“Your highness, the baby is struggling, you must push!” the maidens yelled as the matriarch screamed through labor.

“She is struggling, the baby may not survive.” King Agustus remarked to his wife who stood beside him as they waited outside the medical room

“I don’t think so either… Poor Alora.” She mumbled.

“You must rest, it has only been a week since you’ve given birth… I will join soon.” He assured his wife who left.

All of a sudden, the screams stopped and the air almost felt heavy with how silent it had gotten. The night air seemed to halt in its track as the king looked at the maidens who exited his sisters room.

“Is the baby okay Menorah?” He asked.

“It does not have life your highness… It was a girl.” The maiden said, her head bowed slightly.

The King looked at his wife who nodded and then said simply, “Discard of it and tell nothing to Princess Alora. Sedate her and let her rest. I’ll get one of the soldiers to throw the dragons egg as well, it won’t survive if this baby won’t”

“Yes your highness.” She bowed, before scampering away.

The King left in silence as did many of the maids. Only the physician and Alora’ own maid stayed back to clean her up and help her sleep. They gave her a tea to sedate her and then left her alone.

The maid, Menorah, made her way with the bundle in her hand, shivering as she did so. A baby lay in her arms, a baby that was supposed to be heralded with laughter and joy was instead to be discarded like trash. Was this all her life was supposed to be?

Standing alone in a corridor that connected the Palace to the Servants Quarters, she looked down at the baby. The moonlight against its pale features made her smile.

“You would have been a spitting image of your mother.” She said fondly, “I’m so sorry princess.”

Stroking the baby’s face gently with her finger, she kissed the top of its head gently.

A soft cry emanated rom the baby, startling her.

“You’re alive….? You’re alive!” exclaiming to herself she ran to the King’s quarters where the curtains had been drawn and the lamps had been put off.

“Your highness?” she knocked, “ It is a matter of great urgency.”

“Someone had better be dying…” He mumbled before asking the guards to open the door.

As soon as he heard the cry of the baby he ran out to see her and ordered his soldiers to leave.

“What is this?! The baby is alive!?”

“Your highness, she suddenly breathed when I was walking in the moonlight! This child is surely blessed by the moonlight! It is chosen!”

“You foolish woman. Can’t you see this would be a deformed baby? It will not grow up to be fit for the Royal throne… discard the baby. It will not breathe much longer as it is. It is weak and pale.”

Menorah looked at the King, attempting to gauge if he was actually serious but to her horror, he was. He walked away without a word.

How could he say this? His own twins were but a week old, not much older than this little child. But Menorah could not disobey the king! Unless…

Now that the Princess Alora wasn’t pregnant, Menorah would not have a job at the palace. She decided to leave with the child and raise it as her own.

“You are a miracle child. Born by the light of the moon… I will take care of you my…Luna.” She smiled down at the sleeping baby and kissed its head.

It was perhaps defected for the king but not for her, for her she was just a baby. An innocent child. And she would always treat it well!