The Alpha King is unavailable 177
toldrepeatedly, but I hadn't believed her.
"She tried to tell me," | said, my amber eyes darkening with self-loathing. "Olivia tried to tell me
Lily was dead, but | accused her of hiding our daughter.”
| remembered the day | took Emma to Enchanted Kingdom ThPark. My phone had buzzed
repeatedly with calls from Olivia, but I'd ignored them, assuming they were accusations about
my favoritism toward Emma.
"| didn't know," | whispered, my powerful frseeming to shrink with each word. "I didn't
know that Lily had been waiting forat Moonlight Fair, and had died that sday."
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Victoria's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Ethan, how terrible for you."
| felt compelled to justify my actions, though I knew nothing could excuse them.
"The healers said Emma's condition was worsening," | explained. "I arranged that birthday celebration because |
feared it might be her last. | never imagined it would be Lily who
< Chapter 103 Lily's Death
wouldn't get another birthday."
+15 Points
The irony was unbearable. | had devoted so much attention to Emma, fearing for her health,
while my own daughter had been the one truly in danger.
Victoria's voice broke through my thoughts. "I feel so guilty," she said, tears streaming down
her face. "If | hadn't called you that day, begging you to cbecause Emma was upset... if |
hadn't pulled you away from your promise to Lily..."
| shook my head, absolving her of blthat was rightfully mine alone.
"You were worried about Emma," | said. "I can't blyou for that. The fault is mine. | made
the choice to break my promise to Lily."
Victoria leaned into my embrace, weeping against my chest. | held her, but my mind was
elsewhere-with a little girl who had died waiting for her father to keep his word. The next morning, despite my
injuries and lingering fever from Olivia's attack, | returned to Sacred Moonlight Cemetery. My body protested
every movement, but | ignored the pain.
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| carried Lily's favorite treats-moonberry cakes, forest fruits, and small carved wooden toys. Things I'd noticed
she liked in the Imperial Gardens surveillance videos I'd reviewed
obsessively since learning of her death.
| also brought the Crystal-Embroidered Ice Princess Gown I'd never given her. The moonstone crystals embedded
in the fabric caught the morning light, sparkling with a beauty Lily would
never see.
My knees ached from kneeling all night at the cemetery and being submerged in the Moonlit
Reflection Pool searching for Lily's Ashes Crystal Pendant. Each step up the cemetery path
sent shooting pain through my legs.
As | climbed the steps leading to Lily's grave, | stumbled. My vision blurred momentarily, and |
had to pause to steady myself.
| carefully set down the items I'd brought, my amber eyes fixed on the Moonstone Tombstone