The Rejected Luna (Avery and Kaden) novel Chapter 187

**Between the Wings of Twilight Lies the Memory of You**
by Liren Ava Roen

So this was the game Antonia had chosen to play. She had been battered by forces unknown, and in a twisted turn of events, she decided to lay the blame squarely at my feet.

Fine. If she wanted to don the mask of the victim, I would gladly embrace the role of the madwoman. My threat had worked wonders; several onlookers instinctively took a step back, cautious not to even brush against the fabric of my clothes, though their whispers of disdain still lingered in the air, calling me shameless and reckless.

Antonia stood there, momentarily rendered speechless. “You would actually try to frame someone? You’re Mrs. Lancaster, for God’s sake. Do you have no sense of class?”

“My class is situational,” I replied, my voice dripping with a cool contempt that masked the storm brewing inside me. “It rises to meet the occasion.” I leaned in closer, my gaze piercing into hers. “Now, you’d better tell me where the rest of my mother’s heirlooms are. If you do, I might just find it in my heart to tolerate your existence for a little while longer.”

Antonia’s lips trembled slightly as she bit down on them, her bravado faltering. The crowd had retreated, sensing the tension, and she could no longer maintain her facade. “Zephyra,” she hissed, her voice low and venomous, “so what if your mother crafted those pieces? My mother is her sister, which gives her a claim. And now, she’s passed them to me. They’re mine to do with as I please. What are you going to do about it?”

My voice remained flat, but each syllable was laced with an icy edge. “My dowry has nothing to do with your mother. She’s not my daughter. I’m asking you one last time: who did you give the other pieces to?”

“I’m not telling you,” she shot back defiantly, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. “What can you do? Hit me in front of all these people?” She crossed her arms, a gesture of open defiance. “Speaking of those little trinkets, it reminds me of the day my aunt died. Haha, you still don’t know how your mother really died, do you?”

My head whipped around to face her, my heart plummeting into the depths of despair. Antonia’s smile only grew wider, a twisted satisfaction gleaming in her eyes. “You’re such an idiot. You still think she died from her illness.”

“But you’re right in a way. She did die from her illness, but it’s not the whole truth. She could have lived for another three months. But what a shame… she saw my mother and your father wrapped in an embrace. The shock sent her tumbling down the stairs. And that, my dear cousin, is how she really died. Haha.”

I stood frozen, staring at Antonia’s triumphant expression, her words reverberating through my mind like a haunting melody.

*She could have lived for another three months… she saw my mother and your father… tumbling down the stairs…*

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