Chapter 128 CHAPTER 128
Sarah walked through the corridors of Lunaris with purpose, her steps unhurried, her posture relaxed. She looked like any other student heading to lunch, but her eyes were sharp, scanning names on doors, counting steps, measuring distance. When she reached the junior block, she slowed, smoothing her uniform as though she had all the time in the world.
The halls were crowded but oddly subdued, students drifting toward the dining blocks in loose clusters, laughter and chatter bouncing off stone walls without ever fully filling the space.
Anna Hale stepped out of her classroom just as the bell rang, books tucked under her arm, her brow already pinched in irritation at the noise around her. She nearly collided with Sarah and stopped short, surprise flickering across her face.
“What are you doing here?” Anna asked bluntly.
“Looking for you.” Sarah grinned.
“Why? We’re not friends. We barely talk even at home.”
Sarah smiled, small and controlled. “I didn’t come because we’re friends.”
Anna scoffed. “Then you came to the wrong place. If you’ll excuse me…” she barely finished the sentence before Sarah cut her off.
“I didn’t come to make friends with you. I came because we share a common enemy,” Sarah said quietly.
That stopped Anna cold. “Enemy?” she echoed. “Me and You? And whom would that be?”
“The princess.”
Anna frowned. “The princess of Mooncrest? I barely know her. I’ve heard she joined Lunaris, but I’ve never even seen her. How would she be my enemy? And how did you end up making enemies with someone that high up?”
Sarah tilted her head. “Haven’t your parents told you anything?”
“Told me what?” Anna snapped. “Why would they?”
Sarah’s voice lowered. “Because the princess of Mooncrest is your sister.”
Anna laughed once, sharp and disbelieving. “Are you out of your mind? My sister’s name was Cindy. And the princess’s name is Lisa.”
“She changed it,” Sarah said calmly. “That was her name before she disappeared – before your parents found her.”
Anna shook her head. “You’re lying.”
“If you don’t believe me,” Sarah said, stepping aside, “go and see her yourself.”
Anna hesitated, then turned sharply and walked down the corridor. Sarah followed, close but silent, letting the truth stretch and tighten between them.
They didn’t make it to the classroom.
Lisa appeared first, walking with Ella, her posture straight, her expression composed, a guard following a few steps behind. Anna stopped so suddenly Sarah nearly walked into her.
“That’s her,” Anna whispered, staring. “That’s… Cindy.”
“No,” she said again, louder now, anger flooding her face. “She must be pretending. She’s an impostor. She must have taken the princess’s place. She’s fooling everyone. She’s fooling the king.”
“She really is the princess,” Sarah said. “She was hiding her wolf all along. She’s Lycan.”
Anna’s hands curled into fists, her whole body trembling. She took a step forward ready to confront Lisa.
Sarah caught her arm. “Think carefully. You’re not confronting your sister anymore. You’d be confronting the princess of Mooncrest. With her guards. Do you think you’d survive that?”
Anna yanked her arm free. “Then why did you tell me?”
“Because,” Sarah said, her voice smooth as silk, “I don’t want to confront her. I want to ruin her.”
Anna turned slowly. “Why?”
“Because she’s taken Sebastian from me,” Sarah said. “And I need your help to get him back.”
“And what do I get?” Anna asked, her voice bitter.
Sarah studied her for a moment. “I think you’d be satisfied seeing Cindy miserable.”
Anna’s lips curved into a thin smile. “Sounds right.”
“Good,” Sarah said. “Then listen carefully.”
She leaned over and whispered something in Anna’s ear – the smile on Anna’s face widening with every word that came from Sarah’s mouth.
They parted moments later. Anna walked toward Lisa with a sudden softness in her expression, while Sarah turned in the opposite direction, already moving toward the senior block.
“Your Highness,” Anna called sweetly.
Lisa stopped. She turned slowly, her eyes hardening when she recognized her.
“Have you forgotten about me?” Anna asked, stepping closer.
“Of course not,” Lisa replied, not bothering to hide the bitterness in her voice... “I haven’t forgotten what happened in your house. What do you want from me?”
Anna clasped her hands together. “I wanted to apologize. My parents were wrong. I was wrong. We shouldn’t have treated you the way we did.”
Lisa studied her, suspicion flickering. “We don’t have to talk about the past. This is not the place for that kind of discussion.”
“I want us to be friends,” Anna pressed.
“I don’t,” Lisa said simply, turning away and gesturing to Ella to accompany her.
Across the courtyard, Sarah slipped into Sebastian’s empty classroom.
Sebastian arrived minutes later from practice, shoulders slumped, breath heavy. He’d been slower today. Weaker. The whispers had started. When he opened his desk, a folded note slid into his palm.
Meet me in the girls’ locker room.
_Princess Lisa
A desperate, hopeful smile spread across his face as he read the name at the bottom. Princess Lisa.
Maybe she had changed her mind. Maybe the threat from that morning had been nothing more than anger spoken too fast. Maybe - just maybe - she was finally willing to help him.
He didn’t stop to question it. He shoved the note into his pocket and was already moving, chair scraping back as he rushed out of the classroom, heading straight for the locker rooms.
Down the corridor, Anna caught sight of him at the corner of her eye.
Her breath hitched.
She saw the urgency in his steps, the way his focus was fixed forward, and she knew instantly what was about to happen. If Sebastian saw Lisa now - if he realized she was nowhere near the locker rooms - the lie would unravel before it had time to work.
Without hesitation, Anna stepped into Lisa’s space and pulled her into a sudden hug.
Lisa stiffened in surprise. “Anna, what are you doing?”
“Just… please. Hear me out once. You owe her that much.” She responded, feigning remorse.
“I don’t owe you or your family anything. I worked like a slave to repay the little kindness you accorded me.”
Anna didn’t answer. She held on tighter, angling her body just enough to block Lisa from Sebastian’s line of sight as he passed further down the hall. Her grip - strategic.
Lisa tried to pull back. “Let go,” she said under her breath.
Anna’s arms tightened instead.
Behind them, the guard reacted instantly, stepping forward, hand moving toward his weapon as his eyes narrowed on Anna. The shift was subtle, but unmistakable.
Anna felt it. She felt the danger sharpen.
And then she saw Sebastian disappear around the corner.
Relief flickered through her chest.
She released Lisa at once, stepping back with a thin, practiced smile, as if nothing had been wrong at all. “Never mind,” she said lightly. “Maybe another time.”
Lisa stared at her, unsettled, suspicion coiling in her chest—but before she could respond, she had slipped away.
When Sebastian reached the locker room, the air was cool and quiet. Sarah stepped out of the shadows.
“What are you doing here?” Sebastian demanded, surprised.
“I tried getting your attention,” Sarah said softly. “You wouldn’t look at me. So I got creative.”
“This isn’t a good idea,” he said, backing away. “We can’t be seen together.”
She stepped closer. “You’re already mine.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t want this.”
Sarah’s eyes darkened. “You don’t get to decide.”
She crossed the space between them without hurry. Her boots sounded against the tiled floor, steady and sure, like she knew exactly where she was going. When she stopped in front of him, close enough that he could feel her warmth, she reached up and rested her palm against his chest.
The contact grounded him. Not gentle. Not soft. Just real.
“Stop running from me,” she said, her eyes already glistening with an unnatural glow.
That was all it took.
Sebastian’s hand came up to her jaw, fingers curling there. The kiss wasn’t sweet. It wasn’t careful. It was the kind of kiss that came from held-back things finally being let loose. Teeth grazed. Breath caught. Their foreheads touched briefly as they recalibrated, as if instinctively checking that they were still aligned.
Sarah pushed him back until his hips met the edge of the bench. He sat because she made him want to, because the pressure of her hands told him she expected it. She stepped between his knees, bracing her palms on either side of him, claiming the space like it had always been hers.
“You don’t get to disappear on me,” she murmured, lips brushing his ear. “Not tonight.”
Sebastian’s hands found her waist, thumbs digging in, grounding himself in the curve of her. “Then don’t let me.” He moaned as buried emotions came flooding back. He couldn’t resist he – her pull.
His attention was fully on her now - the set of her shoulders, the way her breathing had changed, the heat simmering just beneath her skin.
She kissed him again, slower this time, as if mapping him. When his hands slid up her back, she didn’t stop them. When his grip tightened, she welcomed it, fingers fisting briefly in his hair in response, a wordless agreement passed back and forth.
They moved together in a rhythm that felt earned rather than rushed. Every push met a pull. Every breath found its answer.
The locker room bore witness in silence: the scrape of skin against wood, the quiet sounds of breath and movement, the way Sebastian’s shoulders tensed and released under her hands.
The pressure came suddenly, not physical at first, but inside his skull. His thoughts blurred. His body betrayed him, heat pooling where fear should have been.
She touched his chest, and the world fractured.
Time dissolved into flashes - breath, warmth, her voice threading through his thoughts, bending them, rewriting them. His will collapsed inward, swallowed by something that wasn’t his own. When the world finally returned, he was on his knees, shaking, his mind hollowed out.
Sarah stood above him, eyes closed, drawing something invisible into herself. Power. Energy. The last remnants of his strength.
Far away, in the wolf realm, Kael screamed.
His body convulsed, claws scraping stone as his chest arched violently. The healer shouted, rushing forward, and Kane felt it – the imbalance in the wolf realm caused by that single act.
Back in the locker room, Sarah stepped away, smoothing her uniform.
Sebastian collapsed fully, gasping, empty.