“No, Mother,” I interrupted, my voice firm. “Just stop making decisions on my behalf.”
Her calm expression didn’t waver as she turned to me, and I couldn’t help but feel both anger and disbelief. How could she remain so composed in every situation? More importantly, how could she consistently make decisions for me as if I had no agency?
She was my mother, yes, but she had left me with my father and his wife-whom I’d believed to be my real mother for most of my life. Now, after all these years, she had appeared out of nowhere, assuming that a few explanations would magically erase the pain of abandonment and make everything normal again. Worse still, she thought she could control my life when I was the one destined to rule the Lunar Realm-such irony.
“Selena, believe me,” my mother said in her ever-serene voice, as though her words alone could soothe away all objections. “This is for your good and the good of the realm.”
“No, Mother, you have to understand this time,” I argued, my voice rising in defiance. I didn’t care that God Kaelvor was standing there, witnessing our exchange. “I have a mate and a son. I have a life in the other realm, and I am here only because you told me it was my destiny to save the Lunar Realm and its people. But that does not give you the right to rewrite my fate.”
My tone was stern, every word underscoring my resolve.
“Selena,” she said with a serene smile, her gaze shifting between God Kaelvor and me. “Your life changed the moment you came here to stay. Your old life no longer exists. The people you still care about… they don’t even remember you,” she declared, her voice calm but cutting.
I shook my head vehemently, refusing to accept her words. “That’s not possible,” I retorted with a self-assured smirk, determined to challenge her claim.
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me,” she replied, her soft smile unwavering, as if she weren’t casually dismantling the foundation of my hope. “But will you believe it when you see it for yourself?”
Her words sent a chill through me, but I refused to let doubt take root. My mate, my son-my family-they would never forget me. It was absurd to even consider. And… and it had only been a few days since I left them. Surely, that wasn’t enough time for anyone to forget someone as if they’d never existed.
I remained silent as my heart thundered in my chest, fear tightening its grip on me. I didn’t know what my mother intended to make me believe, but a part of me dreaded finding out. I simply waited, unable to summon the words to question her further.
She reached out, taking my hand with an unsettling calmness, and led me to the grand dining table. At its center was a large golden bowl filled with water. With a graceful motion, she swept her hand over it, and the surface of the water rippled, transforming into a mirror-like sheen. Moments later, it became a live screen as if a movie had started playing.
I gasped. There they were-my mate, Zander, and my son, Austin. They were talking and laughing together, their faces radiant with happiness.
“Austin!” I called his name instinctively, longing to hold him, to hear him respond. “Zander!” I added, hoping against hope that he might somehow look my way.
“Selena,” my mother said softly, her voice steady. “They can’t see or hear you. But through this, you can see and hear them across the realms.”
I tore my eyes away from the screen to look at her, confused and panicked. “What is this supposed to prove?”
“Look closely,” she said, gesturing toward the image. “Do they look like they miss you? No, Selena. They’re happy without you. They’ve already replaced you.”
Her words hit me like a punch to the stomach. Replaced me?
“What… what do you mean?” I demanded, my voice trembling as dread pooled in my chest.
“Keep watching,” she said, her serene demeanor making her words all the more unnerving. “You’ll understand soon enough what I mean. Just stay alert, Selena. It’s time you saw the truth.”
I kept looking at my mate and my son, my heart filling with longing and yearning to be by their side, to be part of their happy life, to be happy again.
But then, the tranquility shattered.
A figure walked into the scene, and my breath caught in my throat. My eyes widened with shock as recognition struck me like a bolt of lightning-it was my half-sister, Anne. And the person who followed her… My heart stopped.
It was my father.
He was alive.
My father, the man Zander had supposedly killed along with his entire pack, stood there, very much alive, speaking with my mate as if they had never been enemies. The casual ease in their interaction left me reeling, unable to comprehend what I was seeing.
I turned to my mother, my shock unmasked, words failing me. She remained calm, her expression unreadable, as if she had anticipated my reaction.
Before I could ask the questions that burned in my mind, she swept her hand over the water again. The screen shimmered, and now their voices became audible, the conversation slicing through the thick air.
It was my father speaking, his voice unmistakable, the sound of it striking a chord I had buried long ago.
“Alpha Zander,” he said with unsettling authority, “I have made all the preparations for your and Anne’s marriage next week.”
My world tilted, the ground beneath me metaphorically crumbling.
“What the hell is going on?” I gasped, my voice trembling. I turned to my mother, desperate for answers, my brows furrowing so deeply it felt as if they might never smooth out. My head pounded with the weight of the revelations, each one more incomprehensible than the last.
Wasn’t my father dead? Along with my stepmother, Anne, and the entire pack? Hadn’t Zander been the one to end their lives? Or had it all been a lie-a mirage-this whole time?