Chapter 2

As I stood there in silence, the room settled back into that warm, familiar atmosphere.

Lia leaned against the pillows, fingers brushing the Moonstone necklace I had given her. A little life had finally returned to her eyes when she spoke, her voice still weak from illness.

“This necklace is beautiful.”

“I bet it would look even prettier in the tower closest to the moonlight.”

Lia lowered her head, looking embarrassed. “I heard the pack say Freya's tower is the closest place to the moonlight. An outsider Omega like me has never seen anything like it.”

Kaiden tucked the blanket around her and hesitated, rare for him.

“You like that place? But...”

Soren cut him off, his voice still gentle.

“If you like it, Freya can give you the key.”

That tower had been built for me by Soren.

When I was little, I used to complain that the moonlight was too far away, that I could never catch it. So Soren had brought people to the highest slope in the north and built me a tower there.

He told me that whenever I missed the Moon Goddess, I could stand there, and no one would be allowed to disturb me.

For many years, it was my favorite place. I had never given the key to anyone, not even Kaiden.

Now, with one sentence from Lia, everyone in the room turned to me. Kaiden frowned, already bracing himself for me to lose my temper.

To everyone's surprise, I spoke with perfect calm.

“All right.”

The room went quiet for a moment. Lia looked up blankly, and surprise flickered in Kaiden's eyes as well.

I placed the tower key on the table and kept my voice as even as I could.

“If she likes it, let her have it.”

Lia closed her fingers around the key. The smile in her eyes vanished quickly beneath another sheen of tears.

Then she asked softly, “Freya, after I leave the hospital, could I stay somewhere closer to Soren and Kaiden?”

Soren immediately lowered his head. “Where do you want to stay?”

Lia clutched the blanket, looking almost afraid I'd get angry.

“The master bedroom has a skylight. I could sleep under the moonlight there. I'd recover faster with more moonlight.”

Soren hesitated.

“She can have the master bedroom too,” I said.

Kaiden stared at me even longer, suspicion slowly rising in his eyes.

“Freya, what kind of game are you playing right now?”

“Nothing,” I said, then hesitated. “Soon, we'll be saying goodbye--”

Before I could finish, Kaiden cut me off coldly.

“Don't pull this running-away stunt on me.”

A metallic taste rose in my mouth, and I swallowed the rest of my words.

So even saying goodbye was too much to ask.

Lia asked softly, “Freya, are you blaming me for taking your key and moving into your room?”

Her fingers tightened around the necklace, and her eyes reddened again. “If you truly don't want me to, I won't go.”

Soren immediately turned to her, his voice gentle. “Don't worry about that.”

Kaiden also lowered his voice. “Your health comes first.”

Standing by the door, I had never felt more out of place.

When I was sick in the past, Kaiden would sit by my bed all night, and Soren would cool soup spoon by spoon before feeding it to me.

Now Lia was the one in my place. There was no place for me in that room anymore.

I picked up the empty gift bag. When I spoke, my throat hurt.

“I'll go back and pack.”

No one answered.

Only Lia leaned against Kaiden and murmured that her head still felt dizzy.

I turned and left the hospital room. At the end of the hallway, moonlight lay cold and white across the floor.

At that moment, I remembered the first night after my parents died in battle. Soren had held me with red eyes, still trying to comfort me.

“As long as your brother is here, Freya will always have a home.”

Kaiden had held my hand too, saying that once he became Alpha, the first thing he would do was marry me and make me his Luna.

Lies. All lies.

By the time I returned to the villa, dawn was beginning to break. A servant was waiting at the door.

When she saw the blood on my hand, her face changed. “Miss, your hand...”

I tucked it into my sleeve. “Help me pack.”

She froze. “Pack what?”

I opened the door and looked at the room full of old things washed in moonlight.

“Lia is moving into the master bedroom. Move my things to the old cabin.”

The servant was speechless for a long time. After a while, she muttered under her breath.

“Since when does Miss Nightingale give up her own bedroom for an outsider?”

I folded the old shawl my mother had left me into the suitcase and said softly, “It's fine. I won't be staying long anyway.”

A low, heavy voice came from behind me.

“What did you just say?”