The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 49

Ellie POV

The dummy’s eyes flickered. It was dying.

Gasps echoed. And a few people snickered

“Told you. She wouldn’t last.”

“Some ‘prodigy,’ huh? She really is just some wanna be luna with a mask.”

But instead of panicking, something in me was turning gears.

I hadn’t messed up.

My stitching was clean. My pressure control was perfect. Vitals had stabilized before they spiked off the

charts.

There was no logical reason for this thing to “die.”

Which meant there was only one explanation. One I was used to with the about of enemies I seemed to have.

Sabotage.

My gaze flicked across the room just in time to catch a cluster of girls near the back, all glossy lips and smug smirks, giggling behind their hands.

Vivian’s followers. I’d seen them hanging out. She’d really begun rubbing elbows recently for her Luna role, and too many people liked her more for it.

One of them – Tessa, I think — was missing a nail. The acrylic tip was gone, leaving a raw, uneven edge she kept tucking out of sight.

I narrowed my eyes. Unlike those girls to go around for long without a nail. Unless she lost it recently.

“Well,” the instructor said. “You tried but-”

I stepped backward just enough to spot the janitorial cart parked near the wall, everyone watching curioulsly.

“Ellie?” He said.

A screwdriver poked out of the tool bag.

Perfect.

Without hesitation, I grabbed it.

“Miss Ellie?” the instructor barked, again. “What are you-”

I ignored him.

I marched straight to the dummy, planted my hands on its mechanical shoulder, and shoved it back down onto the table. Its joints whirred in protest, but I locked my weight over it and flipped the chest panel open.

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Several students gasped.

“Ellie, what are you doing?” someone hissed.

I didn’t look up. Because there, lodged exactly where it shouldn’t be, short-circuiting the sensor array…

Was a bright pink acrylic nail.

“Well, would you look at that,” I said coolly.

I reached in, twisted a loose screw back into place, secured the panel with two quick turns of the

screwdriver, and stepped aside as the dummy instantly powered down and rebooted

The vitals stabilized. The alarm went silent.

The entire class was frozen. Completely silent.

I turned to the instructor and handed him the screwdriver.

“Faulty dummy,” I said simply. “Someone’s fake nail got accidentally jammed in the bottom.”

Then I slowly placed the neon pink acrylic nail into his palm.

Tessa missing a nail and looking like she’d swallowed a lemon – immediately grabbed her bag, cheeks

flaming.

A few students snorted.

Lucas would’ve clapped if he were here.

The instructor stared at the nail, then at me, expression shifting from confusion… to shock… to a flicker of respect he tried desperately to hide.

“Well,” he said, clearing his throat, “that… explains the malfunction.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Should I continue the stitch?”

He blinked, thrown off-balance. “Yes. Yes, Miss Starling. Carry on.”

And I did with half the room watching in stunned, silent disbelief.

“Yes sir.” I smiled. “Gladly.”

୮

I was humming.

Actually humming.

Which should’ve been my first warning that the universe was absolutely planning to ruin my day.

Freshly showered, hair still damp at the ends, clothes soft and warm from the dorm dryer-I felt… good. Light. Almost floaty. The kind of good that should have been illegal for someone with my life.

The lavatories here were the definition of luxury. Heated tiles, pre-stocked shampoos, rows of herbal soaps lined up like tiny soldiers. After scrubbing fake blood off my arms and neck for the third time today, I’d

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practically melted under that water.

All my classes had gone well, shockingly well.

My sutures had been precise.

My emergency aid instructor had actually nodded at me with something that resembled impressed approval.

And I’d gotten through combat drills without elbowing a classmate.

For the first time in weeks, I let myself think:

Maybe things are finally changing.

Maybe I was carving out something new, something real, outside of Dominic and Vivian and the mess I’d left behind in the Management wing.

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