Chapter 113: The Return To Moonside

A full week later.

The tournament had finally come to a close, and the ruins left behind were pure destruction. Malric had survived by the grace of the Moon Goddess, but he remained trapped in a deep, unnatural slumber. The doctors had no clue when, or even if, he would ever wake up.

It was only now that the Moonside Academy students were finally arriving back at the campus after everything that had happened.

Aina and Beatrice stepped out onto the wide Moonside courtyard, their boots crunching against the gravel. Beatrice let out a long breath, shaking her head. "That trip was insane," she remarked, looking completely drained.

Aina offered a small, nervous laugh, nodding along.

The truth was, none of the royals had been seen publicly since the whole accident at the lake. Aina had only caught a glimpse of Roiner a handful of times over the last week. Everything happening right now was still a total mystery. All anyone knew for certain was that Malric was not dead. If the crown prince had actually passed away, Theo would have already been announced as the new crown prince, or some kind of royal decree would have dropped. But it had been dead quiet from all political forces.

"Would you mind helping me carry Molly’s bags?" Beatrice asked, breaking Aina out of her spiraling thoughts. "It is way too much for one person."

"Oh, okay," Aina muttered, wiping her palms on her trousers.

They carried the heavy bags through the long, quiet hallways. Plenty of other students were returning too, dragging luggage and chatting tiredly among themselves. Once they reached Molly’s dorm, Aina dropped the bags inside and wiped her forehead. Molly had managed to score a completely private dorm, sharing the space with no one. What a lucky girl, Aina thought bitterly.

Aina walked back to her own dorm, feeling completely exhausted both mentally and physically. She pushed open the door to her dorm, which was basically a low-key mini apartment, and flicked the wall switch, only to find the room utterly empty.

She stood in the dark doorway, blinking as she looked around the quiet room. Aina wondered if her roommates were not back from the trip yet, or if she even had any to begin with, considering she hadn’t seen them much or like at all since arriving.

Then, a sudden memory clicked in her head as she remembered the last time she was standing right here. Wait a second... the last time I was in this room, I saw Keali.Imagine if I was rooming with Vance. That would be an absolute disaster, especially since Vance definitely hates my guts even more after I defended Ally.

At the time, she didn’t know he was a prince, so it hadn’t scared her. Aina froze, her eyes widening in realization. So he is my roommate. God, how unlucky can I get? But I suppose it’s okay. It could have been worse... imagine if it was all the other princes.

1

She walked down the hall to her assigned room, locked the heavy wooden door behind her, and collapsed face-first onto her bed, too tired to even take off her boots.

Lying there in the silence, she lifted her right arm, turning her forearm over to look at the faint mark near her wrist where Roiner’s name rested like an old scar. Her fingers traced over the faded birthmark. That was a long week, she thought, her chest aching. So much happened in just seven days.

She let out a heavy sigh.

As if on cue, because misery apparently loved keeping a strict schedule—the harsh mechanical buzzing of the dormitory intercom cut through the quiet.

"To all students," a sharp, echoing voice announced over the speaker, "please be at the main dining hall for dinner by seven o’clock tonight."

Aina let out a loud, miserable groan into her pillow. Do we really need to eat every single day? For goodness’ sake, I am so tired.

She stared up at the ceiling, her mind racing with irritation. Do I seriously have to go down to the dining hall and talk to people? I don’t want to talk to anyone. I have talked way too much this week.

She reached into the pocket of her men’s trousers and pulled out her phone. The screen lit up, flashing the current time: 4:00 PM. Dinner wasn’t until 7:00 PM.

Oh, this gives me three whole hours of dread, she thought, closing her eyes tightly. I hate this. I have to go socialize with half the academy that hates me in three or four hours. Can’t I get a break? She was just so thoroughly done with the entire program, the classes, the drama—all of it. Sitting in a crowded dining hall felt like a grueling two-hour shift she had zero desire to work.

Bored out of her mind and too restless to actually sleep, she rolled over onto her side and unlocked her phone, lazily scrolling through her social media feeds. Out of sheer, morbid curiosity, she tapped on her older sister Amilia’s profile page.

The first post on Amilia’s grid was a fresh selfie taken inside a grand stone temple, captioned simply: Praying for the prince.

Aina let out a harsh, sarcastic snort. Oh, please. You don’t pray for anyone but yourself, Amilia.

She swiped to the next photo in the carousel. It was a picture of Amelia smiling brightly, holding up her left hand to show off a massive diamond ring on her finger, standing next to some alpha guy. The caption read: Guess who’s engaged?!

Aina choked on her own spit. No way. Amelia is engaged? Who could ever put up with her? Yeah, if she has no haters in this world, then I am dead.

She kept scrolling, her thumb flicking down the screen until she landed on a video titled: Get Ready With Me: Chapel Edition.

In the video, Amilia sat in front of a ring light, aggressively swiping mascara onto her lashes while chattering away. But then, right in the background of the shot, a familiar face drifted past in the hallway behind her

Amelia glanced over her shoulder at the screen, tossing her hair. "Oh, that’s just my brother," she chirped casually to the camera. "He got rejected from Moonside Academy just like all my other brothers did, but he’s going to apply again next year! I think he’s even considering going to the open day to tour the campus, you know?"

Aina’s blood ran completely cold. Oh, no.

Her eyes widened in absolute horror. No, no, no, no. This cannot be happening. He cannot come here!

Her fingers flew across the screen, tapping frantically to open the comment section. The top comment with thousands of likes read: Wait... isn’t Travis Lock already a student at Moonside?

1

Other comments flooded in beneath it, users complimenting Amilia’s makeup, while another reply said: I’m pretty sure I saw Travis Lock on campus last month.

A final comment popped up under that: Maybe there are two different guys named Travis?

Aina stopped breathing. I am screwed. I am completely, utterly screwed.

Panic gripped her throat so tight she felt like she was suffocating. This is it for me. I am actually going to die. My family is going to expose me, and feed Travis in wolf form. They are capable of that, heck, I might even go to jail for identity theft.

With a blind sweep of her arm, she hurled her phone to the end of the bed, even though she wanted to throw it across the room but of course she wasn’t dumb enough or angry enough to do that. She yanked a pillow over her face and let out a muffled, frantic scream.

I just had to go through my socials! she scolded herself mentally. Now look at me, I’m ten times more stressed than when I started!

She thrashed around on the mattress, kicking her legs and screaming silently into the down pillow. No, no, calm down, Aina. You’re mated to Roiner of all people, your family can’t touch you and it’s not like anything’s ever going to happen to you... right?

2

Right on cue, her stomach gave a loud, violent rumble, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten a decent meal in twenty-four hours.

Great. Now I’m starving, too, she thought bitterly.

Groaning loudly, she dragged herself off the bed, stumbling out of her room and shuffling down the quiet hallway toward the shared kitchen area. She turned the corner near the common lounge, and immediately walked straight into a solid, towering wall of muscle.

Aina stumbled back slightly, stopping in her tracks. The whole scene felt like pure déjà vu.

She looked up and saw Theo. He had red eyes, looking down at her. The heavy, suffocating silence of the hallway settled over them. It felt like absolute, undeniable déjà vu. This exact scenario, bumping into Theo in the halls, was how she had first met the prince when she had originally arrived at the academy.

They stood there awkwardly, neither of them moving an inch.

Theo’s jaw twitched. "Travis?" he whispered, his voice dangerously low. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Uhhhh...," Aina muttered.

I’m dead, Aina thought as her entire life flashed before her eyes.