Chapter 16
910 Words
“I heard you are no longer in a relationship with Selly,” Elena said.
“That is correct,” Gabriel replied.
Elena tilted her head slightly. “The Bloodveil Pack family has been waiting for confirmation.”
Gabriel let out a short breath. “We have separated.”
“Why? The Bloodveil family is not a minor ally.”
Gabriel did not answer right away. He set his cup down slowly. “Selly does not like someone who is important to me.”
His eyes shifted to me for only a fraction of a second. That was enough to make my pulse spike.
Elena raised a brow. “Just because of that?”
“Not ‘just’. I will not marry a woman who cannot even respect my daughter,” he said.
“Your daughter? You speak as if that girl is your blood.”
Gabriel gave a small nod. “She is not my blood, but I have raised and protected her as if she is. If a future wife cannot accept that, then she is not worthy to stand beside me.”
“In that case I am relieved you are no longer with her. That girl from Bloodveil is indeed too stubborn.”
Gabriel looked slightly taken aback. “You are pleased?”
“I am pleased the relationship ended, but not for the reason you used,” Elena answered truthfully.
She narrowed her eyes. “I never liked Selly, she is arrogant and in my opinion too domineering. I did not raise my son to bend to a woman like that and the Silvermoon matter is something else. They will come tonight for the dinner. The eldest daughter of Alpha Silvermoon will be present.”
“I know. And my answer still does not change.”
After lunch ended and the staff began clearing the table, Elena rose from her seat. She did not leave right away. Her eyes shifted to me, a look that made me instinctively straighten my posture.
“Seraphina, come with me for a moment.”
I stood up without a sound. Gabriel was about to stand as well, but Elena lifted a hand without looking at him.
“I only want to speak briefly, just the two of us,” Elena said.
Gabriel did not reply, only held his breath with a guarded expression. I followed Elena into a quiet hallway, far from the sound of cups and footsteps of the staff. She stopped near the built-in bookshelf, still poised and elegant even when no one was watching.
“Listen carefully. You are no longer a child, you have grown into a woman and a woman should not live under the same roof with a grown man who is not her husband or her family.”
The sentence felt like a blow delivered without hands.
“I know Gabriel protects you, but protection that lasts too long becomes a habit, and habit quickly turns into scandal,” Elena said.
I lowered my head. “I understand, Madam.”
“Not yet.” She cut sharply. “If you truly understood, you would not still remain here as if this house belongs to you.”
My blood seemed to drain to my feet. Not because she raised her voice, precisely because she did not need to.
“Gabriel is an Alpha. Every eye watches his steps. If you continue living under his roof, the world will read it in only two ways, scandal or a fight for position.”
I lifted my head a little, but not enough to meet her gaze fully.
“And I know one thing about you, you are not a woman who fights for positions. That is why I speak today before everything is too late,” she said.
There was a pause, not to give me a chance to respond, but to emphasize that this was not a discussion, it was a ruling.
“You may take this as the advice of a mother, or the final warning of a former Luna. Choose whichever you are capable of,” she said.
“I am only staying in the place Gabriel provided for me,” I replied.
“The place he provided is not the same as the place that is right for you.”
She exhaled softly, sounding more like restrained disgust. “And tonight the Silvermoons will come. The eldest daughter of the Alpha will sit at the same table with you. If you are still here after tonight, the interpretation of others will not be salvageable.”
“So you want me to leave?”
Elena did not blink. “I want you to wake up before the world forces you to wake up in a far crueler way.”
For a moment I wanted to say I never asked to be kept, never asked to be hidden, that I never begged for this house. But the sentence did not come out. Only silence did.
Elena straightened her back again, the posture of a queen after delivering a verdict.
“Gabriel may be capable of fighting an entire city for you, but it is not my duty to ensure he burns his life down simply because you are too comfortable to leave,” she said.
She turned away without asking for an answer.
Before she walked off, she added without looking back.
“Tonight after the dinner is over, pack your things.”
- Writer
