Chapter 71: No Longer Mine

Selene’s POV

"What do you think? Could he be your mate?" Valerie asked.

"No, he can’t be," I responded with confidence. I didn’t like him, and I didn’t want him to be my mate.

"It’s possible that he is, and if he is, you’ll have to marry him, Selene," Valerie said.

I kept quiet.

The fact that I didn’t get to marry Lucian didn’t mean I was supposed to crumble and stop living. For a long time, I couldn’t picture my life without him ... because he had saved me from dying. My entire world had revolved around him. Or at least, that was what I’d told myself.

I thought I owed him my life, and the best thing I could offer in return was everything I had.

But I was wrong.

I needed to build my own life now that Lucian had been taken from me. A life that belonged to me ... not wrapped around another person. My happiness and my worth couldn’t keep depending on who I was standing beside. If something once thought impossible could be disproven in this territory, then anything was possible. That alone was enough reason to start over.

I decided to stop waiting and start seeking my worth on my own terms.

Then came the exhibition.

The newly wedded couple stepped out to present themselves to the crowd. Lucian and Tessa were adorned in royalty ... gleaming, regal, untouchable ... waving as they passed through the cheering people. Whispers spread through the crowd that there would be changes in rules and regulations now that a new Luna had assumed her position.

I almost laughed when I heard it. Lucian didn’t give a single fuck about Tessa, and everyone who truly knew him understood that.

But standing there, surrounded by all of it, I couldn’t hold myself together the way I had planned. If I had been inside the hall, I would have cried. I tried so hard to hold myself still out here.

I couldn’t. I hadn’t gotten over it. I was lying to myself.

I had to leave.

Whatever that William guy discovered could be delivered to me as news later. I didn’t need to stand there and watch.

I ran to the library. There was nowhere else to go. The library was the only place that made sense, and the moment I spotted Ms. Ashlyn inside, some of the tightness in my chest eased. She pulled me into a hug first, without saying a single word. That silence said more than words could have.

"They’re doing the Alpha and Luna walk," I said, my voice quieter than I intended.

"Your own season will come," she said, pulling back to look at me. "And when it does, nobody will be able to stop it."

"I need a book to read," I said.

"I’m not going to hand you one," she said simply. "Go through the first, second, and third aisle. You’ll find what you need according to what’s sitting in your heart right now. Pick wisely."

I listened to her and moved.

The first aisle had nothing that called to me. The second aisle, nothing either. But when I started down the third aisle, my eyes landed on a book tied to a research project I had abandoned months ago.

Something stirred in me ... a spark I hadn’t felt in a long time.

I picked it up.

I had stalled on that project so long ago, buried under everything Lucian had put me through. I even messaged Mr. Cipher about it, and he responded that I should keep going. But Lucian had occupied so much space in my head that I couldn’t think past him.

Now, holding that book, I could finally breathe through it.

To my surprise, I started making real progress. Things I hadn’t been able to see before suddenly became clear ... obvious, even. I grabbed a booklet and a pen and started writing everything down. This was what heartbreak and failure had done to me. Cracked me open just enough that the light could finally get in.

My eyes were open now.

By the end of two hours, I was halfway through what I had been researching. I had figured out a better approach ... a smarter way to turn the whole thing into something real, something worth building. I wanted to stay longer. Even though this first session back felt like dragging rusty gears, I needed to return to my first love.

Life didn’t have to be this brutal.

I couldn’t kill myself, so I might as well live it fully.

Ms. Ashlyn came to find me just as I was reaching for another book.

"Your attention is needed at the council," she said.

"Okay, bye ... but I’ll be back," I told her.

I left and made my way quickly to the council chamber to find out what was happening.

The elders and authorities were already assembled. William stood on a podium at the front of the room like he was already standing on the peak of conquered territory ... chest out, chin up, the picture of a man who believed he had already won.

"Selene Ironheart, we called you here today to share the results of our experiments," one of the elders said.

I nodded and glanced at William. He kept his face unreadable. I sighed and turned my attention back to the elder.

"Based on our findings, William Steelborn is indeed an Icefang." Gasps rippled through the room. "We did not believe it was possible, but after a thorough review of his genealogy, the bloodline is confirmed. He did an exceptional job preserving it to this point."

I processed that quietly. If he was truly an Icefang, then the prophecy of Nara could eventually come to pass ... all the territories across the district of Morvaine united under one. The what was becoming clear. The how remained a mystery.

"However," the elder continued, "he is not your mate. The tests were conducted and repeated ... the result was the same both times. There is no need to worry about being claimed by an Icefang." The elder let out a small laugh.

I felt it ... a quiet rush of relief that I didn’t bother hiding.

"Thank you, sir," I said.

"You might be laughing now, Winterwood," William said, his voice cutting across the room, "but I’ll surely laugh last."

Everyone laughed harder at that.

It was the kind of statement that came from a place of pure defeat. I could see it clearly.

"I am not a laughing object," he said, his jaw tight. "I want Selene, and I want the territory my fathers left to be rebuilt. I will see both happen in my lifetime."

I couldn’t figure out what was still feeding his confidence. He had been proven wrong. He needed to leave.

"Please, I’d like to take my leave," I said, appealing to the elders. I didn’t want to spend another second listening to William.

"You are free," the elder said.

"You can’t go anywhere, Selene."

His voice hit the back of my neck like something cold. I stopped. Retraced the four steps I’d already taken and turned to face him.

"What else do you want?" I asked him plainly, in front of everyone.

"If you knew who you were talking to, you wouldn’t be asking me that," he said. "I’m not here to offer choices. I’m here to claim."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am your mate," he said. "You are to be my princess. You will stand by my side and rule with me."

The more he spoke, the more he sounded like someone reading lines from a story he’d written in his own head.

"I’m not interested in ruling with you," I said and turned to walk out.

"You have no choice, Selene!" he called after me.

"She said she’s not interested."

A different voice cut through the room ... heavy, unmistakable, final.

I already knew who it was before I turned around.

Lucian.

What was he doing here? I asked myself, even as my eyes found him standing at the back of the chamber, composed and unyielding.

"I, the Alpha of this territory, am here to inform you that your time in Winterwood is over," Lucian said, his gaze fixed on William. "You have two hours to leave this territory, or you will face my wrath."

William’s expression darkened. His whole body went rigid with anger. But there was nothing left for him to do. He stormed out of the council without another word.

The room exhaled.

And then Lucian’s eyes found mine.

It was brief ... barely a second. His expression gave nothing away, unlike the way he used to look at me. Or maybe I had finally learned how to stop searching his face for things I was no longer supposed to want.