The years passed faster than the turn of the seasons. Selene grew under my watchful gaze, her presence a constant light in the shadows of the palace. I had insisted on keeping her close, not out of pride or vanity, but because the world outside the palace walls was cruel, and I could not, would not, allow harm to touch her.
Lucan had entrusted her to me with the full faith that I would protect her, and I had vowed silently at his grave that I would keep that promise until my dying breath. The day he died, Selene had been just fifteen, a bright-eyed girl still unaware of the dangers that had claimed her father. Even then, her grief stirred something fierce in me, a protection so intense it bordered on obsession.
"Stay close to me," I told her that morning as she ran across the courtyard to greet the sun. Her hair shone like spun silver under the dawn, her small smile untouched by the sorrow she carried. "Do not wander alone. The world is not yet kind to children of the Ardyn line."
Her blue eyes, wide and trusting, met mine. "I'm not a child anymore, Uncle Darian," she said, her voice carrying both innocence and determination. That spark, the one that reminded me of her father, was already blazing in her gaze. She had his courage, his defiance.
I allowed a small smile. "Perhaps. But courage does not protect you from all that lurks in darkness."
Kaen growled softly within me, uneasy, sensing the tension that always lingered when I looked at her. My wolf was restless, pushing against the law I had set: to love her only as a child, as my best friend's daughter, and nothing more.
Yet every time she laughed, every time she stumbled and I caught her, every time she reached for my hand, I felt the ache grow, an ache I could not name, a hunger I refused to indulge.
"Darian?" she asked, tugging gently at my sleeve. "Will you tell me another story?"
I studied her face, marveling at the way she was becoming both gentle and strong-willed at the same time. "Another story," I said finally, lowering myself to her level. "Of kings and wolves. Of battles and moons. Of the ones who are destined to protect and the ones who are destined to change the world."
She leaned close, resting her head against my chest as I told her tales. I could feel her heartbeat, small and steady, and yet it stirred a protective heat inside me that no story could temper. Kaen growled again, a low vibration in my mind, warning, urging, reminding.
I brushed it aside. "You are safe," I said softly. "While I breathe, no shadow may touch you."
And yet, beneath that promise, something unspoken stirred. Fate was patient, and the Moon Goddess was watching. My mate, the one my heart had longed for since the age of fifteen, was growing here, under my protection, and soon, I would be forced to face what I had so far denied: that love and desire do not respect boundaries, laws, or vows.