His Lesbian Luna

Chapter 7

Sera’s POV

Morning came with another knock.

Two maids. Arms full of fabric. They looked at me, looked at each other, then bowed their heads together like they’d rehearsed it.

“The King sent these,” the older one said.

I stared at them. Then at the dresses. Then back at them.

“The King,” I said.

“Yes.” She smiled like this was completely normal. “May we come in?”

I stepped back.

They moved through the room efficiently, hanging everything in the wardrobe in the time it took me to close my mouth. Colors I had never owned. Fabrics that cost more than anything in Ashwood combined. The older maid turned to me when they were done with her hands folded and a look that said she had done this before and intended to do it well.

“The light grey one,” she said. “For this morning.”

I looked at the grey dress. Long. High neck. Simple but the kind of simple that took money to achieve.

“How did he know my size?” I asked.

She smiled in a way that didn’t answer the question.

“And this—” The younger one set a tray on the table. Light soup. Plain bread. A small glass of something clear.

I looked at it. Then at the wardrobe full of dresses being hung in color order.

He had heard me last night. Through these walls, with those Lycan senses, he had heard every humiliating second of it. And said nothing. And this morning sent soup.

The older maid turned to me when they were done. “The deep blue one,” she said. “For this evening.”

She pointed. I looked.

Floor length. Simple neckline. The kind of dress that cost more than everything I had owned in Ashwood put together.

Then she smiled and bowed herself out.

I ate the soup slowly and did not think about it further.

Voss found me in the main corridor just before noon.

I heard the heels first. I always heard the heels first.

She came around the corner with two women behind her and that fake smile she wore on daily and stopped directly in my path.

“Lena,” she said.

“Lady Voss,” I said warmly.

She looked me over. The dress. My hair. The way I was standing. “You look well rested,” she said. “I trust the King’s wing is comfortable.”

Every person in that corridor had gone quiet.

I felt them without looking. Pack members. Two warriors. A maid frozen near the wall. All of them watching.

“Very comfortable, thank you,” I said pleasantly.

Her smile thinned. “I imagine it’s quite different from what you’re used to.” She stepped closer, dropping her voice just enough to be intimate and just loud enough to carry. “Ashwood is a modest pack, after all. Very small. And quiet.” A pause. “Nothing like what you’d need to prepare you for a position like this.”

‘There it is,’ Sienna said.

I tilted my head. “You’re right,” I said. “Ashwood is quiet and small. That’s probably why I’m such a good listener.” I smiled. “I hear everything, Lady Voss. Absolutely everything.”

Her jaw tightened.

“For example,” I continued pleasantly, “I heard that Elder Croft found our meeting yesterday very productive. He’s a remarkable man. Very thorough.” I paused. “I can see why the King values his judgment so highly.”

The corridor was very quiet now.

Voss looked at me with those eyes that had stopped pretending to be warm. Fury held on a very short leash.

“Enjoy your evening,” she said softly. “I’ll be there.”

She walked past me. Her two women followed.

I stood in the corridor and listened to the heels fade and kept my face completely still and breathed through my nose until the shaking in my hands stopped.

‘Well,’ Sienna said.

“Don’t,” I said out loud.

The frozen maid near the wall startled. I looked at her. She looked at me.

“Sorry,” I said. “Not you.”

She bowed quickly and disappeared.

I pressed my thumb into my palm and walked on.

The gathering was already full when Percy brought me in.

Torches. Long tables. Thirty pack members and two Eastern Alphas who clocked everything in the room the second they walked through the door.

Damon was already there when Percy brought me in. Standing at the head of the table, talking to one of the visiting Alphas. He looked up when I entered.

His eyes moved over me once. The blue dress. My hair pinned back. The particular way I was holding myself — spine straight, chin up, Sonja’s ghost pressed against my back.

He crossed the room.

He stopped beside me and without a word offered his arm.

I took it.

His hand covered mine where it rested on his forearm. Warm and steady. A message to every person in that room that ‘she is exactly where she is supposed to be.’

“The one on the left,” he said quietly, not moving his lips much. “Alpha Renner. He’ll ask you about Ashwood’s eastern border negotiations. He’s testing whether you’re informed or decorative.”

“And the one on the right?” I murmured back.

“He’s already decided you’re decorative.” A pause. “Prove him wrong and he becomes useful. Prove him right and he reports back to his pack that I have a weak Luna.”

“Understood,” I said.

He looked down at me. Something in his eyes that I was starting to recognize that quick flicker of something before the walls came back up.

“You look—” He stopped.

I waited.

“beautiful.” he said.

Something did a complicated thing in my chest.

I looked away from him before it could finish doing it.

I was deep in conversation with Alpha Renner when it happened.

A sound from the other end of the table. A gasp. Then voices rising.

I turned.

Voss was standing with her hand pressed to her mouth, eyes wide, wine spreading dark red across the front of her dress. She was looking at me. The whole room was looking at me.

“She pushed me,” Voss said. Loud enough to carry. Quiet enough to seem like she hadn’t meant it to. “I was simply walking past and she—”

“I was standing here,” I said calmly. “I haven’t moved.”

“I felt it,” she said, her voice cracking just slightly. Perfectly. “I felt her push me.”

Alpha Renner beside me had gone very still.

The room was silent.

I looked at Voss. At the wine on her dress. At the tears forming in her eyes with the practiced precision of someone who had done this before and knew exactly how far to take it.

‘Oh,’ Sienna said. ‘That’s her game.’

I set my glass down slowly.

“Lady Voss,” I said. Very gently. “Are you alright? You’ve gone quite pale.” I took one step toward her. “Should someone call for Mira? You don’t look well.”

She blinked. She hadn’t expected that.

“I’m — I’m fine,” she said.

“Are you sure?” I pressed. Genuine concern all over my face. “Because fainting in public can be a sign of something serious. Especially when it comes on suddenly like this.” I looked at the people around us. “Has she seemed unwell to anyone else today?”

Murmurs. Uncertain looks.

Voss’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.

“I didn’t faint,” she said. “I was pushed—”

“Of course.” I nodded sympathetically. “Why don’t we get you somewhere to sit down. Percy—” I looked at Percy across the table. He was staring at me with an expression I had never seen on his face before. “Could you help Lady Voss find a seat? I think she needs a moment.”

Percy moved quickly. Voss had no choice but to go with him without making it worse.

The room exhaled.

Alpha Renner leaned toward me slightly. “Smoothly done,” he said quietly.

“I have no idea what you mean,” I said. And picked up my glass.

He laughed. Actually laughed.

Across the room I caught Damon watching me. He raised his glass a fraction of an inch.

I looked away before I could smile at that too.