Chapter 6: The Mother-in-Law's Terms

[Sera's POV]

Liri is curled into Kai's chest by the hearth, small and trembling.

I stand in the doorway and I can't move. The sight before me breaks my heart and kills the small hope that had just begun to grow, but I force myself to hold back my tears.

I can't let myself cry in front of them.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, her voice catching on every word. "I didn't, I didn't mean to fall asleep against you last night. I just, three years, Kai. Two years in a room with no windows. I close my eyes and I'm back there. I only sleep when I can hear someone breathing next to me."

Kai's hand moves down her spine, slow and certain. "Shh. No one's putting you anywhere near a dark room again. Not while I breathe."

"I don't want to be a burden."

"You're not." He says, "You'll move into the house. Tomorrow. I want you where I can watch over you myself."

Liri lifts her tear-streaked face and something passes over it, then it dissolves back into gratitude. She turns her head just enough to find me in the doorway.

She smiles at me.

"Oh, Sera." She untangles herself from him, but not too far. "I hope you don't mind. I know it's your home. I'll stay out of your way, I promise."

"Prepare the east room for her," he says coldly，"Liri is moving in with us."

The east room. The one next to ours. He actually wants to put her in that room. Of course. Ever since Liri came back, even the little affection he had left for me must be gone. At that moment, a terrible pain rips through my heart.

I hear myself say, "You prepare youself." My voice comes out even.

“Sera, please forgive me. After being locked away for so long, I... I’m terrified. I can’t bear being alone...” Her voice breaks, and she bursts into tears. “I never meant to cause trouble. If you don’t want me here, I’ll leave. Please don’t fight because of me.” Every word sounds sincere. Tears spill down her cheeks as she looks at me, fragile and pleading.

Kai pulls her into his arms without hesitation. “After everything you’ve been through, you’re still worried about everyone else.” His voice softens. “You’re staying. I swear, no one will ever hurt you again. I’ll protect you from now on.”

I stand there, watching my husband hold another woman. Liri is his true Luna, the woman named in the prophecy. Then what am I? I know I should step aside, but my heart still refuses to let go. If I keep fighting for him, then after all Liri has suffered, how can I face her? How can I face the pack? I’ve been living in a place that was always meant to be hers. But if I walk away, my baby will grow up without a father, and I’ll lose the man I love. Maybe Kai has never loved me. That doesn’t make losing him hurt any less.

Then I turn and walk up the stairs. I won't let this hurt me anymore. I have to choose.

And behind me I hear her murmur something and I hear him answer, gentle.

---------------------

The bedroom is dark. I don't turn on the light.

I sit on the edge of the bed, then find it's his side, I realize, the pillow that still smells like cedar and cold air, and I let myself fall apart for few seconds.

Then I stop.

I know what I have to do. I have to end this. I have to give Liri back her place as Luna and give Kai back to her. If I stay and watch them together every day, every tender touch between them will cut another piece out of my heart. The pain will drive me insane. I have to end this before it destroys me completely.

He was never yours, I remind myself. You’ve always known that.

I start thinking about what I should do next.

Get rid of the baby. Get a divorce. Leave. That was the plan I carried home from Mira's cottage two nights ago.

But the first one is already gone. It would kill you, Mira said, her ear against my belly, her face pale. The child's bound too deep. You end this, you die with it.

So the baby stays. The baby stays, which means the baby needs a mother who is not slowly bleeding out in a house where her husband tucks another woman into the room next door.

Which leaves the other two.

The bond is already severed. He did that himself, when he looked at me across the ledgers and said the words that tore my soul loose thread by thread. We’re already over. All that’s left is to sign the divorce papers and stop pretending we’re still husband and wife.

He has already severed our bond. If he asks for a divorce before I do, I don’t think my heart can take another blow. I have to be the one to say it first, even if I’m only forcing myself to stay strong and hold on to the last shred of my dignity.

So I'll make it clean. I'll go to him first before he can say itI'll say it myself. 

I want a divorce, Kai.

I'll say it and I'll leave this place, this pack, this town that was never mine, and I'll find somewhere far enough that I can raise this child by myself.

I sit up straighter. My hands have stopped shaking.

Tomorrow. When she moves in. I'll ask him then. I'll get it over with before I lose the nerve.

What am I, if I stay? A wolfless woman with a hollow title, airing out the room where the true Luna will sleep an arm's length from my husband. Listening through the wall while he soothes her back to sleep. I would rather walk into the dark alone than stand in this house and watch them be gentle with each other.

I stare blankly at the wedding photo on our nightstand. We look so happy in it, like a couple deeply in love. Tears stream down my face, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop them. My tears mean nothing to that man. He won’t care. Only Liri’s tears matter to him. He is so gentle and attentive with her, in a way he has never been with me.

I've decided. It steadies me, the deciding. For the first time in three days, I feel like I have a say in what happens to me.

Then there's a knock at the door. Sharp. Three raps, evenly spaced.

Not Kai. Kai doesn't knock.

I open it and my breath stops in my throat.

Renata. Kai's mother.