Chapter 96

Olivia POV

Elroy was knocking on my door when I woke up. It was early in the morning, just after dawn, and even as I sat up in bed I remained half-asleep. Still, I knew that knock.

“Come in,” I called.

Elroy came inside wearing dirty battle gear, and there was dried blood on his chin.

“Are you all right?” I asked, getting out of bed with an extra push for my stomach.

“I hear you left the estate,” he growled.

I frowned at him. That was his opening line?

“I took guards and Jordan. I needed to apologize for the—”

“I told you to stay here.”

“I have duties as Luna. There was no danger to the child.” I folded my arms. “Now, are you all right?”

“There was no sign of Denis. He’s obviously getting local help. People are helping him cover his tracks.”

“I can imagine,” I murmured, abandoning the topic of Elroy’s health.

He glared at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means there are a lot of uncertain, worried people living in this city. Denis is obviously exploiting that.”

“You have sympathy for his cause, then?”

“Obviously not.” I forced myself not to roll my eyes. “I’m suggesting, however, that you think like an outsider for a change.”

“What good is that?”

“Did you know that my mother’s alpha status has some Lunarians concerned that I’m going to try to act like a Pack Alpha while ‘disguised’ as a Luna?”

Elroy looked taken aback, then scowled to cover it. “That will go away once you’ve settled into your position.”

“How can I settle into my position while I live in a gilded cage?” I waved a hand at the nearest window. “My duties take me outside this palace.”

“So you can get word to Denis?”

I threw up my hands. “You cannot possibly believe I’m in collusion with Denis!”

“I told you to stay here, safe, and instead you went out over half the city!”

I went to retort when he put up his hands, abruptly looking as exhausted as I felt.

“I came here to help you nourish our child before I sleep for twelve hours,” he said calmly.

I felt the floor tilt under me. “What? Just like that?”

“Either you are dedicated to the health of our child or not.”

Without a word, I turned and lay down on my bed on top of the covers. Just as silently, Elroy shed his tactical outerwear, kicked off his muddy boots, and lay down beside me. After a deep breath, he put his hand on my belly, and though I could sense his weariness, energy flowed from his touch in my child.

To my surprise, he relaxed completely and was soon asleep. I resented him for it, having no idea how to make things better between us, until the warmth and comfort from my core crept out to my arms and legs, and soon I was sleeping as well.

I woke alone to a light tapping on the door I knew came from Jordan. She came with word from Iris to join her, but I took a moment to eat and change with her help before making my way to the Alchemist’s chambers.

I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but my body was still energized from my time with Elroy.

I found Iris sitting at a light oak desk that looked a few centuries old. She was clearly going through correspondence.

“You asked to see me?”

She looked up at me and shook her head gently. “Old habits. I should have gone to you, Luna. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” I looked at her concerned face. “Should I close the door?”

She nodded and approached her desk to sit in a lightly cushioned chair she had obviously set out for visitors.

“I’ve heard word about your mother,” she told me.

For a moment, I thought she was talking about people’s concerns over my mother’s Alpha status, then I realized.

“Is she waking up?” I asked with swelling hope.

But she shook her head. “No, in fact, she’s had a turn for the worse, I’m afraid. Now, I have tried several times over the last eight years to see her, but I’ve been denied.”

I nodded. Mother was being cared for in the very heart of Moonshadow territory. Very few indeed were allowed to see her.

“I’m hoping you could use your position as her daughter to get me inside.”

I nodded readily explained, “Elroy doesn’t want me leaving the palace.”

“Surely these are special circumstances?”

“I don’t know. There’s a distance between us unlike anything before. He thinks I’m helping Denis. He thinks I’m not caring for the baby. He thinks . . . I don’t know what he thinks.”

“If you feel you can’t help me—”

“We’re talking about my mother. Of course I’ll help, but I’m going to need assistance getting out of the palace.”

Iris bit her lip. “I’m being watched closely myself, dear. Elroy feels his position is being threatened from all sides. I wish I could help him more, but he keeps so much to himself.”

I nodded. I could ask Jordan for help, but her position in the household was quite vulnerable. As long as she was dong what she was told, she got a great deal of personal freedom, but that would end quickly if Elroy suspected her.

Ines, of course, was out of the question.

“Astor,” Iris said definitively.

“He’s here?”

“Yes, and while he’s not Elroy’s favorite person right now, he’s well-positioned to defend himself.”

“But will he help us?” I asked.

She sent me an odd, almost indulgent look. “Only if you ask him, dear.”

In the end, it was almost easy. Astor had spent a great deal of his life at the palace and seemed to know every inch of it. When I explained what Iris and I wanted, he simply nodded, told us to wait until the lunch hour, and then brought us both to a bedroom currently not in use.

The room was clean, though the air was stale, the room was clean. A small door by an empty bookcase led into a closet that had a rear door.

“”Will you need someone to help you enter Moonshadow territory?” Astor asked as we walked down a stone stairwell that left me wondering just how many secret passageways this palace had.

“No, I have friends who can help us,” I said. “Besides, we’re going to my childhood home. We’ll be quite safe.”

Iris shifted the apothecary’s bag she had slung over her shoulder. I and Astor both had offered to carry it for her, but she declined.

Soon enough, Astor took us through a gate that looked rusted and overgrown but opened quite easily. Iris and I looked through to the street outside, and it seemed strangely odd how normal everything looked in the midday sun.

Astor turned to us and nodded. “Good luck, Luna, Apothecary.”

Iris touched his shoulder. “Be sure to mention my name if Elroy becomes too angry with you. You are helping his household, whether he realizes it or not.”

“I will, and thank you.”

Iris and nodded, made sure no one was actively staring at the gate, and then slipped out into the city streets.

At least escaping the palace had kept me from thinking to much about my mother. As we walked unchallenged through the marketplace, my worry for her increased with each step.

She’d held on for eight years. She couldn’t let go now.