105
~Lira’s POV
The mont the plane landed, my chest felt tight, like the air in this new city was too heavy for . People stood up, grabbing bags and stretching like nothing was wrong in their lives, while my whole world felt like it was cracking open. I stayed seated even after the seatbelt sign turned off. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to think.
My phone kept vibrating in my bag. Over and over. I refused to look at it. I knew who it was. My parents. Stella. Probably so pack mbers, too. I could almost hear their voices in my head already, full of disappointnt and questions I didn’t want to answer.
I finally stood up and walked off the plane. My steps felt heavy. Each one sounded loud in my ears, like guilt was following . The airport was bright and crowded, but I kept my head down, dragging my luggage behind .
My phone vibrated again.
I clenched my jaw. "Not now," I muttered under my breath.
I didn’t pick it up. Not until I got into a taxi. Not until I checked into so random hotel in a city where no one knew my na. Not until the door closed behind and silence finally wrapped around .
Only then... I sat on the bed.
Only then... I let myself breathe.
And then I got angry.
"Useless," I spat, my voice shaking with rage even though no one else was there. "Ronan is a useless fool. I asked him for one thing. Just one thing."
My hands curled into fists. My heart pounded like it was trying to claw out of my chest.
"And he couldn’t do it," I whispered, voice breaking in the middle. "He couldn’t even protect . Now look at . Hiding. Like a criminal. Like a mistake."
The phone buzzed again. I finally pulled it out. The call list glowed up at .
Mom.
Mom.
Dad.
Stella.
Dad.
Stella again.
I breathed out sharply through my nose.
Then the screen lit up once more.
Stella.
I hesitated before answering. "Why are you calling ?" I snapped before she could speak. "Shouldn’t you be calling Elara? Since she’s the perfect little Luna now?"
"Lira..." Stella’s voice sounded tired. "Co back ho. Please. Don’t make this worse. If you hand yourself in, maybe they will reduce your sentence. Alpha Darlon might..."
"Are you mad?" I cut in sharply. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. "You want to walk back there and kneel? You want to just give myself to them like an animal waiting for punishnt?"
"I want you to take responsibility," she said quietly. "Running will destroy you even more."
Her words stung, because sowhere inside ... they sounded true. But I refused to let them stick.
"No," I said, voice trembling with anger. "I’m not going back. I’m not letting that woman have the last word. I’m not giving her the satisfaction. Who the hell did you think you are to tell that?!"
"Lira, please lis..."
I hung up.
The phone hit the mattress when I threw it. It bounced once, then fell to the floor. I heard the crack before I even picked it up. The screen had a line running across it now.
Perfect. Just like my life. Splitting down the middle.
I unlocked it anyway. My fingers moved on their own. Straight to the internet. Straight to the thing I was avoiding.
The first headline I saw made my stomach twist.
WANTED: PRINCESS LIRA. OFFICIAL NOTICE RELEASED.
My pictures were everywhere. Every angle of my face. Every old photo. Every smile that now felt like a lie.
"What is this..." I whispered.
I scrolled.
Another headline.
ALPHA DARLON AND LUNA ELARA ANNOUNCE THEIR MARRIAGE.
My breath caught. My chest burned like soone poured fire inside it. I clicked it before I could stop myself. Photos filled the screen. Alpha Darlon was holding her. Smiling. Announcing her as if she was the sun.
My vision blurred.
The comnts were worse.
"She lied for months."
"How can soone call herself Luna when she isn’t even chosen?"
"She deserves consequences."
"Shaless."
"Everything about her was fake."
I swallowed hard.
There were hundreds more. Thousands maybe. I didn’t even finish reading before I threw the phone again, this ti harder. It slid across the room and hit the wall. The crack on the screen spread like a spider web.
I pressed my hands to my face. For a mont, all the anger lted into sothing else. Sothing smaller. Sothing that felt like pain.
"Why..." I whispered. "Why is everything slipping away from ?"
The room stayed quiet, like it was waiting for to break again. I sat there on the edge of the bed, hands shaking a little, my breath uneven. It felt like the walls were leaning in on , like they wanted to hear every single thought I was trying so hard to push away.
Was I wrong to go for what I wanted?
The question slipped in again, slow and sharp, like a needle against skin. I looked at the floor, at the cracked hotel tiles, and I felt sothing in my chest twist.
Was I really the villain here?
I pressed my palms together, like I was trying to hold myself together. Villain. The word tasted bitter. People online were throwing it around like candy. Like it was easy. Like it didn’t ruin soone.
Was I the problem?
I swallowed hard. My eyes burned, but I refused to blink because I knew if I did, the tears would fall. I hated crying. It made feel weak. Small. And I wasn’t supposed to be small. I was supposed to be Luna. I was supposed to be standing beside Alpha Darlon, not hiding in a hotel room in another city, afraid to pick up my phone.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head like I was trying to shake the thoughts loose. "No. I was supposed to be Luna. Everyone knew it. Everyone saw it. It wasn’t a secret. It wasn’t imagined."
My voice trembled, but I kept talking anyway, because if I stopped, the silence would swallow again.
"She took what was mine. She walked in and just took it. Like I didn’t matter. Like I was never in the story to begin with."
My throat tightened so hard it hurt. I didn’t know if it was anger or heartbreak or both tangled together. Maybe both. Probably both.
I felt the sting of humiliation again. The comnts. The posts. People laughing. People were calling nas. People who didn’t even know were acting like they had lived my life. Like they understood.
"I won’t let her win," I said, but the words felt heavy, like a promise I wasn’t sure I could keep but had to anyway.
My voice cracked, and the last word barely made it out.
"I won’t."
The silence settled again, but it wasn’t empty this ti. It was full of sothing else. Sothing dark. Sothing determined.
I wiped my face, sat up straighter, and forced myself to breathe.
She might have the title now, but I wasn’t finished.
Not yet.
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