My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Chapter 82 DANGEROUS AND USELESS

KIERAN’S POV

Celeste’s words clung to me, long after I hung up, like a stain I couldn’t scrub out.

‘We’ll finally officially get engaged.’ ‘I want children—several.’

She’d rattled them all with such bright certainty, as if my agreement were already carved into stone.

And I’d said what Celeste wanted to hear just to get her off the line.

But the moment I’d hung up, I found myself pacing the narrow stretch of deck outside the cabins, restless, the briny wind doing little to cool the uncomfortable heat pressing down on me.

I didn’t understand why I was feeling this way.

Marriage, children—they were all things I wanted with Celeste, so why did the thought make me consider getting seasick medication of my own?

Not because I didn’t want more children. Gods, I wanted them—a bigger family, a home alive with laughter. But...

I couldn’t understand why the image of Celeste swollen with my child felt...wrong. Foreign. Hollow.

I ran a hand through my hair, letting out a frustrated curse.

How could something I’d wanted for so long suddenly leave a sour taste in my mouth?

I shook my head. I didn’t have to think about this until I went back to LA. Until then, there were other pressing matters to attend to—like making sure Sera survived this trip.

When I finally calmed my raging thoughts down enough to step back inside, I moved toward Sera’s cabin, rehearsing what I might say, what excuse I might give for taking so long.

But the words slipped away when I saw her. She was curled on the bed, the medication I’d forced on her lulling her into what looked like an uneasy sleep.

Her skin was pale, her hair damp at the temples, but her chest rose and fell steadily.

I should have walked out at that moment. She was finally asleep; she didn’t need me hovering.

Still, I lingered in the doorway, drinking her in.

Ten years married to her, and I’d never really looked at her like this.

I’d stolen glances before, yes, but I’d been a little blind back then—too wrapped up in duty, too consumed with feeling like I’d been cheated.

Celeste had felt like my future, and when I’d been forced to make the difficult choice to marry Sera instead, I’d felt trapped. Punished.

And so, I’d shoved Sera into the shadows.

I sat at the edge of her bed, careful not to wake her, and let my thoughts drift to what might have been.

‘Daniel will love being a big brother, don’t you think?’

What if Daniel hadn’t been our only child? What if I’d given her the family she deserved instead of burying her beneath silence and cold walls?

Daniel was my carbon copy; if we had daughters, would they have Sera’s beautiful eyes? Her stubborn chin?

The ache in my chest startled me, so sharp I had to push myself to my feet and retreat before it swallowed me whole.

Musings like these were dangerous. Dangerous and useless.

Because there was no chance of them ever coming to pass, I made sure of that the night I looked into Sera’s eyes and asked for a divorce.

She had Lucian now. He would give her the happiness I never could.

She didn’t need me. All I could do was return to my own cabin.

Inside, I stripped off my shirt and fell back against the mattress, staring at the polished mahogany ceiling, its gold inlays catching the light like constellations scattered across the cabin.

Although twice as large, the room was almost exactly like Sera’s, except for one thing. She wasn’t here with me.

I groaned and closed my eyes, hoping I could fall asleep and shove all these dangerous thoughts to the darkest recesses of my mind.

But then my phone buzzed on the nightstand. When I picked it up and saw who the message was from, it took all my willpower not to launch the device across the room—or out the open window into the depths of Exuma Sound.

I swiped it open and froze.

Celeste had sent me an old photograph. Her caption read: We look so adorable in this; we should add it to the family section of our engagement album, don’t you think?!

I was too busy studying the picture to wonder when I’d agreed to an engagement album.

It was one of those family gatherings from years ago—before the mess of the Blood Moon Hunt, when our families were still really close, and I believed Celeste hung the stars in the sky.

She was radiant in the center, of course, posed just so. For as long as I’d known Celeste, she’d always been the center of attention, like the sun around which everything orbited.

But my gaze didn’t stick to her.

In the corner of the frame, almost out of sight, was Sera. Half-turned, mid-laugh, caught in motion.

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