Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53

As Meadow lay on the soft bed in Victoria’s room, her thoughts drifted, slowly, painfully, to Ethan.

A deep longing washed over her, warm and heavy, filling her chest until breathing felt tight. She wished he were home. She wished

she could slide into his arms, rest her head against his shoulder, and let him hold her the way he did last night.

With him, she felt peace.

In his arms, she felt safe.

For the first time in her life, she felt wanted.

She closed her eyes and held onto that comfort, hoping Ethan would return soon.

Victoria lay down beside her with a groan. “Your mother-in-law is cruel. Technically,” she scoffed, “you are the Luna.”

Meadow sat up quickly and shook her head, signing firmly:

“I do not want to get involved in their politics. I am not cut out for it.”

Victoria pushed herself up, shaking her head hard.

“I think you should run away from here, Meadow. I really do. I don’t trust these people. I doubt they wish you well.”

Meadow’s eyes softened. She knew Victoria meant well. She knew her friend was reacting from fear and protective anger. But

Meadow shook her head again.

Ethan wished her well.

He went out of his way to make her comfortable,

He was kind.

He defended her.

He protected her.

She couldn’t throw that back in his face.

She wasn’t ungrateful.

“I can’t leave Ethan,” Meadow signed quietly. “And I can’t survive out there as a mute, either.”

Victoria frowned deeply.

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“No. You don’t get to think like that. Meadow, listen, if he could walk, do you think he would be with you? He’s settling. He knows

no woman would want a cripple.”

Meadow froze.

Victoria didn’t stop.

“And Amber? She just wants you to be a baby machine. She said it herself. They don’t see you as a wife in this house. Didn’t you

hear how she spoke to Ashley? And Ashley isn’t even fully in yet!”

Meadow’s stomach twisted painfully.

Victoria continued, voice rising with rage, “Amber sees you as a nanny, a fuckable nanny who will give her grandchildren because o

normal woman would have Ethan’s baby. That, witch.”

Meadow held her breath.

Victoria was furious, shaking with it.

If Victoria knew about the artificial insemination Amber had arranged… she would burn the mansion down. Meadow kept the memory buried. She couldn’t unleash that anger. Not now.

Victoria wasn’t finished.

“And Ethan, if he cares about you so much, where is your ring? Where is your mark? Are you allergic to romance?”

Her words struck Meadow like a blade.

“You aren’t his until he marks you. And he never did. He won’t. I doubt he ever will.””

Victoria didn’t mean to be cruel.

But her honesty was a knife straight into Meadow’s heart.

Meadow’s breath shook. A deep ache settled in her chest.

Her left hand drifted subconsciously toward her bare neck.

A neck without a mark.

A finger without a ring.

A body without a place.

Victoria saw only facts. Meadow saw her entire truth reflected painfully.

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A bare neck meant she was not claimed.

An empty ring finger meant she was not chosen.

Victoria was simply stating what the pack already believed:

Meadow was a live-in nanny.

A placeholder.

A temporary companion for a crippled Alpha.

Meadow stood abruptly, hands shaking.

“Meadow, wait!” Victoria called, eyes wide. “I didn’t mean, ”

But Meadow was already leaving. She didn’t turn around. She didn’t sign a word.

She walked straight back to Ethan’s room.

Her sanctuary…

Her cage…

Her home…

And yet not hers at all.

Inside the room, she looked around slowly.

The curtains.

The furniture.

The scent of cedar and forest.

Everything was Ethan.

Nothing… nothing belonged to her.

Not a dress.

Not a brush.

Not a trinket.

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Not a picture.

Not a space carved out for her existence.

It had been over three months.

Three months of living in his room.

Sleeping in his bed.

Eating at his table.

And there was nothing, not a single item, that indicated she lived here.

That she mattered here.

Her knees buckled, and she sank into a squat, arms wrapping around herself as silent tears streamed down her face. Her entire body

shook.

She wasn’t respected by the family.

Of course Amber treated her like an outsider, because she was one.

The truth was unbearable yet undeniable:

If Ethan could walk…

If he were whole…

If he weren’t wounded and bitter and lonely…

She would not be here.

She would never have been chosen.

Never been brought to the mansion.

Never sat at his table.

Never slept in his arms.

He might still be with the blonde woman in the picture frame, the one whose image Meadow had seen in the cabin. The one who

made Ethan’s voice crack with unspoken pain.

That woman was beautiful.

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Brilliant.

Confident.

Everything Meadow wasn’t.

Of course he wasn’t over her.

His bitterness at the cabin…

His dark moods…

His defensiveness…

It all made sense.

They didn’t promise each other anything.

Nothing was official.

Nothing was secure.

It was okay, she told herself.

As long as he didn’t disrespect her, she could bear the rest.

Her parents doomed her to this life.

They lied to her.

They manipulated her.

They traded her silence for their convenience.

None of this was Ethan’s fault.

None of it was hers.

Meadow climbed onto Ethan’s bed slowly, curling into the pillows that still smelled like him, pine and cedar and something warm

she could never describe.

She pressed her face into the scent, inhaling deeply.

Slowly… painfully… her tears eased.

Wrapped in Ethan’s smell, the world felt a little less cruel.

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She closed her eyes.

And drifted into sleep.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna