The Second Chance Of The Rejected Moon (Celine and Bastian) novel Chapter 108

Chapter 108

Without giving it much thought, I start pulling up the weeds with my bare hands. The damp soil gives way easily around the roots, and the familiar scent of freshly turned earth fills the air. Sonia doesn’t take long to join me. Together, we straighten overturned flowerpots, clear away dried leaves, remove dead branches, and reuse far more soil than anyone would have thought possible. Little by little, the old greenhouse begins to regain some of the charm it must have had years ago. Even a few flowers, hidden beneath all the neglect, are once again revealed beneath the light streaming through the glass.

We work for quite a while, talking, sharing stories, and laughing every now and then, until neglect is no longer the first thing anyone notices upon entering the greenhouse.

By the end of our conversation, we agree to spend every morning there so the former queen can teach me everything I still need to learn. Protocol, customs, the history of the Thorn family, the expectations placed upon a future queen, and every detail of my mating ceremony with Bastian.

And, of course…

Our coronation.

Before noon, I climb the stairs leading to the living quarters in search of Grandpa Thorn, but I can’t find him. I walk through the castle’s long corridors, peek into the library, the study, the training hall, and even discreetly ask a couple of guards, but none of them has seen him since he left the dining room. He isn’t in the gardens or anywhere around the castle either.

My first thought is that he left without telling anyone so people would leave him alone. After his argument with Sonia, it was obvious he wasn’t in the right frame of mind, and knowing him, he’d probably chosen to get away for a while and sort through his thoughts rather than endure everyone’s stares.

With a resigned sigh, I head back downstairs. The castle has settled back into its usual routine, and the servants move through the hallways as though nothing had happened that morning. I step into the dining room, greet the few people still there with a nod, and pick up nothing but Grandpa Robert’s stew before returning to my room. The bowl is still warm in my hands, and the aroma of the freshly cooked meal follows me down the hallway as I slowly make my way back.

I quietly close the door behind me and set the tray on a small table by the window.

But eating is the last thing on my mind.

I feel awful.

Sad.

Everything Sonia told me keeps circling through my head without giving me a single moment’s peace. I can’t stop thinking about everything that family has endured. Magnus growing up while watching his father destroy the woman he loved most. Sonia enduring a humiliation she never deserved and having to rebuild her life from the ashes of a broken marriage. And Silas…

A man so broken inside that he’d spent two hundred years breathing, training, and walking among his people without ever truly living. It was as though part of him had been trapped forever in that night, never able to move forward.

I rest my elbows on my knees and bury my face in my hands for a few seconds.

It was impossible not to feel compassion for all of them. None of them had come away unscathed, and although time had continued to move forward, their wounds remained open beneath a façade of normalcy that only existed on the surface.

After thinking about it for far too long, I step into the dressing room to change my clothes. Until Aymara returns from her leave. I don’t have much to do. Sonia went out for a walk with her mates, and Bastian is working in the study with his father, so no one is going to notice if I’m gone for a couple of hours.

I open the wardrobe, leaving behind the dresses that only a few days ago still felt foreign to me. Now, strangely enough, they’ve already become part of my routine.

The moment I change into my training clothes, though, I finally feel like myself again.

I adjust the fabric, pull my hair into a high ponytail, and take a deep breath in front of the mirror before leaving my room once more.

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