Reclaiming My Broken Luna (Astrid and Killian) novel Chapter 399

Astrid’s POV

The world outside my dreams pulled me back slowly, the haze of sleep clinging to me as I stirred awake.

Something was missing, though. I reached out instinctively to the empty space beside me, my fingers brushing against the cool sheets where Killian should have been.

I blinked, still disoriented, as I pushed myself up. The room was dim, the soft glow of moonlight streaming through the windows.

My eyes adjusted slowly, and then I saw him—Killian, standing on the terrace just outside, his broad back turned to me.

His posture was rigid, his hands gripping the railing as though it were the only thing keeping him grounded.

Yawning, I stretched, rolling my shoulders to shake off the remnants of sleep.

The cool air hit me as I stepped onto the terrace and I instantly wrapped my arms around myself.

“Killian,” I called softly, my voice still hoarse from sleep. He didn’t turn, didn’t acknowledge me at first.

His head hung low, the tension radiating from him unmistakable.

I closed the distance between us, placing a gentle hand on his arm. “What’s wrong?” I asked, my worry spilling into my voice.

Killian finally turned to look at me. He forced a smile on his face, that looked quite broken. “What are you doing here? You should go back and sleep,” he muttered, faking a smile to push me away.

“I can’t sleep. I’m not used to sleeping beside an empty space,” I muttered as I touched the railing and stood beside him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked directly into his eyes, leaving him no room for avoiding me.

He didn’t respond immediately. The silence stretched between us, broken only by the faint rustle of leaves in the wind.

Finally, he let out a shaky breath, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the railing tighter.

“I can’t stop thinking about her,” he said, his voice raw, almost unrecognizable.

“Your mother?” I asked gently, already knowing the answer.

He nodded, his shoulders trembling slightly. “She’s gone, Astrid. She’s… gone.” His voice cracked, and my chest tightened at the sound.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him softly, reminding him that he doesn’t need to be strong beside me.

He turned to me suddenly, and the sight of his tear-streaked face stole the breath from my lungs.

Killian, the man who had always been my rock, my unshakable anchor, looked utterly broken.

“I should have—” His voice broke again, and he turned away, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “I should have fixed things with her. I should have—”

“You didn’t know,” I said gently, cupping his face in my hands. “You couldn’t have known.”

Unlike my father, Rowena took a completely different approach to get close to Killian.

Instead of asking for forgiveness like my father did and directly trying her best to make it up to her son, Rowena used tough love until the end.

She played us into thinking that she was doing that all because of her schemes when in truth, she was actually doing those things for her son.

If we had known, if she hadn’t played things that way we wouldn’t have treated her like a threat and a traitor.

“Rowena knows you were hurt. But in the end, she made a choice that showed how much she loved you. That counts for something, doesn’t it?” I mumbled to his ear.

Killian nodded slowly, his breath hitching as he tried to regain control. “It doesn’t make it easier,” he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

“No,” I agreed, my voice soft. “It doesn’t. But you don’t have to carry all of this alone. I’m here. Always.”

He pulled me into another embrace, his face pressed against my neck as his tears soaked into my skin.

We stood there in silence, the moonlight casting its pale glow over us as Killian shed the tears he had kept buried for too long.

For the first time in a long while, I felt his walls come down completely. And though it broke my heart to see him like this, I held him tighter, hoping he could feel how deeply he was loved.