Chapter 77: The Girl They Knew Before Me

Isla insisted on helping Roxanne get ready, sitting cross-legged on the bed with a hairbrush and a running commentary. The social evening was not a formal royal ball, only an academy reception with music, food, dancing, and students from every pack mingling in the great hall. Isla teased her mercilessly about having to attend with Serena.

"At least nobody can start another dating rumor," she said.

Roxanne laughed and pinned a stray curl back. "Give the academy ten minutes," she said, and they went downstairs together, past clusters of students in borrowed jackets and nervous smiles, the whole building humming with music from the hall below.

Serena was waiting at the bottom of the staircase, and unlike most of the students shifting nervously around her, she looked completely at ease. She wore a dark green dress that suited her calm, polished manner, and she greeted Roxanne with a warm smile.

She explained the etiquette of the evening in a few short sentences, who greeted whom first and which pack leaders to nod to, and she managed it without making Roxanne feel inexperienced. Then she added something quieter. "You don’t have to impress anyone tonight," she said.

Roxanne looked at her. "Good. I wasn’t planning to." Serena’s smile widened. "That’s exactly why they like you," she said, and she led the way into the hall, where lanterns hung from the rafters and long tables sagged under trays of food.

The four brothers arrived a few minutes later, and the atmosphere in the room changed the moment they walked in. Conversations shifted and heads turned, and Jace joined them almost at once with a glass in each hand.

Serena and Jace slid back into their old rhythm with the brothers as if no time had passed. They teased Liam about a childhood incident involving a stolen cake, and Serena knew exactly how Lucien took his drink without being told. Jace remembered one of Kai’s old training injuries down to the season it had happened.

When Serena mentioned something only their group would understand, Roshan gave her an easy, private look that made her grin.

Roxanne watched them from a few feet away, and it struck her again how much life these four had lived before she ever arrived. She didn’t feel jealous, only strangely curious, the way she might feel looking at a photograph of a place she had never been.

She and Serena stepped aside to fill their plates, and Roxanne asked the question she had been holding. "Were they always like this?" Serena laughed.

"Worse," she said. She gave Roxanne small pieces of their childhood as they moved down the buffet. Lucien had always been responsible, even when they were small enough to hide in the pantry. Roshan had always watched everything and said very little about it.

Liam had caused trouble constantly and never once regretted any of it, and Kai had been fiercely competitive about everything from races to who finished dinner first. Roxanne could picture all four of them at ten years old, muddy and stubborn and already exactly themselves.

Then Serena’s voice softened. "But they’ve changed," she said. Roxanne looked at her sideways. "Because of me?" she asked. Serena didn’t answer directly, and she selected a pastry with great care. "You’ll figure that out yourself," she said.

The music shifted into something livelier, and students began pouring onto the floor. Serena caught Roxanne’s hand and pulled her into the middle of it before she could protest. The two of them danced badly and happily, spinning through the crowd and laughing at nothing, and Roxanne realized she hadn’t enjoyed herself this simply in weeks.

Across the room, the brothers watched from beside the refreshment table. Liam complained loudly that Serena had stolen Roxanne. "She seems happy," Roshan said quietly, and Lucien agreed with a nod. Kai said nothing at all, but he didn’t look away, not even when Jace waved a hand in front of his face. Roxanne caught his eye across the crowd and looked away first, smiling into her shoulder.

Eventually the four of them made their way onto the floor. Liam danced badly on purpose, flinging his arms about until Roxanne was laughing too hard to keep her balance.

When the song slowed, Roshan offered his hand with a small, formal bow that made her smile, and they turned a careful circle together while he murmured the steps under his breath, as serious about it as he was about everything.

Lucien cut in briefly when the music changed again and led her through a few precise steps. Then Kai took her hand.

There was no dramatic declaration, only a quiet dance, his palm warm against hers as they moved with the crowd. "You look like you’re enjoying yourself," he said.

"I am," she said.

"Good," he said. Roxanne looked up at him. "You keep saying that." His voice was low. "Because I mean it," he said.

Near the end of the evening, Serena found her alone by the tall windows, where the glass held the reflection of the lights.

Her tone wasn’t ominous, only honest. "Being around the Moonstones means people will always have opinions about you," she said. ℴℴ𝘮

Roxanne nodded. "I’m used to it." Serena shook her head. "You’re used to surviving it," she said. "That’s different." The words landed hard, and Roxanne felt them settle somewhere near her ribs and stay there, heavy and true.

"Don’t let everyone else’s expectations decide what you feel," Serena said, and she squeezed her arm and walked away to leave Roxanne to think.

The evening ended with everyone gathered outside beneath the academy lights, cool night air drifting across the lawn. Liam was arguing with Jace about something ridiculous, and Isla was laughing with Tessa on the steps. Roshan and Serena stood talking quietly near the fountain, and Lucien was organizing everyone’s return with his usual patience. Kai stood beside Roxanne, close enough that she could feel the warmth of him, though he didn’t touch her. He didn’t need to.

Roxanne looked around at the people she had gathered since arriving at Moonstone Academy, one friendship at a time, and felt a lump rise in her throat. Then Liam’s voice cut across the lawn. "Group photo!" he shouted, and everyone groaned.

Jace grabbed a camera from the table and the brothers pulled Roxanne into the middle of the crowd, Liam’s arm around her neck and Kai at her shoulder. The flash went off, and for a moment the whole night was caught in white light, all of them laughing, and Roxanne understood that she had become part of their circle.