Chapter 149 – The Luna Trials Novel by Marissa Gilbert

Filed To Story: The Perfect Luna by Marissa Gilbert

“Without any doubt, our main winner tonight is none other than the daughter of the North Penelope Summerstern! She received thirty points for her interview and her final sc0re at the moment is forty points.” A round of applause emerged as Penelope stepped forward, bowed and then moved to the higher level of the stairs. The contenders moving forward had to stand above the ones who didn’t.

“The next contender had a slightly less impressive sc0re, but her overall sc0re is now the same as Penelope’s,” Elene said calmly. “Savannah Stormhold receives twenty points and has forty points overall.”

Savvy gasped uncontrollably. She was astonished by the fact that she sc0red this high. She was sure that Elene and the twins would give her the lowest possible points.

“Go!” Astrid whispered to her, and Naya nudged her gently. Savannah placed her hand to her heart with a smile on her lips as if she wanted to thank everyone present and then joined Penelope at the top.

“Congratulations, Savvy!” The girl greeted her as if they had been best friends for many years. Which they weren’t.

“Thanks, Pen!” she reciprocated with a grin. “Congratulations to you too.”

“I have to say this was easy,” the brunette giggled, and Savvy thought that maybe Elene had given her friend the list of questions beforehand. However, something was strange. Why didn’t they sabotage her again? She loved their tactics. It was easy to deal with, and who knew what they changed it to now.

“The next contender also received twenty points for the interview and is currently ranking third with thirty-five points. Astrid Erling!”

Astrid was probably even more surprised than Savannah, and they exchanged warm smiles when she reached the top.

Soon Inga and Celia followed, receiving twenty points each but scoring slightly below Astrid. Then Naya and Mikaela earned fifteen points each, bringing them to thirty points. The two cats were happy with the results but not happy about having to stand not far from each other. If cats didn’t like someone, this was for life.

“Ugly dress,” Mikaela traced Naya’s curves with her eyes and smirked. 1. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, dear,” the silver-haired contender replied, “Yes, your outfit today could have been better, but ugly is not the word. Mediocre is.” They both hissed at each other and turned away.

Five girls were left standing at the bottom.

“Sadly, the next contender received zero points as she decided to leave on her own terms and did not give an interview.”

Elene was smiling, but her tone was ice cold. “Salome Gray, you are the first to leave the Luna Trials. It was an honor to have you here.”

“Thank you. Princess Elene,” the witch curtsied slightly mockingly and stepped down to join the quests. Waves of whispers rippled through the room, but it looked like Salome wasn’t bothered about all that.

“The next contender received the lowest points during the interview and overall performance. Autumn Bern, please step down. It was an honor to have you here …” Elene clearly wanted to say something else, but the little fox with red hair rushed away quickly, covering her eyes as if she was about to cry.

“Why so low?” Savvy whispered to Astrid, and she tilted her head slightly. “She said she didn’t believe in Fenrir,” the girl replied. “For the North it’s…”

“Preposterous,” Celia said firmly. “You can say whatever you like, but Fenrir and the royal family are untouchable.”

“Stop sharing!” Inga jabbed her friend with her elbow. Now only three girls were standing at the bottom, and Savvy felt perplexed about this.

“Brigit Borg, Petra Biernat, Mavis Redfeather,” Elene turned to them. “Your sc0res are low, and one of you will leave as well. Unless the King or the people of the North save you. We will see if that happens tomorrow.”

She then motioned for Chloe and Claude to take it from there. The blonde siblings turned to the cameras and started explaining how people could cast a vote. And apparently, they could do that once from a registered mobile phone number in the system. Which, in Savannah’s opinion, was ridiculous.

Then again, it was probably her fault since she cornered them into following that tradition in the first place.

The main event was over soon, and Savvy wasn’t surprised to see Zack gone. She gritted her teeth, hoping he didn’t run too far. She was going to f0rce that acceptance of rejection out of him. Her life literally depended on that.

Kyle was already gone too, and Savvy just hoped he wasn’t looking for her mate. That wasn’t his battle to fight. Although, technically, if he caught him and held him for her, she wouldn’t mind.

Lost in thought, Savannah didn’t notice how she ended up walking down the corridor leading to their tower with Zara, Brigit, Astrid and her friend Emma, who seemed displeased with something again, judging by the looks she was giving her.

“Good luck tomorrow,” Astrid tried to start some kind of conversation and glanced at Brigit timidly.

“I don’t need luck,” the werebear cut her off.”4II still get where I want to be.”

“Without a doubt,” Savannah smiled and at the same time felt piercing pain going through her body. She knew far too well what was happening and couldn’t believe the audacity of her mate. For some reason, this time, everything felt so much stronger that she could barely stand on her feet. Not at all the pain level she was used to by now.

Zara was the first to notice she turned pale and quickly dr@ped her hand around Savannah’s to give her something to lean on.

“Is something wrong?” They heard Emma’s voice. She sure had a tough att*itude for a newcomer who had no role to play here.

“I am just tired,” Savvy tried to brush her off, not willing to explain the drama of her life to anyone.

“Are you sure?’ Astrid looked genuinely concerned. “You look pale.” “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” the Princess a*s*sured them. “See you tomorrow, and congratulations.”

“Congrats to you too, Savannah,” the Southerner beamed while Emma was already opening her door without even looking at them.

“Thanks,” Savvy muttered, wishing for nothing more than to hide in her chambers.

Brigit watched her in silence, and when the two other women were gone, she leaned into Savannah’s ear and whispered,

“If you don’t K*ll him, then I will.”

With that, she turned on her heels and rushed to her own room. Zara helped her to get inside and unzipped her dress. Unfortunately, they had done this many times before, so she knew the drill perfectly. Biting her lip to distract herself with a different kind of pain, Savvy grabbed the first thing she saw in the wardrobe-which was a simple, delicate blue dress with traditional northern embroidery on the front. Pulling it on, falling to the bed. Zara covered her with a throw the way she always did.

Savvy closed her eyes, withering in pain, counting the minutes for it to stop. But today, Zack was punishing her for real. For the past few months, all his encounters were short, but today, he decided to indulge himself in l*st, ple@sure and revenge right next to her. The worst thing was that she couldn’t K*ll him until she got approval from Kai.

Her heart was ripping apart, piece by piece. She didn’t love Zack. She simply couldn’t. Not after everything ….

She didn’t even want him on a physical level. But the realisation that this was the one man who was supposed to protect and cherish her made all this even more painful. She thought of Kai and his promises. Was he really going to keep his word and choose her? She wanted to be chosen.

That mate thing wasn’t what she expected, but could they be happy together as chosen mates? She knew one story with a sad ending…. If she tried it with Kai, but he rejected her when he found his true mate … this would break her irrevocably. She didn’t realize it before, but little by little, he filled that void left by Zack. She was afraid to admit it out loud, but she needed him more than he could imagine. She didn’t even notice how the darkness took away her pain, and she finally managed to fall asleep.

Firm fingers brushed over her cheek and neck. She breathed out, feeling much better all of a sudden. Then soft lips planted a little k*iss on her bare shoulder, and Savannah opened her eyes to see Kai.

“Kai?” she sat up higher at once and then immediately wrapped her arms around him. The King only pressed her tighter and k*issed the top of her head, lacing his fingers into her hair and inhaling deeply as if he needed that desperately.

He smelled of forest and pine as always, but today there were other notes there as well. Smoke and blood were more robust than other scents, and Savvy distanced herself from him, checking his face.

Luckily, he looked unharmed. Just less polished and neat. Just like her gardener….

“Are you fine?” Savannah cupped his cheek, and he leaned into it just for a moment. “Is the battle over?”

“I want to show you something, Savvy,” he told her with a little excited glint in his eyes. “Come with me now.”

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