Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rebirth of the mad luna: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

TASHAThe courtyard settled back into its usual flow, but the atmosphere around my little corner felt clearer, almost like a window had opened. I held Tamrine against my shoulder and walked toward the group of mothers seated under the woven canopy. The fabric filtered the sunlight into soft patterns across the tiled floor, and the air smelled faintly of lavender from the diffusers the staff liked to clip along the pillars during family events. My son relaxed fully against me, his tiny mouth parted in a newborn dream.I eased into an empty seat, adjusted the sling, and focused on the warmth of his small body tucked against mine. Moments like this pulled me back into myself. I had spent weeks bracing for Violet’s disruptions and Kirk’s indifference, and the steady weight of my child always brought me back to the center of my own life, where their opinions stopped mattering. The other mothers watched me with a kind reassurance. They didn’t gush or pry. They simply recognized the moment f

TASHAThe shift came early one morning, before the estate finished its automated warm-light sequence that mimicked sunrise. I walked into the kitchen with Tamrine on my hip, expecting the usual tray of nutrient-balanced purees and supplements the system prepared overnight. Instead, the head chef stood beside the counter with a tablet pressed against his chest, his expression pulled tight with concern he tried to mask behind professionalism.The overhead lights brightened as the sensors detected us, and he lowered the device so I could see the display. “Lady Tasha,” he said, gesturing toward the highlighted readings, “the scan flagged an additive in the morning meal that doesn’t belong.” I studied the data with a slow calm that seemed to anchor the room. The numbers pulsed in red, indicating a bitter compound often found in experimental boosters used for older adolescents, never for newborns.The compound wouldn’t have killed him, but it would have made him violently ill. My arms tight

TASHAKirk reached a breaking point before the rest of the estate did. I saw it in the way he moved through the halls, fast and clipped, his shoes hitting the marble with more force than necessary. Every whisper about Violet pulled something tight across his face, and by midweek he had planted himself in every office that held even a sliver of influence.I walked past the council wing one morning with Tamrine asleep on my chest, and I heard Kirk raise his voice at Elder Maerin, insisting the estate had grown careless with its gossip. Maerin tried to defuse him. She gestured toward an open data file showing Violet’s recent behavioral flags from the household AI, and Kirk’s reaction only grew more rigid. He dismissed every point placed in front of him.When I stepped into view, he paused long enough to take me in, then continued arguing as if my presence fueled the fire instead of cooling it. Maerin approached me once the conversation dissolved, and she asked about Tamrine’s feeding cyc

TASHAI started the morning certain the house would cooperate with me, and that confidence faded fast. Tamrine fussed against my shoulder while I moved through my room, the hall closet, the nursery, and even the bathroom where I once stored my old textbooks.My school packet was gone—ID, access card, medical clearance, transcripts, even the little orientation booklet the academy mailed out with holographic security tabs along the edges. I lifted blankets, checked under the crib mattress, and searched the pockets of every coat I owned.The panic grew in a slow, hot sweep that pushed me to retrace every step I took the day before, but nothing came back clearly. My head felt thick, as if my thoughts waded through wet wool, and that heaviness stuck to me no matter how many deep breaths I took. I held Tamrine closer and paced the room a final time, hoping something would flash in the corner of my eye, but the walls stayed stubborn and empty.The packhouse felt too bright as I walked down t

TASHAA monitor beeped near my ear, rising in pitch until it drowned every sound. I saw the doctor’s mouth moving, forming instructions I already knew by heart. The room brightened until it bleached out the edges of my sight, and every memory I had tried to bury came back in a single sweep—crying without sound, waking disoriented on the cot, swallowing pills I pretended would help me think clearly. In the dream, my hands shook against the restraints and the panic spread through my ribcage until I couldn’t tell where the dream ended and where the memory began.I jerked awake with my pulse slamming against my neck. The room spun in slow circles, and sweat soaked my clothes. I sat up too quickly and the nausea rose so fast I barely made it to the bathroom. I dropped to my knees in front of the sink and threw up until everything in my stomach emptied into the basin. My eyes watered from the force of it, and my body felt drained and uncoordinated.When the retching stopped, I leaned forwar