Flora’s P.O.V
We descended down a flight of stairs to the ceremonial hall where I would be integrated into the Lunar Maidens. From the number of stairs that we climbed down, I could tell that the hall was somewhere underground.
This was it. Once this ceremony was over, it would seal my fate forever. My wolf told me that if I wanted to back out now, this was my only chance. But my heart knew it was too late. I could never love someone the way I loved Clay.
So I’ll wait for the mating bond to suck me in like it did with Clay and I would live in a world of falsehood, forced to love someone for eternity that I hadn’t chosen. Because I had fate in the Moon Goddess to find that person for me. The lover of my dreams who would love me unconditionally.
Finally I could see a door at the end of the staircase and these were made of metal instead of wood. The door was plain and simple, just two bars of heavy iron shut together with the help of a latch and two giant rings that could be pulled open. But for some reason, they felt ominous.
“Open,” Daphne commanded the two soldiers standing on either side of the door and they bowed to her before pulling the doors open with the help of the rings. These soldiers too held two large daggers in their hands like the other guards I saw before entering the temple. It looked like the guards at Lindersay didn’t believe in modern weaponry.
We stood at the edge of the room then and I was able to take a good look inside. This wasn’t like any other room in the castle that had marble floors and was decorated with beautiful furniture and ornaments. Rather, this room had stone floors and was devoid of any furniture except for an alter at the far end of the room.
Alpha Malachi was standing at the altar along with another woman I didn’t know. This woman had long golden hair that reached past her hips and she had big blue eyes that were very similar to Alpha Malachi’s. Her lips were tilted up in a kind smile and her smiled brightened as soon as she saw me. Her robe was the same pristine white like the rest of us, but the only difference was the gold jewellery she wore in the form of a gold belt, a tiara, gold hoop earrings and bangles, all in round shapes. I moved my eyes from her temporarily to look around the room.
Large vase like structures were placed on either sides of the room but instead of flowers, they were being used for lighting fires to illuminate the room. Right at the centre of the room was a carving on the floor in the shape of a crescent moon enclosed in a rectangle along with a few other symbols that I didn’t recognize. But from the looks of it, this symbol belonged to the Moon Goddess, Selene, the creator of werewolves and the personification of the moon.
“Come,” Emma smiled at me. “The initiation awaits.”
I looked down at the floor, at the juncture where the marbled floor ended and the stone covered floor began. It felt like an invisible line drawn on the ground that was going to decide my fate. And maybe it was the deciding line, but I had no choice but to cross it.
So I looked ahead, at the altar and crossed the line into the room.
The carving on the ground looked permanent as we walked over it to reach the altar. Alpha Malachi held out his hands for me to take as Daphne and Emma stopped a few steps behind me.
I took Malachi’s hand and came to a stand between him and the woman as he introduced me to her.
“Flora, this is Ezra,” Alpha Malachi said. “She’s the Shrine Maiden, tasked with looking after the Lindersay Shrine. After your initiation, she will be your superior.”
I bowed to Sapphire to show my respect before we turned to face the altar. There was an urn with some kind of liquid in it. I couldn’t tell what it was from the looks of it but it might have alcohol.
“It is alcohol,” Ezra spoke in a soft voice, polite and authoritative at the same time. “It’ll help calm you during the ceremony.”
“The ceremony will begin now.” Alpha Malachi said from beside me. “Have the maidens explained everything to you?”
“Yes.” I said instantly, even though Daphne’s words rang clear in my ears.
The Moon Goddess takes her worship seriously. Do not become a maiden simply because you’re heartbroken and lost. Every one of us chose to become a Lunar Maiden because we wanted to. The Goddess tolerates nothing but absolute devotion.
I looked over my shoulders at Daphne but her head was bowed as she knelt on one side of the carving and Emma on the other side. Finally, I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. “I’m ready.”
“Very well.” Alpha Malachi turned to Ezra. “You may begin the ceremony.”
He began to back away from the altar and Ezra picked up the urn and held it up with both hands. Then she started chanting in a language I couldn’t quite understand but her words had me in a trance.
She looked ethereal as she held the urn as she chanted. Her golden hair flowed down her back in delicate waves and her porcelain white skin seemed to glow in the dim lights. I couldn’t understand what she was saying at all, but her beautiful voice made me want to listen to it more and more.
Were all Lunar Maidens this beautiful, this serene? There was a sense of calm around her that made me feel like I was finally at peace. No wonder she was the Shrine Maiden…she glowed from within with the luminescence of the moon itself, as if the Goddess herself had blessed her with her light.
Once she was done chanting, the liquid inside the urn began to glow as well, with the same faint light that she was emitting. She lifted the urn to her lips and drank some of the liquid and I was surprised that even though the mouth of the urn was wide, she didn’t spill a drop. With a soft smile on her face, she held out her hand towards me, urging me to take the urn and drink the liquid.
Her smile gave me reassurance and I smiled at her myself before reaching for the vessel…which shattered into a million pieces before my hands could reach it.
Ezra gasped and stepped back as a dagger embedded itself into the wall behind the altar, and I heard a voice I thought I would never hear again.
“Flora, stop!”