“Well?” I urged, wishing I could shoot daggers out of my eyes and stab her fucking innocent face. “What do you have to say for yourself, whore?!”
She sighed. Fucking rolled her eyes like I was some minor inconvenience.
“Listen, Celeste-“
The patronizing tone was the last straw. lunged. I was going to pluck out her eyes with my French tips and-
Kieran moved fast, catching me around my waist, his body a mountain I couldn’t push past.
“Go, Sera,” Kieran said quietly, his head towards her.
She hesitated.
His tone sharpened, and the word became a command that wouldn’t dare be disobeyed.
“Go.”
She shot me one last glance, her expression blank. And then left.
I waited until she was gone before I rounded on him.
“What. The. Fuck. Kieran?”
He exhaled, his hand dropping from my waist.
“Celeste-“
“You regret it, don’t you?” My voice dropped. “Divorcing her. Being with me.”
His eyes closed briefly. The silence was long enough to answer everything. Long enough to slash open my heart.
I laughed bitterly. “That’s all I needed to know.”
Kieran opened his mouth, but I cut him off.
“You want to know regret, Kie?” I yanked my sleeve up. There, on the inside of my wrist, was a delicate line of ink-two wolves circling themselves under a full moon.
His gaze furrowed, frowning down at the tattoo.
“I got this to cover the scars,” I said softly, the lie slipping out of me easily. His gaze shifted to mine, alarm flaring in his eyes. I let mine brim with tears-it was honestly all too easy.
“From when I left. After you slept with my sister, I was going to kill myself. I thought I’d never survive without you.”
At least, that part was true.
His face went pale. “Celeste-“
“I thought I was getting better. I thought I could move on and forget the past. But you keep doing this-putting her first, falling prey to more of her schemes.” I took a shuddering breath, and a tear slid down my cheek. “Making me feel like I’m disposable. As if you’re going to leave me at any moment. Again.”
He stepped forward, reaching for me. “Fuck, Celeste, I never meant to make you feel that way.” I let him gather me in his arms. “I swear to you-nothing happened between me and
Sera. I’d never betray you like that. Not again.”
I let myself lean into him, letting the weight of my body press against his chest.
“I don’t want to lose you,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Not again.”
“You won’t,” he murmured. “I promise, Celeste. I’ll do better. I’ll be better. You mean so much to me.”
I pulled back just slightly. Just enough to meet his eyes.
“You’ve said that before, Kie. You’ve been saying a lot of words without your actions backing them up.”
A line formed between his brows, and he said what I hoped he would. “How can I prove it to you?”
My answer was immediate. “Publicly. Tonight. In front of all my friends.”
He blinked. “What do you mean?”
I offered him a small, trembling smile. “Let them know it’s us. That it’s always been us. That you’re choosing me, not her.”
There was a flicker in his eyes. Doubt? Regret? Guilt? I couldn’t name it.
But then he nodded. “Okay.”
I exhaled slowly. “Okay?”
“I’ll do it. Tonight.”
The night air felt sweeter after that. Like I’d won something that had nearly been lost forever.
Seraphina might have her tactics. She may have thought her moment in the spotlight would rewrite everything.
But Kieran had been mine from the start, and everything was going to go back to the way it was.
Starting tonight.
KIERAN’S POV
By the time Celeste returned from the bathroom, her face was flawless again-lipstick and mascara reapplied, eyes dry, every trace of what had happened earlier buried beneath powder and poise.
But I saw it.
The slight quiver of her mouth as she smiled too brightly, turning to say something to the small crowd she brought back out with her.
The sight of her friends made my stomach clench with something that felt an awful lot like panic. But I didn’t understand why-the feeling was needless.
Celeste was going to be my future Luna, and the whole world would know, so why was the idea of this… display putting me off so badly?
I rolled my shoulders and steeled myself. I was going to do this-no matter how I felt about it-for Celeste.
I thought of the tattoo on her arm, of the marks they covered, and guilt swam through me, overpowering the panic.
Celeste had always despised pain. A papercut made her recoil; even faded scars ruined the perfection of her designer dresses. Yet she’d hurt herself many times-deliberately-in the past years. For my mistake.
The thought lodged in my chest like shrapnel. How deep must her despair have cut to make pain feel like an escape?
I’d hurt her enough and couldn’t afford to do that anymore.
So I put on my best smile as she neared and slid her arm through mine, resting her head against my shoulder.
“Kie, darling,” she crooned, practically vibrating as she handed me a champagne flute. “You remember my friends?”
No, I absolutely didn’t. It was only the brunette in front, wearing a red strapless dress, who looked vaguely familiar-I wanted to say Elaine?
Celeste began to point them out. “Emma, Abby, Marcia, Yasmine, and Davina.”
I gave them a charming smile, and they dissolved into giggles. “It’s lovely to meet you all.”
“So,” Emma-not Elaine-said, smirking suggestively, “is it official? Are you two finally back together?”
I felt Celeste’s head shift, and I looked down to see her looking up at me expectantly, her eyes sparkling. I smiled. “Yeah, we are.”
They erupted into ear-splitting squeals, and it took all my willpower not to cringe.
“Oh, thank the gods,” Abby said. “We were beginning to worry you’d let her win.”
Her.
Sera.
I barely contained the grimace threatening to twist my features.
Davina chuckled, murmuring behind a champagne flute, “Once bitten, twice shy. I’m sure
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