Chapter 15 · Strike the Luna Line

"Sloane Hart." Elder Rourke's voice filled the hall, flat as the iron ledger in his hands. "Luna line. Struck."

The chisel came down before I could breathe.

I grabbed his wrist. Bone against bone, my nails biting into old skin. "That's my name. You don't get to cross it out because Ethan got embarrassed on a dock."

"It's not about embarrassment." Rourke didn't even look at me. He looked past me, at the raised chairs, at Ethan sitting there in his good suit like he hadn't done a single thing wrong. "He rejected you. Publicly. Witnessed. The line strikes itself, Miss Hart. I'm just holding the pen."

"Then hold it somewhere else."

The whole hall heard that. Good. Let them.

Ethan finally looked up. Two months ago he'd looked at me like I was something he wanted to keep. Now he looked at me like I was a line item he needed cleared before the quarter closed. "Sloane. Don't make this ugly."

"You rejected me in front of forty people and a live stream, Ethan. Ugly already happened.