Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 11

Chapter 11

While Meadow waited at Ethan’s side, her thoughts spiralled into a place darker than the shadowed corners of the dining hall.

Why had her parents agreed to this?

Why had they let the Luna take her?

Were they truly so desperate to be rid of her?

A mute daughter was difficult, yes, lonely, yes, but she was still their child. Their only child. Shouldn’t that have meant something?

Shouldn’t it have inspired at least an attempt at protection?

Instead, they had offered her up like an inconvenient burden they were finally relieved to unload.

T

Was she that insignificant?

The realisation sat heavy on her chest. They had not even warned her. Hadn’t told her the truth. They had smiled, actually smiled, as they handed their daughter to a cruel Luna and an infamous former Alpha who wanted nothing to do with her.

Meadow swallowed the bitter thought.

She was alone.

Entirely alone.

A clatter of utensils broke her thoughts. As more food was brought.

A servant, Beatrix, approached her cautiously from behind, carrying a platter of bacon, eggs, toast, and fruit. The moment Meadow smelt the warm food, her stomach twisted painfully, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since the morning of the wedding.

Her hands tightened on her lap.

She wasn’t supposed to eat.

Amber had made that clear.

Still, Beatrix gently placed the first strip of bacon on Meadow’s plate.

“What are you doing?” Luna Amber snapped, her voice slicing through the air like a blade. “Are you deaf, Beatrix? I said no food for people who suffer from tardiness.”

Beatrix froze mid-motion, colour draining from her face. The hall fell into a suffocating silence.

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Chapter 11

Meadow’s heart hammered violently.

Her breath caught.

Her vision dimmed around the edges.

This was it.

Public humiliation.

Starvation.

Punishment.

But before Meadow could shrink further into her chair, a sound rumbled low and sharp across the table.

Ethan cleared his throat, intentionally.

His fork hovered over his plate, his posture shifting ever so slightly as he turned his head in Amber’s direction. The change was tiny, but the power behind it was enormous. His voice, when it came, was cold command.

“She is my wife. I am the only one who decides on matters that concern her.”

His eyes flickered toward Beatrix.

“She will come to this table whenever she chooses, and she will eat however she likes.”

Silence slammed into the room like a thunderclap.

Amber’s lips parted, stunned. Levi’s hand tightened subtly on his glass. Joseph’s brows rose, surprise flashing in his eyes.

Ethan rarely spoke in public, rarely spoke at all unless necessary, and never, never contradicted his mother.

But he had now.

For Meadow.

Beatrix blinked rapidly, then resumed plating the food with trembling hands. Meadow stared at the bacon piling onto her plate in disbelief. Her throat tightened, warmth blooming in her chest in the smallest, most fragile way, a feeling she did not trust yet but couldn’t

ignore.

She wanted to thank him, to express how desperately grateful she was for this one act of mercy.

But she couldn’t speak.

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Chapter 11

And she wasn’t allowed to sign.

So she did the only thing she could, she bowed her head deeply in Ethan’s direction.

A silent thank you.

Ethan didn’t acknowledge it.

He didn’t nod or look back.

He simply resumed eating as if nothing had happened.

But the act had already changed everything.

When Meadow lifted her fork to eat, the food trembled in her shaking hands. She tried to steady herself, but she was too hungry, too

overwhelmed, too exhausted.

The smell of the warm bacon hit her nose again and her control snapped.

She dug in.

Not wildly, but quickly, desperately, trying to fill the emptiness twisting painfully inside her. Every bite felt like a blessing she didn’t deserve and a punishment she had survived.

She had never missed a meal in her life.

Yet yesterday she had gone without lunch or dinner.

Her stomach was painfully tight, and her hands shook as she lifted each forkful.

She fought the urge to use her hands like a starved child. She fought the tears that gathered at the corners of her eyes. She fought the

shame burning her cheeks.

When she finished her plate, she lowered her fork, unsure if she was allowed to ask for more, but she didn’t have to.

Ethan spoke quietly, barely glancing up.

“Serve her a second helping.”

The servant nearest him nearly dropped the bowl in shock. But she quickly recovered and filled Meadow’s plate again.

Meadow stared at the fresh serving as tears pricked her eyes. Not of fear. Not of humiliation.

But relief.

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Chapter 11

Someone, even if unwillingly, had noticed her hunger.

Only when she finished the second serving and wiped her lips quietly did she realise the room had grown emptier.

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Luna Amber and Levi had excused themselves moments earlier, leaving with rigid spines and cold eyes. Their departure brought a strange,

heavy stillness.

Joseph lingered a moment longer, casting Meadow a soft, sympathetic look before offering Ethan a respectful nod.

“Brother,” he said quietly, “if you need anything,”

“I don’t,” Ethan replied flatly.

Joseph nodded, then stepped out, leaving the two alone in the massive dining hall.

Ethan didn’t look at Meadow. He didn’t speak. He didn’t acknowledge her presence in any emotional way.

But he didn’t leave.

He remained at that table, long after his own plate had been cleared, because Meadow was still eating. Because Amber had left. Because

Levi had gone.

Because someone needed to stay beside her, or she would be swallowed whole by the Luna’s cruelty.

He stayed,

Not tenderly.

Not warmly.

But protectively.

A strange, confusing, brittle kind of protection, like a wolf guarding territory he didn’t even want, yet refusing to hand it over.

Meadow sat there, breathing quietly, her chest tight with conflict.

Ethan didn’t love her.

He didn’t want her.

He didn’t even like her.

But for one moment, one single, unexpected moment, he had stood between her and Amber’s cruelty.

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Chapter 11

Not with affection.

Not with care.

But with command.

And that single act lit the faintest spark of hope in Meadow’s bruised, frightened heart.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna