ANMELDENTHE REJECTED MATE IS THE MOON GODDESS'S DAUGHTERChapter Forty — The Rite That Wasn't on the ListSophia POVBy midmorning, the ceremonial hall was filled with attendants preparing for Damon's announcement. I had been assigned to arrange cushions near the dais, giving me the perfect opportunity to observe Elder Halen.After discovering his name beside the request for materials for the eastern wing, I wanted to understand his involvement in Moonridge's old rites."Raise the candleholder," Halen instructed a young attendant. "And make certain the old blessing is spoken exactly as written.""But Elder, most of the household uses the newer wording.""Tradition is not decoration. Change its form without understanding its purpose, and you may lose something important."His words caught my attention.Across the hall, a narrow wooden case sat apart from the other ceremonial materials. I recognized it from the storage shelf where I had seen it the previous evening.It wasn't listed on the sched
THE REJECTED MATE IS THE MOON GODDESS'S DAUGHTERChapter Thirty-Nine — The Hands That CarrySophia POVCThe door is not where the answer lives.I lie awake thinking about it long after the household has gone quiet. Wood and iron can keep people out, but they cannot explain why someone wants a room sealed, why workers have been ordered to hurry, or why questions about an ordinary section of Moonridge have suddenly become unwelcome.The answer belongs to the people who decided the door needed to be shut in the first place.So, this morning, I go looking for paper instead of corridors.The supply steward's office sits beside the main stores, crowded with requisition slips, stacked ledgers, and shelves that smell of dust and old wood. I'm sent to collect thread for the mending room, which gives me a reason to be there without attracting unnecessary attention.The steward searches through a cupboard while I wait beside his desk.An open ledger lies beneath his elbow.I have no intention of
THE REJECTED MATE IS THE MOON GODDESS'S DAUGHTERChapter Thirty-Eight — The Door Behind the DustSophia's POVThe frost has barely begun to melt when Lyra makes me repeat the same drill for the third time.My feet slide against the hard ground. I recover my balance a second too late, and Lyra clicks her tongue."Again.""You're enjoying this.""Immensely."I glare at her.She gestures for me to take my position.This time, I watch her feet instead of anticipating her next move. When she shifts her weight, I adjust mine. My body follows a fraction of a second behind, but I stay upright.Lyra lowers her hands."Better."The word still carries an unreasonable amount of satisfaction."You're thinking about something," she says."The eastern wing.""Of course you are.""I haven't done anything.""Yet." She steps closer and corrects my stance. "Curiosity isn't the problem, Sophia. It's what you allow it to make you do. A clear head is worth more than a fast conclusion."I nod, although my t
THE REJECTED MATE IS THE MOON GODDESS'S DAUGHTERChapter Thirty-Seven — The Price of CuriositySophia POVThe training yard is colder this morning, frost silvering the grass where my feet land wrong twice before they land right."Better," Lyra says, which from her counts as real praise.We run the same shift in weight from yesterday until my body stops arguing with it. Somewhere in the fourth or fifth repetition, I catch the correction before she has to say it — a small adjustment in my hip, nothing anyone watching would notice, but I feel it land clean for the first time."That one you found yourself," Lyra says.I don't answer. I don't need to. The satisfaction sits quiet in my chest the rest of the walk back, warmer than the morning air has any right to let it be.By midmorning I'm carrying mending toward the sewing room, the route taking me close enough to the older wing that I let my steps slow without quite deciding to.A supervisor cuts me off before I get far. "Wrong way.""I
THE REJECTED MATE IS THE MOON GODDESS'S DAUGHTERChapter Thirty-Six — The Forbidden AttractionSophia's POVMy knees still hurt when I wake.Yesterday's training has left my shoulders stiff and my legs aching, but I dress without complaint. Pain is nothing new to me. At least this time, I know exactly where it came from.Before leaving the basement, I remember the servant who took the longer route through the eastern passage. I still don't know whether his behaviour meant anything, but Lyra has taught me not to dismiss an observation simply because I cannot explain it.For now, I have other things to do.Unfortunately, one of them involves crossing the main hall.And that's where I see Damon.He's standing beside an attendant, discussing the final arrangements for his announcement. His expression is composed, his voice steady. Two elders pass him and bow their heads slightly, treating his decisions as though they were already the law of Moonridge.Seraphina's name appears on the paper
THE REJECTED MATE IS THE MOON GODDESS'S DAUGHTERChapter Thirty-Five — The Strength Nobody SawSophia POVThe supervisor finds me before I've even finished my first chore of the morning, her voice carrying the particular weight of someone repeating an order she's already tired of giving."The northern room is closed. You are not to pursue its history. Not through the archives, not through anyone who might remember it. Is that understood?""Understood," I say, and mean it enough to keep my voice level.What I don't say is that understanding an order and obeying its spirit have never been quite the same thing to me.I carry the frustration through the rest of the morning like a stone tucked under my tongue — present, uncomfortable, impossible to spit out in front of anyone who might notice. An object was removed from that room. Someone recorded it separately, like it mattered more than broken furniture. And now every door that might tell me where it went has been quietly, deliberately sh







