The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 247

Chapter 247

-Ava’s POV-

1 froze.

For a second, I forgot how to breathe, how to think, how to do anything but stare. My heart thundered so violently it hurt, my pulse pounding in my ears like war drums.

And then–when I finally moved, when I blinked-

He was gone,

+13

A fresh wave of grief slammed into me, knocking the breath from my lungs, crushing me beneath its unbearable weight. My entire body shuddered as the hope that had briefly flared within me was torn away, leaving nothing but an aching, gaping void. The wind howled, rattling the trees, kicking up loose leaves and dust, but I barely registered it.

Because he wasn’t there.

Because it had only been my mind playing cruel tricks on me, dangling the impossible in front of me before yanking it

away.

A choked sob tore from my throat, raw and broken. I collapsed forward, my forehead pressing against the cold, damp earth as tears poured freely down my cheeks. I cried until my voice was hoarse, until my lungs burned, until there was nothing left inside me but emptiness.

Until the world blurred.

Until everything faded into nothingness.

Until I was just an empty, shattered thing kneeling in the dirt, holding onto a love that no longer existed.

I didn’t know how much time passed. Minutes. Hours. Maybe longer. The sky had darkened, the last remnants of daylight bleeding into the horizon like a dying ember.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, I felt someone sit beside me.

At

first, I didn’t react. I was too exhausted, too hollow, too consumed by the weight of my grief to care who it was. But then, with every ounce of strength I could muster, I turned my head–just enough to glance at the figure beside me.

It

was Raina.

My grandmother sat there, her back straight, hands folded neatly in her lap, her silver hair catching the dim light. She wasn’t looking at me. Her gaze was fixed on the tombstone, her expression unreadable. She didn’t speak, didn’t reach for me, didn’t offer any empty words of comfort.

She just sat there, silent.

And so, I looked away.

The two of us sat in that silence for what felt like forever, both lost in our own thoughts, our own pain.

finally, she broke the

is a tedious thing, isn’t

almost contemplative, like she wasn’t speaking

1/4

Chapter 947

didn’t have the uength to speak, and even if i did, i didi kwen

could i say!

wasn’t

the sky and demand to know why

anything, everything, to have

of it mattered. None of it would change the

I said nothing

suffocating, wrapping, woed meenutade ute. Torn, Ken syke again, her voice barely louder than the whisper of

back,” she murmured, her words dow, carted. ” you could wwwynything that waynth for we the loss, the pain and know that this exact moment was waiting for good mood you have cars sex toonzekerer’s Would you have

My fingers day, who the cold dirt beneda me, denching to tightly

expect me to answer that?” My voice came out hoarse, raw with put, “How could I not have loved him?

that held too much weight, too much understanding, “Loving, tám does

real.”

help. The tightness in my chest only grew, upecang until it

pain,” She continued, her voice Meady, certain. “But pain is not proof of weakness. It is proof of love.

one day, they would. Maybe, years from now, I would

comfort in them.

right now, they meant

of this would ever

wasn’t strong enough

strong enough to focus on the fact that the realm no longer had a king, That Damien was still out there, waiting in the shadows, biding his time. That it was only a matter of time before he struck

have cared. About the realm. About the crown. About all the

But I didn’t.

didn’t care about any of

lips, ready to tell Raina to leave–to beg her for just one moment of solitude–when a sharp, searing pain exploded in my chest. It felt familiar. The kind that I hadn’t been able

2/4

5 Mar

Chapter 247

to breath but the breath never

started coughing, and the sharp, metallic taste of copper flooded my mouth. Another

streaks spilled onto

rising as something deep inside me–something old, something,

at once, it hit me.

Burning.

my veins, like fire licking at my bones,

my nails raking against the dirt as my

voice cut through the haze, sharp with panic, “Ava!”

heard

whatever was inside me–whatever was clawing

reached a breaking point and then

beneath

sheer force of whatever was happening to me. My limbs locked, my skin burned, my head pounded with something ancient, something raw and just as suddenly as it started, my body started shaking.