The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 426

Chapter 427

Ellie’s POV

I was up and out the door that morning before the sun was fully up. I couldn’t sleep, not a wink all night, too busy tossing and turning and kicking myself over and over again for being too much of a goddamn coward to make the right decision last night.

Now, I needed to do something about it. Before it came back to bite me in the ass.

The ruins were a twenty-minute walk from the clinic, made longer by the fresh snow that had fallen overnight, but I didn’t mind. The cold kept me focused, and after last night’s failed attempts at getting a signal, I needed something useful to do with my hands anyway.

I had picked up my phone that morning with the call failed notification still sitting on my screen like a small accusation. I’d tried twice more before bed and once when I first put my feet on the cold floor, all three times getting nothing but the spinning circle and that same annoying result.

So when I remembered what Nico had said about the elevation near the ruins giving you just enough reach to catch a bar or two in the right conditions, I figured it was worth the walk.

The village was barely stirring when I slipped out of the clinic. A couple of lights were on in windows above closed storefronts, smoke beginning to curl from chimneys. I kept my hands in my pockets and my head down against the wind, following the path up toward the switchbacks.

As I walked, I continued to kick myself inwardly for the decision I’d made last night. Maybe my father was right; I shouldn’t have let Vivian go. I’d been too nice, given her the benefit of the doubt for the last time when she didn’t deserve it.

But the thing was, I still didn’t have proof that she was the one who hurt me in my past life. It could have been anyone. And I kept thinking about that grieving Beta who just wanted his daughter back, and I thought about how I’d do anything to have my mother back, and I just… caved.

Maybe that was my problem. I’d been too short-sighted in the moment due to my panic over crossing paths with her again and my sympathy toward the Beta that I hadn’t stopped to think that history might repeat now due to my stupidity when I should have kept her for questioning before, and now she was

gone.

Idiot.

But at least she wasn’t here. Even if she was, I knew I was safe here under my father’s protection. That was something. And if I could just warn Dominic, then he could be the one to escort her back.

And then…

I wasn’t sure what would happen then. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to consider the possibilities. Because I feared that if I did, I might do something else stupid, something with my heart this time.

One dumbass decision at a time, please.

1/4

Chapter 427

+15 Bonus

The ruins were quiet and pale in the early light. The pillars cast long blue shadows across the snow, and the only sounds were the crunch of my boots and the wind coming down off the peaks. I didn’t see anyone else up here, which was what I was counting on.

I pulled my phone out.

One bar. Flickering.

I moved left, toward the far edge of the old market district, watching the signal. It dropped out, came back, dropped again. I kept walking with my eyes on the screen until I found the spot where the bar held steady.

I pulled up Dominic’s contact and hit call before my luck could run out.

It rang three times. I hated how my heart pounded as I waited for his familiar voice to come through, as if the sound of it could fix every stupid mistake I’d made. Finally, the line clicked.

“Ellie.”

His voice came through fragmented, cutting in and out at the edges, but it was there. I pressed the phone harder against my ear.

“Dominic. Can you hear me?”

“-barely. Where are you calling-”

“The ruins. It’s the only place I get service up here.” I turned slightly, keeping one eye on the bar. “Listen, I don’t know how long this will last.”

Static swallowed whatever he said next. I waited for it to pass.

“-go ahead.”

I took a breath.

“I found Vivian.”

Silence, or static. I couldn’t tell which.

“She’s here, Dominic. In Goldenveil. She’s been here the whole-”

The call dropped with two beeps before I could finish.

I pulled the phone back and looked at the screen. No bars.

Call Failed.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

I tried again, this time, it didn’t ring at all; just a robotic voice saying, “Your call could not be connected.”

I huffed and lowered my phone. Great. I wasn’t even sure if he had heard the last part of that, and now I

2/4

+15 Bonus

might have to wait again until I could try calling. Or wait for the courier to come so I could send a letter, which, according to my father, might take another week at least.

I tried one last time, moving in a slow circle with the phone held up, watching for the bar to come back. It didn’t. The signal didn’t return.

By that point, I needed to be getting back to town to open the clinic. I pocketed my phone and started back toward the path.

The ruins were still empty, as far as I could tell. The snow had softened the sound of everything, so I heard nothing but my own footsteps as I picked my way back through the pillars, past the curved stone walls of the Princess’s Garden, past the old market foundations.

I was just rounding the far end of the largest standing wall, a long low stretch of stone that cut across the path back toward the switchbacks, when I heard a voice on the other side of it.

I stopped and listened.

“-not yet,” the voice was saying. “Did you find the trader?”

A pause.

“I don’t care about that. What I care about is-”

Another pause, longer. It was Stephanie’s voice, I realized. And she sounded frustrated.

I pressed myself against the wall. The stone was cold even through my coat.

“-before the election. Make sure it’s potent enough…”

The wind came hard off the peaks at that moment and drowned out the rest of her words. I strained to catch what came after “potent”, but all I got was the tail end of something I couldn’t make out, and then

silence.

I turned to leave, but before I could, footsteps approached. Stephanie walked out from behind the wall and gasped when she saw me standing there.

“What are you doing here?!” she barked.

I curled my hands in my pockets and feigned ignorance. “Going for a walk.”

Her eyes flicked over me. “Shouldn’t the clinic be open by now?”

“I make my own hours,” I said slowly.

She made a hmph sound, studying me for a moment longer. There was something dark and angry in her eyes, as usual, but there was something else there too, hidden just beneath the surface. Something she clearly didn’t want me to see.

Without another word, she turned and walked away, slipping her phone back into her pocket as she went.

3/4

Weird.

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