay in her room. She left as soon as she could. For that one night, she had done enough and just remembering the show made her lips curve slightly again. In the end, it didn’t turn out that bad. Not to mention that she was only starting. Zara and Kyle wanted to talk to her, but she lied that she was too tired tonight and that they would discuss everything first thing in the morning.

In reality, she needed to be alone. Moreover, she needed a good run. It was risky with the curfew hours here. Then again, all other contenders were still at the ball. So that meant that they weren’t in their rooms either. The opportunity presented itself and she wasn’t going to deny herself the ple@sure..

The gates were opened tonight because the guests were coming in and out all the time..

Savannah used the less guarded entrance to sneak out. The garden in that gloomy bastion was enormous, but nothing could compare to the real forest. And after that evening, she needed this connection to nature. Athena was fast, they would just run a little bit and return safely.

She pulled her dress off behind one of the trees and stepped out of it, shifting almost instantly. Stretching her paws first, she charged deep into the northern woods. The trees were different here, the scents were delicious, and she was truly enjoying herself. It was also a good idea to learn the local landscape in case of emergencies in the future, so, instead of turning back, she decided to get deeper into the unknown.

However, after a while, she felt someone else’s presence. At first, it felt like someone was watching her from one of the small bushy hills. Yet soon she heard branches breaking nearby and decided that it was time to quickly get back to the castle.

She started running but that… something was only getting closer. He was alone, and she knew it. A male… big Ma*s*sive even. Judging by the footsteps.

Savvy kept running when all the sounds disappeared, and she stopped. Was it this easy? He simply decided to leave her alone after following her for a while? She wanted to continue her way when the sombre shadows before her suddenly felt thicker. All her senses were heightened now, but nothing was going on.

Until she saw one red eye gleaming in the darkness…

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