Chapter 249 – The Luna Trials Novel by Marissa Gilbert

Filed To Story: The Perfect Luna by Marissa Gilbert

The thought alone repulsed Riannon, but it wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things. After all, species like vampires used blood to access their magic all the time.

“Fine,” she agreed reluctantly and the man stretched his hand to her, offering his palm. Ria grew the nail on her index fi**ger into a sharp claw and, looking into the deity’s eyes, slowly cut his skin to draw blood. The wound healed almost instantly, but a few drops were left on the tip of her claw, and she knew this was more than enough for their purpose.

She brought the fi**ger to her l!ps as Joran watched her every move, but then she paused and c****d her brow up.

“And now let’s speak about the conditions,” she offered, ignoring how desperate he was. It was evident that he probably needed this more than she did.

This did not make the Dragon God in front of her happy, and he frowned.

“The condition is you tell me what I want to know, and maybe I do not slaughter you here today!” He growled menacingly as the air in the room became suffocating.

“Not good enough,” the Luna retorted, shrugging. “This is what I have now anyway. What is the point of giving you what you want, then?”

“Let me tell you something, Queen of the West!” an ominous shadow ran over Joran’s eyes. “You think you’re so smart! But you’re not even ranking high on the list of the Queens before you. And there were so many before you.

There will be many after you as well. You will be replacing each other in this post while I will keep reigning over the skies in the seas, ruling them from the divine realm you will never enter. I lived for thousands of years and I will leave for thousands more.

And this is why when I tell you to do something, you’d better do it at once without trying to outsmart me. Because, trust me, Queen,” he almost spat those words out, “You aren’t going to. You probably thought that thanks to your gift you would get me to back away from this war, but it’s not going to happen.

If you don’t tell me where my dragonfly is, I will make sure that you live while I carve your baby out of your stomach and K*ll it before your eyes. It’s a boy, by the way. Congratulations.”

She was not able to breathe while he said those words, entranced by the darkness that appeared in his eyes and showed her that.

She knew she couldn’t risk the baby. Maybe her son was still unborn, but he was already loved. The primal instinct to defend her pup overcame her, and she l**ked the blood drops off her claw, closing her eyes.

“Tell me where is my dragonfly,” Joran repeated calmly, but at the same time, he grasped the woman’s shoulders and sq***zed them tightly.

Riannon was falling through the stars and galaxies… She did not have any control and did not know if this was ever going to end. She was just a tiny spec in the universe that travelled through times.

She saw a palace made of white moonstone and a couple reaching for each other in the darkness while nobody saw them. However, they were wrong about that because Joran was there too, watching the two of them greedily…

Ria fell again. Through dark, ominous clouds and rain, through soft white clouds and blinding sun rays. The world was changing, and she was falling still. Until she saw a giant Serpent thrown into the sea. The creature did not want to leave his home, but he had no choice.

“Dragonfly!” Joran’s voice cut her journey short, and she fell again.

She saw a woman with light silver hair taking her clothes off in the woods and a dragonfly tattoo shining on the left side of her back. Riannon tried looking for signs of where that woman was, but all she saw were the trees that surrounded her.

She made a fire and threw all her clothes into it, watching it burn to ashes. The dragonfly took a plastic bag from under one of the tree roots and put on a fresh pair of jeans and a bra. Then, she went back to the fire and took out one of the thick branches inside of it that was still smouldering.

Not wasting any time, the woman placed the hot end on her skin where the tattoo was situated and let out a snarl as she burned that place to the point that the skin became visibly charred. She threw the stick away when she was done with it and leaned over a tree, breathing heavily.

Riannon wished to see the girl’s face, and at the same moment, she turned, making the Luna gasp at the sight of Astrid, one of the Luna Trials contenders.

Astrid was in pain, but determination was painted all over her face as she got a black t-shirt out of the plastic bag and pulled it on, throwing everything else in the fire too. The last thing she did was get a little velvet pouch out and turn it upside down, making a little shining ring fall onto her palm. The Crescent Ring with a tiny star that Riannon had seen in so many dreams before tonight. The one she had been looking for.

Astrid cautiously looked around and put the fire down, walking away with just a little crossbody bag over her shoulders. There was no snow where she was, and Ria noticed a few more things she wished she didn’t.

But it was too late because Joran shook her with f0rce, making her open her eyes.

“You saw her!” he stated.

Not asked.

She wanted to lie to him so badly, knowing now that she couldn’t give this person away.

“My dragonfly or your child, Riannon!” The Serpent grasped her neck now as if he was reading her mind. It was so tiny in his large palm that it was enough to p**ss just a bit harder to snap it. “Choose!”

“She is going to the Eastern border,” the Luna whispered, a single tear rolling down her cheek from all this helplessness. She was saving one person she loved but condemning another.

“How do you know?” Joran wanted proof.

“The trees around her are still northern pines,” she said, her voice hoarse. “And moss on them grows facing the North. Besides, she was walking towards the rising sun. She is heading East.”

“See, Riannon, it wasn’t that hard!” The deity scoffed and threw her across the room as it she weighed nothing. Ria managed to cover her belly, protecting her child, and tilted her body so that the impact with the wall hit her back. She knew that she was lucky and this was just a light demonstration of what could have happened to her now.

“You recognised her, didn’t you?” The Serpent scoffed, stepping onto the windowsill he used to arrive here.

Riannon nodded quietly, knowing there was no point denying the obvious.

“Then you’d better forget.”

The deity was about to shift and leave when Riannon stood up, clenching her trembling fists. A cruel smile was playing on her l!ps when she told him.

“I hate to inform you, but you have way bigger problems than her now,” the Luna taunted, and his gaze travelled back to her with a glint of annoyance in it.

“Oh, really?” A wicked laugh rumbled through his ch*st. “Enlighten me, Riannon.”

“Your brother is here,” she couldn’t hide her smirk when his dropped. “Can’t you feel what he is doing now?”

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