Chapter 101 – The Luna Trials Novel by Marissa Gilbert

Filed To Story: The Perfect Luna by Marissa Gilbert

“Other contenders? Maybe the princess will be so kind as to explain to me what that means?”

“Other contenders for the title of The Luna of the North, of course,” Elene gave her the most innocent smile. “What else could it mean?”.

“But I am king Kai’s future wife,” Savvy lifted her chin up to meet the woman’s delighted gaze.

“Oh, no, dear. You got something wrong. You are a contender for the position of his wife. Con-ten-der.” Elene spelt the word for her, enjoying the moment to the c0re.

“There must be some kind of a mistake,” Savannah insisted.

“There is no mistake, dear,” the princess of the North said, “You are a contender in The Luna Trials. Take it or leave it.”

“The Luna Trials?” Savannah clenched her fists, “You must be kidding! King Kai is of a very high opinion of himself if he thinks that his future wife should humiliate herself by fighting with other women over the honor of becoming his Luna!”

“This is the North,” Elene suddenly became sharp, and all her smiles were gone. “The Northerners will never take a Luna who is not worthy! If you want this place, you need to prove that you are the best among all possible options. You need to be of excellent health and lineage, you need to know how to behave, you have to be smart, but most importantly, you need to prove your strength!”

They were serious. Savannah realised that it was not a joke. They were absolutely serious. This was happening. The Luna Trials or whatever they called it… It was real..

“And by the way,” the princess looked at her with some kind of superiority, “That was minus five points. You will be the only contender to start with a negative point balance.”

“There are points?!” now Savvy was pissed. How dared they? She was a princess, for the Moon Goddess’s sake! The whole situation was an insult like none other.

“Of course,” Elene giggled as they entered a huge inner garden, “how else would we find out who is the best?”

Savannah wanted to say something. She actually wanted to say a lot of things but shut her mouth before she lost more points. She needed to think first before doing anything else. And preferably alone.

“Now, wait here,” the princess told her, “Your maid will come for you when your room is ready. But we didn’t expect you until Sunday, so they just started to prepare it. It will be a while.”

“That’s quite all right,” Savannah smiled charmingly, switching her fake politeness mode too. She knew how this game was played. “The northerners are famous for their hospitality, are they not?”

That was a jab, and Elene’s smile faded. No one praised the northerners for, well, anything. And even if they did, hospitality would be at the end of the list.

The princess left without saying anything else, and Savvy knew that it would be hours before she was able to relax in that room they ‘forgot’ to prepare.

She motioned for Kyle and everyone else to not come close to her. They were her friends, and she did not want them to see the ugly side of her. She needed that ugly to come out of her somewhere else, so she went deep into the garden to avoid any witnesses to her fury. She found the ugliest rose bush she had ever seen, with strange metallic-looking flowers and growing out her claws, she shredded every single one of them to pieces.

It was not fair! It wasn’t supposed to be like that! All she wanted was to sacrifice herself for the sake of her people, ensuring their safety. Because the alliance could give them that. That thought was bringing her at least a little bit of peace.

But she wasn’t prepared to fight for the man she did not even want! What was that? Hell?

And most importantly, was the alliance even still an option? Considering that her so-called arranged marriage turned out to be a scam..

She had to find this out. And she had to do it as soon as possible..

But even thinking of the Northern King made her blood boil. He must have been atrocious if he did that. What can one expect from the man who called himself the Northern Star? Ugh.

“That lying, cheating, self-absorbed, manipulative, conniving, treacherous piece of a b*stard!” she yelled as she destroyed the last flower. She was panting, and no, it did not help her to feel better in any way. Not at all.

It only became worse when she heard a chuckle behind her back.

“What did that bush ever do to you?” a husky voice inquired, and she turned to see the witness of her despair..

The voice startled her. Savannah wondered for a second how on Earth she did not notice that she had a spectator. The man who was chuckling at her was sitting under a huge oak tree, hidden behind the rose bushes when she arrived. This was the sole reason she did not see him in the first place.

Anyway, it was her mistake. And from what it looked like; she couldn’t afford any mistakes at the moment. She had to think about everything first.

She heard him standing up and turned on her heels to see who it was. A sigh of relief escaped her. Before her stood a tall man dressed in not the cleanest set of clothes she had seen. His jeans were filthy with dirt, and his gray grandad shirt had probably seen better days. He had a beard which gave him a bit of a dangerous vibe, but she could tell that he was one of the northerners who belonged to the castle. Probably just one of the workers, which was a good thing for her. He would hardly know who she was, and she could get away with it.

“Just… trimming,” Savvy stretched a smile onto her lips and avoided looking at the destroyed bush. She just hoped that the guy wasn’t the gardener who was responsible for taking care of those. But he probably was exactly that — the gardener, otherwise why would he have that earthy forest scent with a hint of pine in it. Not that she had a better look at him, he was very handsome and had all those muscles that probably came from physical labor. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It’s just that I am having a very bad day.”

“You are not from here,” the guy looked her up and down with some kind of interest evident in his eyes. “Although there are a lot of new people here today,” he muttered under his breath. He probably wasn’t happy that all those people were walking around in his garden now, ruining it.

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