The sickened luna’s last chance

Three weeks passed by after that night without a hitch.

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My life slowly evolved into a simple but comforting routine. Each day was the same–something that might have given me anxiety before but now served as a pleasant reminder that I got to spend every waking moment with my son.

Each day, I woke up at dawn. I would change Lucien’s diaper. Feed him his morning bottle while he blinked up at me with those mismatched eyes. Take him downstairs for some fresh air in the garden while the other servants prepared breakfast. Put him down for his morning nap. Clean his nursery. Repeat.

It was simple work, but it was work that mattered. And every day, I was lucky enough to watch as Lucien grew a little stronger. His breathing was less labored. He cried less at night. The oxygen tubes were only needed for a few hours instead of all night long.

And every day, he seemed to recognize me more. He’d calm down the moment I picked him up. He’d follow my movements with his big, mismatched eyes when I walked around the room. And sometimes, when I was feeding him, he would wrap his tiny fist around my finger and hold on tight.

Those moments made everything else bearable. The cramped servants‘ quarters, the gray uniform that marked me as the lowest rank in the pack, the fact that I had to answer to a new name.

Nothing could fully blot out the constant chatter about Alexander’s fucking Luna Trial, though. Because that was all anyone could talk about anymore. It quickly became the talk of the territories, and even wound up all over the news. I couldn’t even turn on the television in the servants‘ den anymore without seeing live coverage of the incoming applications.

As the weeks passed, the applications kept rolling in from all over the territories until there had to be thousands. Every eligible bachelorette within reasonable distance of Ashclaw was apparently vying for a place in the trial. Everyone except for me.

Of course, I’d told Alexander to remove my name from the list and I was glad I did. I had already spent six years trying to be the woman he wanted, and I wasn’t about to do that again.

Not for the man who couldn’t even grieve me for a week before he announced his plans to replace me.

My heart turned more and more bitter each day, although my wolf grew more agitated and desperate each time the trial was mentioned. I did my best to ignore her, choosing instead to focus on Lucien and the time we’d been blessed to have together.

But eventually, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. The day the application results–when the list of one hundred bachelorettes who made it to the first round of the actual trial would be released–finally arrived, dawning gray and dreary with a constant rain drizzling against the window.

The weather was very fitting for how I felt on the inside, at least.

results?” Anya asked as I fed Lucien in the kitchen that morning, just as I did every morning. “I don’t think I

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Chapter 257

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cheek to keep myself from saying “Fuck no!” out loud. The last thing I wanted was to be anywhere near that

in the

knew: that no one was good enough for the great Alpha King Alexander. He was probably just doing this for

forced a smile and said, “Sure. Let me just finish my morning

let out a breath of relief. “Oh, thank

I hadn’t mentioned that I knew she’d been the one to secretly put my name in the running, because I knew she was just trying to help. I also hadn’t told her that I’d found out and that I promptly

cheeks flushed. “Well… I

Lucien’s bottle and standing. “Well, put on

side of the table working

the foyer together, where the results were posted. A crowd of young women had already gathered and were swarming the sheet of

grabbing my hand and pulling

shoving our way through the mass of bodies to see the results. I was surprised to find that there were a lot of names on the list; maybe Alexander

all.

ploy for his public image and only the cream of the crop would make it to the final round. It had to be Sophia, anyway. I still couldn’t get the picture of them drunkenly waltzing out of my head even now, weeks later, and I loathed to

Both of

the list in search of her name, then let out a squeal and jumped

my hands in hers. “I made it

frustration, but I shoved her down. It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. Alexander wasn’t our mate anymore, not technically now that I had a new,

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wanted me anyway.