Chapter 72 Chapter 72
Kaius
“So this is all that came in?” I questioned Gamma Rowan, who shook his head in response.
“Okay, so you would note this…” I paused, hearing a scream. Loud enough and familiar.
I dropped the inventory sheets and moved toward the sound.
The commotion was coming from the main hall.
I pushed through the doors to find a cluster of pack members gathered in a loose circle. At the center stood Margaret, her face flushed and her voice carrying across the entire space.
“You were the careless one! Do you have any idea what this was worth?”
And there was Tiana, standing perfectly still with something small and broken in her hands.
A moon opal bracelet.
The delicate silver links were snapped, the stones scattered across the floor like drops of captured moonlight.
“But it was just on my wrist…” Tiana started, but Margaret cut her off.
“That’s the problem! If you know the worth, you won’t just be wearing it recklessly. Now you hit it against me and it snapped. You don’t know how to handle quality jewels and I would not expect much as you were promoted from a servant.”
Several pack members shifted uncomfortably.
Tiana’s face had gone pale, her hands tightening around the broken bracelet.
“That’s enough.” I surged forward. “Margaret, stop now.”
She turned to me, surprise flickering across her features before settling into wounded innocence. “I’m just trying to help. She needs to understand—”
“She needs to understand nothing from you.” I positioned myself between them. “You will not speak to the Luna that way. Not in public, not in private, not ever.”
Margaret’s eyes widened. “Kaius, I was only—”
“Apologize.”
“What?”
“To Luna Tiana. Apologize. Now.”
The hall had gone completely silent. Every eye was on us.
Margaret’s jaw tightened, her mask of sweetness cracking at the edges. “You’re overreacting. I didn’t mean anything—”
“Apologize, or leave.”
For a long moment, she just stared at me. Then her gaze shifted to Tiana.
“I apologize if I offended you, Luna.”
Tiana spoke out before I could. “It’s fine. Thank you for your concern about the bracelet. I’ll have it repaired.”
She gathered the scattered stones not looking at anyone, and left through the side door.
The crowd began to disperse, whispers following in their wake.
Margaret moved close, her voice dropping to a hiss. “You just humiliated me in front of the entire pack.”
“You humiliated yourself.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You did and I don’t think it’s good for the pack. I fear you might regret this.”
She swept out of the hall, her spine rigid with anger.
I stood there for a moment, letting my pulse settle, before following the path Tiana had taken.
I found her in one of the smaller courtyards, sitting on a stone bench with the broken bracelet pieces laid out in front of her.
“Tiana.”
She looked up, and I saw the redness around her eyes.
“I wanted to apologize,” I moved closer. “For Margaret. That was uncalled for.”
“It’s not your fault.” She went back to sorting the stones. “You don’t need to apologize for her.”
I sat down beside her, keeping a respectful distance. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” Her fingers trembled slightly as she picked up one of the moon opals. “I was walking through the hall, and she was there, and then somehow the bracelet caught on something and—” She stopped, shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s broken.”
“It can be repaired.”
“Maybe.” She didn’t sound convinced.
We sat in silence for a moment. Then, because I couldn’t help myself, I asked, “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Stay calm when people come at you.”
Tiana was quiet for a long time. “I’ve had practice. Being a servant meant learning to take insults without responding. I guess some habits stick.”
The casual way she said it made my chest ache.
“For what it’s worth,” I said quietly, “you handled it better than I would have.”
She glanced at me. “You defended me, I definitely appreciate that.”
“It’s the least I could do.”
“Can I ask you something?” Tiana said all of a sudden.
I raised my brows. “Of course.”
“Okay. I want to know how you feel about this whole arrangement?”
I thinned my lips. “Why do you want to know?”
Tiana turned to face me fully. “I’ve seen how you are around her. You seem more closed off.”
The best response to give was silence or deflect maybe. But I blurted those three words that had filled my heart since this arrangement. “I hate it.”
“I feel trapped.” I continued. “Like I’m walking toward something I don’t want but can’t avoid.”
Tiana nodded slowly. “That’s how I felt about this. About the way I am Luna.”
“Felt? Past tense?”
“It’s not so bad now.” She looked down at the broken bracelet. “Some parts are good but that doesn’t mean I chose it.”
“So how do you live with it? The lack of choice?”
“I don’t know that I do,” she admitted. “I just keep finding moments of happiness where I can.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is.” She looked at me again. “But you should never stop prioritizing your happiness, Kaius.”
We sat in silence for a while and in that time, I thought of everything carefully.
Of how I might never truly find happiness if I chose to stick to the script to satisfy the elders.
I sighed, knowing that I had to take my chance.
Without looking at Tiana, I started.
“I wish things were different. That you weren’t my uncle’s mate.”
I waited for her response, seconds turning into minutes but she said nothing.
I turned to look at her, wondering if she was in shock, when my eyes caught a thin white wire run from beneath her hair.
Earbuds.
She hadn’t heard a word.
Relief and disappointment summed up together crashed through me.
She noticed me staring and pulled out one of the earbuds. “Sorry, what?”
“Nothing.” My voice came out strained. “I was saying I want to take my leave.”
I stood quickly and walked away from her.