Chapter 166
Claire’s POV
Jul 20 vouchers
That evening, while the kids were watching a movie, having adjusted to our much smaller home, I walked into my bedroom and finally opened the message from Gideon that I had been avoiding.
There, I saw the picture of the former Luna Queen that Gideon had sent me. This was the same woman whose pictures had hung in that secret room of Ivan’s pack house.
Gods, we really did look alike.
I went to the mirror and held up the phone. With the two of us beside each other, the similarities were striking.
Maybe too striking.
I stared at the picture and at myself. Our eyes were so similar…
I was an orphan and I never knew my parents.
Could it be…?
Could it be possible…?
Could the former Luna Queen be my mother?
Or was I just hoping to know my lineage so badly that I was making connections that otherwise wouldn’t have been there.
Lost in thought, I startled when the doorbell rang, so hard that I nearly dropped my phone.
In a rush, not wanting the children to answer the door, I moved to the living room, encouraged the children to stay sitting, watching their movie, and I went to the door.
I opened it without checking the peephole. This was something I regretted as soon as I saw Ivan standing on my porch, holding a bouquet of wildflowers.
“Claire,” he said and held out the flowers to me. “These are for you.”
“That’s not necessary,” I said.
“Please,” he said. “Take them. If only as congratulations for getting the children back. And also… as an apology…”
I hesitated, but… I had been in a good mood since getting the kids back. They were here now, safe in the living room watching a movie. That alone was reason enough for me to want to celebrate…
And to be more forgiving than I might otherwise have been.
So I reached out and accepted the flowers. They were beautiful and they smelled nice too.
“I know things are strained now between us,” he said. “And I know I am the one to blame for it. I should have told you about Lena. I should have –”
“It’s fine,” I said, cutting him off. Could have’s and should have’s didn’t matter anymore. Our engagement was broken and it wasn’t going to be remade..
But maybe, in time, we could repair the friendship. Not now, not yet. But maybe someday.
As I wondered of ways to get him off my porch, my thoughts returned to the picture on my phone, and the similarities in
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Chapter 166
the eyes between the former Luna Queen and me.
Who would know her better than the man who loved her?
Who would know if she had a child?
“Ivan,” I said.
20 vouchers.
He lifted his head, hopeful. “Yes?”
“About the former Luna Queen. I’d like to know more about her, I think. Did she have
any
children?”
Ivan seemed taken aback, but after a moment, he answered me. “Yes. She had a daughter. But she perished at the same time Lena did.”
He said the words with a total lack of emotion, but the pain was clear in his eyes.
I had been so angry with him, but seeing his pain helped thaw some of my chill. Grief was a terrible thing. It never fully left a person. Ivan had been trapped in it for a long time. He must have wanted to move forward with me. I wanted to believe his hopes were genuine.
But the simple fact was he still loved his lost love. He probably always would. Anyone else would be second best, ever living in Lena’s shadow. That I looked like her only made things worse, not better. But I imagined even if I looked totally different, he would still hold all the comparisons in his heart.
“I don’t ever want to be romantic with you ever again, Ivan. I don’t want to marry or date you,” I said. “But maybe we could try to be friends again.”
“I’d like that,” Ivan said. “It’s more than I deserve. Thank you, Claire.”
I held up my hand. “No thanks are necessary. You’ve been kind to me, too. But let’s go slowly. That trust needs to be rebuilt.”
“I understand,” Ivan said. He waited a moment, as if expecting more.
I did have more questions. Maybe now wasn’t the time, but… if
Lena had a daughter. That daughter died. But what if she hadn’t?
What if…
Could I be that little girl?
now, wh
It felt too haughty to even guess I might be the daughter of the Alpha King. I wasn’t the kind of woman who hoped for grandeur. But I was curious. And I did share so many similarities with the Luna Queen.
“Ivan,” I said, reclaiming his attention. “The daughter of the King and the Luna Queen. If she had lived, how old would she be now?”
Ivan blinked. “Well… I suppose…” He paused a moment, likely doing the math. Then he looked at me as if he was truly seeing me for the first time. Me, not the shadow of the woman he once loved. “She would be your age.”
That was all I needed. It was like the floodgates of my heart opened up and hope came spewing out in a rush. “Do you think it’s possible? Is there any way I could be…?”
I still couldn’t give voice to my hope. It was far too presumptuous.
Ivan’s
eyes were wide. “I… don’t know. Everyone had assumed the daughter had died. There was a funeral and everything. But, if she could have escaped…” Ivan’s brow furrowed. “We could try for a DNA test. We’d have to go to the King for a match. I’m not sure he would consent. He’s put the matter behind him now, especially since he’s been remarried. That was a
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Chapter 166
dark time for everyone.
“But if I am his daughter, wouldn’t he want to know that?*
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“Maybe.” Ivan said. “But please, temper your expectations. His current wife wants him to only face forward. I heard she doesn’t even allow Lena’s name to be uttered in the halls of the palace anymore. The girl is nothing but a ghost. As such. George might not be receptive to revisiting the past. His new wife, even less so.”
“I still have to ask, don’t I? It could be worth the risk if it were true.” Hoping he wouldn’t misunderstand. I was quick to add. “I don’t care who he is. I don’t want anything from him. I just want to know who I am and where I really belong.
Ivan gave me a sad sort of smile. “Claire, you belong wherever you want to belong. You don’t need a blood test for that.”
Ivan was a man who had left his family behind by choice. I wasn’t sure he could understand my side of things, to have never known where I was from. Didn’t I deserve the chance to know who my family was? What happened after that would only be a choice after I had the facts.
“I want to know.” I said. “I want to at least ask him.”
Ivan considered me, and then accepted my words. “Then let’s ask him.”
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