Chapter 27
(Lily’s POV)
I froze.
For a second, I wasn’t sure I heard Aunt Lamia right.
“What… did you say?”
She smiled gently, like she was trying to soften a blow. “The King and Queen have asked that you come stay at the palace for a few weeks. They want you home.”
Home? That word burned.
I stared at her, my chest tightening. “They want me back?” I let out a bitter laugh. “Now?”
Aunt Lamia’s smile faded. “Lily-”
“It’s been years, Aunt Lamia!” I snapped, stepping back. “They didn’t want me all this while. Not when I cried every night. Not when I begged the Moon Goddess for answers. But now… now they suddenly remember I exist?”
She tried to reach for me, but I moved away.
“Don’t you think I wanted to feel loved? To be wanted by my family?” My voice shook. “They could have fought harder to take me back! They shouldn’t have let me- go.”
Aunt Lamia’s sigh was heavy. “I know it hurt, but-”
“You don’t know!” I yelled, my voice breaking. “You don’t know what it feels like to be cast aside like I never mattered. You don’t know what it’s like to see them try to visit and leave. To watch them never come back.”
A memory flashed in my mind: Mother standing outside with tears streaming down her face, Zelda beside her clutching a small box… maybe a gift. I had watched them from my window, biting my lip until it bled. I had refused to see them, because I was too angry. Too bitter.
“They wrote letters,” Aunt Lamia said quietly. “They called too, and I gave you the phone every time.”
“And I never picked up,” I whispered. “Because I didn’t want to hear sorry. Because sorry won’t change the fact that they let me go. They abandoned me when the world decided I was a threat.”
A thick silence settled between us. The kind that says everything words can’t.
Then I turned and stormed toward my room.
“I’m not going anywhere!” I shouted over my shoulder. “Tell them to leave me alone!” I slammed my bedroom door and locked it behind me.
My breaths came fast and uneven. My chest ached as I stumbled toward my bed. The second my body hit the mattress, I grabbed the pillow and clutched it to my chest. Tears poured from my eyes, soaking into the fabric as I screamed into the
cotton.
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Chapter 27
Everything I’d buried for so long… every ache I shoved down, came clawing out.
Why now? Why did they want me now?
I didn’t know how long I cried. Night had fallen, and shadows stretched long across my room.
I lay curled up, my face still damp, when I heard a soft knock.
“Lily,” Aunt Lamia’s voice came through, barely above a whisper. “Please… let me in.”
I sat up slowly, wiping at my face with trembling fingers. My feet padded to the door on their own. When I opened it, Aunt Lamia stood there, tears trailing down her cheek.
Something in me cracked open again.
I threw my arms around her, and she hugged me tight. We sank to the edge of the bed together, crying softly in each other’s
arms.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
“It’s okay, my darling,” she murmured. “I understand.”
We stayed like that for a while, until our sobs faded. Then she pulled back slightly and brushed my hair from my face.
“I need to talk to you about something else,” she said gently.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
“I have to leave the kingdom for a while. It’s something I was supposed to do a long time ago, but I kept postponing it because of you.”
I blinked. “Leave? Where?”
She nodded. “The King and Queen requested I handle an assignment for the kingdom. It’s… important. And since I’ve put it off for years, I thought now was the right time.”
My stomach twisted. “Wait, is that why they want me back? So I have no choice but to go
there?”
She gave me a sad smile. “No, dear. I made the choice. I thought it was time you reconnected with your family. To see them not as the people who hurt you, but as people who might be hurting too.”
I bit my lip. “But how do I stay under the same roof with Zion?” I whispered.
I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but her eyebrows lifted slightly. “Prince Zion?”
I looked away, my pulse racing. “Nothing.”
She didn’t press further. Instead, she gave my hand a soft squeeze. “I’ll be gone for a few weeks. Just… please think about it. Not for them, but for yourself.”
I stared at the wall.
Could I really go back? Could I walk the palace halls again? Could I see them? See him?
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Chapter 27
I didn’t know.
But something inside me wanted to try.
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