The Second Chance Of The Rejected Moon (Celine and Bastian) novel Chapter 172

Chapter 172

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Celine lowers her gaze to her friend’s hands and then looks back at her. There is something strange about the moment. Everything feels far too normal after the chaos she has just left behind. The warmth of the room. the fire burning in the fireplace, the familiar voices, the clean scent of the sheets, and the feeling of being surrounded by people she knows make it difficult, for a moment, to remember that only a few hours ago she was lying in a bed, covered in blood and fighting to stay alive.

From the armchair, Sonia watches the scene with a tired smile. Her eyes shine as she looks at Celine, and for the first time since the young woman returned, she seems to allow herself to breathe peacefully. Beside her, Silas leans forward and rests his forearms on his legs, following every movement with a calm expression. Magnus remains by the window, but his eyes are no longer on the outside or on the soldiers moving across the castle grounds. His entire attention is on Celine.

Thomas and Jared remain silent as well. Both stand near the window, still wearing clothes marked by the battle, but their expressions have changed now that they see her standing in front of them. They no longer have the tension of men waiting for the next attack. For a few minutes, at least, they can see her alive.

After everything that happened, seeing her there, clean, breathing, and surrounded by the people who love her is almost too much for all of them. The castle is still damaged, the war has just ended, and there are still bodies outside its walls, but inside that room there is a strange calm that none of them wants to break.

Celine finally lifts her gaze and looks around the room. First, she looks at Aymara, who still has her hands on her belly. Then she looks at Sonia and Silas, at Magnus by the window, and at Thomas and Jared. Her brow furrows slightly as she tries to understand why they are all there.

“Why are there so many people here?”

She does not wait for an answer. She turns around, crosses the room quickly, and enters the dressing room, closing the door with more force than necessary. She is practically naked in front of far too many people, and for the first time, her discomfort has nothing to do solely with the lack of clothing. She feels exposed, vulnerable, out of place. After almost four months, returning home was the only thing she had thought about. Arriving, reuniting with her family, finding her mate, and helping him wake up. She had imagined that moment so many times that, somehow, she expected everything to go back to the way it was before. However, when she finally wakes up, she no longer has an injury, her mate is not in the bed beside her, and everything around her seems to have changed. She is alone, completely healthy, heavily pregnant, and still does not understand how she has ended up there.

She dresses in training clothes that now fit too tightly around her belly and steps back out of the dressing room with a towel wrapped around her head. Her hands are still wet, and she dries them against her pants, more out of nervousness than necessity. Her eyes scan the room again. Nadia’s body is no longer where she left it. The blood that had stained the floor is gone as well. Everything is clean, orderly, almost untouched. For a moment, it is so strange that Celine feels as though the last few months never happened and everything had been nothing more than a nightmare that lasted far too long.

“All of us wanted to make sure you were okay, and we also wanted to welcome you home.”

Sonia gets to her feet and approaches her with an expression much softer than the one Celine is used to seeing on her face. Celine nods and allows her mate’s grandmother to hug her, that strong woman who, in such a short time, has taught her more about the life she will have as queen than she ever imagined learning.

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16:05 Tue, Aug 18

The Second Chance Of The Rejected Moon

“I’m fine, Grandma. Thank you for worrying about me.”

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Magnus and Silas join the embrace, surrounding her between the three of them for a few seconds. Celine smiles, feeling for the first time since she returned that she is truly home. Jared waits somewhat impatiently for the family to step aside so he can approach, while Thomas, always colder and more reserved, watches in silence until Aymara turns toward him and hugs him, still with tears sliding down her cheeks. The man finally smiles and wraps his arms around her.

When it is finally Jared’s turn, he wastes no time and wraps his arms tightly around her, as if he wants to make up in a single embrace for all the months they spent without knowing where she was.

Then the door opens.

The air catches in Celine’s lungs.

Months. Months away from him. Months imagining the moment she would return home, months wishing she could see him wake up, months waiting to have him standing in front of her again. And now he is there, standing in the doorway.

Bastian.

A possessive growl shakes the bedroom, and Jared releases Celine as if he has just touched something burning.

“Well, I guess some things never change.”

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