Chapter 40: The Jealous Ex

Roxanne was walking toward class with Isla the morning after the competition board went up when someone called her name from behind. She turned and found Dorian standing there, and Isla immediately took the hint, telling her she’d see her inside before disappearing into the classroom.

Dorian looked uncomfortable in a way that didn’t suit him at all, considering how certain he used to be about everything. "Can we talk?"

"About?"

"The competition."

"What about it?"

"I heard you and Kai are competing together."

"Everyone heard."

He hesitated. "You’re really going to do it?"

"That’s generally what entering a competition means," she said, unable to hold back the sarcasm. He didn’t smile, just studied her instead, something shifting in his expression.

"You seem different."

"Different how?"

"Happier."

That caught her off guard, mostly because she’d noticed it herself and hadn’t expected him to.

He tried again, aiming for casual and missing badly. "Do you actually like him?"

She stared at him, genuinely stunned he’d asked. "Why do you care?"

"I don’t."

"Then why are you asking?"

He didn’t have an answer, so he tried a different angle instead. "I just think you’re moving too fast."

Her expression hardened instantly. "You don’t get to decide how fast I move."

"That’s not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

Silence stretched between them, Dorian clearly struggling to explain something he barely understood himself. "I was just asking," he finally said.

Her voice stayed calm, which somehow hurt him more than anger would have. "You stopped having the right to ask when you rejected me."

"Roxanne, I—"

"You chose Arabella." She said it plainly, without bitterness, and that lack of edge landed harder than anything sharper could have. "You made your choice. I accepted it." She stepped around him, adding one last thing before walking off. "You don’t get to become curious about my life just because I’m no longer waiting for you."

He watched her go, saying nothing at all.

When she reached the classroom corridor, Kai was already there, leaning against the wall like he’d been waiting for her. He took one look at her face and asked simply, "Dorian?"

"How did you know?"

"You look annoyed."

"I’m always annoyed around you."

His mouth twitched. "Not like this."

She almost smiled despite herself, and he didn’t push for details about what had happened. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay." He fell into step beside her without another word, no interrogation, no jealous questions, no demand that she explain herself. Dorian had always made her feel like she owed him answers. Kai simply accepted whatever she gave him, and that difference mattered more than she expected it to.

Lunch turned chaotic almost immediately once she sat down with Isla and the brothers. Liam stole something off her plate, and she snatched it right back, warning him he’d lose a hand if he tried it again.

"Violence against a future dance champion?"

"Especially you."

Roshan quietly slid another dessert beside her, and when she asked if he’d replaced the one Liam took, he simply said she looked angry.

"So?"

"Angry people need sugar."

She smiled despite herself while Lucien shook his head and declared all of them impossible, prompting Liam to point out he loved them anyway. Lucien didn’t answer that. Kai, sitting beside her, hadn’t said much through any of it, but she caught him watching her.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Everyone keeps saying that."

His eyes met hers briefly. "You look happier."

Dorian had said the exact same thing that morning, but coming from Kai, it felt entirely different. "Maybe I am."

Something in his expression softened at that.

Across the cafeteria, Dorian watched all of it unfold, Roxanne laughing, stealing food from Liam, Roshan quietly replacing it, Lucien making some comment that had Isla laughing too, Kai sitting close enough beside her that their shoulders brushed occasionally. Arabella noticed exactly where his attention had drifted.

"You’re staring again."

"I’m not."

"You are."

Arabella watched the same scene with her own narrowing eyes. "She’s enjoying this."

Dorian didn’t answer, because that was precisely what bothered him. Roxanne wasn’t performing happiness for his benefit. She wasn’t glancing across the room to check if he was watching. She genuinely didn’t care whether he was, and something about that finally made it click for him. The Moonstones hadn’t taken her away from him.

He’d already lost her long before any of them showed up.

That evening, Roxanne met Kai for their scheduled rehearsal, distracted enough that she missed the first step the moment the music started. He stopped immediately.

"You’re thinking about him."

"I’m not."

"You are."

She sighed. "Maybe a little."

He didn’t look angry about it, just told her to stop thinking about it, and when she asked how, he simply held out his hand. "Dance with me."

She took it, and the music started again, this time her focus settling entirely on his movements instead of anything else. His hand found her waist, and she followed through the turn, the step, the spin, the catch, the rest of the world falling away around them. For the first time since Dorian, she wasn’t measuring another man against him. She wasn’t waiting for something to go wrong or bracing for disappointment.

She was simply enjoying being close to him.

They finished the routine, and Kai caught her in the final position, neither of them moving right away. He looked down at her. "Better?"

"Much."

"Good."

She realized, standing there, that Kai never made her feel like she had to prove anything to be worth his attention. He never made her chase him or question whether she was enough. He just stood there, steady, and being around him felt like being herself again. Not Dorian’s rejected mate. Not Arabella’s former best friend. Not the girl everyone still whispered about in the hallways.

Just Roxanne.

She stepped back slowly. "Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

Leaving the dance hall, she spotted Dorian at the far end of the corridor, and their eyes met across the distance. A month ago, that moment would have cut deep. Tonight, she felt nothing at all, no ache, no anger, just a quiet indifference she hadn’t expected to feel so completely.

She walked past him without slowing down.

Dorian watched her disappear around the corner, remembering the girl who’d once bought an expensive bottle of wine because she thought they’d be celebrating their academy acceptance together. The girl who’d loved him without hesitation. The girl he’d rejected without a second thought.

And now she didn’t even bother looking back.

Something tightened in his chest, and for the first time, he couldn’t write off what he was feeling as simple jealousy anymore.

He’d made a mistake.

And the worst part was that Roxanne had stopped waiting around for him to figure that out.