Second Chance for the Barren Luna (Talia and Jason) novel Chapter 418

Talia’s POV

"It's fine," Arya said through gritted teeth. I could tell she was lying.

"Alpha Geoffrey." I forced a civil smile. "Go ahead."

"Alpha Henry. My Alpha Queen." Geoffrey nodded, acting polite. "Do you know how long I've been looking for you? Years, Arya, and now here you are, just having lunch as if nothing happened."

“Trying to have lunch,” Arya muttered.

Geoffrey laughed, but there was a look in his eyes that made my skin crawl. He then reached over and ruffled Arya's hair. "Honestly, I almost forgot what you looked like."

"Stop that," Arya said, jerking her head away and flattening her hair with a scowl. "I'm not a child. Eat your food and leave."

"Leave? I just found you again, Arya." Geoffrey spread his arms, looking around the table for support. "You're really going to push me away like that? In front of everyone?"

"You know what I mean. We have time to catch up. It doesn’t have to be right now," Arya said. I smiled, glad she wasn’t falling for Geoffrey’s tricks.

‘He needs to be careful. His sister is no fool. Acting like this will push her away,’ my wolf said, and I agreed.

"So rude," Geoffrey said, putting a hand to his chest. "I just want to hang out with my little sister. Is that so terrible?" He looked at me, as though expecting me to take his side.

"You're putting on a show," I said, keeping my tone even. "Let’s just eat in peace, Geoffrey."

"Don’t be like that, Alpha Queen.”

“Your Queen is hungry and would like one meal today that doesn’t end with a mess. So, please, Geoffrey, stop talking,” I said.

Geoffrey laughed and finally let it go. Food arrived, and the hall filled with noise again. For a while, things felt almost normal. Arya relaxed enough to argue with Henry about northern scout training, her voice loud and full of opinions.

"You just like to criticize because you never had to do the drills," Arya shot at Henry.

Henry smirked. "That’s where you’re wrong, but I have never heard of scouts getting lost in their own territory."

Arya rolled her eyes. "The storm was pretty bad, okay, and they were new to it.”

Then he noticed Arya’s plate. “Do you not like beans?” Henry asked.

Arya picked every bean out of her stew and pushed them into a pile at the edge of her bowl. She wrinkled her nose at each one, lining them up on her plate. I doubted she even noticed she was doing it.

"There it is!" Geoffrey grinned, pointing at the bean pile. "You still do that! Some things never change, huh?"

"Do what?" Arya snapped, glancing up quickly, her cheeks reddened.

"I've done that since I was a kid. Arya would sit next to me and copy everything: same food, same weird habits. She was basically my shadow for years. Remember when you tried to eat a whole chili just because I did?"

"That was years ago," Arya muttered, eyes still on her bowl. "I’m not the same anymore." Her hands curled around her spoon as if she wanted to throw it.

"You're picking out beans right now, Arya," Geoffrey smirked, but there was a bitterness to it.

"I've been picking out beans for years without you around, Geoffrey. It’s got nothing to do with you anymore."

"Two people can both hate beans and have nothing else in common,” Henry commented.

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