_Rowena’s POV_

Celeste’s office was on the twelfth floor of the Ashthorne Group’s main building, a corner room with floor-to-ceiling windows and a view of the city that made everything below look manageable. I had always thought that was probably intentional.

She was on a call when I arrived, but she wrapped it up in under two minutes, which for Celeste meant the meeting with me had been blocked as a priority. She set her phone face-down and gave me her full attention.

"How are you holding up?" she asked as usual.

"Better than expected," I said. "Worse than I’d like."

She accepted that. "The Ashthorne estate will be ready for you in ten days. The management company cleared the last rental arrangement yesterday. The east wing needs repainting and there’s some work needed on the back gate, but everything structural is sound." She slid a folder across the desk. "I’ve also been thinking about what comes next."

I opened the folder. Inside was a proposal, a detailed one.

The Ashthorne Group had been running on a maintenance model since my mother died. Profitable enough to sustain itself, but not growing. Celeste had been managing it conservatively, waiting, I understood now, for me to come back to it.

"Your mother always intended for you to take an active role," Celeste said. "She just wanted you settled first." She paused and continued. "You’re settled. Just differently than she planned."

I looked through the proposal. Board seat. Operational oversight of two subsidiary accounts my mother had set aside specifically in my name. A role that would give me income, standing, and something to build.

"You’ve been holding this ready?" I asked, feeling impressed.

"For about a year," she admitted. "I had a feeling the situation at Moonreign wasn’t going to resolve the way your mother hoped."

I looked up. "You could have said something."

"You weren’t ready to hear it." She said it simply, without apology. "You are now."

She was right. I had needed to get here myself, to stand in that sitting room with Kaelen and Virella and understand clearly that the marriage was finished before I could look at anything beyond it without flinching.

We spent an hour going through the proposal. It was solid work, Celeste was thorough in everything, and by the time we finished I had signed three documents and had a clearer picture of what my life looked like on the other side of the dissolution than I’d had at any point in the last week.

Not comfortable yet, but real.

I returned to the moonreign estate, but soon prepared to leave again.

I walked out into the late afternoon, Velvet a few steps behind me. The car was waiting at the curb. I had about forty minutes before I needed to be back at the estate for a call with my attorney.

I was almost at the car when I heard a sound.

A voice, carrying from the narrow service alley that ran alongside the building. I frowned, shocked by the sound of that voice.

Virella?

"Did I say you could look at me like that? Do you know what I could do to you? You serve this pack. You serve me."

I stopped.

Velvet touched my arm. "My Luna......"

I was already moving towards the voice.

The alley opened onto a small courtyard behind the building, a loading area, mostly, with a concrete bench along one wall and a row of refuse containers along the other. Virella was standing in the center of it, perfectly composed, arms crossed. Mrs. Park hovered a step behind her.

And Stella was against the wall.

Stella was Kaelen’s personal attendant. She was thirty years old, maybe, I had always thought she was around twenty-nine, though I’d never asked directly.

She’d been with the Varkos household since before Kaelen’s father died, which made her more a fixture of the estate than most people who lived there. Kaelen had no beta, no male second he trusted with the day-to-day of his personal affairs, he had always been self-contained in that particular way of men who found it easier to rule alone than to be answerable to someone beside them.

Stella had filled the gap without the title, managing his schedule before our wedding finalized and he left, dumping the responsibility on me.

She was not a woman who frightened easily.

But she looked frightened now.

There was a broken cup at her feet.

Her hands were pressed flat against the wall behind her.

"Stella." My voice came out steady and clear.

Every head in the courtyard turned.

Virella’s expression moved through several things in quick succession before settling on mild surprise. "Rowena. I didn’t realize you were....."

"What happened to the cup?" I asked. I was looking at Stella.

Stella straightened carefully. "An accident, Luna Rowena. I apologize for..."

"It wasn’t an accident." Virella’s voice was pleasant.

"She was careless. Twice this week. I was making it clear that carelessness has consequences."

"By cornering her in an alley," I said.

"By having a conversation." Virella tilted her head. "This is a staff matter. It doesn’t concern you."

"Stella has worked in the Varkos household for over ten years," I said. "She is not your staff to manage." I looked at Virella directly. "And she is not someone you corner."

Virella’s pleasantness thinned. "She works for Moonreign Pack. I am..."

"You are Kaelen’s partner," I said. "You are not the Alpha. You are not the Luna. And you have no authority over Stella’s position, which is personal to Kaelen and has nothing to do with domestic oversight." I paused. "Step back."

The courtyard was very quiet.

Mrs. Park looked at Virella. Virella looked at me.

"You’re not going to be here much longer," Virella suddenly blurted out. "Ten days, maybe eleven. After that, none of this is your concern. Why spend whatever time you have left creating enemies?"

"I’m not creating anything," I said. "I’m finishing something."

Then I turned to Stella. "Are you hurt?"

Stella shook her head quickly. "No. I’m fine." Then, quieter, just for me: "Thank you, Luna."

I nodded and looked back at Virella. "Name your price."

Virella blinked. "Sorry?"

"You want something," I said. "You’re always working toward something. Name it and we’ll settle this cleanly."

Virella was quiet for a moment, and I watched the calculation happen behind her eyes. She looked at Stella, then back at me.

"The east annex storage," she said. "There are several pieces there your attorney has flagged as disputed. I want them removed from the contested list."

I almost laughed.

"Those pieces are on the contested list because Maelis tried to claim they were pack property," I said. "They’re not. My attorney has documentation for every item." I kept my voice even. "Try again."

Virella’s jaw tightened. "The Ashthorne medical endowment. Extend it through the end of the year instead of cutting it at the quarter."

That one was harder.

The endowment kept Maelis’s treatments funded. I had already decided to honor it through the quarter as a basic decency. Extending it to year’s end was — not nothing.

"The endowment extends to year’s end," I said. "In writing, through my attorney, before I leave the estate." I looked at Virella. "And Stella’s position is not discussed, reviewed, or touched by you or Mrs. Park for the remainder of my time here. After that, she answers to Kaelen. Not you."

Virella held my gaze for a moment.

Then she nodded.

She walked past me without another word, Mrs. Park close behind her.

I waited until they were gone, then turned back to Stella.

"Go inside," I said. "Change your jacket. Don’t be alone with her again if you can help it."

Stella exhaled slowly, "Yes, Luna."

I smiled warmly at her and turned to Velvet. "Let’s go."