The Shadow of the Moon

The sun is abnormally bright as it shines directly on my face through the glass doors of the balcony. I groan and roll over onto my side, my back to the doors. Then, not even two minutes later, someone knocks on the main chamber door. "UUUUUGH." I groan again and pull the pillow over my head, "Too early.. come back later..."
The door opens anyway and someone walks over to the bed. "Now is that anyway to treat the woman your trying to court?" Luna asks. I pull the pillow off my head and look at her through bleary eyes, "Wait your like totally on board with this now? I mean you were okay when we were walking back to the castle but I thought it was just because you were in a good mood." I ask. She shrugs and says, "I gave it some thought last night and I decided to give us a shot. Now be a gentleman and get out of bed."
"Meh. It's too early. I don't have my gentleman makeup on yet. I haven't had a chance to get out bed yet." I reply. Luna laughs and shakes her head. "I've been up for HOURS! Come on, we are going on a picnic." she says. "A picnic..?" I repeat raising and eyebrow. She rolls her eyes, and answers, "No we're going ice skating in the middle of spring. YES a picnic you slow puppy! I'll meet you at the courtyard in ten minutes."
And with that, she turns on her heel and walks out, closing the door behind her.

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Having left with no choice, it seemed; I walk out to the courtyard in a simple dark evergreen tunic, and comfortable brown trousers. I'm wearing my sturdy leather hunting boots that I always wear. Luna is already there, of course, wearing a pretty short sleeved silvery blue dress with matching flats. She is holding a basket covered with a sheet. "Ready?" she asks as I approach. "For the most part." I reply.
"Good, then let's go." Luna takes my hand and leads us off the castle grounds and into the woods. A few minutes pass before I ask, "So where are we going?"
"It's a surprise." comes the reply. She leads us down a well worn path and in a few minutes, we are at her lake, the one from last night. "The lake?" I ask surprised. She nods, "Yes, the lake. Well, the lake for breakfast anyway."
We go to sit under a shady oak tree and Luna begins to set up the sheet. We have a perfect view of the shore from here. "Okay, now we can have our picnic." Luna says with a smile, once the sheet is to her liking. I help her take out the food, she has packed fruit, bread, cheese, a small pot of honey, and a canteen full of liquid. "Well this seems like a pretty good breakfast." I comment. "Truly?" she asks. I nod and get another smile from her. "So what is in the canteen?" I ask nodding to it. "It should be truth potion...or was it love potion??" Luna replies.
"Oh okay... wait what?!" I exclaim, staring at her. Luna manages to hold a straight face for about three seconds before she bursts out laughing, her face lit up in a huge grin. "HA! Your face! Priceless! It really just has some tea in it." she says. She tears off a heel of bread and slathers some honey on it, and hands it to me. "Here, a peace offering." she continues, still smiling. I take the bread and cautiously take a bite, honey dribbles down my chin. The honey that does make it in my mouth though is actually really good. The bread is fluffy and soft, the honey adding just the right amount of sweetness.
"Wow, this is really good." I tell an expectant Luna. I wipe my chin with my sleeve. Luna looks pleased as she helps herself to a strawberry. "So Luna. I have a question." I say, reclining back on my elbow. "Just one?" she teases, "What is it?"
"Well I was wondering...how are you able to switch moods so quickly? I mean, when I first met you, you were freaking out about marriage, and now your well...perfectly normal." Luna is quiet for a moment before letting out a long breath out of her nose. "Well.. When I first met you, after I saved you..my instincts said that there was more to you...and my inner wolf took over when my parents dumped the whole marriage thing on me. My wolf is tied to my emotions.. I don't always have control over it.. and that makes people scared of me. My parents talked to me this morning, and they said that maybe finding love will help settle the wolf. But the thing is.. your the only one who has asked for my hand. Everyone else always wanted to court Skye, but since she is engaged to Gideon, the crown passes to me when I come of age, and my parents are always saying that Misthaven has two thrones for a reason... So for the sake of the kingdom, I have to give this a shot, and I have to try and give this a shot." she finishes. I'm quiet for a moment, and then I take her hand. "It will be okay Luna. I promise." I tell her. She looks into my eyes and whispers, "Okay. Can you tell me about Great Pines?"
"Sure. What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
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And so I lean back against the tree and tell her everything there is to know about Great Pines. I talk about the countryside, the towns, the foxes. I tell her about the Fox, about the castle, and about my mother. I tell her about my childhood, and how I am an only child. I talk and I talk, and Luna listens. The afternoon passes, and so does lunch. We have spent all day the lake.
As we pack up the picnic, I take her hand again and look into her eyes. I place my hand on her cheek, and lean in close, giving her a light kiss on her lips. "Sorry but you just looked so cute standing there." I say as she blushes. Again, I take her hand as we walk back to the castle. Luna has us take several detours however, as we go and see this, that and the other thing. Finally we make it back to the castle. Dinner has already passed, so we sneak down to the kitchen for some food.
The next few days progress slowly, and they are pretty much the same. Today, Luna and I are walking around the kingdom, wandering in the woods around the castle and so on. Eventually we make it back to the lake again. "So now it's your turn." I say, nudging her. "My turn?" she asks, confused. "To tell me about your childhood." I clarify. "Ah." Luna says nodding.
"Well, I'm the youngest out of the two of us. Skye and I, I mean. But we always had free reign of the kingdom..so Skye and I would run around doing whatever we wanted. And ah-" Luna cries out in pain, clutching her chest, as she falls to her knees.
"Luna!? What's wrong?" I cry as I reach for her.
"S-something wrong at the c-castle..." Luna manages to get out among gasps of pain.
"Why are you hurt?? How do you know that there is something wrong at the castle?" I ask confused and worried. *What have I gotten myself into???* I think.
"Just trust me B-Blue. I..I need to get h-home." she says rising.
"But what about our picnic??" I ask rather stupidly.
She gives me a withering glare and yells, "Forget the picnic!!" Luna begins makes her way to the castle, grimacing from the pain. "Right, right sorry.." I reply as I help her to the castle.
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Luna crosses the drawbridge first, and the pain seemed to fade because she began to run. I can see the crows before I cross the drawbridge myself. "Oh no..." I murmur, running after Luna. She is in the courtyard, surrounded by death. Wolves, knights, servants....and the king and queen.
"Oh Fox, oh Fox, oh Fox!" I curse running over to her. Aspen's face is pale, and her eyes are glassy. The queen was dead before Luna got to say goodbye. She is kneeling by her father's side, holding his hand. As I reach them, King William takes his last breath. Luna presses his hand against her heart, sobbing.
"Did he have any last words? Did he say who did this to them?" I ask, putting my arms around her.
"No.. he told me...he told me that I have a brother..."