Moonfire Bride: The One they all betrayed...till she awakened

Della picked up her cloak and left the castle immediately.

She moved slowly across the open space. There weren’t many trees here in Nightveil like Eclipse Crown, hence she could see the Rogue as wide and clear as it could see her.

She half expected it to attack her immediately, especially with the way it was staring at her with those open, dripping canines. The thing watched her every step quite intensely, and her quiet breaths... almost like it was trying to study her.

And Della simply kept walking closer.

About twenty feet away, the rogue moved. Lines appeared between her eyebrows as the thing took two slow, calculated steps backwards, then it turned around and started to walk away.

She stopped and stared at it.

It also stopped and glanced back at her.

*What does it want?*

*I think it wants you to follow it,* Asteria replied.

*And why the hell would I do that?* Della wasn’t getting a good feeling about this. It’s a fucking rogue, for crying out loud.

*Well, I don’t think it’s going to leave you alone if you do not follow it. Would you like your ears to ring all night?*

Della frowned. Of course not. That low-pitched howl was annoying.

”What do you want?” She barked at the rogue.

He gave her that same stare then turned around and resumed walking.

*Just follow it and see,* Asteria suggested again.

*What if it leads me to an army of prepared rogues that know how to take down a rotblood? Or have you forgotten these things are now intelligent?*

The rogue stopped walking again and gave off that high-pitched howl again. Della grunted as the air around her ears reverberated, and she quickly pressed both palms over her ears, but the damage was already done.

By the time it stopped howling, her ears were bleeding, and she was pissed.

*Let’s kill it!* Della murmured.

*Just follow it!* Asteria groaned.

*Why do you keep saying that?* Della snapped.

*Instinct, Della. You think a rogue would simply come to visit you just because it’s intelligent?*

*So you’re saying it has business with me?*

*That’s what you’re about to find out,*

Della sighed and wiped the blood off her ears, *Fine!*

She maintained a very safe distance from the rogue, and the walk was pretty long. She kept her guard up the whole time, and they soon left the wide clearing and approached a more... distinct landscape — a border that separated Nightveil from another Supreme’s territory.

The path between them was odd.

There were trees growing alongside each other that forked a canopy, and every step was flowery. The Rogue walked into the place and she sceptically followed.

A few minutes into the walk, she started to notice fireflies lighting up the path. What the hell?!

Then, the rogue finally stopped walking and crossed to the side of the walk. It went down on both legs, leaned its head down and closed its eyes. It’s work was done.

Della took her eyes off it and stared ahead. Just then, a firefly landed on her shoulders, and its light blinked.

It took off again.

Della walked past the rogue and deeper into the path, till she came across...a figure standing there.

A woman.

She had long white hair with golden strands, skin that looked like a mountain of ice and the most beautiful face Della has ever seen.

Her beauty...was divine. She looked almost too impossible to be real.

Della had to blink twice to make sure she was real. She was also wearing a black cloak like Della, and there was something... weirdly similar about her, almost nostalgic, in fact.

Have they met before?!

The woman was staring at the fireflies around her.

”I’m assuming it’s you,” Della broke the silence first.

Her heart was pounding, and it had been a while since she felt this nervous.

”You’re the Rogue Tamer, aren’t you? The one who has been leading the rogues and gathering them,” Della added.

”Rogue tamer...,” The woman replied, and her voice sounded just as angelic as her looks, ”Is that what you all call me over there?”

”Yes. Unless you have an actual name that we could call you. For now, Rogue tamer it is,”

The woman smiled, and then she finally turned around and faced Della. For the very first time since Della awakened, fear crawled up her skin like tiny insects and settled deep inside her bones.

So deep.

She was beautiful - yes, but her eyes were... empty. Not the chilling kind that Della’s eyes held, not the empty kind. They were so freaking empty that they seemed almost nonexistent.

”What the—” Della took a step back.

The next thing she felt was the woman’s aura. Della had always wondered what her aura felt like. How people would glance at her and instantly know that she’s a rotblood.

Turns out a Rot-blood’s aura is essentially...too clean and too still. There’s nothing alive inside of them. And that stillness feels so heavy and makes other wolves uneasy and uncomfortable.

This woman right here...had that ’too clean and too still’ aura. But then that stillness had graduated into an actual moving thing. A wolf. A dark, rotten, wolf.

Pure menace.

And that is because she had awakened.

Della’s thoughts didn’t make sense, but at the same time it made perfect sense. That was what made her take another step back.

*Asteria,* Della drawled, her eyes never leaving the woman’s, *Please tell me I’m wrong. Please tell me...*

*You’re not wrong,* Her wolf replied, also glaring at the woman, *That woman right there is also a rotblood,*

Della’s breathing hitched.

The white hair with golden streaks just like hers.

Knowing about the existence of a Moonfire-dripping wolf.

Gideon being unable to sense the thief that stole the first few barrels.

Sudden disappearance of many more barrels.

Being able to control thousands of rogues.

Hunting one Pack after the other and throwing the wolf realms into turmoil.

”Seems you know who I am.” The woman continued, ”There’s no need to introduce myself anymore,”

Della kept staring like she was looking at a ghost.

Because she was.

”Hello, Adelaide,” The woman purred.

Della replied, keeping her voice tough, ”Hello, Katherine,”