The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 423

Chapter 423

“Mom.” Nico’s voice came thin and wiry from the exam table. He pushed himself up on one elbow, swaying a little where he sat. “Stop. She saved me. She gave the plant to me as a present. She didn’t know.” He swallowed, wincing as his fingers lifted to touch his raw throat. “Please don’t blame her.”

Stephanie looked at her son for a long moment. No one moved. I held my breath, waiting, praying for her to believe him-to believe the truth.

She didn’t.

“You’re not well,” she said. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

She turned back to me and lifted her chin.

“My husband isn’t here,” she said. “Which means, until he returns, the discipline of this pack falls to me. You will go outside. You will stand where the whole village can see what kind of healer poisons children, and you will stay there until I decide you’ve stood there long enough. Lay one hand on the door and I’ll have you removed from Goldenveil before nightfall.”

I could have refused. I had every right, and my wolf was snarling with pride and indignation. But there were warriors in the doorway who answered to her, and a whole pack watching to see what the stranger would do, and I knew, the way I’d learned to know these things, that fighting her now would only give her the proof she wanted so badly.

So I set the empty epipen down on the table, pulled my coat tighter, and I walked out into the

snow.

It had thickened while I worked. The wind came straight down off the peaks in a frigid rush, and within minutes my ears burned and my eyes were streaming with tears. I stood where she pointed, in the open square below the clinic steps, and I put my hands in my pockets and I waited.

The cold worked slowly but efficiently. Before I knew it, my feet and toes had gone numb, and my nose felt like it was going to fall off.

I don’t know how long I stood there. Long enough that the light started to go out for the night. Stephanie never came to relieve me of my punishment. I began to shiver, small at first, then my whole body shaking.

Eventually, I heard footsteps in the snow. I looked up, expecting to see Stephanie approaching looking proud of herself, but it was someone else Marta. Her face was solemn, her lips pressed into a thin line.

Wordlessly, she walked up to me, pulled off her scarf, and draped it around my neck.

Her eyes met mine. Silent and steady and full of words she didn’t want to say, not out loud, not with Stephanie staring at us from the clinic doorway. But she didn’t need to.

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