Darian POV
I found Arius hitting his bedroom wall like it owed him money.
"Stop!" I grabbed his bloody fist before he could hit the wall again. "What's wrong with you?"
My best friend's gray eyes were wild with anger and something else - fear? That couldn't be right. Arius Blackwood was never scared of anything.
"The Moonstones are coming tonight," he said, breathing hard. "They're planning something, Darian. I can feel it."
"So? They're just trying to annoy you. Don't let them win by getting crazy before they even show up."
But Arius kept moving around his room like a trapped animal. In all our years of friendship, I'd never seen him this worked up. Not even when his father made him repeat his final year because of bad grades. Not even when he crashed his first car.
Something was very wrong.
"Talk to me," I said, stopping his path so he had to stop pacing. "What happened?"
Arius looked at me for a long moment, like he was deciding whether to trust me with a secret. Finally, he said, "Someone called me. Warned me about tonight."
"What kind of warning?"
"That the Moonstones aren't the real danger. That someone else is trying to hurt both families." His voice dropped to a whisper. "They said if I go to the gala, someone I care about will get hurt."
My stomach went cold. Arius might be hot-headed, but he wasn't crazy. If someone had warned him, it was serious.
"Did you recognize the voice?"
"No. It was a girl, young, scared. She seemed like she was really trying to help me. " A girl? That was weird. Why would some random girl call to tell Arius about danger? Unless...
"Maybe it was a Moonstone trick," I said. "Trying to scare you into staying home so you look weak."
"That's what I thought too. But something about her voice..." Arius shook his head. "She sounded truly worried. Like she cared what happened to me. "
This was getting weirder by the minute. I'd been Arius's best friend since we were kids. I knew all his girlfriends, all his enemies, all his business ties. No one I could think of would call to warn him about danger.
"Are you going to tell your father?"
"Are you insane? He's already angry about the Moonstones coming. If I tell him about a strange warning, he'll either think I'm weak or he'll cancel the whole party. Either way, our family looks bad."
I understood. Arius was caught between protecting himself and protecting his family's image. It was an impossible choice.
"So what do we do?"
"We go to the party. But we watch everyone carefully. If someone is planning trouble, we'll be ready."
I looked at my best friend's determined face and felt happy and worried at the same time. Arius had always been brave, sometimes stupidly brave. But tonight felt different. Tonight felt dangerous in a way I couldn't explain.
"Okay," I said. "But promise me you won't do anything crazy. If there really is someone planning trouble, we need to be smart, not angry." "I promise." But his hands were still clenched into fists.
As we drove to the dinner, I tried to make jokes and lighten the mood. I told him about the funny movie I'd watched last night and the weird customer who came into my father's shop. But Arius barely smiled. His whole body was tight, like he was ready to jump out of the car and fight someone.
"Maybe the warning was right," I said as we got closer to the hotel. "Maybe we should turn around."
"No." His voice was hard as stone. "I'm not running away from anyone. If someone wants to hurt my family, they'll have to go through me first."
That's when I realized the truth - Arius wasn't just angry or scared. He was excited. Part of him wanted trouble tonight. Part of him wanted a fight with the Moonstones or whoever else was planning something.
And that scared me.
"Just remember," I said as we pulled up to the hotel, "whatever happens tonight, I've got your back."
"I know. That's why you're my best friend."
We got out of the car and walked toward the hotel door. The place was already crowded with rich, powerful people. Everyone was dressed up and happy, but I could feel the tension in the air like electricity before a storm.
Then I saw them - a group of people with red and auburn hair near the door. The Moonstones are. They looked just as stressed and ready for trouble as Arius did.
"There they are," I whispered.
Arius's whole body went stiff. His eyes scanned the Moonstone group, taking in every face. Then he stopped breathing.
"What?" I asked, following his eyes.
That's when I saw her. A girl about our age with the most beautiful red hair I'd ever seen. She was standing slightly apart from the other Moonstones, looking worried and uncomfortable.
"That's her," Arius whispered.
"Who?" "The girl from the phone call. I don't know how I know, but that's her. That's the voice that warned me."
I stared at the girl in shock. She was a Moonstone. The enemy. But if Arius was right, she was also the one who had tried to protect him.
Which meant everything we thought we knew about tonight was wrong.
"Arius," I said slowly, "if she's a Moonstone who called to warn you, then who is she protecting you from?"
Before he could answer, the girl looked up and her green eyes met Arius's gray ones across the crowded door.
And I watched my best friend's entire world change in that single moment.
But I also saw something else - a man in the shadows behind her, watching both families with cold, calculating eyes and a smile that made my blood freeze.
Someone was definitely planning trouble tonight.
And we had just walked right into their trap.