The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 376

Chapter 376

Ellie’s POV

“By next week, I might be gone,” I said.

Dominic looked at me quizzically, not quite understanding.

I took a breath. “Dominic,” I said, “if I pass my exams and receive iny certification, I’m going to receive my traveling healer assignment and I’m going to leave.”

The silence after I said those words lingered longer than I hoped for and just as much as I expected it to.

Dominic looked at his feet. I watched hiss face very carefully throughout the silence, waiting for the reaction that I knew was coming. The frown, or the argument I’d heard too many times before.

When we were still married and I attended that first healer organization meeting, he had taken the pen from my hands and attempted to stop me right then and there.

He’d made up for it, of course. Or at least, he had tried to show his support of me that day at the volunteering event. But that was before he knew I might be traveling, leaving the surrounding packs, potentially even forever. The support might fade now that he knew what was finally coming.

I waited for the inevitable. For him to tell me that he didn’t want me to go, that he wanted me to stay, that he wanted me back as his Luna-his prisoner with a cage in the shape of a ring on her finger. I waited for what I assumed would happen: for his true colors to show through the mask of calm acceptance of our divorce.

It was something that had been at the forefront of my mind all this time since our reunion. My friends weren’t the only ones who were wary of him, not by a long shot. I wasn’t an idiot. I had known, from the moment we reconnected, that there was a very high possibility that Dominic was just playing games with me, trying to lull me into a false sense of security by acting like a changed man before the claws sunk in again, this time permanently.

So I braced myself for just that. I braced myself for the flowers to wilt in my hand and the gift box to turn to ash in my pocket.

I waited for it, for the inevitable, for the second, duller heartbreak after the divorce. The reminder that he hadn’t truly changed at all, and that I was a naive fool for ever thinking that he could. History repeating and all that.

But to my surprise, it never came.

Instead, Dominic said quietly, “You’re really leaving?”

“Potentially,” I said, nodding, then added, “most likely.”

Dominic was quiet for another moment, still looking at his feet, before he said, “I’m happy for you.”

I blinked. “You are?”

He looked up at me. His eyes were soft, just as they had been during the toast. “Of course. You’ve wanted this for so long, and I think you’d be good at it. I know you’ll pass your exams and get your certification, and everything else will fall into place.”

“You’re not… mad?” I blurted out.

He pulled his head back. “Why would I be mad?”

I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. I didn’t know what to say, so I just looked down at the flowers and fell quiet.

1/3

“You’re worried I wouldn’t support you,” he said softly. “Like before.”

I nodded mutely.

Dominic sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know I was a dick before. The divorce opened my eyes about that. I really am trying to be better, Ellie.” He gave me a meaningful look. “And, for the record, it’s not because I want you back. I mean, I do want you back, but…”

He shrugged, dropping his hand back to his side.

“I’m not trying to pretend to be good just to manipulate you into coming back,” he said. “I know now that that’s not the type of person I want to be. And if this is what you want, then I’m happy for you. Really. I think you’ll be good at it, and I’m looking forward to seeing you succeed, even if I have to do it from afar.”

With that, he picked up his jacket from the back of the chair, said he would see himself out, and that was that. I watched him go, too surprised by everything to even say goodbye.

Later, in my room, I kicked off my shoes by the door and threw my jacket on the vanity chair The little box tumbled out of my jacket pocket, hitting the carpet with a dull thud.

Crouching, I picked it up and turned it over in my fingers. I’d forgotten about the gift, but Dominic told me to open it when I was alone, so I did. I walked over to my bed, sitting on the edge, and carefully untied the twine

Underneath the wrapping was a small velvet box. I lifted the lid and pressed my fingers to my mouth.

Inside, resting against satin, was a gold, heart shaped locket. It was simple but beautiful, and when I predi it was heavy in my palm, clearly solid gold.

I pressed the button on the side and the locket popped open.

On one side was a photograph, trimmed small enough to fit the oval frame. My mother and me as a child, a photograph I vaguely remembered taking on my eighth birthday. We were both wearing party hats, and she wan holding me in her arms, her cheek pressed to mine, both of us smiling so big our eyes were squeezed shut

And on the other side was a lock of hair, tied off with a thread.

My mother’s hair.

The tears came hot and fast. I ran my fingers over the glass containing the hair, then pressed the locket to my chest and shut my eyes.

A little piece of my mother, immortalized in a golden locket. It was the nicest gift anyone had ever given me

And it had come from Dominic, the man who had become my enemy in a past life.

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