The Rejected Envoy of the Moon Chapter 09

The Rejected Envoy of the Moon Chapter 09

Unknown text message.

“Claire, I’m outside the flower shop. Waiting for you.”

“This time, I’m giving my life back to you.”

It was signed Thorne.

Zephyr took the phone from my hand. His expression darkened.

“Let’s go.”

“See which act he’s performing this time.”

A crowd had already gathered around the flower shop entrance.

Thorne was on his knees at the bottom of the steps.

He looked like a different person. Gaunt, hollowed out. His right hand was wrapped in gauze, and his left

clutched a bundle of dried bluebells.

The flowers had been poorly preserved. The petals crumbled at the slightest touch.

He saw me and immediately began crawling forward on his knees.

“Claire.”

“Your brother was wrong.”

“Hit me. Curse me. Whatever you want.”

“Just please, acknowledge me.”

I stood in the doorway and did not let him in.

Behind the counter, Ella had her phone in hand, thumb hovering over the emergency dial.

Thorne pressed his forehead to the ground.

“I was blind.”

“I should never have believed Grace.”

“I should never have burned you, never smashed your gift, never driven you away.”

“Claire, just call me brother one more time. Please. Just once.”

The onlookers began to whisper.

Some of them, not knowing the full story, murmured with something like sympathy.

“He’s literally on his knees. He must really regret it.”

“Siblings don’t hold grudges forever.”

He lifted his head, one last flicker of hope alive in his eyes.

Then he pulled out a small knife and held the blade against his left wrist.

“If you won’t forgive me, I’ll destroy this hand too.”

“The right one is already gone.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Ella shouted from inside, “Are you insane? Don’t you dare die on our doorstep, you’ll ruin our feng shui!”

I almost laughed.

But Thorne only grew more frantic.

“Claire, look at me.”

“I really do understand pain now.”

“When I hurt you back then, this is what it felt like, wasn’t it?”

I walked down the steps.

Zephyr’s men moved to follow. I raised a hand to stop them.

I walked up to Thorne and looked down at him.

“You think that if you’re pathetic enough right now, I have to feel sorry for you?”

Thorne froze.

“I’m not–”

“You are.”

I cut him off.

“Back then, you hurt me from up on high.”

“Now you’re groveling in the dirt, begging me.”

“It’s the same thing.”

“Either way, the only person you care about is yourself.”

The color drained from his face, slow as a tide pulling out.

I stepped on his hand, the one holding the bluebells.

He choked back a groan.

The dried petals shattered to dust under my shoe.

“This is emotional blackmail.”

“I’m not buying it.”

Tears rolled down Thorne’s face.

“Claire…”

I pulled a photocopy from my bag and tossed it in his face.

It was the severance agreement the Virethorn Pack had forced me to sign seven years ago.

Edward’s signature was on it. Patricia’s too.

And Thorne’s.

Along with the name he had made me write with my own hand.

“Black and white. Right there.”

“Thorne, you don’t have a sister anymore.”

He stared at the paper, and then, out of nowhere, he laughed.

The laughter twisted into sobbing.

He clutched the paper to his chest, mumbling the same words over and over.

“That’s not true.”

“I have a sister.”

“Claire is the sweetest. She’ll forgive her brother.”

“She used to bring me flowers…”

People in the crowd were starting to exchange uneasy looks. Someone called the police.

Officers arrived quickly.

Thorne refused to leave, screaming my name between sobs.

They had to drag him into the car by force.

As the door swung shut, he pressed his face against the window and stared at me.

His eyes were hollow. The kind of empty that makes your skin crawl.

I turned and walked back into the shop.

Ella stood with a mop in hand. “What do we do about the front step?”

I glanced at the smear of pollen still clinging to the concrete.

“Disinfectant.”

“Use a lot.”

She nodded.

“Got it. Cleanse the bad energy.”

I leaned over the sink and washed my hands.

Water streamed over my fingers.

Those bluebells were gone for good now.

Good.