<h4>Chapter 53: Chapter 53: A MUTUAL ENEMY</h4>


    <strong>SERENA’S POV</strong>


    Withdrawing from the rooftop, I headed toward the Luna’s quarters. Lydia was most likely awake by now.


    I marched up the stairway that led to her wing of the house, and just as I rounded the hallway, I ran into Lydia’s royal maid.


    She was clutching a breakfast tray, stacked high with food. As always, she looked frightful—a simpering, trembling mess of a girl.


    Maeve used to look like that. Back then, she’d been treated worse than a servant in the Ash Creek household. Not even Ivan had been on her side.


    She had clung to me then, grateful for my friendship.


    "Hello, Lady Serena," the maid offered with a slight bow, her voice subdued.


    What was her name again? Terry? Tina? Perhaps Theresa?


    It was hard to keep track of all the servants’ names when they all looked alike in their pathetic, ugly uniforms.


    "I’m Theresa, Lady—the Luna’s maid," she rified, as though reading my thoughts. "Are you here to see the Luna?"


    "Yes," I replied simply, resting my hands on my hips. "Is she awake?"


    Theresa shook her head. "I’m afraid the Luna is not in her rooms at the moment. She is out taking a walk in the gardens."


    "The gardens," I repeated. This was news to me. Thest I knew, Ivan had given orders to confine her to her quarters.


    After Lydia’s heated argument with Maeve in the throne room, she’d been branded as unstable and seized by the pack guards. Maeve had definitely enjoyed that.


    For all her moon-healing bullshit, deep down, I knew she still hated the Luna fiercely. Ivan had to know it too.


    And yet, for some inexplicable reason, he was fine with Maeve treating her.


    "I’ll head over to the gardens then to see the Luna," I announced, stepping to move past Theresa.


    "Oh no, Lady Serena," she intercepted quickly, looking nervous. "The Luna doesn’t wish to be disturbed. She would throw a fit if you showed up. Besides, she’ll be back in her rooms soon."


    "How soon?"


    "Shortly," she reassured. "I was onlying here to drop off her breakfast."


    "Here. I’ll take the tray. Hand it over." I extended my hands toward her.


    Theresa hesitated but then obliged, passing it to me.


    "I’ll wait for her in her rooms," I said over my shoulder as I walked away. "Just like you said—she won’t be gone much longer."


    I dismissed the maid and continued down the hall. At the Luna’s door, I didn’t bother knocking. I turned the lock and pushed it open.


    What I saw made me stop in my tracks.


    Maeve was on her knees in front of the Luna’s dresser, the bottom drawer pulled wide open, her hands wrist-deep inside as she searched for something.


    She spun around at the sound of my entrance, startled. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers—the look of someone who’d just been caught red-handed.


    That wide-eyed panic was gone in a sh.


    Maeve withdrew her hands from the drawer, shut it, and slowly rose to her feet.


    She straightened her posture and met my gaze, but only for a second before her eyes darted away.


    It confirmed my suspicions. She’d been snooping in the Luna’s quarters.


    But why?


    "Maeve," I said, my voice dripping with icy venom. "Of all the ways I nned to run into you today, I’ve got to say—snooping around the Luna’s quarters wasn’t one of them."


    I narrowed my eyes, daring her to deny it.


    She raised her chin, her earlier shock reced with calm indifference.


    "Good morning, Serena. I’m d to see the scar from my p has healed." When my nostrils red, she smirked and added, "And you’re right about the snooping. It’s impossible not to, when the Luna insists on hiding hertest medical records from me."


    I let out a coldugh.


    "Medical records? That’s the best lie you coulde up with? Please, Maeve, even for you, that’s pathetic. You expect me to believe you were on your knees, digging through the Luna’s things like amon thief, all for the noble cause of... helping her?" I tilted my head, letting my sneer deepen. "I think we both know you’ve never given a damn about Lydia’s health—unless, of course, you’re hoping she drops dead so you can crawl into her ce."


    Maeve’s lips curved, but it was barely a smile—it was the kind of expression that said she’d already dismissed me in her head.


    "If I wanted her dead, Serena, I wouldn’t waste my time rifling through drawers. I’d simply let her keep rotting from the inside out. But unlike you, I actually care about others. So yes—medical records. Believe it or don’t—I really couldn’t care less."


    "You know, Maeve, that sounds exactly like something a guilty person would say. Makes me wonder what you have to be guilty about." My lips curved into a serpentine smile. "Were you perhaps hoping to steal some of the Luna’s jewelry? Is that what this is—wing your way back into the Cross family to dig some gold for you and your bastard child?"


    I saw the fury sh through her eyes, and for a second, I flinched—half expecting her to strike me across the face again.


    But for fuck’s sake, I was Serena Montrose. It was time to remind Maeve of that.


    Rather than the outburst I expected, she simply shook her head, rolling her eyes.


    "You’re making things up, Serena—but then again, it wouldn’t be the first time. Let the Luna know I dropped her herbal juice. She has to take it, and that is amand." She turned for the door.


    "What? You’re leaving already?" I gasped, feigning shock. "What about your precious medical records?"


    Maeve graced me with a faint scowl.


    "I’m afraid I can’t concentrate on my search, especially with you here. I’lle backter, when Lydia gets back."


    "I see. And I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I told Lydia about your little search in here?" I smirked, deliberately baiting her.


    The truth was, I didn’t believe a single word of that half-assed story—not even the one about gold.


    If I went by the Moon Healer’s reputation, Maeve wouldn’t need to steal jewelry from the Luna to survive.


    I’d heard there were packs that built monuments in her honor for saving their alphas with her so-called expertise. Fools.


    Still, if she wasn’t here for gold and she wasn’t after medical records, then what the hell was she looking for?


    I had been close to Maeve once upon a time. I knew how deeply she hated Lydia—and now I was curious.


    This had to be something far more important.


    What was it?


    "I wouldn’t mind if you told Lydia. Not at all," Maeve replied, her lips curving into a small, patronizing smile. "Go right ahead. And have a lovely day, Serena."


    With that, she unlocked the door and swept out.


    Bitch.


    She’d barely been gone five minutes when Lydia returned.


    She found me reclining against her settee and grunted.


    "Huh. I see you finally decided to pay me a visit." Her words came out in a gravelly grumble.


    I smiled, setting the food down before moving to her side. I gripped her frail arm and helped her into bed. She eased back against the headrest with a sigh.


    "Oh, don’t pout. You know I’ve been especially busy nning the wedding," I said, pulling the covers over her legs. "Though recently, something far more... vile has been draining my attention. I’ve been trying to keep Maeve’s ws out of Ivan."


    "That wretched whore," Lydia nearly growled.


    At that, I smirked. Finally—just the person I needed.


    "Tell me about it." Despite the bitterness her name brought to my tongue, my smile widened. "You’ll never believe who I caught snooping around your room just minutes ago."


    Lydia’s eyes snapped to mine. "Who?"


    "Maeve," I deadpanned. "I think she’s up to something. It’s one of the main reasons I came to see you, Luna. Five years ago, you helped me get rid of her. And now—just likest time—I’m going to need your help to drive Maeve Oakes right out of our lives."


    At that, Lydia smiled.


    "I’ve been waiting for you to visit all this while, Serena."