The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 84

Chapter 84

Vivian POV

I hear her before I see her.

Soft, broken sounds echoing down the narrow alley behind the academy. SHe wasn’t expelled.

Which was a pain fo rme.

She was hiccupping heavy breaths, the kind that scrape against your throat when you’ve cried too long and too hard. Karina is crouched near the brick wall, arms wrapped around herself like she’s trying to hold the pieces in. Her face is blotchy, red, swollen. Mascara smeared beneath her eyes.

Gods. What a mess.

She texted me, asked to meet. Maybe I pitied her.

She startles when she notices me, scrambling to her feet like a startled animal.

“Vivian,” she says quickly, voice shaking. “Gods why did you do that at the Midterm accoundments! I-I didn’t mean for it to happen like that. You said- you said it would be fine. You said they’d never notice!”

I tilt my head, studying her, letting my expression soften just enough. “Notice what?”

Her mouth opens and closes. Tears spill again. “What? No. Don’t do that. You know what I mean. The test. Ellie. You told me—”

“Oh,” I interrupt gently. “You mean your actions? I never said to do it, honestly I thought it was a distasteful idea.”

I step closer, my heels clicking softly against the stone. Karina shrinks back a fraction, and I almost laugh.

“You tricked me,” she whispers, anger bleeding through the fear. “Everyone thinks this is my fault, but it was you. You wanted her gone! You told me the idea to get her gone!”

I sigh, slow and patient, like I’m dealing with a child. “Karina… you really don’t know when to stop talking, do you? All I said was you could, it was a joke. It’s no my fault you too it so far.

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Her hands curl into fists. “What you did was wrong. You’re two-faced. You smile and pretend to be nice, but you-”

I move faster than she expects.

One moment there’s space between us, the next I’m close enough that she has to tilt her head back to look at me. I keep my voice low. Calm. Almost kind.

“Let me make something very clear,” I say. “You weren’t punished because of me. You were punished because you failed.”

Her eyes widen.

“You were sloppy,” I continue softly. “Careless. You let her win. And you honestly thought Dominic would look at you after that?” I click my tongue. “Sweetheart, you never had a chance with that horrid idea.”

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Her breath shudders. “You used me.’

I smile. Not wide. Not cruel.

“Does it matter?” I ask lightly. “No one will believe you. Not now. Not ever. I was never involved, just a friend worried about her sister on the sidelines: ”

She stares at me, devastated, realization finally settling in.

I step back, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from my skirt. “You should clear yourself up,” I add, voice warm again. “People are starting to stare.”

I leave her there sobbing, shaking, and utterly ruined as I step back onto the main road.

Instantly, my smile flips on.

“Hi!” I chirp, waving at a pair of passing students. “Crazy day, right?”

They wave back, oblivious. “Hey Vivian! Cute skrit!”

“Thanks! Love you hair!” I bounce, but inside something burns.

Ellie should have been expelled. And if that idiot Karina had even half a brain, she and her woud have been. Drifting away from Dominic isn’t enough. Ellie doesn’t get to shine. Not as a healer. Not as a student. Not in front of him.

I think of our mother-of her voice, always gentle with Ellie, taking her side, and always correcting me. Your curls are a little out of place, Vivian. Or, Maybe you’re being too harsh. Ellie is complex.

Complex?

Ellie is an ugly little rat who doesn’t know when to stay in her place.

I straighten my shoulders, nails biting into my palms.

Fine.

If this plan didn’t work, I’ll make a better one.

Something final.

Something she won’t survive.

r

Dominic POV

Formal dinners at my parents’ estate always followed the same script.

The long table. The polished silver. The servants moving like ghosts along the walls. Politics disguised as pleasantries. Expectations dressed up as concern.

So when I took my seat across from them and felt the air tighten instead of settle, I knew, instantly, that this wasn’t a normal evening.

My mother sat straight-backed, hands folded neatly in her lap, expression cool and unreadable. My father

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didn’t bother pretending. His jaw was already tight, his gaze fixed on me like I’d walked in late to a meeting I didn’t know I was supposed to attend

We didn’t even make it to dessert.

“Dominic,” my father said, setting his glass down with deliberate care, “the Alpha ascension is approaching faster than you seem to realize.”

Here we go.

“I’m aware,” I replied evenly.

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