The Rejected Envoy of the Moon Chapter 02

The Rejected Envoy of the Moon Chapter 02

Thorne stood there for a few seconds, then turned and left.

On his way out, he nearly tripped over the threshold.

Ella poked her head around the door frame to watch him go.

“Who was that?”

I wiped the shears clean and put them back in the toolbox.

“Someone who can’t afford new flowers.”

She let out a little oh and set lunch on the counter.

“Wow, what a cheapskate.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed.

My phone screen lit up.

Video call.

I answered, and the next second a chubby little face filled every inch of the screen.

“Mommy!”

My little one held up a drawing. The paper was covered in wobbly flowers, and right in the middle was a round, blobby figure.

“Mommy, this is for you.”

I brought the phone closer and smiled. “So who’s this little piggy next to the flowers?”

He scrunched up his tiny face.

“That’s Daddy!”

The camera wobbled. Zephyr appeared on screen, their squirming son still in his arms.

He glanced at the drawing and corrected in a flat voice, “I’m not that fat.”

The little one wrapped his arms around Zephyr’s neck.

“Daddy IS a fat piggy.”

I laughed out loud.

The chill Thorne had dragged in with him melted away, piece by piece, with every word.

Zephyr looked at me through the screen. His gaze lingered.

“What happened just now?”

I didn’t answer.

He knew me too well. The calmer I seemed, the more certain he was that an old wound had been bumped.

“The Virethorn Pack found you?”

I gave a quiet mm.

“Thorne Virethorn.”

Silence on his end for two seconds.

“Need me to handle it?”

“No.”

“I can handle it myself.”

He nodded.

“We land tomorrow at ten.”

“Grandpa and Mom and Dad are coming too.”

“We’re staying for good this time.”

I went still.

“It’s settled?”

“Yeah.”

The little one immediately hijacked the conversation.

“Mommy, I wanna live next to the flower shop!”

Zephyr pinched the back of his neck.

“Not a chance. Your mom will kill you for pulling up her flowers.”

The little one kicked his legs in outrage.

I watched them wrestle on the screen, and my eyes burned.

Seven years ago, when I collapsed on a street in the dead of winter, the rain was coming down hard.

The Virethorn Pack had thrown me out. Patricia smashed my phone. The servants tossed my ID and wallet into a ditch.

My fever was so high I couldn’t see straight. I was crouching under a bridge overpass when I heard someone calling my name.

It was my grandfather, Benjamin Silvermist.

He had been searching for me for a long time, but he never imagined that when he finally found me, the Virethorn Pack would have already driven me half to death.

When I woke up, Zephyr was sitting beside my hospital bed.

He wasn’t a man of many words. He only asked me one thing: “Do you want to start over?”

My throat was so raw I couldn’t speak. I just nodded.

He helped me cancel my old identity documents and changed my last name back to Silvermist.

He gave me a flower shop.

Zephyr gave me a home.

A lot of people assume the powerful only know how to scheme.

But Zephyr taught me I didn’t have to watch anyone’s face before eating.

He taught me that when someone accused me falsely, I didn’t have to destroy myself proving my innocence.

He taught me that love is not something you get on your knees.

Zephyr looked at me through the screen.

“Claire, the past is over.”

I heard the words, but my mind had already been dragged far, far back.

The day I first arrived at the Virethorn Pack, I was wearing a faded white dress.

The first thing Patricia said when she saw me was a frown.

“Why are you so scrawny? Stand up straight.”

Grace stood behind her, wearing the pink dress that had been made for me.

The pink princess bedroom, Patricia explained, needed to stay Grace’s.

“She’s delicate. Changing rooms would keep her up at night.”

So they put me in the attic storage room.

The roof leaked. Mold crept up the corners.

At night, mice scurried behind the cardboard boxes.

I huddled against the edge of the bed, clutching my blanket, telling myself my birth parents just needed time to adjust.

Just wait a little longer.

But what I waited for was Grace hiding a necklace in my backpack.

What I waited for was Patricia’s palm across my face.

What I waited for was Edward’s punishment.

What I waited for was Thorne saying, “Grace is innocent. She would never lie.”

Every time Grace cried, I was made to kneel.

Every time she got sick, I took the blame.

It took me a long time to understand.

When someone’s heart is bent the wrong way, no amount of reasoning will straighten it.