Chapter 7: Old Ghosts, New Suspicions

She was waiting for me outside the tea house, and my whole body went cold before I even registered why.

Three days after the Gathering, and I'd finally convinced myself the tight knot in my chest was easing, that maybe refusing Kael hadn't set anything irreversible into motion yet. Then I stepped out into the afternoon light with a bag of loose leaf tea for my mother, and there she was, leaning against the brick wall like she had nowhere else to be.

Selene.

Younger than I remembered her from the clearing where she killed me, softer around the edges, none of that raw, unraveling grief carved into her face yet. But her eyes found mine with an intensity that made my stomach drop straight through the pavement, the same sharp, assessing look she'd worn right before her claws found my side.

"You're Luna Everly," she said. Not a question.

"I am." I kept my voice even, though my pulse had kicked into a gallop. "And you are?"

"Selene Veyra." She pushed off the wall, unhurried, and something about the way she moved, controlled and deliberate, reminded me viscerally of that final moment in the clearing, her shoulders dropping low right before she struck. "I hear you turned down Kael Draven's proposal."

*Careful. She doesn't know yet, not really, not in this life. Don't give her a reason.*

"News travels fast," I said.

"In circles like ours, everything travels fast." Her mouth curved, not quite a smile, something more measuring than that. "I have to admit, I'm curious. Most women would kill for that offer."

*I know exactly how true that is, though maybe not in the way you mean it.*

"I'm not most women," I said carefully.

"Clearly." She studied me a moment longer, head tilted slightly, and I forced myself to hold still under the scrutiny, to not let anything show on my face that would give away how much I already knew about her, about what she'd become, about what waited for both of us down a road I was desperately trying to reroute. "Can I ask you something?"

"You're going to whether I agree or not."

That surprised a real laugh out of her, short and genuine, and for one disorienting second she looked almost likable, almost like someone I could have been friends with in some other version of this story that didn't end with either of us bleeding.

"Fair," she said. "Why'd you say no?"

I could have lied. Could have given her some polished, diplomatic answer about timing or personal readiness, the kind of thing that wouldn't raise any flags. Instead, something reckless and honest rose up in my throat before I could stop it.

"Because he doesn't love me," I said. "And I'm tired of pretending that kind of thing doesn't matter."

Selene went very still.

It was subtle, the kind of stillness you'd miss if you weren't watching closely, but I was watching closely, I'd learned to watch closely, and I caught the exact moment something shifted behind her eyes. Surprise, first. Then something rawer underneath it, something that looked almost like pain.

"That's an unusual thing to say," she said slowly, "about a man everyone insists is quite taken with you."

"Everyone insists a lot of things." I kept my tone light, though my heart was hammering. "Doesn't make them true."

"No," she agreed, quiet now, some of her earlier composure cracking at the edges. "It doesn't."

We stood there a moment, the afternoon crowd moving around us, neither of us saying anything, and I could feel her turning something over behind those dark, calculating eyes. I wondered, with a jolt of unease, exactly how much she already knew about Kael, about whatever promises he'd made her before I ever entered the picture. In my first life, their history had unfolded slowly, in the dark, hidden from me until it was too late to matter. This time I was watching it happen practically in real time, and I had no idea whether that made things better or infinitely more dangerous.

"Can I give you some advice?" she said finally.

"I have a feeling I'm getting it either way."

Another short laugh, quickly swallowed. "Be careful who you trust with reasons like that. Men like Kael don't handle rejection well. Especially not rejection dressed up as honesty." Her expression sharpened, something protective and bitter tangled together underneath it. "He'll find a way to make you regret it. Sooner or later. That's just who he is."

*You have no idea how right you are. You have no idea I already know exactly how right you are.*

"Is that a warning?" I asked, echoing the question I'd put to Adrian days earlier, curious what answer I'd get this time.

Selene's gaze flickered, something complicated crossing her face, protective and resentful all at once, like she wasn't entirely certain herself which side of the warning she was standing on. "Call it professional courtesy."

"You know him well, then."

"Well enough." The words came out clipped, guarded, and I recognized the exact same evasive shutter Adrian had used days before, though for entirely different reasons, I was certain of that much. "Better than I'd like, some days."

*That's twice now. Twice someone's used almost the exact same words to warn me about him. That can't be a coincidence.*

"Selene." I said her name carefully, testing something, watching for a reaction. "How long have you known Kael?"

Her jaw tightened, just slightly, and for one unguarded moment I saw exactly how much history lived behind that careful, composed exterior, how much unspoken hurt she was carrying that hadn't yet curdled into the violence I'd witnessed in my first life. "Long enough to know better than to answer personal questions from strangers in the middle of the street."

"Fair enough."

She studied me another beat, something conflicted still working behind her expression, and then, unexpectedly, some of the tension eased out of her shoulders. "For what it's worth," she said, quieter now, almost reluctant, "I think you made the right call. Turning him down."

The admission caught me off guard, genuine warmth threading underneath words that should have felt like a threat coming from someone who would, in another version of events, end my life over exactly this kind of choice.

"Thank you," I said, meaning it more than I expected to.

"Don't thank me yet." Something darker slid back across her expression, quick and guarded. "You've made an enemy today whether you realize it or not. Kael doesn't forget being embarrassed. And people around him tend to get caught in the fallout, whether they deserve it or not."

*People like you, apparently. People like me, definitely.*

"I'll keep that in mind."

She nodded once, something final in the gesture, and turned to walk away, pausing after only a few steps to glance back over her shoulder, dark eyes catching mine one last time.

"Luna." My name in her mouth sounded strange, careful, like she was testing the shape of it. "Watch your back. I mean that."

Then she was gone, disappearing into the afternoon crowd, and I stood there outside the tea house with my bag of forgotten leaves clutched too tight in my hand, heart pounding with an unease I couldn't fully name.

In my first life, Selene had been nothing but a monster in the dark, a jealous rival who tore my life apart without warning. But standing here now, watching the actual woman behind that future violence walk away, all I could see was someone drowning in exactly the same kind of manipulation I'd barely escaped myself.

*She's not my enemy. Not really. Not yet, anyway.*

*Kael is.*

*And whoever's standing behind him in the shadows, pulling strings neither of us can see yet.*

I turned toward home, the late afternoon sun throwing long shadows across the pavement, and couldn't shake the cold, creeping certainty that Selene Veyra's warning had been more honest than anything Kael Draven had ever said to my face.

Behind me, faint and distant, I could have sworn I heard footsteps pause, linger, then move on.

I didn't look back to check.