Reclaiming My Broken Luna (Astrid and Killian) novel Chapter 283

Nova’s POV

My hands curled into tight fists at my sides, anger boiling inside me. How could Michael assume I hadn’t fought for Drystan?

How could he stand there and accuse me of running away when he had no clue what I had been through?

“You don’t understand, Michael,” I snapped, my voice trembling with a mix of frustration and grief. “I did confess my feelings to him. I put my heart on the line, and you know what happened? He rejected me,” my voice wavered.

“Don’t you realize how humiliating that was? To bear my soul, only to be turned away?” I saw guilt flicker across his face as my words hit home.

“Drystan made it painfully clear that I’d never be more than a friend. And now, you’re standing here, telling me to go through that again? To relive that pain? Why? So I can watch him choose Astrid over me again?”

I saw a change in Michael’s expression—a hint of regret, maybe, but he didn’t back down. “That was three years ago, Nova. People change. What if Drystan feels differently now?”

I shook my head, swallowing the lump in my throat. I refused to fall into that trap again. “It doesn’t matter, Michael. I could confess a thousand times, and it would always end the same. He will always choose Astrid.”

She’s everything I’m not, and I’m done pretending I have a chance.” My voice broke as I shoved more clothes into my bag, the finality of my words echoing in the silence.

Michael sighed, running a hand through his hair, frustration evident. But when he spoke again, his tone was gentler. “But what if you’re wrong? What if he has changed?”

I sighed in exasperation, feeling my patience wear thin. I had already said my piece; why couldn’t he just let it go?

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Nova. You think I haven’t noticed? The way his eyes linger when you’re not looking, the way his jaw tightens whenever he sees us together, like he’s… jealous.”

I scoffed, shaking my head. “He sees me as his little sister, Michael. It’s nothing more than that.”

He’s just being protective, fulfilling some promise he made to my sister. It’s not romantic, no matter what you think.” The words stung, a harsh truth I had come to accept after so much heartache.

“Maybe that was true before, but this is different,” Michael insisted, his gaze piercing. “I’m a guy, Nova. I know what it looks like when a man is in love.”

His words hit me like a blow to the chest, stirring a flicker of hope that I quickly smothered. Could Drystan have changed? No, I couldn’t let myself believe it. I refused to be that foolish again.