My Unchosen Ex Chases Reborn Me (Soren and Fiona) novel Chapter 163

Chapter 163 Shifting Tides

Chapter 163 Shifting Tides

76

+5 Free Coins

Several days later, a letter bearing Morgan’s distinctive seal arrived at Fiona’s residence. The Divine Doctor’s reply was concise yet urgent. Morgan instructed her to escort Yolanda to Pearl Terrace as soon as possible. Inside the gently rocking carriage bound for the mountain outpost, Fiona leaned close and murmured, “Yolanda, you must keep this absolutely secret. No. one can know where we are going.”

The alibi she crafted on this occasion was disarmingly simple: she and Yolanda were supposedly paying a call at Clearsky Pavilion, while Harriet remained behind to shield their absence with well–timed distractions.

“Rest easy. Your secret is safe with me.” Yolanda’s gratitude shimmered in her eyes; Fiona had taken this risk for her sake, and she would sooner bite her own tongue than slow her friend down.

Yet the moment they crossed Pearl Terrace’s threshold and a half–clad young man drifted into view, Yolanda’s cheeks flared crimson–her first visit to a place so brazen had arrived like a slap of heat.

Fiona, hidden inside her tailored gentleman’s coat, remained perfectly at ease, a faint curve on her lips revealing how well the role already fit her shoulders.

“Sir, you have been gone far too long. Sterling has waited for you without wavering,” the guide informed her, voice lilting through a lantern–lit corridor.

“Then bring him to me,” Fiona answered, flicking her folding fan with languid grace, every gesture steeped in unhurried confidence.

“Please follow me, sir.” The woman pivoted, silk skirts whispering against polished boards as she led them deeper inside.

Sterling sat before a low ebony table, fingers coaxing silver notes from a zither. At the scrape of approaching footsteps, he glanced up, expression glacial, before lowering his gaze and letting the melody flow on–an exiled aristocrat in everything but title.

“It has been too long,” Fiona murmured, allowing the words to settle between them like dust motes in lamplight.

Sterling offered no reply, only the soft resonance of vibrating strings.

“The past weeks were… demanding,” she added, as though busyness could excuse every silence.

Sterling’s tone cut through the music. “No. You were merely dazzled by someone else.”

1/4

12:04 Fri, Oct 17

Chapter 163 Shifting Tides

:

76

+5 Free Coins

“And yet I still remember you,” Fiona countered, voice teasing, a rogue’s smile tugging at her mouth.

His lashes lowered. “You don’t. Your thoughts are fastened elsewhere.”

For an instant, he cast her as the faithless one, and the accusation stung like unexpectedly cold wine.

Fiona’s eyes lingered on him, searching for wounds she had not meant to leave.

The serpent–patterned mask hid every flicker of emotion, but his bearing–aloof, remote, almost royal–betrayed a pride countless patrons found irresistible.

Many sought the thrill of ruining such hauteur: to toy with him until cold detachment cracked into desperate longing, to pluck the icy blossom from the cliff and watch it bleed warmth.

Had she not needed his company tonight as camouflage, Fiona would usually keep her distance; beauty this coveted often came wreathed in peril and complicated benefactors.

“If I had truly forgotten you, why brave Pearl Terrace at all?” she said, lowering herself beside him. “The household’s leash is short–seeing you is no small feat. So be kind and press the ache from my temples.”

Sterling’s lips curved slowly. “I told you once. A service from me costs more than you can afford.”

Clearly, some lavish patron had spoiled him rotten; after all, when money changed hands, ministering to guests should have been his obligation. Fiona filed the detail away–whoever indulged him must wield real influence.

She snapped her fan shut, tapping it in her palm. “Then have the steward fetch another gentleman with skilled hands.”

She had barely begun to rise when Sterling caught her shoulder, easing her back into the cushion. His palms settled at her hairline; awkward at first, but after two murmured pointers, he soon found the precise pressure that melted pain to pleasure.

Eyes closed, Fiona exhaled. “One day,” she promised, voice a drifting sigh, “I will secure you a finer future than these perfumed rooms. Think on it.”

Sterling’s voice slipped through the ridged edge of his half–mask–low, deliberate, impossible to mistake. “Whatever I want,” he said, letting the promise hang like gathered thunder, “I will return for when the hour suits me.”

Fiona’s brows knit. She lifted her lashes, turning until her gaze locked with his—dark, still, and

2/4

12:04 Fri, Oct 17

Chapter 163 Shifting Tides

so deep it felt as if it might swallow every argument she could muster.

(76)

+5 Free Coins

“M–Mr. Vincent,” Yolanda ventured, worry thinning her voice, “I could use a little fresh air. Would you mind taking me outside for a moment?”

Sterling’s eyes flicked toward her, a glance as brief and cold as moonlight scraped over ice. Yolanda flinched from that chill, fastening her hopeful stare on Fiona instead, wordlessly pleading for rescue.

A brisk knock sounded from the corridor. Fiona slid her hand from Sterling’s grasp and rose. “I have business to attend to,” she told him, tone brisk yet polite. “Wait here until I return.”

“Off to see another gentleman, no doubt,” Sterling replied, his words edged with frost sharp enough to crack glass.

“Jealous? Truly?” Fiona laughed, soft but incredulous. “All I do with them is bargain. Every coin I earn ends up lavished on you. If my trade collapsed, I’d be ruined—and you, Sterling, wouldn’t spare me so much as a glance.”

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify