The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 486

Chapter 486

Ellie’s POV

The moment the words came out of my mouth, Bastian stared at me like I had just sprouted a second head.

To be fair, I probably looked like I had. Blood kept sliding into my eye faster than Dominic could wipe it away, and my voice had come out sounding like I’d swallowed half the rubble on my way out of it. I knew I sounded just as insane as I felt.

But it didn’t make the words I’d said feel any less true, and it didn’t change what I remembered.

That was no normal dream. No normal dream I’d ever had involved lights going off in a library one by one and my newfound half-brother talking to me through a librarian’s mouth.

“She’s in shock,” Bastian said, looking at Dominic. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

“I know exactly what I’m saying.”

“Later.” Dominic said it to both of us. “Breathe first. Talk after.”

He got his way, mostly because I didn’t have much choice. For a while, all I could do was sit wrapped in his coat with my back against his chest, taking shallow sips of air and cataloging the damage in my body in the same way I would for any of my patients.

My ribs were definitely bruised, and maybe even cracked. The gash above my left eyebrow was bleeding freely, but I knew it only looked worse than it was. My left hand was swollen and painful, definitely fractured in at least

one spot.

Most concerning, my ears were still ringing and my head swam a little when I moved it. Concussion, without a doubt.

I would survive, thanks to the medical skills I had. But I’d need proper medical attention soon, which meant I’d have to get out of this mountain. Which would be easier said than done in my current state.

Still, my focus was on that dream.

When I could finally talk without wheezing, I told them everything. They listened the whole time as I talked about the library, Nico, his warnings. When I was finished, Dominic had his brow furrowed in deep thought, and Bastian was still looking at me like I was a crazy person.

“You hit your head,” he said.

“I know I did. But I also know what I saw.”

His jaw tightened. “It was just a dream.”

“Bastian.”

“She’s my mother,” he hissed.

I swallowed. My throat ached so badly. “I know. I’m just telling you what Nico said-”

“Nico isn’t here. Nico has insomnia. He can barely get through a night in his own head, let alone go wandering

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Chapter 486

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into yours from all the way back home.”

“Then explain what I heard about Vivian.”

The corridor fell silent. Even now, after everything she’d done, my chest squeezed. Vivian. Dead. The girl I’d been raised with as a sister. Gone.

I looked away. Dominic’s hand found mine, fingers lacing between mine.

“My mother is not a killer, Ellie,” Bastian insister. “Is she cruel sometimes? Fine. Yes. She’s cold, she’s rigid, and she’s been harder on you than anyone since the day you showed up. But she’s a practical woman. Everything she does, she does for this family. She wouldn’t just go and kill you.”

Dominic looked up at him. “Bastian…”

“She raised me,” my brother went on. “She raised Nico and Eli. She would never kill you. She wouldn’t kill anyone. Not unless she absolutely had to.”

“Nico believes she would,” I whispered.

Bastian’s jaw clenched. He snatched his ice axe off the ground with his good hand.

“Unbelievable. I dig you out of a rockslide, and two minutes later you’re telling me my own mother-”

“Bastian.” Dominic’s voice stayed quiet, but there was the tone of an Alpha underneath it. “Cool off.”

Dominic crouched down in front of me without a word and slipped his arms under me.

“I’ll carry you.”

“I’m too heavy-”

“You weigh less than Bastian’s ego.”

“I heard that,” Bastian said from up ahead.

Rolling his eyes, Dominic lifted me with ease, one arm hooked under my knees and the other behind my back. ” See?” he said through the bond. “Light as a feather.”

Bastian returned, gaze down, and took my pack without being asked.

“No traps ahead,” Bastian said without looking at me. “I checked.”

“Thanks,” Dominic said for both of us. They began to walk in silence.

The passage ran on for a few hundred paces before it opened onto a landing, and the landing opened onto

another staircase.

Bastian took the lead, tapping the steps ahead with the axe. Tap. Tap. Tap. Nothing dropped away. Small mercies.

Halfway down, Dominic’s breath suddenly hitched. He stopped and turned abruptly, looking back up at where we’d come from.

My fingers dug into his neck. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer right away. Just stared at the entrance, distant and dark now, the shadows crawling up to the edge of the light coming from his headlamp.

“Nothing,” he said at last, shaking his head. “Thought I heard footsteps.”

I pricked my ears to listen, but heard nothing. Just the sound of water a little closer than before.

“An echo,” he said, continuing further down the stairs. “Just an echo.”