Reclaiming My Broken Luna by Selene Souchon

Chapter 337: The Solution Astrid's POV

The silence after the call ended was heavier than the words I hadn't spoken.

I remained frozen, clutching the phone as though its weight could tether me to the choices I had made.

Each unspoken truth tightened like a vice around my chest, each lie stealing the air I so desperately needed.

I wanted nothing more than to turn back, to run to Ryker and finally tell him who I really was.

But how could I? How could I be so selfish, so reckless? I knew the truth about my condition - how dangerous and uncertain everything is. How could I let him get close to me, knowing how it will all end?

The thought of Ryker loving me, only to lose me, was unbearable. I couldn't let him go through that pain, the kind of pain that had already hollowed me out.

I knew it too well - the ache of losing someone you'd give anything to keep. The searing, unrelenting agony of losing my husband, the devastation of outliving my child.

I wouldn't wish that torment on anyone, least of all Ryker.

A shiver coursed through me as I stared at my trembling hand, willing it to stay steady. But my composure wavered, the cracks too wide to mend.

Every word I'd said on that call was a lie. There was no urgent matter to attend to. It was all an excuse in my desperate attempt to protect them, to keep distance between us.

It was better this way. Better for them.

it would be less hard for them to live

and drew a shaky breath, trying to suppress the storm building inside me. But the ache refused to

tears came. Hot, relentless, and unyielding, they slipped past

to my face as the sobs overtook me, my body

every fear, every longing poured out of me like a dam

be with them. To

be selfish-not with their happiness at stake.

the floor, collecting myself together through the strength

of my grief is still there, but hope burned brighter inside me,

yet unyielding,

if the odds were slim, even if the path ahead was riddled with uncertainty and hardship, I had

death was the only solution then I could face the end knowing

life I am given, I would still

the truth, for

for meeting Ryker life, and knowing

was.

QUMS

I succeeded - if

I

this