Page 71 of Luna's Forgotten Vow

Someone's in my room.

Touching my ankle.

I jerk awake, heart flying to my throat at the sight of the tall, imposing figure at the foot of my bed. But the sunlight streaming in through the windows falls on the side of Ronan's face and I stifle a scream at the inhuman glow in his eyes that rake along my body.

After my visit to the dungeon last night, I was forced into this bedroom and locked in. After slamming into the door over and over in an attempt to break it down to no avail, I had about enough strength to clean up in the shower and put on the oversized pajamas I found after raking through the closet filled with vile, filthy things for me to put on for Ronan's pleasure.

Somewhere between tossing, turning and nightmares, the trousers have come up my waist and the top three buttons of the shirt have come undone, exposing my cleavage...and more.

I jerk my ankle back from Ronan's grip, but he doesn't let up. "I'd forgotten how stunning you looked with bed hair."

"Let me go!" I yell, and this time, he does, only to walk around the bed and sit on the mattress beside me.

I scramble sideways when his fingers land on my upper thigh and I fall off the side of the bed in a heap.

Ronan chuckles, brown eyes brightening with mirth. "I see that you have planned to make me work for every second of your time. I suppose this will be entertaining." He drums his fingers along his tailored pant, his black signet ring flashing. "Have you thought about my offer?"

Yes. All night long. It was all I could dream of. In fact, he featured in every single one of my nightmares. "You speak like I have a choice," I seethe, planting myself against the wall.

Ronan tilts his head, contemplating. "The moment you stop treating me like I am the enemy here, you'll understand that I only want what's best for us. You must not remember, but I asked you to marry me once. You refused me. Forced me into the arms of a woman I didn't love."

Did he just...

Is he trying to rewrite everything that happened because he thinks I don't remember? Is that his game? Bend my reality until I cannot separate what is real from what isn't? Gods. I thought he was scum before but he is way worse.

He looks every part the broken hearted prince as he spins more lies that genuinely have me questioning my sanity. He tells me that he gave me everything, laid the world at my feet, never cared that I was an Omega and would have made me his Luna if I didn't leave him.

What in the world...

"It is not that you don't have a choice. You do, but the negative answer will yield negative consequences."

I lick my dry lips, feigning conflict. Pretending when your life depends on it comes easily. "You will immediately let Soren go if I accept."

Ronan smiles and nods earnestly. "He will be delivered to his pack unharmed."

I don't know how I know it, but he is lying to me. The too eager smile. The drumming of his fingers. "I-I... Let me think about it."

Before he leaves, he moves on me with that eerie swiftness, trapping me by the wall and I taste my own vomit when he shoves his tongue into my mouth and kisses me roughly. "Don't keep me waiting too long, Fina."

Ronan visits me more times than I can count.

He lies to me, manipulates the truth of our past to fit with the narrative he wants me to eat up. He was the perfect boyfriend. I was the coward. Soren is the villain.

I pretend to believe him if it means he will let me out of the bedroom.

He doesn't.

Day after day, my frustration builds. I hear Landon's cries, but I can never see him. And in the event that I do, it is from afar, from the windows of my room at the very top of the mansion while Tova takes him on a walk in his cradle. While Kaida holds him. While some maid feeds him milk.

Many times I get the urge to jump out the window and see if I'll hit the ground in one piece. I don't do it because I'm treading eggshells where Ronan is concerned.

Negative responses/actions yield negative consequences.

So I wait. Reel it in, even when it begins to properly choke me. I wait for Soren's plan to fall into place.

On the sixth day, when I fumble for the doorknob, it gives. There are three guards stationed outside, but they don't stop me when I step outside. Or dash for the nursery. They follow me, but I hardly notice.

However, when I reach the nursery, I find Tova sitting by the cot, rocking Landon back and forth as he sleeps. My lips quiver as I stare at his blonde curls and brows, his small pouted lips that suck at nothing and a small noise echoes in the back of my throat as I take a step forward.

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