Page 156 of His Blue Moon Princess

I shake my head. At another time, another place, I might have been embarrassed, but not now. I push my curls onto my shoulder, not caring about exposing my neck.

“That’s right. But we are fated mates, I swear.”

William Blue scoffs, shaking his head and muttering to himself. “Moon Goddess, sometimes she is playing cruelly with our fates... Or is this her way to show us the way, I wonder? “

Those questions are not addressed to me, and moreover, I don’t know what he means to say, so I stay silent. He takes a few steps, walking past Bobo, and sits on the couch. Elbows on his knees, fingers crossed, he raises his eyes to the portrait. He observes the woman for a long while, completely ignoring us. I don’t feel any threat coming from him anymore, and Bobo has stopped growling. We observe his lonely figure facing the painting.

“I’ve seen this portrait a million times since I was born. She has been here for fifty years, in the Sapphire Moon Alpha’s office. Yet I never get tired of watching her.”

I step away from Bobo a bit to come closer, watching the painting, too. William Blue keeps talking, his eyes never leaving the woman.

“Her name was Diane. Queen Diane, my great-aunt. She died long before I was born, but my father talked about her so often, I feel like I know her better than I knew my own grandmother.”

Queen Diane. I have heard that name before. Some unknown man I came across at Damian’s hotel called me that. How could he confuse me with a woman that passed away so long before I was born?

The answer is now clear. Queen Dian does look a lot like me. Or should I say, I’m the one that resembles her? I thought so the second I saw this painting.

“My family is a descendant of Royals. The Alphas before me were always so proud of their Royal Blood, but I always thought this didn’t mean much nowadays. Just a few droplets, how much more of the Royal Blood could have been conserved after centuries? But that woman...”

He points at the portrait, with a faint smile.

“Queen Diane is a living legend for our Clan. I don’t know how much of what I heard about her life is true, but if half of it is real, she was a living deity for our kind.”

“A living deity?” I ask, a bit confused.

He nods. “They say Queen Diane was a doctor, but she could heal people just with her hands. Her wolf form was as represented here, white as fresh snow, with blue eyes like a newborn. A blessed child of the Moon. She feared no Alpha, and any wolf obeyed her words. She never had to fight a single fight, all she had to do was talk, and it was as if the Moon Goddess herself spoke.”

All of this sounds all too familiar, and I start shaking unconsciously. I feel Bobo’s fur pressing against me, but no warmth can help me. He keeps talking, unaware of my present condition.

“Everyone thought the Moon Goddess had been reincarnated, but she just wanted the life of a simple she-wolf. Her younger sister, my grandmother, adored her, too. She had Royal Blood and was called Princess Cynthia, but compared to Diane, that was nothing. But those two were as close as sisters can be. My grandmother was much, much younger than Diane, but her older sister aged very slowly. When Cynthia turned thirty, with a husband and children, Queen Diane was almost fifty years old. However, she still looked exactly like this painting: young and beautiful.”

My eyes are fixated on the painting, trying to imagine the life of that woman. As I listen, a feeling grows inside me, and I say it out loud without thinking. “She must have felt lonely.”

He looks at me, a bit surprised, and nods before turning his eyes to the painting again.

“That’s exactly what my grandmother said. Diane was always alone. She dedicated her life to others, to her pack, but she never let anyone in, as if she had some secret she could never share. Yet one day, she suddenly revealed to her sister that she was pregnant.”

William suddenly gets up and steps closer to the painting.

“When people asked about a father, Diane said there wasn’t one, no matter how many times she was questioned. Queen Diane was preparing her last miracle, a pair of twins growing in her womb without any father. Do you believe it?”

No father? How could this be? She couldn’t have conceived them on her own... right?

“She had a boy and a girl. DNA tests didn’t exist back then, so I guess there was no way to know if they had no biological father or not. I guess we will never know. Back then, everyone knew about what Queen Diane could accomplish, so when she said she carried children all byherself, they believed it. Children conceived as if Moon Goddess had carried them herself, about fifty years ago.”

“What happened to them?”

William sighs, and turns to me.

“When Queen Diane had her children, she said this birth would endanger the whole pack. According to her, her children would have the same characteristics as she did, but that meant they would also become prey for some dangerous people. Sadly, it turned out to be true. As the children grew, more and more attacks came. From vampires, witches, dark creatures lurking after the power of Moon Goddess’ blessed children. Queen Diane, worried for her children, asked my grandmother to seek somewhere safe, somewhere her children could grow in the middle of werewolves, and be protected. My grandmother, Cynthia, listened to her and left, taking half of the pack with her. This is the story of how we came here. Looking for a new place to live, we came from the North, as the Sapphire Moon Clan. As sisters, Diane and Cynthia had equal Alpha ranks, but Diane was the oldest and a blessed child of the Moon Goddess. She was the one with the purest Royal Blood. So, when my grandmother came here, with half of the pack, she was not the Alpha of the main Clan. So, naturally, this pack that had come with her became a branch Clan, the Sapphire Moon.”

I close my eyes. Something indescribable is growing in my stomach, and I can barely breathe. When I open them again, William is waiting for me to ask, as if he could read my mind.

“What was the original name of your Clan?”

“...The Blue Moon Clan.”

I almost lose balance. William Blue’s words float in my head like an echo that won’t stop. The Blue Moon Clan. So there really was a Blue Moon Clan. It was real. I came hereto stop a war, but now I suddenly learn about something I was not prepared to hear. Something about me, about where I come from. My legs are shaking.

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