Chapter 179 Visitation Iii

• The Lunæ moved toward me with deliberate grace. My heart thudded, not in fear, but in that delicious tension of meeting peers for the first time while the world already watched me as Sargis’s mate. I drew a slow breath, steadying myself, letting my posture radiate calm authority. Avaline had drilled this into me, presence mattered more than words, tone mattered more than flattery.
• Miraya was first, a lithe, sharp-featured woman whose golden hair caught the sunlight in flickers of molten light. Her scent was warm, sun-baked earth and the faint tang of iron, a quiet strength radiating from her. She stopped a pace from me, sizing me with polite curiosity.
• “You are… the Luna,” she said carefully, her tone soft but edged with caution. “I’ve heard whispers, but this, standing here with him.... it’s… different than I imagined.”