THE LUNA QUEEN IS ME

4: Take Back Your Position

NYX

Zora was back, and I returned to being a full-time stranger in my own house. A full-time stranger might be an understatement. I became a fly, pestering and irrelevant.

And something to get rid of.

Everything now revolved around Zora. Our meals were prepared according to what she wanted to eat. My husband slept in her room because she was too traumatized to sleep alone. He personally drove her whenever she needed to go out because she was still wary of strangers. He abandoned pack duties just to make sure that she was okay.

I smiled through it all. I couldn't complain because I'd be labeled as the jealous daughter.

It's been days, and no one still knows of my pregnancy. My husband had probably even forgotten that I told him I went to the hospital, and I didn't exist to my parents anymore, now that Zora was back.

I was tasked with preparing for her welcome party, and I used that to distract myself from feeling unwanted. I threw myself into it. I personally went out to do the shopping instead of sending the maids. I just needed to keep my mind and hands busy to distract myself from thinking about what Kael and Zora could be doing in her room all night, and how their laughter drifts into my ears at 2am.

It was finally the day of the welcome party that I organized to be an evening garden. Even though I was the host, I was sidelined as I watched my husband walk around with Zora’s hands wrapped around his elbow. He reintroduced her to everybody, and they all hugged her, told her how sorry they felt when they heard about her ordeal, and how they couldn't wait for her to integrate back into society fully.

She laughed and threw her head back at intervals, perfecting the act of a perfect host. She looked like a queen, dressed in that long, shimmering, black gown with glitter. It hugged and accentuated her curves, and her black hair fell over her shoulders and covered parts of her exposed back, making her stand out from the rest of us.

And the way she fit beside Kael? It was perfect, they looked too good together. My parents were standing by and watching them while nodding enthusiastically to their friends. They all looked like one big happy family. I realized again that I was the stranger here. I could walk out of this house today, and no one would miss me.

Would they even notice my absence?

That thought devastated me and churned my stomach, making my breakfast rise to the back of my throat. I ran to the outdoor toilets, and I had hardly entered one when I threw everything up.

I rinsed my mouth, sprinkled water on my face, and tried to avoid looking at myself in the mirror, but I failed. I caught a glimpse of my dull eyes, of my sagging skin, and the blackness that dotted my eyes.

I looked so tired. I looked like I had aged 10 years in less than three weeks.

I needed to do something, but I didn't know what. It was my life, but I felt like a stranger in it. I didn't know what to do with myself, but I knew I had to take control, one way or the…

“She's back by his side,” a voice from the outside interrupted my thoughts. “You should see him,” the voice chuckled, and I placed my ear firmly against the wall to hear him better.

“He hasn't gotten over her one bit. It might have been three years, and he might have a wife now, but he's still hopelessly in love with Zora. It shouldn't take that long for our plan to succeed. Don't worry, all your sacrifices over the years will finally pay off.”

What plan?

I opened the door in panic and quickly turned to the corner where the voice had come from, but it was empty. There was nobody there. There were quite a few people walking around, but no one was near the toilets. No one acted like they had run away just before I caught them. No one turned back to check if their tracks were well covered.

I walked back to the party in a daze, wondering if I had hallucinated what I overheard, but that wasn't possible. I heard everything loud and clear. So what was the plan? Who was that person? Do they know Zora? Were they working together? Working on what exactly? Everything I had were just pieces that couldn't be pieced together.

My first thought was to go and tell Kael, but I knew he wouldn't believe me. I knew he'd think that I was overexaggerating what I heard or probably even think I was lying to stir things up.

“So what's going to happen now that you're back?”

I heard one of Zora’s friends say to her when I got back to the party. The three of them were standing around a high table with the party still unfolding in chatter and laughter. Zora was facing my direction even though she hadn't seen me yet.

“Happen with what?”

“With your position as the Luna Queen. You're back now. Things should change.”

A lump formed in my throat.

“Oh come on, don't be silly. I was never the Luna Queen. My sister, Nyx is.”

“Now, you're the silly one. Everybody knows that Kael only married Nyx because you disappeared on him. He doesn't like her, not even after three years. Everybody who saw how you and he were today will clearly see that he's still in love with you.”

“Come on, Harper, he's a married man and not just any married man but actually my brother-in-law. We were chosen mates, but that's all in the past.”

“Married to a bore,” the second friend spat, “I mean, which Luna Queen throws a party as boring as this?” She made an exaggerated gesture of pointing at the party and the guests talking in twos and threes. And it has always been like this. Since you left, the pack's women's affairs unit has gone downhill. Social events basically became nonexistent. We need you to step up again and switch things around.”

Zora raised her glass cup to her lips with a sly smile on her face. In doing so, our eyes met, and her smile only widened. She didn't look away. I didn't look away either. If there's one thing I've never explicitly stated about Zora, it's that she wasn't as sweet as she's always painted herself.

And she didn't like me as much as she made it look like.

“You don't have to become the Luna Queen if you don't want to, but you can always take the position of the women's leader from her.”

“She's the Luna Queen; it's her position. She should take it back. The current Luna Queen doesn't have an heir or anything that ties her to the position. It won't be that much of a hassle to kick her away from it.”

Zora’s sly smile widened as she took another sip from her glass. Her eyes were still locked on mine.

“That's right. She didn't get pregnant at all during the three years. Isn't that unheard of as Alpha’s wife? Alphas are fertile, and the first mating after marking always results in pregnancy. She must be barren if she's still not pregnant.”

“Or maybe the rumors are true,” Harper whispered conspiratively, “Maybe Kael never consummated the wedding. That must be why she never got pregnant.”

My hand instinctively shielded my lower stomach.

Zora’s eyes dropped to it, and I could have sworn that her smile narrowed.