<h4>Chapter 41: Chapter 41: THE PERFECT SLAP</h4>


    <strong>MAEVE’S POV</strong>


    <strong>MAEVE’S POV</strong>


    His hand hovered in the air for a heartbeat longer before it dropped to his side. For a second, I thought I saw something flicker in his expression—pain, maybe. Guilt.


    But I didn’t care enough to know.


    Without waiting for more of Revierrie’s excuses, or for the stunned, judgmental stares of the other witnesses, I turned on my heels and stormed out of the sacred grounds.


    Everything was too loud. My heart. My nerves. The noise around me.


    It was a typhoon of a hundred emotions, a hundred sounds, all crashing into each other in waves.


    Despite that, I found my way into the hallway, ignoring the few stunned side-looks from the guards stationed outside.


    A maid had been instructed to wait just beyond the doors with a change of clothes for both Ivan and me—since it was tradition to burn the garments worn during a rejection ritual, a symbolic shedding of the past.


    Before we’d gone inside the hall, she’d been stationed right there, holding a bundle of neatly pressed clothes in the crook of her arms.


    However, right now, there was no sign of the maid. I stepped further into the hallway, craning my neck to get a better look around. But she was nowhere to be found.


    Another gust of wind hit my bare skin, reminding me—painfully—that I was, in fact, as naked as the day I was born. This time, I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered.


    I could feel a sense of dread taking over the ce where my anger had been.


    I couldn’t bring myself to head back into the sacred hall. It was way too embarrassing to even think about going back in there, especially after the way I’d stormed out.


    If only I wasn’t naked.


    "Oh, how the mighty have fallen," came a voice slick with glee, floating in from behind a pir.


    My jaw clenched. Just fucking great.


    Serena stepped into view like a queen descending her throne—graceful, glowing, and goddamn grating.


    Her gown blew dramatically behind her, and her eyes raked over me like I was roadkill.


    "Did you have anything to do with my missing clothes?" I asked, voice t and already tired of the circus.


    Serena blinked, then gasped dramatically like I’d just used her of murder.


    "Who? Me?" Her eyes went wide, hands pressed to her chest in mock innocence. "Oh, not at all."


    Then she grinned.


    "I just... well, I’m so excited and happy about this brave step you just took, honey. I nned an entire party in your honor, and I’m here to deliver a personal invitation," she said sweetly, brushing imaginary dust off her gown. "To toast your severance from my mate. A fresh start for you... and maybe a fresh start for us, as friends."


    She sped her hands together like she truly believed the bullshit she was peddling.


    "Honestly, Maeve, I had my doubts. But you finally did the right thing and let him go." Her smile widened with poison. "Congrattions, Maeve. You’re officially out of our lives."


    I stared at her for a long moment.


    "Cancel it," I said.


    Sheughed. Actuallyughed. Tossed her head back like I’d just told her the moon was made of cheese.


    "And why would I do that?" she asked with a soft chuckle. "I’ve already baked a cake—and it’s rude to reject my party invitation."


    I stepped closer, each word filled with ice. "If you want to maintain even a molecule of your dignity, you’d cancel your pathetic party."


    That wiped the smile from her face.


    Her brow arched. "Bitch, I’m trying to do you some good—"


    "It didn’t work." The words dropped like a guillotine.


    She blinked.


    "The rejection failed." My voice cracked—just once, just enough for me to feel the pain behind my ribs. "It failed."


    "W-What?" Her voice broke.


    "You fucking heard me. I’m still tethered to your precious Ivan, so cancel your grand finale or whatever. It might have to wait for a while."


    "You did this on purpose," she whispered, stunned.


    Iughed, dry and bitter.


    "Trust me, I did not. But don’t worry," I continued, steadying my breath, "I’ll find a way to end that bond, even if it’s thest thing I do."


    I turned to leave—


    "You did this on purpose," she repeated, louder this time. Her nostrils red. "You’ve always wanted him. Even when you pretended to hate him. Even all the while youined to me about your loveless marriage. You wanted to be the one he chose."


    I caught her gaze, and from the pitiful once-over she gave me, one might think I was the other woman standing between two fated mates.


    "If I wanted Ivan, Serena... you’d know. Because he’d already be mine."


    This time, I almost seeded in getting away—but that was when Serena moved. She shrieked and lunged, grabbing my hair and yanking me back with both hands.


    "You worthless bitch! You nned this! You never intended to reject him! You let it fail because you want him for yourself! You want to steal my mate! You fucking greedy whore!"


    My hand flew across her face with enough force to echo.


    She flew back, stumbled into the wall, eyes wide with stunned betrayal. I walked toward her, naked, furious, divine in my rage.


    "Touch me again, Serena, and I swear by every goddess watching—I will end you."


    She looked up, hand pressed to her cheek, trembling with a mix of shock and fury. Her breath hitched, chest rising and falling as if each second demanded too much of her.


    My eyes regarded her with disgust, unmoved by the tears now brimming in her eyes—fat, unshed droplets that stuck to hershes like they, too, were unsure whether to fall or fight.


    "You’re so pathetic, you know that? I can’t believe there was ever a time I considered you my best friend. You’re not even human enough to be pitied. You repulse me."


    And then I turned.


    I walked away, fucking naked but beyond caring.