The Luna You Betrayed Is No Longer Yours

_Rowena’s POV_

I got back to the estate just before five.

The documentation for Alaric was already drafted, Celeste had a lawyer on retainer who worked fast and asked few questions. By the time the Uber pulled through the Varkos gates, everything had been sent.

All that was left was the morning.

I just had to get through the night.

The house was quieter than I expected. Dinner hour was approaching, which usually meant staff moving through the corridors, the smell of something from the kitchen, the low murmur of the family gathering. Instead there was an odd stillness, the kind that meant people were waiting to see what would happen next.

I handed my bag to Velvet and started toward my suite.

"Sister-in-law."

Elvira’s voice came from the sitting room doorway.

She was leaning against the frame with her arms crossed, wearing the particular expression she reserved for moments when she thought she had the upper hand, chin up, eyes bright, enjoying herself.

I stopped. "Elvira."

"You’ve been out." She said it like an accusation. "All afternoon."

"I had errands."

"Mm." She pushed off the doorframe and fell into step beside me, uninvited, which was very much her style. "I was actually looking for you earlier. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Here we go," Kyra said.

I kept walking. "What is it?"

"The gala next month." She matched my pace easily. "The regional pack charity event. I’ll need a new dress. Something floor-length, designer. And the matching accessories, obviously." She said it the way she said everything, as if the answer was already yes and we were simply working out the details. "I was thinking you could handle it. Like you usually do."

I stopped walking.

Elvira stopped too, a step ahead, and turned to look at me.

"Like I usually do," I repeated.

"You’ve always covered it before." A small shrug. "It’s not a big ask."

I looked at her, this girl who had eaten at my table for three years, worn things I had paid for, asked for and received without once thinking to say thank you, and who was now standing in the hallway of a house my family had financially rescued, asking me to buy her a gown.

"Elvira," I said, "I’m not covering it."

She blinked. "Sorry?"

"I’m not covering it," I said again. "Or anything else going forward."

The bright, easy confidence in her face flickered. "What does that mean?"

"It means the Ashthorne accounts have been separated from Moonreign’s operational funds. As of this morning, nothing from my family’s assets moves without my written authorization." I kept my voice even. "So if you want a dress for the gala, you’ll need to find another way to pay for it."

Elvira stared at me.

"You can’t do that," she said.

"I’ve already done it."

"Grandmother will...."

"Grandmother’s medical account has a separate fund that will continue untouched until the end of the quarter." I had made sure of that. Whatever happened next, I wasn’t going to let an old woman’s health become collateral. "Beyond that, yes. The accounts are closed."

Elvira’s expression cycled rapidly through several things, disbelief, then irritation, then the particular fury of someone who has never had to calculate the cost of anything and has just realized they might have to start.

"Kaelen won’t allow this," she said.

"Kaelen doesn’t have authority over Ashthorne assets," I said. "They were never his to begin with."

"You’re doing this because of Virella." Her voice sharpened. "This is spite."

"This is accounting," I said. "I’ve been funding this family for three years without a contract, a discussion, or a thank you. That arrangement has ended." I tilted my head slightly. "If it feels like spite, I’d suggest thinking about why."

Elvira opened her mouth and closed it.

Behind me, I heard footsteps, Grandmama Maelis, moving from the direction of the main hall with the careful pace she used when she had been listening from a distance and had decided it was time to intervene.

"Rowena." Her voice carried its usual authority. "Come into the sitting room. We’ll discuss this properly."

"I’m happy to discuss it," I said. "But the decision isn’t changing."

Maelis studied me. She was sharp, sharper than most people gave her credit for, and she had not survived the collapse of this pack’s finances and the death of her son by being slow. She understood, faster than Elvira had, that something had shifted.

"Sit down," she said, not unkindly.

We moved into the sitting room. Elvira followed, still flushed with indignation. Velvet positioned herself near the door.

Maelis sat in her usual chair. I sat across from her.

"You’ve made changes to the accounts," Maelis said.

Not a question.

"Yes."

"Without consulting the family."

"The Ashthorne assets were never pack assets," I said. "They were transferred under the condition of the marriage. Given what has happened to that marriage, it’s reasonable to reassess."

Maelis was quiet for a moment. "And the household operational fund? The supply contracts?"

"Frozen pending review," I said. "I’ll honor the existing vendor commitments through the end of the month. After that, Moonreign will need to establish its own accounts."

Elvira made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a gasp. "You’re serious."

"I’ve been serious about this family for three years," I said. "I’m continuing that tradition."

"This is ...." Elvira turned to her grandmother. "Grandmama, she can’t just...."

"Elvira." Maelis’s voice was quiet.

The old woman looked at me across the low table, and I watched her doing what she always did. Weighing outcomes. Looking for the move that cost her the least.

"If the accounts are restructured," she said carefully, "this family will face significant disruption."

"Yes," I said. "It will."

"Kaelen should be part of this conversation."

"Kaelen is welcome to have a conversation with me about the marriage," I said. "That conversation is still available to him." I paused. "But the accounts don’t change regardless of how it goes."

Maelis looked at me for a long moment. Something moved behind her eyes. Something like reassessment.

She must’ve underestimated me.

"You’ve thought this through," she said.

"Thoroughly," I nodded.

Elvira dropped onto the sofa and crossed her arms, the fury in her face curdling into something sulkier. "I can’t believe this. Three years and she acts like we owe her something."

"You do," Velvet said from the doorway. Quietly, but clearly.

Everyone looked at her.

She didn’t flinch. "With respect."

I stood before anyone could respond. "I’ll be in my room. If Kaelen wants to speak with me, he knows where to find me."

I walked out.

"That," Kyra began, with something approaching satisfaction, "went well."

"It’s not over though."