To ruin an Omega

Chapter 131: Act your station

FIA

I sat on my bed, staring at nothing. My mind kept circling back to the same question: why had the cure worked the first time but not the second?

The answer felt obvious now that I thought about it. The ingredients. We had not used Thorne or Maren’s stash. At least not all. It was mostly the dead witch’s stash. Most of the herb, most of the powder, and even the root had belonged to her. That was from a real witch. Someone who could actually do magic.

Of course they’d worked. They probably still had traces of her power in them. Some of them had to have been alchemized. Magic clinging to dried leaves and crushed petals like residue. That was the only explanation that made sense.

I adjusted my bedsheet. It had bunched up under me. The fabric pulled tight across the mattress as I smoothed it down. Outside my window, the sky was darkening. Purple bleeding into deep blue. Stars were starting to prick through.

My stomach growled. I ignored it. Food could wait. Everything could wait while I tried to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do next.

That was when I heard a knock at the door.

I groaned. If this was someone else coming to linger close at the request of Cian, I was going to lose my mind. I dragged myself off the bed and crossed to the door before pulling it open.

Elara stood there. That was a surprise.

“What do you want?” I said flatly. “Come to drown me in my own room?”

She swallowed. Her throat worked visibly. “I came to apologize.”

I waited and said nothing. If she wanted to get on with it. She had a free terrain.

“I’m sorry for hitting you,” she continued. Her voice was steady. Practiced. “It was stupid, vain, and wrong. I ignored your station, used classist remarks, and ignored the privilege I had to say all that bullshit.”

“This sounds rehearsed.”

Elara shot me a look. Sharp. Annoyed. But then she adjusted her expression. Smoothed it out into something almost pleasant. She even smiled. “I am quite prideful. It took a lot for me to come here and I didn’t want to get on your nerves. I merely practiced.” She paused. “I’m sure I sounded real. Like my father’s did.”

“No,” I said. “Your father was a better pretender.”

Her smile didn’t waver but something cold flickered in her eyes. “I take it I am forgiven then?”

“Perhaps if you got on your knees I would consider it.”

I watched her carefully. Watched the way her jaw tightened. The way a vein in her temple pulsed with barely contained rage. She was furious. Good. Let her be furious. Let her feel what it was like to be talked down to. To be treated like she was less than.

“Of course,” she said through her teeth. “If that is what it takes to earn your forgiveness.”

She reached down. Fixed her gown. Smoothed the fabric over her knees. Then she lowered herself down. Slowly. Deliberately. Her knees hit the floor with a soft thud.

“Is this enough for you?” she asked. Her voice was tight.

I raised an eyebrow, showing that I expected her to refer to my station. She wasn’t stupid. She got what I was throwing right away.

“Luna Fia, ” she swallowed.

I stepped closer and looked down at her. She had to tilt her head back to meet my eyes. The position made her look smaller. Younger. Vulnerable in a way I’d never seen her before.

“Did you see how easy it was to tear you down from your high horse?” I said quietly. “I don’t want to have to do this again. So get off my back and tell your father to tread these floors like he is walking on eggshells.”

Her eyes widened. Just slightly.

“I am just like you think,” I continued. “A manipulative Omega bitch who would do anything to stay afloat.”

I reached out and touched her hair. It was soft under my fingers. Carefully styled. Probably took her an hour to get it just right. I let my hand linger there. Let her feel the weight of it.

“As long as I fall with someone, I don’t mind what I need to do or the hell I need to cross.” I met her gaze and held it. “Be better and stay in that gilded cage. Mess with me again and you will have no wings to make another attempt.”

I hated how I sounded. I hated the venom in my voice. The cruelty. But this was the only language Elara understood. Power. Dominance. The willingness to destroy someone if they got in your way.

She stared up at me. Her eyes were wide now. Really wide. There was fear there. Genuine fear. And shock. Like she’d never expected me to push back this hard.

“Is that clear?” I asked.

She nodded in a quick and jerky manner. She couldn’t seem to find her voice.

“Then we are good. See you around, Elara.”

I held out my hand. She looked at it for a moment. Hesitated. Then took it. Her palm was clammy against mine. I pulled her up. She stumbled slightly but caught herself and she was upright, she fixed her gown again.

I waved her off. A casual little gesture. Like we’d just finished a pleasant chat about the weather.

Elara backed away. She kept her eyes on me. That look was still there. Fear mixed with shock mixed with something else I couldn’t quite name. Then she turned and walked away. Fast. Not quite running but close.

I closed the door and leaned back against it as I took a deep breath.

My hands were shaking.

I pressed them flat against the wood behind me and tried to ground myself. I tried to calm the racing of my heart and the sick feeling in my stomach.

That wasn’t me. That person who’d just spoken. Who’d made Elara kneel. Who’d threatened her with such cold precision. That wasn’t who I wanted to be.

But it was who I needed to be. At least for now. At least until I figured out how to survive in this place where particular people around Cian hated me and wanted me to fail.

I pushed off the door and walked back to my bed. I sat down heavily. The mattress dipped under my weight. Outside, the sky had gone fully dark. Night had settled in properly. Stars scattered across the black like someone had thrown diamonds at velvet.

My stomach growled again. Louder this time. Insistent. I sighed. I should probably eat something.