Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 57

57 Break Her Nose, Break Her Crown 2

Arya’s POV

Leah’s eyes sharpened, sensing she’d struck something, but also sensing it didn’t have

the effect she wanted.

She stepped even closer.

Close enough that I could smell her perfume, thick and floral, covering something sour

underneath.

She lowered her voice.

“How does it feel,” she whispered, eyes gleaming, “to lose a baby?”

The room went still.

The words landed heavy.

The question wasn’t curiosity.

It was cruelty.

It was a blade pressed against a wound that hadn’t closed.

Heat surged up my spine so fast I felt my pulse jump in my throat.

My hands clenched.

The bracelet bit.

A flicker of burn sparked against my skin.

1 inhaled slowly,

Held it.

Then exhaled.

I didn’t lunge.

I didn’t scream.

I didn’t give her the gift of seeing me crack.

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I kept my face calm.

Leah watched, delighted, like she was waiting for my eyes to water.

She leaned closer, lips near my ear now, voice a poison thread.

“I bet you begged,” she murmured. “I bet you,”

I cut her off.

“Get out,” I said, voice low, deadly.

Leah’s eyes glittered.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” she said. “We’re family now.”

Family.

I almost laughed.

Leah’s smile sharpened..

Then she did something worse.

She leaned closer, and her voice dropped until it was just for me.

“I did it,” she whispered.

My eyes narrowed.

Leah’s lips curved.

“I poisoned myself,” she said, like she was confessing something clever. “I was tired of

carrying the child of a nameless man.”

My stomach turned.

Not because I didn’t believe her.

Because I did.

Because only someone who truly hated what they carried would say it like that.

Leah’s smile widened when she saw the shift in my face.

“A clean slate,” she said softly. “And who knew it would also help me get James to

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myself?”

My blood roared in my ears.

It wasn’t grief anymore.

It was a different kind of heat.

A predator’s heat.

A killer’s focus.

Leah’s eyes shone.

“You should have seen how easy it was,” she whispered. “How quickly everyone

believed it was you. How quickly they wanted you to be the villain.”

Her voice turned playful.

“They were already waiting for a reason,” Leah said. “All I had to do was hand them

one.”

My fists clenched so hard my nails cut into my palm.

The bracelet burned hotter now, silver biting through the zinc’s mercy.

Leah didn’t stop.

“My father doesn’t know,” she whispered, smug. “Just me and my mother.”

She tilted her head, proud.

“We couldn’t have him worrying,” she said. “He’d try to control everything. He’d try to

plan it. He’d,”

She didn’t finish.

Because I moved.

I didn’t think,

I didn’t hesitate.

My hand shot up, fingers threading into her hair at the roots.

I grabbed.

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Hard.

Leah gasped, hands flying to my wrist.

Her nails scraped my skin.

The bracelet burned, silver searing like it wanted to eat through my flesh.

I didn’t care.

I yanked her head back, then slammed her face into the wall.

The sound was sickening.

A crack.

A wet crunch.

Leah screamed.

Blood burst instantly, red spilling down her lips, her nose, splattering the wall.

She tried to wrench away, but my grip was iron.

My rage gave me strength.

Not fragile, shaky rage.

Clean, brutal rage.

Leah’s hands clawed at my arm, her nails digging.

She tried to shove me, her body twisting, but she was too close, too off-balance, too

shocked.

Crazy, !” she choked, voice thick with blood.

I didn’t answer.

I slammed her head into the wall again.

Once.

Twice.

Her scream turned into a broken cry, muffled by the impact.

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Blood smeared across the wall.

Her knees buckled.

I kept her upright by her hair.

I slammed her again a third time.

Hard.

Her body went limp for a half-second, then jerked, hands scrabbling, trying to push me.

away.

The bracelet burned like fire.

The silver inside it bit my skin with pleasure.

I felt pain rip along my wrist.

I felt it.

I ignored it.

Because Leah was bleeding.

Because Leah was finally paying something.

Not enough.

Not nearly enough.

But something.

Leah tried to swing at me, her fist flailing, catching my shoulder weakly.

I didn’t flinch.

I yanked her head sideways and slammed her cheek into the wall again.

Her cry broke into a sob.

“You,!” she spat, blood spraying.

I tightened my grip.

“Say it again,” I hissed, voice low. “Say it again.”

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Leah’s eyes were wide now, panicked.

She tried to choke out words, but blood poured down her face, soaking her chin, dripping

onto her chest.

And then the door burst open.

Guards.

Two of them rushed in fast.

“Stop!” one shouted.

Hands grabbed my arm.

I didn’t release her.

They yanked harder.

Leah screamed again, high and shrill.

One guard grabbed Leah’s shoulders and pulled her away while the other tried to pry my fingers out of her hair.

I held on for one more heartbeat, just to make it hurt.

Just to make sure she felt me.

Then the guard’s grip twisted my wrist, and pain flashed white-hot through my hand.

My fingers loosened.

Leah stumbled backward into the guard, sobbing, hands covering her face, blood

seeping through her fingers.

Her nose was broken.

The angle was wrong.

She tried to inhale and choked, gagging on blood,

She wailed.

The sound was music.

Not because I was cruel for no reason.

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Because she deserved it.

Because she had admitted it.

Because she had walked into my cage to gloat about killing her own child and using

mine as collateral.

The guard shoved Leah behind him like she was precious.

The other guard turned to me, eyes wild, and punched me in the guts.

Hard.

Right where my abdomen still ached.

Pain exploded.

I folded slightly, breath bursting out of me.

My ribs screamed.

My stomach twisted.

For a second, the room tilted.

But it didn’t matter.

I straightened again, slow, controlled, swallowing the pain like it was nothing.

Because Leah was still crying.

Because Leah was still bleeding.

Because Leah was holding her face like it had been shattered.

And that was worth everything.

The guard’s fist hovered like he wanted to hit me again,

He didn’t, not immediately, because the other one was too busy trying to move Leah.

Leah sobbed and shrieked, words broken.

“She’s crazy!” Leah screamed. “She’s insane! She tried to kill me!”

I lifted my head and smirked.

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Blood stained the wall behind me.

Leah’s blood.

Her nose would heal.

Her face would repair.

But she would remember the pain.

She would remember the helplessness.

She would remember the moment she realised I wasn’t broken.

Not in the way they wanted.

Leah glared at me through her hands, eyes red and wet.

“You’re a monster,” she choked.

I took a step forward, despite the guard’s hand snapping out to block me.

My voice was calm.

Cold.

Clear.

“You better watch your back,” I said.

Leah’s breathing hitched.

The guards tightened their grip on her, trying to move her toward the door.

She kept sobbing, frantic now, shaking, blood dripping onto the floor.

I didn’t care.

I raised my chin slightly.

“I will make you pay,” I said, loud enough for the guards to hear too. “All of you.”

Leah’s eyes widened.

I continued, voice steady, unshaking.

“For everything you did to me,” I said. “For everything you took.”

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Leah tried to speak again, but it came out garbled, thick with blood.

The guards hurried her out.

One of them shot me a look full of hatred, like I was the villain here.

Like I was supposed to lie still and take it.

The door slammed shut behind them.

The lock clicked.

Silence returned.

My breath came hard for a moment.

My abdomen throbbed where the punch landed.

My wrist burned from the bracelet, skin tender and raw.

I flexed my fingers slowly.

Pain.

Yes.

But the pain didn’t matter.

en

Because Leah had walked in smug and walked out broken-faced and bleeding.

Because Leah had confessed.

Because Leah had learned something important.

She was not safe.

Not in my cage.

Not in her father’s pack.

Not in any room where I still had breath.

I stared at the blood on the wall and let my smirk settle into something colder.

Outside my door, the guards shifted.

Their voices rose briefly.

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Panic.

Anger.

Confusion.

Good.

Let them be afraid.

Let them tighten the watch.

Let them rotate faster.

Let them think control was the answer.

They didn’t understand what they had just done by letting her walk into my room.

They had given me proof.

They had given me satisfaction.

They had given me a taste.

And now I wanted more.

I pressed my palm to my abdomen again, not gently.

A vow, not a comfort.

I will make them pay.

Every one of them.

I didn’t need to scream it.

I didn’t need to beg the Moon.

I didn’t need an audience.

I needed time.

And the pack had just made a mistake.

Because now Leah would fear coming near me.

Now she would fear my silence.

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Now she would fear the moment the guards got sloppy.

And they would get sloppy.

Soon

Because they always did.

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