The Luna You Betrayed Is No Longer Yours

Chapter 11: Chapter 11 The Idea Of Going Home

_Rowena’s POV_

Celeste came to the estate herself that afternoon.

She didn’t call ahead, she never did when she wanted to make a point, and she arrived in the kind of car that made the Varkos gates open faster than usual. I watched from my window as she stepped out, said something brief to her driver, and walked toward the entrance like she owned the approach path and was simply allowing others to use it.

I met her in the hallway before the staff could make a production of showing her in.

She looked around the entrance corridor once, taking in the sight of the furniture, the lighting fixtures, the particular way the space was arranged, and I saw her doing the same calculation my mother had done years ago, when she’d first walked through these doors.

Adding it up. Recognizing what was hers.

"Nice place," she said. "Paid for nicely, too."

"Come upstairs," I said.

We sat in my room with the door closed. Velvet brought tea and then positioned herself outside without being asked, she’d developed an excellent sense of when a conversation wasn’t for additional ears.

Celeste set a folder on the desk between us.

"Asset list," she said. "Everything that came from your mother’s accounts or the Ashthorne estate. My lawyer cross-referenced it against Moonreign’s current property registry." She tapped the top page. "Nothing has been moved or hidden, which surprised me, honestly. I expected them to try something before the decree came through."

"Kaelen stopped Elvira," I said.

Celeste raised an eyebrow. "You know about that?"

"Velvet has good ears."

"Hm." She sat back. "Smart of him. Stupid of her." She opened the folder. "The physical assets, the furniture, the items stored in the east annex, we can arrange transport within the week. The financial accounts are already separated. What I need from you now is a decision about the Ashthorne estate itself."

I looked at her. "What about it?"

"Your mother left it to you," Celeste said simply. "It’s been sitting with a property management company for three years. Maintained, rented in part, but not occupied." She paused. "It’s time to go home, Ro."

The words landed in a way I hadn’t expected.

Home. The Ashthorne house had been in my family for two generations. I had grown up there, learned to ride in the grounds behind it, sat in its kitchen while my mother taught me things she said were important and my father laughed in the next room. When he died, and then my brothers, the house had gone quiet in a way that had felt unbearable. My mother had arranged my marriage partly, I suspected, to give us both a reason not to go back and sit in that silence.

Now she was gone too. And the silence was there whether I went back or not.

"Yes," I said. "I know."

Celeste studied me. "The management company can clear the rental arrangement within a month. We can have your things moved from here before the fourteen days are up." She closed the folder. "You won’t have to stay here one day longer than you want to."

"I know," I said again. "I’m ready."

She nodded. Then, more gently: "How are you sleeping?"

"Adequately."

"That means badly." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

"It means adequately, Celeste."

She let that go, which was how I knew she was worried.

We worked through the logistics for an hour, the transport arrangements, the Ashthorne estate’s preparation, the timeline for physical asset retrieval. Celeste had already spoken to the management company. She had, typically, done most of this before arriving and was presenting it as a discussion when it was really an update.

I didn’t mind. It was one of the things I had always loved about her.

By the time she left, the plan was solid. Real. My name on a house that had always been mine, waiting for me to come back to it.

I walked her out to her car and stood at the gate while she drove away.

When I turned back toward the house, Virella was on the front steps. freewebnovel.cσ๓

She wasn’t dressed to go out. She was simply standing there in a light cardigan with one hand resting on the railing, watching me with an expression I had come to recognize, open and mild on the surface, working underneath.

"Your cousin?" she asked.

"Yes."

"She comes often."

"When I need her."

Virella tilted her head slightly. "She arranged the meeting with the Alpha King, didn’t she."

It wasn’t really a question. I didn’t answer it.

"You went very quickly," Virella said. Her voice was conversational, almost friendly. "Most women in your position would have tried to negotiate first. Work it out within the family." A small pause. "Going to Alaric was.....bold."

"I prefer effective," I said.

She smiled. "Kaelen is going to contest it."

"He’s welcome to try."

"You don’t think he will?"

"I think Kaelen is many things," I said, "but he’s not stupid enough to petition the Alpha King over a marriage that was never consummated and a Luna he left on his wedding night." I kept my voice light. "It wouldn’t reflect well."

Something shifted in Virella’s expression. The friendliness thinned.

"You know," she said, "I actually don’t dislike you."

"I don’t particularly dislike you either," I said honestly. "You saw an opportunity and you took it. I understand that." I looked at her steadily. "But you came into my house and tried to reassign my staff, and you sat in Maelis’s chair while delivering instructions to my kitchen. So I think we both understand where we stand."

Virella was quiet for a moment.

"When you leave," she said, "this pack is going to struggle. Financially."

"Yes," I said. "It is."

"And that doesn’t bother you?"

"The pack’s finances are the Alpha’s responsibility," I said. "They’ve been mine for three years without acknowledgment or agreement. I’m returning that responsibility to where it belongs." I paused. "If it bothers anyone, they should have thought about that before deciding I was disposable."

Virella’s hand tightened slightly on the railing.

"My contacts can help Moonreign recover," she said. "I told Kaelen....."

"I heard what you told Kaelen," I said. "I hope it works out."

I walked past her and back into the house.

I didn’t have the time to entertain anyone’s bullshit.