Semua Bab Luna By Blackmail: Bab 21 - Bab 29

Zara’s POVI used to think silence was a kindness. Now, it was a sentence. A verdict with no trial.It had been hours since Rael threw the photographs across the table and told me to get out. Hours since I saw something worse than fury in his eyes, disappointment was the part that gutted me the most. He hadn’t roared. He hadn’t raged.He’d looked at me like I was already gone.Now, I sat curled on the velvet bench near my window, the storm gone, but the clouds still hanging low like a threat. The fire had long since gone out. I didn’t light another.I hadn’t cried yet. My eyes felt too dry. Like even my tears had betrayed me.Then came the knock. Three soft taps. I didn’t answer or move. Eventually, I stood and opened the door; no one was there. Just a rose crushed, half-dead, wine-drenched. Its scent hit me first. Metallic, sour and bruised.There was no note, no ribbon or explanation. Just this… dead thing. Left bleeding outside my door.I stared at it too long. A message, I thought

Rael’s POVThe door clicked shut behind her, and I knew exactly what Lena had done.Of course it was her. No one else had the audacity to lock two people in a room built for war.I didn’t turn around. I couldn't. My hands braced the mantel like if I let go, I'd turn into the very thing I fought to bury.The silence was thick. I could feel her behind me, I could smell her whatever Lena made her wear, it was working. My wolf perked. My jaw clenched.She didn’t speak either. Smart.Minutes passed.“Say something,” she said finally, voice sharp, brittle.I didn’t. Not at first. I was still choking on the last thing I saw her lips on the man's mouth, that bastard’s hands around her waist. Staged or not, the image kept flashing behind my eyes like lightning.“I didn’t ask to be here,” I said.She scoffed. “Neither did I.”Another silence. I turned. Slowly.She looked like sin and stormlight. Dressed in that deep red like she didn’t know what it was doing to me. Or maybe she did. Maybe that

Zara's POVRael didn't stay and I didn't bother to tell him to stay, I was still a little bit pissed about hididng the blood pact from me but somehow, we hadn't shattered. We’d held each other in the ruins.A soft knock broke the silence.“Come in,” I called, voice thick with sleep. Olivia walked in her maid uniform. Olivia was holding a silver tray with a note and something glittering on it. "Good morning Luna, this is from the Alpha, he said you should read this before coming down for breakfast.I raised a brow. “He’s already planning my day?”Olivia smiled faintly. “Perhaps just part of it.”She left before I could question her further, and I reached for the envelope. My name was scrawled across the front in ink I recognized slanted, deliberate, his.Inside: a single line.Don’t dress for war today. Dress for you, meet me in the southern garden.I blinked. Beneath the note, nestled in the velvet, was a bottle of perfume the one I’d tested once, weeks ago, during an idle walk past

“You’ve got the wrong person.” Rael’s voice cut like steel between us cold and unshakable. He stepped in front of me so fast I didn’t register the movement until I was staring at his back instead of her face.Mara.“I’m sorry,” she stammered behind him. “I... I thought…”“You thought wrong,” he said flatly.My heart slammed once and hard. I kept my head down, sunglasses on, and lips pressed tight.“Zara?” she tried again, softer now. “It’s me… It’s Mara.”I said nothing; I didn't blink or move. Rael didn’t either."As I have said earlier, you got the wrong person." Rael said, getting irritated. "Keep walking," he added“I just...” Mara’s voice cracked. “I saw her and she looked like...”“You’re mistaken.”His tone didn’t rise, didn’t shift but it vibrated with threat and still, she didn’t back off.“It’s her. I know it’s her,” Mara insisted. “Zara, please...”Rael’s hand brushed mine briefly and firmly.I turned and walked fast without hesitating or reacting.The guards moved with u

Rael's POVLena’s words still hung in the air like smoke."Mara isn't your sister."Zara looked pale and broken, she stared into space as if she had been hypnotized.Lena glanced between us and excused herself without another word. The click of the door shutting left a silence that was almost alive. I watched Zara instead, not the way a man studies a woman but the way a soldier studies a wound. Assessing the depth, the bleed, and whether it could kill.“You...” I started.She stood before I could finish and turned away without a word. I thought she might head to her room, but her steps turned down the opposite hall to mine. I followed without sound. She opened the door quietly and entered. I closed the door behind us.She didn’t move far, she stopped in the middle of the room, arms crossed, shoulders high.No sharp edges tonight. No fire. Just weight, the kind that bends a person inward.I walked toward her slowly, each step measured. She didn’t look up when I stopped in front of her