Chapter 68 Chapter 0068
•NADIA•
"Luna," Kira said as she walked into my room and closed the door behind her. "The elders have sent for you. They said to tell you that they are ready."
I looked at her for a second through the mirror of my dressing table before I returned my attention to my makeup.
"Alright, thank you, Kira."
She didn't leave, but stood there as if she were waiting for something or looking for something.
"Anything else?" I asked as I tilted my head and looked at her.
She hesitated. "No, Luna. I—" she cleared her throat and turned to the door. "I am sorry."
I knew at that moment what was going on inside her mind when she looked around my room. She was thinking about her.
I knew how close they were when Cassandra was still the Luna. They were almost inseparable, and when Cassandra was banished from the pack, I was certain she would leave and chase after her.
But surprisingly, she stayed.
"Stop."
She froze with her hand on the door handle.
I set down my makeup brush and turned on the stool to face her properly.
"Were you looking for her in my room?" I asked, laughing softly. "After five years, it's still hard for you to believe that she's gone, isn't it?"
Kira turned back around. Her expression was carefully neutral, but I could see past it easily enough.
She knew what I was talking about, but she had learned to hide her emotions very well.
She could've fooled me if I hadn't caught her looking around the walls for her pictures or anything that would remind her of Cassandra.
"I don't know what you mean, Luna," she replied.
I smiled. "Cassandra. You were looking for Cassandra." I tilted my head. "Even now, after everything, you still think about her. It is almost sweet."
Something shifted behind her eyes, but she didn't speak.
"She is gone, Kira," I continued, returning to the mirror and picking up my brush again. "She has been gone for five years now." I stroked the brush across my cheekbone. "You served her and I understand that. But she was never worthy of that kind of loyalty, and everyone who gave it to her should feel the shame of having done so."
It annoyed me to death that she still thought of her and even missed her when she was supposed to think of me!
I was the Luna and the one deserving of that title.
"You should be grateful," I added. "Grateful that your loyalty to an unworthy Luna didn't cost you more than it did. You are still here, still employed, still given the grace of serving someone who actually deserves it." I glanced at her reflection. "And yet here you stand, missing her."
"I wasn't—"
"Don't." My voice sharpened. "Don't insult me by lying to me as if I am a fool to read between the lines!"
Then Kira straightened and cleared her throat. For a moment, I thought she would apologize to me and ask for another chance.
"I quit," she blurted out.
I paused with the brush mid-air. "I beg your pardon?" I replied.
"I am done," she repeated, her voice steady in a way that surprised me. "I quit my position, Luna. Effective immediately."
I set the brush down and turned to face her. "You would throw away a position in this pack house over a woman who is no longer here to even know you did it?"
"I am not doing it for her," Kira answered. "I am doing it for myself. Because I will not stand here and be spoken to like that. Not by you or by anyone." Her jaw was firm. "I have served this pack house faithfully. I have never once neglected my duties or spoken out of turn. But I will not be mocked for having loyalty and I will not be shamed for being human enough to miss someone who treated me with basic decency."
I stared at her.
"Cassandra was never perfect," Kira continued quietly. "But she never once made me feel like I was beneath her. She never used my feelings as something to twist and laugh at." She met my gaze. "You have done both in the last five minutes."
I didn't answer. It was so brave of her to stand up to me like that and for a moment, I wished for a thunderbolt from above to strike her down for me.
She reached up and unpinned the small house staff emblem from her uniform. She placed it down on the edge of the table near the door.
"I hope the elders are not kept waiting, Luna," she said. "I will pack my clothes and leave before sunset."
Then she turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
I stared at the emblem sitting on the table for a long moment and scoffed.
"It's time I wiped all of Cassandra’s minions from the pack," I muttered under my breath as I got off the chair, and left the room.