All Chapters of The Human Luna's Goodbye: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Elara's POVShe was quiet through her bath. Quiet through the story, and through the second half of the story when she asked me to read it again.I thought she'd finally fallen asleep when her voice came out of the dark."Is Samuel's arm going to be okay?""Yes," I said. "Samuel's very strong.""Dad was mean," she said. "He hurt Samuel and Samuel didn't even do anything." A pause. "He always hurts people. That's why he doesn't have us anymore."I didn't answer that.I stayed until her breathing slowed and deepened, then sat in the dark beside her a while longer, because sometimes that was the only useful thing left to do.Orion's POVI drove until the city ended.Eventually I was on the Ashford Connector, the long straight road between the last industrial district and the greenbelt, lit by amber lamps at intervals.I pulled over on the gravel shoulder near Kellner's Bridge and sat with the engine running.A stranger.I'd been called many things by many people, and none of it had ever

Elara's POVWhite Sand Island sat off the eastern edge of the city, twenty minutes by the bridge road, another five through the private gate onto a narrow lane lined with old oak trees.Victoria's villa sat at the end of it. Pale stone, wide windows, the kind of place that looked like it had grown out of the land around it rather than been built on top of it.She was waiting at the front door when I pulled up.Fifty-three years old, and she hadn't changed at all, as if time had been especially kind to her. Silver-streaked hair, cut to the collarbone. Reading glasses pushed up on her forehead. A cashmere cardigan, and the same bearing she'd always had.Thirty years spent among people twice her age, and not once had she groveled or flattered her way through any of it.Her eyes found me immediately. Dark, sharp, and warm in the specific way they only got when she was looking at something she actually cared about."You brought tulips," she said. "And what's that?""Melatonin." I held up t

Elara's POVA silence.Orion's eyes narrowed, very slightly. Something had landed that he needed to think about, and he refused to show it."You know who E is.""Whether I know or not," Victoria said, "I'm not sharing it with men who show up uninvited with a Hermès bag and a checkbook."She rose from her chair, unhurried, final. This was her conversation to end."If you want E, you'll have to earn that introduction by other means. I suggest you start by working out what those means might be." She looked between them. "This meeting is over."She moved to the door and said something I couldn't hear. Two men appeared from somewhere in the house, large and quiet, with the practiced stillness of security who'd done this many times before.Orion looked at them. Then he looked at Victoria.I could see him do the math. The Alpha in him wanted to push back. But he clearly knew pushing back would cost more than it gained.He straightened, adjusted the button on his jacket, and said, "I'll wait

Elara's POVHe was not lying about having no opinions.He stood in the middle of the first shop we tried and turned in a slow circle. He'd clearly surrendered all authority on the subject, and he was at peace with it."That one?" he said, pointing at something grey. I put it back. He accepted this without question.What he did have opinions about was me.Orion's opinions of me had always meant being assessed, corrected, found lacking. This was different. Samuel's attention moved differently.When I held something up against myself to check the color and glanced in the mirror, he was watching. His face showed exactly what it had on the pool deck that first day. He liked what he saw, and he let it show."That one," he said, when I held up a deep green that I'd been uncertain about."You're supposed to have no opinions.""I have no opinions about what I should wear. I have many opinions about what you should wear." He said it plainly.I put the green dress back. He didn't say anything, b

Elara's POVI turned.Samuel was studying a display of pocket squares. He'd just paid for two formal outfits, and now he was clearly working hard to look busy."That wasn't the arrangement.""Styling consultation fee," he said, without turning around. "Standard rate. Non-negotiable.""That's not a real thing.""It absolutely is." He put the pocket square down and looked at me. "A certain person is currently at Fiona's, expecting a full account of this afternoon. Let's go collect her."Something in his face softened. "And you can buy us dinner. She has opinions about where."I thought about the afternoon. The store. His hand raised against Orion's voice."Alright," I said.He smiled, a real one, and picked up the bags and held the door.Something in me cracked open, just a little.I was willing to give him a chance to date me.Orion's POVI couldn't stop thinking about it.Samuel Kingscliff was not performing. Every step he took closer to Elara tightened something in my chest. He wasn'