Bound By The Moon: The Eternal Bond - Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Lily’s POV –
The castle pulsed like a living thing. Beneath its towering walls, the ground itself seemed to breathe, whispering with the echoes of secrets that should never be spoken. The torches flickered, their golden light barely pushing back the creeping shadows that stretched hungrily across the stone corridors.
The gathering was not just a political affair—it was a ritual. A celebration of dominance and cruelty, dressed in the illusion of civility. The Alphas and their Lunas would arrive soon, but before the feast, before the display of power, there were matters to be handled in the depths of the castle. The hidden chambers, where Damon’s true kingdom thrived.
I walked through the dim halls, the cold seeping into my bones, yet a dark heat simmered beneath my skin. Anticipation. Hunger. Tonight, secrets would unravel.
Damon had promised me something. Julia.
She was mine to break, to destroy. He had sworn it to me in whispers, in the space between nightmares and desire.
But first, there were other offerings to be made.
The scent of blood thickened the air as I descended the spiral staircase into the lower chambers.
The screams had faded by now—most of them, at least. The witches were efficient in their work. Pain was their language, and suffering was their altar. What remained of the humans was scattered across the stone floor, the bodies pale, their insides carved with runes that glowed a sickly red in the dim candlelight.
A woman hung from iron chains in the center of the chamber, her breath coming in shallow gasps. The remnants of a spell still crackled around her broken fingers, but it had been useless against Damon. Her eyes flickered toward me as I stepped forward, and for a moment, I saw something there.
Not fear.
Hatred.
I smiled. “Still clinging to defiance?”
The witch spat blood onto the ground. “It’s not defiance,” she rasped. “It’s truth. He will destroy you.”
I tilted my head, studying her. “Damon?”
Her lips curled into something almost like pity. “You think you own him. But you’re just another offering.”
The words should have irritated me. Instead, they intrigued me. Another offering.
My fingers brushed over the carved symbols on her arm. Dark magic pulsed beneath my touch, drawn from the lifeblood that had been spilled here. Damon’s work was beautiful in its horror, a perfect balance of brutality and control.
Her breath hitched as I pressed harder, letting the power creep into my skin. “He promised me Julia,” I murmured, watching her reaction. “What do you think of that?”
A hollow laugh tore from her throat. “I think,” she whispered, “he promised her to someone else, too.”
Something sharp coiled inside me. The witch was stalling, trying to unnerve me. It wouldn’t work. But still… the words stayed.
I leaned in close. “You think I fear betrayal?”
Her breathing grew ragged, and I knew her body was failing. The magic was eating her from the inside out. Her lips parted, perhaps for one last curse, one last attempt at defiance.
I crushed her throat beneath my hand before she could speak.
The bones gave way like brittle twigs. Blood spilled down her torn dress, her body twitching once before going still.
The chamber fell silent once more.
Damon stood at the far end of the hall, watching.
The candlelight flickered against his sharp features, casting strange shadows across his face. His black tunic was speckled with blood, his hands still wet with it. Behind him, the bodies of human slaves lay crumpled in a heap, their sacrifices feeding the ever-growing hunger of the castle’s darkness.
There was something different in his gaze tonight. Something measured.
I stepped toward him, my boots echoing against the stone. “You’ve been busy.”
He wiped the blood from his hands with an almost casual grace. “Preparing.”
“For the gathering?”
A smirk curled at the edge of his lips. “For the next step.”
I should have asked what he meant. But I already knew. Damon’s plans never ended at what he promised.
He reached out, his fingers brushing against my jaw, tilting my face up toward his. “You enjoyed yourself.”
I didn’t bother denying it. “Of course.”
“Good.” His thumb traced the curve of my lip, smearing a drop of someone else’s blood across my skin. “Because it’s only beginning.”
A shiver ran through me, dark and electric. He was holding something back.
I leaned in, lowering my voice. “You promised me Julia.”
His gaze flickered, and for the briefest moment, I saw it—the game he was playing.
“You’ll have her,” he murmured, voice like silk. “But not yet.”
Something tightened in my chest. “Why not?”
A slow, knowing smile. “Because her suffering hasn’t truly begun.”
The room felt colder. The bodies on the ground seemed to shift in the dim light, the echoes of their deaths still lingering in the air. Damon’s power pulsed through the chamber, unseen but suffocating.
What had he done?
I stared at him, searching his face for something—anything. But Damon was an enigma wrapped in shadows, his mind a labyrinth of cruelty and brilliance.
And suddenly, I understood.
Julia wasn’t just a prize. She was a piece in a much larger design.
Damon had no intention of handing her over so easily. Not until he had broken her into something unrecognizable.
Not until he had created her.
A cold, slow smile spread across my lips.
I could be patient.
For now.
As I stepped out of the chamber, the distant sound of the gathering above reached my ears—the murmurs of arriving guests, the clinking of goblets, the laughter that barely masked the tension underneath. The world above was one of masks and polite words.
But down here, beneath the castle’s bones, the truth writhed in the darkness.
Blood and magic. Betrayal and power.
Damon’s secrets stretched deeper than I had ever imagined.
And if he thought I would simply wait, he had underestimated me.
Tonight, I would play the role. The devoted queen. The obedient shadow beside the king.
But the moment he turned his back, I would find out exactly what he was hiding.
And when I did, I would make sure that I was the one pulling the strings.
Even if I had to carve my way through the bodies myself.