Moonbound Legacy

The Daughter of Moonbound

Lyra

Everyone knew who I was.

That was the problem.

I hadn’t even reached the academy gates before the whispering started.

“That’s her.”

“Ella and Kaiden’s daughter.”

“Look at her hair.”

“I heard she can…”

I turned.

The conversation stopped immediately.

Three girls standing beneath one of the old stone arches suddenly became extremely interested in the ivy growing up the wall.

I sighed.

Eighteen years.

You would think people might have got bored by now.

Apparently not.

“Try not to look so murderous.”

I glanced sideways.

My father was walking beside me, hands buried in the pockets of his black coat as though this were an entirely normal morning.

Which it wasn’t.

Today was my Moonbound Ceremony.

Nothing about today was normal.

“I wasn’t looking murderous.”

Dad raised an eyebrow.

“You have your mother’s face.”

“And?”

“That was definitely her murderous face.” Mum, walking on my other side, gave him a look.

“I do not have a murderous face.”

Dad smiled.

“You absolutely do.”

“I have an annoyed face.”

“Terrifyingly similar.”

Mum elbowed him. He laughed. And just like that, some of the knot inside my chest loosened.

Only slightly.

But enough.

I looked ahead.

Moonbound Academy rose through the morning mist.

Dark stone towers stretched towards a silver-grey sky, their pointed roofs disappearing into low cloud. Ivy covered sections of the oldest walls, and the enormous stained-glass windows caught the weak morning light.

I’d been here hundreds of times.

More than hundreds.

Moonbound had been part of my life for as long as I could remember.

Birthday celebrations, school life, council meetings I’d been forced to sit through as a child, training sessions, festivals and Full moons.

My parents disappearing through doors I wasn’t allowed through and telling me they would explain everything when I was older.

I was older now.

Apparently they had simply found different reasons not to explain things.

But today felt different.

Today, Moonbound wasn’t my parents’ academy.

It was mine.

At midnight, beneath the moon, my wolf would be formally recognised.

My place within the bloodlines would be acknowledged.

And if the stories were true, the bond could appear. It did for my mum and dad.

The mate bond.

I swallowed.

Dad noticed.

Of course he did.

He noticed everything.

“Nervous?”

“No.”

He looked at me.

“Yes.”

“Lyra.”

“Fine. A little.”

Mum reached for my hand.

Her fingers closed around mine.

Warm.

Familiar.

Steady.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

I glanced at her.

People still stared at my mother too.

Not because of who she had become.

Because of what she had survived.

Ella Ravenscar.

The girl who had once walked into Moonbound believing she was ordinary.

The girl who discovered she was anything but.

My mother.

Sometimes it was strange hearing people talk about her like she belonged in history books.

To me, she was the woman who sang terribly while cooking.

Who stole Dad’s hoodies and insisted they were hers.

Who once drove forty minutes back home because she couldn’t remember whether she had unplugged her hair straighteners.

She was just Mum. Except when she wasn’t.

There were moments when the power beneath her skin became impossible to ignore.

Moments when the air shifted around her.

When silver-white energy flickered at her fingertips.

When Luna appeared at her side, enormous and snow-white, and everyone remembered exactly who Ella was.

I had inherited the hair.

White.

Completely white.

Not blonde.

Not silver.

White.

It had started changing when I was six.

By nine, every dark strand I’d been born with had disappeared.

Mum said it was beautiful. Dad said anyone who teased me about it would have to answer to him.

Mum then reminded him that threatening primary-school children was generally frowned upon.

I smiled at the memory.

“You okay?” Mum asked.

“Yeah.”

She didn’t believe me. Parents had an irritating ability to do that. Especially mine.

We reached the enormous iron gates.A crescent moon was worked into the metal above us.

Beneath it sat the old Moonbound crest.

Wolf.

Moon.

Three stars.

My stomach flipped.

Tonight.

“You know,” Dad said, “we could still leave.”

Mum stared at him.

“What?”

“I’m just saying. We take Lyra. Get in the car. Drive somewhere nobody believes in destiny.”

“Kaiden.”

“France?”

I laughed.

Mum tried not to.

Failed. Dad looked pleased with himself.

“You were the one telling me this morning that the ceremony mattered,” Mum reminded him.

“It does.”

“And now you want to flee the country?”

“I’ve reconsidered.”

“Because?”

Dad looked at me.

For half a second the joke disappeared.

“Because eighteen years went too fast.”

My chest tightened.

“Dad.”

“I’m allowed one sentimental moment.”

“One.”

“That was it.”

Mum smiled softly.

Then she slipped her arm around his waist.

I pretended not to notice. They were still like that. After everything. Still touching without thinking. Still looking for each other in crowded rooms. Still arguing over ridiculous things and somehow ending every disagreement sitting too close together.

I’d grown up believing that was normal.

Apparently it wasn’t.

Which made the whole mate situation considerably more terrifying.

Because everyone assumed I wanted what they had.

Maybe I did.

Eventually.

Just not tonight.

Not because the moon told me to.

We stepped through the gates.

The courtyard was already packed.

Students crossed between buildings dressed in dark uniforms, silver thread catching at cuffs and collars. Wolves moved between them—some visible, some only flickers at the edges of their owners’ consciousness.

Several people turned.

Then several more.

I groaned quietly.

Dad leaned closer.

“You could hiss.”

“Kaiden,” Mum said.

“What? It might help.”

“I am not hissing at people.”

“Your loss.”

A voice called my name.

“Lyra!”

I barely had time to turn before someone crashed into me.

I stumbled backwards.

“Maeve!”

She wrapped both arms around me.

“I thought you were going to be late.”

“It’s eight in the morning.”

“Exactly.”

“My ceremony is at midnight.”

“Exactly.”

“That makes no sense.”

She pulled back.

Maeve had been my best friend since we were four.

She had curly auburn hair that refused to stay tied back, green eyes, and absolutely no concept of personal space.

She looked between my parents.

“Morning, Mr and Mrs Ravenscar.”

Dad winced.

“Kaiden.”

“You say that every time.”

“And every time you ignore me.”

“Correct.”

Mum hugged her.

Maeve had practically lived at our house growing up.

Mostly because her own family travelled constantly for council work.

Also because she liked our fridge better.

She turned back to me.

Her eyes widened dramatically.

“This is it.”

“Please don’t.”

“Your ceremony.”

“I know.”

“Your wolf.”

“I know.”

“Your possible mate…”

I covered her mouth.

Dad nodded approvingly.

“Thank you.”

Maeve pulled my hand away.

“You cannot pretend that part isn’t happening.”

“I can try.”

“You’ve talked about this since we were twelve.”

“No. You have talked about it since we were twelve.”

She grinned.

“Imagine if he’s gorgeous.”

Dad’s expression changed.

Maeve noticed.

Slowly.

“Oh.”

I burst out laughing.

Mum shook her head.

“Maeve, save yourself.”

“I’m going.”

“Good choice,” Dad said.

Maeve grabbed my wrist.

“You’re coming too.”

I looked at Mum.

She nodded.

“We’ll see you before the ceremony.”

Dad wasn’t moving.

Mum took his hand.

He still wasn’t moving.

“Kaiden.”

“She’s going into the academy.”

“Yes.”

“Without us.”

“She has attended school before.”

“Not today.”

Mum gave him a look.

Dad sighed.

Then pointed at me.

“If anything feels wrong…”

“I call you.”

“If your powers change…”

“I call you.”

“If someone annoys you…”

“I do not call you.”

“You can.”

“No.”

“Offer stands.”

I hugged him.

That shut him up.

For approximately three seconds.

Then his arms tightened around me.

“Love you, kid.”

“Love you too.”

Mum hugged me next.

Hers lasted longer.

When she pulled away, her eyes searched mine.

There was something there.

Something she wasn’t saying.

“Mum?”

She smiled.

Too quickly.

“What?”

“You’re doing the thing.”

“What thing?”

“The thing where you pretend everything’s fine because you don’t want me to worry.”

Dad went suspiciously quiet.

I looked between them.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing,” Mum said.

Too fast.

“Ella.”

Dad said her name gently.

She glanced at him.

Something passed between them.

Great.

Secret parent communication.

My favourite.

Mum took my hands.

“Tonight might feel overwhelming.”

“I know.”

“No. I mean… really overwhelming.”

I frowned.

She continued.

“The ceremony reacted differently to me.”

“I’ve heard the story.”

Approximately nine hundred times.

“That isn’t what I mean.”

The courtyard noise seemed to fade slightly.

Mum looked at my hair.

Then back at me.

“You carry things from both of us, Lyra. From me. From your father. From Orion’s bloodline.”

My grandfather.

A name that still changed the atmosphere whenever it was spoken.

“And nobody knows exactly what that means,” she finished.

I tried to smile.

“So basically, don’t accidentally explode the academy.”

Dad nodded.

“That would be ideal.”

Mum glared at him.

“What?”

“You’re not helping.”

“I thought it was reassuring.”

“It wasn’t.”

I laughed.

Again.

They were ridiculous.

But underneath it, I understood.

They were scared. That frightened me more than anything else. Because my parents had faced things I’d only ever heard about in stories.

Lucian.

The Moonwell.

The old gate.

Rogue wolves.

Blood magic.

War.

Dad still had a scar along his ribs he never spoke about.

Mum sometimes woke from nightmares she thought nobody heard.

They did not scare easily.

So why were they scared of my ceremony?

A bell sounded across the courtyard. Maeve grabbed my hand again.

“We’re late.”

“We are absolutely not late.”

“We’re emotionally late.”

“That isn’t a thing.”

“It is today.”

She pulled me away.

I twisted around while walking backwards.

Mum waved.

Dad called after me.

“No mates!”

Half the courtyard turned.

I stopped dead.

“Dad!”

Maeve doubled over laughing.

Mum smacked his arm.

And Kaiden Ravensclaw, Alpha to one of the strongest Alpha lines in existence, survivor of the Moonwell war, terrifying to almost everyone who met him.

looked completely unrepentant.

I pointed at him.

“You’re embarrassing.”

“That’s literally my job.”

I turned away before he could make it worse.

Maeve was still laughing.

“I love your family.”

“You can have them.”

“No chance. Your dad would interrogate every boy I spoke to.”

“He already does.”

“True.”

We crossed the courtyard towards the eastern building. I tried to ignore the eyes following me.

Tonight.

Just get through tonight. Then everything could go back to normal.At least that was what I told myself. I should have known better.

Nothing involving my family had ever been that simple.

By lunchtime, I had answered seventeen questions about the ceremony.

Nine about my wolf.

Five about my parents.

And one extremely strange question about whether my hair glowed beneath a full moon.

It did not.

Usually. I dropped my tray onto the table. Maeve looked up.

“You look cheerful.”

“I hate everyone.”

“Good ceremony energy.”

I sat opposite her.

The dining hall looked almost exactly as it had in the photographs from my parents’ time.

Long wooden tables.

High ceilings.

Enormous windows.

Portraits of previous academy leaders watching everyone eat with mildly judgemental expressions.

My parents were not on the walls.

Mum had refused. Dad had apparently said he’d rather set fire to the portrait room.

Nobody had asked again.

Maeve stole one of my chips.

I slapped her hand.

She stole another.

“Do you think your wolf will change tonight?”

I shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

My wolf had appeared early.

Much earlier than expected.

I’d been thirteen.

Mum had found me asleep in the woods with an enormous pale wolf curled around me.

Apparently Dad nearly had a heart attack.

She was beautiful.

Not pure white like Luna.

Almost.

Her coat had a strange silvery sheen that became brighter beneath moonlight.

I had named her Nova.

Dad hated the name.

Which was part of the reason I kept it. Nova stirred somewhere in the back of my mind.

Rude.

I smiled.

Maeve noticed.

“She talking?”

“Complaining.”

“About?”

“Dad.”

“Understandable.”

Nova huffed.

Then suddenly she stilled. My fork stopped halfway to my mouth. A strange sensation crawled along the back of my neck.

Cold.

Sharp.

Maeve frowned.

“What?”

I didn’t answer.

Nova had risen.

Not physically.

Inside me.

Alert.

Watching.

Lyra.

Her voice was clearer than usual.

“What is it?”

I hadn’t meant to speak aloud.

Maeve sat straighter. My eyes moved towards the dining hall doors.

Nothing.

Students passing.

Teachers talking.

Normal.

Just then a boy stepped through. I had never seen him before. I knew that immediately.

I would have remembered him.

Tall.

Dark hair.

Black jacket instead of academy uniform.

A small scar cut through one eyebrow.

He couldn’t have been much older than me.

Nineteen, perhaps.

Twenty at most.

He walked beside one of the senior council members but didn’t look at anyone.

People moved aside anyway.

Something about him felt really wrong.

No.

Not wrong.

Familiar.

Which made absolutely no sense. Nova pushed forward inside me.

Hard.

My breath caught.

The boy stopped.

Right in the middle of the hall.

Slowly, he turned.

His eyes met mine.

Everything disappeared.

Noise.

Movement.

Maeve.

The room.

Gone.

A strange pulse moved through my chest.

Once.

Hard.

The boy’s expression changed.

Barely.

But I saw it.

Shock.

Recognition.

Then anger.

Not at himself.

At me.

My fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

“Lyra?”

Maeve sounded far away.

The boy broke eye contact.

He spoke quietly to the council member beside him.

Then kept walking.

Straight through the hall. Straight past me. He didn’t look again. Nova was practically pacing beneath my skin.

Who is he?

I swallowed.

“I don’t know.”

Maeve followed my gaze.

“You’ve gone white.”

I looked at her.

“I’m already white.”

“You know what I mean.”

Across the room, an older teacher had stopped moving.

Professor Calder. He wasn’t looking at me. He was staring after the boy. His face had drained of colour.

Then he turned.

And looked directly at me.

Oh.

That wasn’t good.

I stood.

“Lyra?”

Professor Calder was already walking towards us.

He reached the table.

“Where are your parents?”

I stared at him.

“What?”

“Ella and Kaiden. Where are they?”

“At home. Why?”

His eyes flicked towards the doors the boy had disappeared through.

Then back to me.

“Call them.”

My heart began to beat harder.

“Why?”

He hesitated.

That was worse.

“Professor?”

His voice lowered.

“The young man who just walked through here…”

Maeve stopped eating.

“What about him?”

Professor Calder ignored her.

His eyes remained fixed on mine.

“His name is Cassian Thorne.”

Nothing.

I waited.

“And?”

Professor Calder swallowed.

“The Thorne family disappeared eighteen years ago.”

Cold spread through me.

“Why?”

This time, he didn’t hesitate.

“Because they followed Lucian.”

Silence.

Absolute silence.

My wolf went still.

Professor Calder’s next words were barely more than a whisper.

“Lyra, you need to call your father.”

Kaiden

My phone rang at twelve forty-three.

I looked at the name.

Lyra.

Something inside me knew before I answered.

Ella saw my face.

“What?”

I lifted the phone.

“Lyra?”

Dad.

One word.

That was all she said.

But I was already standing.

“What happened?”

There was noise behind her.

Voices.

Then silence.

She hesitated.

And every instinct I had sharpened.

“Lyra.”

“There’s a boy here.”

I frowned.

Ella stared at me.

Normally, that sentence would have irritated me for completely different reasons.

Not now.

“What boy?”

“He’s called Cassian.”

Nothing.

Then…

“Cassian Thorne.”

The world stopped.

Ella’s hand flew to her mouth.

No.

Impossible.

The Thornes were gone.

They had fled after Lucian fell.

Crossed the northern territories.

Vanished.

Nobody had seen them in eighteen years.

I gripped the phone tighter.

“Lyra, listen to me.”

“Dad, you’re freaking me out.”

“Stay inside the academy.”

“What?”

“Do not leave.”

“Why?”

Ella was already grabbing her coat.

I headed for the door.

“Because the last time I saw a member of the Thorne family…”

I stopped.

Memories I had spent years burying came crashing back.

Blood.

Fire.

Lucian.

A black wolf standing beside him.

And a man kneeling before my uncle, swearing loyalty.

Thorne.

“Dad?”

Lyra’s voice brought me back.

I opened the door.

“I’m coming to you.”

A pause.

Then Lyra said something that made every step inside me freeze.

“Dad…”

“What?”

“My wolf reacted to him.”

Ella stopped.

I looked at her.

She had heard.

Her eyes widened.

No.

Not him.

Anyone but him.

“Reacted how?” Ella asked.

Lyra went quiet.

Too quiet.

Then…

“I don’t know.”

But I did.

I knew exactly what she meant.

Because eighteen years ago, beneath a full moon, I had looked at Ella and felt the same impossible pull.

The same recognition.

The same certainty.

Mate.

And tonight, my daughter was about to stand beneath the Moonbound moon.

With the son of a family that had once sworn itself to Lucian.