Malia’s POV
Penelope’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“How did you hear about it?” No one ever speaks about her. It’s like an unspoken rule,” she said in a low voice.
“I managed to get it out of your crush,” I replied, wiggling my eyebrows.
She promptly blushed. “Ronan?”
“Yeah. The one and only,” I said with a knowing smile.
“He must really like you a lot for him to have mentioned her existence to you,” she stated with a sad smile.
I rolled my eyes. “Penelope, Ronan is my friend. Friends do not hate each other. They like each other, just in case you didn’t know,” I said with the patience of one explaining something complex to a little child.
She breathed in deeply. “Well, it doesn’t even matter. It’s not as though if he didn’t like you the way I think he does, we’d ever have a chance together.”
I wanted to protest but thought better about it. It was only going to make her more upset.
“Did you ever see the baby?” I asked.
She gave me a look. “I was all but six years old at that time and wasn’t working here in the palace so there was no way I could have seen her.”
“But I was old enough to know that the late Luna had been pregnant. I also got to know that the girl child had been born and was healthy because I overheard my mom and dad talking about it. My mom used to work here in the palace.”
I nodded in understanding.
“Ronan told me that the late Alpha blamed her for his mate’s death and wanted nothing to do with her, that was why one of his aunties came to whisk her away.”
“But what I’m most concerned about is that even after the late Alpha’s demise, neither Ronan nor Ryder made any attempt to bring their sister back to the palace. Or do they hate her too?” I wondered.
Penelope shrugged. “You should ask Ronan or the Alpha. They might actually have tried to bring their sister back to the palace, who knows?”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t just make assumptions,” I agreed.
I was going to have to force the answer out of Ryder if I had to. He was going to hate me for it though.
“What book are you reading?” I asked.
She raised her gaze from the book on her lap. “The wolfless Luna’s curse,” she replied.
I choked on my saliva and started to cough.
Penelope rushed to my side. “Should I get you a glass of water?”
I shook my head and took a deep breath. “It’s okay. I’m fine now,” I replied and gave her a watery smile.
Her forehead was creased in concern.
“Penelope, I said I’m okay. You’re going to get wrinkles if you keep on creasing your forehead like that.”
She sighed in relief. “You scared me,” she returned to her seat.
“Don’t worry, next time I’m going to give you a thumbs up before I start choking,” I said with sarcasm.
She rolled her eyes and carried on with her book.
“What is it about?” I asked.
“It’s about a Luna who was cursed,” she replied with a straight face.
I rolled my eyes. “No shit Sherlock.”
She chuckled. “All I know is that it’s going to be an interesting read. The first page is intriguing. You can have your turn when I’m done reading the book.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Now please do not interrupt my reading again,” she pleaded.
“I’ll try not to,” I replied with a smirk.
I too continued with my reading and was nearly halfway through when Ronan returned.
My smile widened when I saw that he had a tray that held scones and doughnuts.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” I said by way of greeting.
“Are you referring to me or the snacks?” Ronan asked with a smirk.
“What do you think?” I grinned.
He shook his head as he set down the tray on the table.
I turned to face Penelope and saw that she was already on her feet. She bowed low to Ronan.
“And how do you do?” He asked her.
“Very well, thank you,” she replied with a small smile.
“Ronan, this is Penelope, my new friend,” I introduced.
“I see,” he said. “You were the one who brought the breakfast up to her room this morning.”
Penelope nodded.
“Please sit. You don’t have to stay on your feet till I ask you to sit,” he said.
“Thank you,” she murmured and settled back on her seat.
I offered her some of my snacks and she murmured her thanks.
Ronan checked the title of the book I was reading and nodded his approval. “Interesting choice.”
“So you’ve read it too,” I said.
“Ryder and I had to read it when we were younger. Our father didn’t give us a choice,” he replied.
I bit into a scone and moaned in pleasure. “This is good. Did you make it?” I queried.
“If I say I did, are you going to let me court you?” He asked with a hopeful expression.
“No way,” I replied almost immediately. I was very conscious of Penelope’s presence and I didn’t want to risk saying anything that could hurt her. It was already bad enough that the man she had a crush on was subtly flirting with me.
“I have to get back to work,” Penelope announced getting to her feet.
She gave me a small smile and bowed to Ronan again before leaving the library.
He immediately took her seat and reached out to grab a doughnut.
“So what have you been up to?” I asked.
“I had a meeting with the soldiers and then we trained for a while. I rushed back to make the snacks you’re currently munching on,” he replied.
“What about you?” He asked.
I gave him a look. “Really? Is it a trick question?”
He shrugged and said nothing.
“Silly beta,” I muttered under my breath.
“I heard that,” he said. “I just can’t assume that you’ve been sitting here and reading all through.”
“Whatever,” I said.
We ate our snacks in silence for a moment and I tried to think of the perfect way to ask my question.
“How’s Derek doing? Was he also present at the meeting today?” I asked and hoped that he didn’t wonder why I was suddenly asking about him.