Page 94 of His Lycan Luna Queen

“But I am not a Landeena or Azure,” I tell him, and his laugh cuts off to hear what I have to say.

“I AM VALKYRIE!” Stepping out of the circle my guard has created around me, I glare at Crux as the earth splits and cracks beneath my feet.

“And you shall not take my Kingdom!”

Chapter

Fifty-One

KYSON

Power rolls off Azalea in seismic waves, forcing our guard to their knees. Standing defiant against Crux, her eyes blaze with fury, glowing that remarkable Azure blue, neon almost as I see her fingers twitch, catch a glimmer of the cerulean blue, the energy of the Eclipsarian bleed through her very essence, staining her. I can feel it running through the bond, healing me, healing her guard. She shivers, the shudder physical, as power zaps up her spine, and she straightens with a wicked laugh.

“But I am not a Landeena or Azure.” Azalea steps out of the protective circle of our guard, and my heart sputters as she exposes herself further. “I AM VALKYRIE!” she roars, and the pure anger behind those words cracks the earth.

“And you shall not take my Kingdom!” Her roar slices through the tense air, an eruption of volcanic anger that scorches the very atmosphere. I can almost taste the fear emanating from the hunters; it’s a thick, acrid stench as their weapons discharge in desperation. Bullets streak through thesky, only to halt and clatter harmlessly against an invisible shield she conjures with a mere lift of her hands.

Beneath us, the ground heaves and splits, a great chasm severing the battlefield, as if the earth itself sides with her wrath. Vines, thick and unyielding, burst forth, ensnaring the hunters and dragging them screaming into the abyss of the craters she has created. Her rage ignites the sky, fire sweeping across the sky, scorching the earth to a charred wasteland—yet, under her protective aura, we remain unscathed.

Crux’s complexion pales, a stark contrast to the fury he now faces before him. His attempt at conquest has failed catastrophically; he has not subdued her—he has unleashed her. Tonight, though a kingdom may fall to ashes, from its remnants rises the Empress of Lycania, forged from the fierce flames of her wrath.

Darkness descends as she summons the storm clouds, her power manifesting as a storm of raw, primal force. Lightning forks down, carving scars into the earth, while thunder drowns out the cries of those they unleash on. Our castle, once a fortress of stone and legacy, shatters under the onslaught, its ruins deflected by her indomitable shield.

The bond between us thrums with her energy, healing and invigorating me. Her arms, raised high, command the winds which howl and whip around us. Her pain, the echo of every loss, every haunting memory she has endured, and every wraith that has ever touched her, fuels a war cry that resounds across the battleground.

The power spoken of in the ancient texts—the divine might of the Landeenas and Azures—unfurls before me. The air itself wails with the torment of her unleashed soul, obliterating all in its devastating path. Trees, stones, and bones are ground to dust, the landscape flattened as if by the wrath of the moon goddess herself.

As quickly as it unleashed, her cataclysm subsides. The silence in its wake is so profound, it’s as if the world pauses, catching its breath. Her protective shield dissolves, shattering like glass, and the weight of her actions, and her losses, crashing down on her.

I rush to her side, catching her as her strength wanes. Our kingdom lies in ruins around us, the forest a mere memory, our enemies nothing but blood and ash fertilizing the soil. Her power, a display of divine wrath and mourning, leaves us standing in her ruin.

I clutch her to me, wishing I could take her pain away. Her heartbreak is palpable, a fissure that threatens to consume her. As one dynasty crumbles, but another awakens.

“I AM VALKYRIE!” she had declared.

And so she is.

Empress of Lycania.

The Valkyrie Empress.

AZALEA

Gannon wails as Liam attempts to revive Abbie, bringing me to my knees. My head drops into my hands, covering my face as I sob, collapsing beside them just as Kyson’s arms catch me. How can the Moon Goddess be so cruel?

She grants me the power of the first Lycans, yet she robs me of my sister, leaving no way to mend it. Abbie deserves the kindness, loyalty, and love Gannon offers. After all she has endured and survived, it feels like the cruelest slap in the face—a betrayal to lose someone so pure.

Dustin tries to pull Liam away from her, but Liam shoves him back.

“Come on, Abbie,” Liam growls furiously. Dustin and Trey grab him, pulling him off, just as Gannon snatches her and holds her tighter.

“She’s gone. She’s gone. There’s nothing you can do,” Dustin tells Liam, but Liam shakes his head, reaching for her again.

“No! I’ve been feeding her my blood,” Liam snarls, tossing Dustin aside, and my head lifts at his words. No sooner does the words leave his lips than we hear her gasp.

I blink, unable to believe my eyes, while Gannon rocks back and forth, wailing loudly at his lost love. Her eyes open, dazedly obsidian, as her hand rises and clutches Gannon’s arm, making him jump as she sucks in a breath and her eyes return to their emerald color, life returning to her deathly pale skin.

“Abbie?” I whisper, choking on my sob, as her hand moves to Gannon’s hair.

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