#Chapter 32: Shielded

Elara Alaric was between us before I even realized what was happening, his broad shoulders blocking out Grace’s furious form like a wall of stone. “That’s enough, Mother,” he said, his voice low and cold as ice. Grace immediately pulled her leg away, planting it firmly on the floor before it could connect with her son’s back. She stepped back, her face darkening. “Alaric, this is none of your concern,” she ground out through her teeth. “I am simply teaching her what it means to be a Luna—something she desperately needs to learn if she is to be anything at all like Sarah—” “I said enough!” Alaric barked. His face blackened at that name—Sarah. I recognized her as his late wife, his previous Luna, and the mention of her made my heart pound. Was that what this was about, I wondered? Was Grace giving me a particularly hard time because she thought I couldn’t live up to Alaric’s late wife’s image? Without giving his mother so much as another glance