Alpha’s Rue: His Shunned Luna (Athena Enchanted) novel Chapter 433

“You’ve got to tell her,” Maddox says. “No secrets, remember? We don’t need another Rowan and Danielle situation, do we?”

“Tell me what?” I ask, ignoring the part about Danielle and Rowan. To hell with those two as well, just because I said I wasn't getting involved doesn't mean I remain impartial about what they did to my Noah.

“We’ll give you some previously and check on those labs,” Maddox says, walking out with the other doctors, both immediately falling into conversation about a patient’s baby.

Kingston is staring at me with uncertainty even as the door closes behind them. He reaches for my hand, “Aeliana.” He breathes, the satisfaction in his tone unmistakable.

I immediately pull my hand away. “What is it?”

“You’re Aeliana.” He smiles.

“Always have been,” I say with an eyeroll. “Why do you say it like that?”

“Because you weren’t Aeliana.”

“I what?”

“Something happened to you in the institution that changed you,” he says. “Do you know what?”

Everything? “A lot happened,” I swallow.

“I know,” he quietly says. “What is the last thing you remember before I found you at the Lotus?”

“The Lotus?” I frown. “I was falling, but then I woke up, and I was in this dark room that I didn’t recognise…” I trail off, trying to remember more from the sudden shift from being in my room to that room. “Um, Audrey was there, and this man was tied up. I don’t know how I got there.”

“You were with Audrey?”

I shake my head, everything is a blur. But I think I saw her, but what would she be doing in the asylum? “I’m not sure.”

“I’ll have Rowan look at security footage.” He tells me. “But Ellie, you weren’t in the institute, you didn’t fall today or yesterday, but days ago.”

Days?

Shit, I knew I hit my head hard that time, and it hurt very badly. “Was I in a coma?”

No, I have a very good memory. I remember everything, including the things that I try so hard to forget, those are the things that stick with me most, so why don’t I remember? I was pretending to be someone else, and I don’t remember it. Goddess, have I finally gone crazy?

“You’re not crazy,” Kingston says, as if having read my mind. “You just—” he pauses, looking around the room for someone to help him get this point across, but we’re just the two of us in here. “You were trying to survive, okay? Whatever happened was your mind’s way of helping you survive when I couldn’t. You’re not crazy.”

“What normal person misses out on this much of their life?” I gasp. “I wasn’t in a coma, right, you said—”

“No.”

“So then I’m crazy,” I swallow. “They’ve finally done it, this is what you all wanted, you wanted to run me mad, and you’ve succeeded.” My voice begins to crack, the tears following despite my best efforts to hold back. This was their plan, everyone wanted this. This was the intention behind their collective standing against my sanity. “Now you can keep me in that shithole, and they can keep toying with me, right”

“No,” he shakes his head, wiping my tears away. “Calm down, Ellie. You’re not going anywhere but home with me, okay? I’m going to take you home.”

“After I’ve lost it?” I sob. “Why? Why would you want to embarrass me like that?!” I scream. “Now everyone can laugh and whisper about how I’m crazy. They’re never going to respect me, Kingston.” I choke out. Half of Mooncrest still prefers Audrey over me, and they’ll have her now. She’s sane, she’s more compatible with him. I’ll rot away in that hell with no one but Lumi. “They’ll never trust me to be their Luna again, I don’t trust myself to be their Luna, I don't trust myself to be anywhere but here.”

“You’re okay,” he tells me, pulling me against his chest.

“Stop saying that,” I beg. “I haven’t been okay for weeks, and nobody cared, you wouldn't let them.” I sob into him. “My dad and Damien cared enough to help me, but you beat him up and probably D too, right?”