91. Shared Happiness

🍃 Arria POV By the time I reached the school, Stone’s words were still walking beside me. I took a breath. Then another. I had something to do, and I intended to do it right. “Arria!” Milena’s voice cut through my thoughts a second before she ran straight into me. I wrapped her in a warm hug. “You have the thinking face,” Milena said the moment she pulled back from my arms. “Did Stone give you bad news?” “No, sweetie. He told me something important, and I was analyzing it on the way here,” I explained. “But time is up, so no more adult problems. We are going to play.” She nodded enthusiastically. I smiled at her, took her hand, and we walked around the school to the nearby playground. It was already full when we arrived—children were running between the wooden houses and the slide, laughing loudly, arguing over turns, falling in the grass, and jumping back up. It was chaos. Bright and absolutely perfect chaos. Milena’s hand tightened around mine as she pulled me toward

92. Name It

🍃 Arria POVI opened the office door without hesitation.“I am back,” I announced with a smile and went directly to him to give him a kiss.Fenrir pushed his chair back and pulled me into his lap.The kiss was small and perfect, and then he lifted his hand and started pulling leaves and small sticks out of my hair.My eyes widened.“Oh, Goddess, I must look like a witch,” I said, shifting to slip out of his hold.“You look like a nymph,” he answered, unbothered, tightening his hold on me.I was staying where I was. Obviously.He took a moment to finish, and when he spoke again, his words came tender.“You had fun.”I just nodded.I was still too ashamed of my appearance. And the fact, that he was intentionally showing me how he felt about it by letting his usual even tone soften, did not help at all.“Good.”I was rewarded with another kiss. This time on my forehead.“Are there more tasks on your list for today?”“Yes,” I confirmed softly, glancing at him.“I just came to say hello o

93. Impossible

🍃 Arria POV I knew my mate pretty well by now. He was a man surrounded by rules, control, and walls. So when I said I loved him, I hadn’t expected “I love you too” in return. I didn’t need the words back. I needed them out of my chest. I needed him to know he had something solid, something permanent with me. I expected a hug, maybe. Or a kiss. I would have been fine with “good” said in his usual level tone, or even just a nod. I wouldn’t have seen a problem in a silent transition into setting the table for an early dinner. What I hadn’t expected was for him to stay so utterly frozen for what felt like two full minutes. And I definitely hadn’t expected the word that eventually left him. “Impossible.” Stated as an undeniable fact. I lowered my gaze, unsure how to deal with an answer like that. What was that even supposed to mean? Did he think I was incapable of love? Or too naive to understand the weight of the words and the extent of the feeling itself? Stone had voi

94. The Echo

🌘 Fenrir POV Arria was shocked. She needed time to think it through, so I pulled away from her and started moving around the kitchen, preparing the table and reheating the food. It gave my hands something to do. “This can’t be part of the curse,” Arria said eventually. “Alaric had a mate back then, right?” “Yes,” I confirmed. “A chosen mate.” “Chosen or not, it doesn’t matter if he wasn’t forced to take her. And the king’s Beta being forced is out of the question.” “You are right. He wasn’t.” I set a plate on the table. “They had been friends from a young age. Neither he nor she had found their fated mate by twenty-five, so they had decided to try courting for a while. Eight months later, they had been officially mated.”“That doesn’t sound bad,” she said slowly.Uncertain.“No. It had been good. She had always been respectful, understanding, and soft around him, and the Beta had reciprocated her feelings and actions.”I took a moment.“In time, they had grown affectionate wit

All Chapters of Born to shine: Chapter 91 - Chapter 94

91. Shared Happiness

92. Name It

93. Impossible

94. The Echo