All Chapters of FAT, BARREN, AND REJECTED: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

ELLA’S POVI woke slowly, disoriented by the unfamiliar softness of the bed beneath me, the quality of light filtering through the curtains carrying none of the thin, watery quality I’d grown used to at Delia’s apartment.It took several long moments to place the room, and when I finally did, my pulse quickened with a confused mixture of relief and wariness.Silvermoon. I was back at Silvermoon, in a bedroom considerably grander than the guest quarters I’d occupied during my first stay, the furnishings carrying a quiet, understated elegance that suggested I’d been given something closer to a proper suite than a temporary holding room.I sat up carefully, my hand immediately drifting to my stomach out of habit, relief flooding through me at the familiar, reassuring movement beneath my palm. Whatever had happened after that terrifying confrontation on the street, whatever exhaustion had finally claimed me, the babies remained safe, and for that alone I felt a gratitude too large to full

ELLA’S POVChloe’s fury didn’t diminish once Jason’s finality settled over the room. If anything, it sharpened, her earlier indignation curdling into something colder and considerably more calculating as she turned her full attention toward me.“You think this is over,” she said, her voice carrying a quiet, dangerous edge that I recognized immediately from years of navigating her and Claudia’s particular brand of cruelty. “You think you’ve simply won, because Jason’s decided to play the doting father to children conceived under circumstances even you can’t fully explain.”“Chloe.” I kept my voice steady, though old, familiar wariness had already settled into my chest. “Whatever you’re planning, it won’t change anything between Jason and me.”“Won’t it?” Something almost pleased crossed her expression, the calculation behind her eyes sharpening further. “I wonder how the coalition would feel, learning the full timeline of your pregnancy. Five months along, by the physician’s own estima

ELLA’S POVWe fell into an easy quiet after Aldric’s report arrived, Jason’s attention divided between the immediate concern of Ashcombe’s growing alliance and the fragile, careful rebuilding still happening between us, and I found myself, somewhat to my own surprise, wanting to fill that quiet with something other than careful caution for once.“Can I ask you something?” I said, once the household had settled into evening and the immediate crisis of security arrangements had quieted into something Aldric’s people could manage without Jason’s constant oversight.“Of course.” He wheeled closer to where I sat by the window, his expression open in a way I was still growing accustomed to, so different from the guarded suspicion of our earliest conversations.“That night,” I said carefully. “Before any of this. Before the wheelchair, before my grandmother’s scheme, before Sherwood or Chloe or any of it. What were you actually like, underneath all the suspicion you’ve carried since I arrive

ELLA’S POVI hadn’t intended to attend the council session at all. Jason had suggested, gently, that I rest instead, given everything my body had already endured over the past several days, and I’d agreed readily enough, unwilling to add my own presence to whatever political tension was already building around us.But restlessness got the better of me by mid-morning, and I found myself making my way toward the council chamber’s outer corridor, drawn by the same restless curiosity that had gotten me into trouble more than once since arriving at this estate. I told myself I simply wanted to understand what was actually being decided about my own future, rather than waiting anxiously for secondhand summaries afterward.The chamber doors stood slightly ajar, voices carrying clearly enough that I found myself frozen just outside them, unable to make myself walk away once I’d caught the shape of what was actually being discussed.“—understand your personal feelings, Alpha, but the political

ELLA’S POVThe headlines multiplied faster than I could have imagined possible, spreading across territory papers and pack gossip networks alike with a speed that left me feeling perpetually a step behind whatever new cruelty had just been published about me.Former Luna Manufactures Pregnancy to Trap Silvermoon Alpha. Desperate Divorcée’s Calculated Play for Wealth and Title. I stopped reading the specific headlines after the third one, the words blurring together into a single, exhausting refrain I’d heard variations of for most of my adult life, dressed up now in fresh, poisonous detail thanks to Sherwood’s carefully constructed lies.“You shouldn’t keep reading these.” Delia, who’d moved into the estate alongside me at Jason’s insistence following the kidnapping attempt, gently closed the laptop I’d been hunched over for the better part of an hour, her expression carrying the particular fierce protectiveness she’d shown me since our very first days sharing that cramped apartment.