The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 372

Chapter 372

Ellie’s POV

After meeting with Edmund, I went straight to my mother’s cottage instead of heading back to Lucas’s house. I started with the boxes labeled “bedroom” and worked my way through to the kitchen boxes stacked near the door.

I opened each one carefully, went through the contents, refolded or repacked anything I disturbed, and moved on. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, or rather, I was looking for something I couldn’t name, some other piece of whatever the tablet was part of. A letter, a document, another artifact tucked into the bottom of something. Anything.

Whatever it was, I didn’t find it.

What I found instead was the story of my mother’s life in objects. Her good dishes wrapped in newspaper. A tin of buttons and sewing notions she used whenever something needed mending. Three separate decks of playing cards, two of them missing cards, which made me laugh despite myself. A stack of recipes written in her handwriting, the paper soft and stained with years of use. A sweater I recognized from when I was a kid, folded neatly on top of a pile of her clothes and worn at the elbows.

I kept some things: the sweaters, the recipes, the sewing notions. Everything else I repacked, planning to leave the household items behind for the next owner of the cottage. It felt wrong taking the items away from here, even though she’d only been living here for a year.

By the time noon came around, I had been through every box in the sitting room and bedroom and found nothing that pointed toward Lycans, artifacts, royal bloodlines, or anything remotely useful.

I sat down on the edge of the bare mattress and looked at the two remaining trunks I hadn’t opened yet. I’d already gone through the one with the artifact. The second one was larger, and when I popped it open it was full of winter clothes that smelled like moth balls. I went through every item anyway, and found nothing important aside from some clothes I decided to keep.

I shut the trunk and sat there for a minute with my hands on my head.

The sound of the front door opening echoed through the house, followed by footsteps and a familiar voice.

“Ellie?”

I lifted my head to find Dominic standing in the bedroom doorway.

“My mother said she saw your car,” he said.

“I figured.” I stood. “I was just getting ready to leave.”

“Already?”

I nodded.

He didn’t move from the doorway. “Are you taking anything?”

“There’s a box by the door,” I said, gesturing vaguely. Then at the trunk. “And this.”

“I can help you load up your car, if you’d like.”

“Thanks, but I can handle it myself.”

Dominic tilted his head and still didn’t move. “Are you okay?”

+15 Bonus

I sighed. “I was looking for something,” I said, “but I didn’t find it.”

“Oh. What was it?”

“I don’t know, exactly,” I admitted, biting my lip.

Dominic blinked. “Care to elaborate, or are you gonna just keep speaking in code?”

I hesitated, then thought, “Fuck it,” and crossed to my bag and pulled out the artifact. I held it out to him, and he took it. He studied it quietly, then glanced up at me with a quirked brow.

“What is this?”

He nodded and stepped out of the way.

+15 Bonus

I grabbed the handles of the trunk and lifted it. It wasn’t too heavy, just clothes inside. At the front door, I piled the other stuff inside then headed out to my car, which was parked on the dirt road at the end of the path.

Dominic followed me out and stood on the path while I loaded everything into my trunk. After, I fished my key from my pocket and went to walk back up to the house, but he held up his copy. “Got it,” he said. “Reaktor’s coming by in a bit, anyway.”

I nodded. “Thanks.” I turned to leave, then paused, gnawing on my lip. Taking a breath, I turned back to look at him. “Dominic?”

“Hm?”

“If you help me figure out what this artifact means,” I said, “and if you decide you’re going to get back in the race for Alpha King, then I’ll help you out in your campaign as thanks.”

His brows lifted.

“I’m not promising anything beyond that,” I said. “And I mean it as a practical arrangement. You help me, I help you. That’s all it is right now.”

His expression remained neutral, but I wasn’t an idiot, and neither was he. I saw the flicker of hope in his eyes. The faint smile tugging at his lips. And I knew, no matter how much I tried to hide it, that he was seeing the same thing on my face right now too.

“Thank you, Ellie,” he said quietly.

I nodded once, turned, and climbed into my car without looking back.

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