The Rejected Luna のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 20

The voice was hoarse and nearly broken as it murmured, "You shouldn't be here." With one hand still pressed against the chilly steel table that was smeared with rust from rusting instruments and chemical stains, Luna froze in place. Her mind had not conjured up the whisper. It was too incisive, too frantic, too vibrant. The lantern's faint yellow light shuddered in her hands as she twirled. Her heart pounded in her chest, a frantic drumming that seemed to reverberate throughout the empty room. A person moved forward from the corner, where shadows became deeper against a cabinet wall. A slender girl with skin as pale as bone and hair braided like coiled silk. Her eyes glinted dimly in the light, wide and hollow. Luna took a step back and stumbled. "Gods..." She gazed and her voice broke. "You're supposed to be dead," I said. As though regretting each sound, the girl's lips quiver and then clamped shut. Even though there was no breeze in the room, she trembled as her hands grabbed her

“He’s here,” someone breathed, the words barely a whisper, but they carried like a lash.Boots struck stone in a slow, deliberate rhythm. Each step echoed up the corridor, filling the grand hall before the figure himself appeared. The air thickened. The chandeliers above seemed to burn lower, as if even the flames bent to his approach.Roman.Every maiden in the hall dropped into kneels before his shadow crossed the threshold. No command had been given. None was needed. His presence demanded it. Heads bowed, backs bent, not one dared to look up.Not one, except Luna.Her body resisted, frozen between instinct and pride. She hesitated. One heartbeat, then another. Just long enough for the silence to notice her.“Down,” hissed the girl beside her, clutching at her sleeve, yanking her arm.But it was too late.Roman entered.The Alpha filled the hall with nothing but his stride. Broad-shouldered, tall enough to make the room shrink, he carried himself like a predator among prey. Dark coa

“You’re trembling,” Roman whispered, his lips brushing so close to Luna’s ear that she felt the shape of every syllable against her skin.Her breath hitched. She hadn’t realized her hands were still shaking until the cup nearly slipped from her grasp. She forced herself to hold it tighter, to still the tremor, but it was useless, her whole body betrayed her.The hall was silent now. The guards, the maidens, even the distant servants seemed frozen, as though the very air itself was waiting for Roman’s next word. He leaned closer, his chest brushing her shoulder, the faint scent of smoke and steel clinging to him.“You thought me blind,” he murmured, his voice so low no one else could hear. “But I am never blind. Every drop, every breath, every heartbeat in this house, I own them all.”Luna’s throat ached with the need to swallow, but she forced her jaw to stay tight. If she moved even a fraction, he would feel it. He wanted her to quiver. He wanted to taste her fear.“I wasn’t, ” she b

“Did she give you something?”The whisper cut across the darkness of the dormitory like a blade, pulling Luna’s heart into her throat. She froze, clutching the scrap Selene had pressed into her palm only moments ago. The dormitory was a cavern of shadows, lit only by the faint amber flicker of two wall-mounted candles. Dozens of cots stretched in neat rows, each draped with threadbare blankets. The air smelled of wax, damp stone, and the faint musk of nervous girls who tried not to breathe too loudly in the Alpha’s house.“No,” Luna whispered back quickly, too quickly. Her voice cracked under the pressure of the lie.The girl two cots over rolled onto her side, dark eyes gleaming in the candlelight. Selene. She had the same wary sharpness she’d shown in the corridor, lips pressed tight, brows drawn in. Her beauty was not soft but carved, high cheekbones, a narrow jaw, eyes too large for her face, making her seem both fragile and fierce.“Then hide your hands,” Selene hissed, voice lik

"You two are already making plans. I feel it. Like oil, the voice adhered to the stone walls, oozing into each ear and trickling into every crack. It wasn't yelled. It wasn't necessary. Roman's remarks were delivered with the subdued assurance of a sword already in contact with flesh. The girls tensed like if they were stuck in ice. Before one of the guards gave a low instruction to keep the queue moving, even they stumbled, their boots scuffing the floor. However, Luna's body disobeyed. As though she had already revealed herself, her lungs tugged at the air too loudly and too violently. In passing, Selene's shoulder touched hers. There was only a faint touch, but it anchored her, reminded her to look down, to move when the others did, to pretend to be blindly obeying. Luna stumbled into the rhythm of shuffling feet, forcing one foot forward and then another. They were spit out onto the courtyard from the corridor. The fire sliced through the night. High on the ston