My Sister Stole My Mate, And I Let Her

Chapter 531 A NEW CHALLENGE (BONUS - 1)

MAYA’S POV“Do you know why they’re called centerpieces? Because they’re meant to be in the center. Yeah, well, I’m looking at the live feed, and the centerpieces are not in the goddamn center!"

“No, the twins are bearing the rings together. I don’t care if they’re fighting—handcuff them together if you have to!"

"Why are there three photographers in the garden and only one near the lake? Oh, here’s an idea: follow the layout I emailed you months ago!"

I watched my maid of honor whirl across the bridal suite like a hurricane in silk and pearls, barking instructions into a communications piece while glaring down at a tablet, and thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t on the receiving end.

I couldn’t believe Sera had spent her whole life in the shadows when she was clearly born to be a general on the frontline of battlefields and wedding planning.

Ordinarily, I would have been having the time of my life with this.

Ordinarily, I would have spent the morning making exaggerated comments about her turning into a blonde tyrant and threatening to report her abuse of power to Kieran.

Ordinarily, I’d be right beside her, barking orders of my own.

Instead, I sat frozen in front of the vanity mirror while butterflies attempted to claw their way out through my ribs.

Because holy shit, I was getting married.

My gaze drifted to the dress hanging near the window.

White silk spilled down its length in soft waves, the fabric catching the morning sunlight that poured through the open balcony doors.

It was gorgeous. Impossibly elegant. The kind of dress that belonged on someone soft and sweet.

Not someone who’d once stabbed a man with a fork because he’d called her sweetheart.

Mountain air drifted inside, cool and crisp against my skin, carrying the scent of pine forests and wildflowers from the valley below.

Somewhere beyond the windows, Frostbane hummed with the final flurry of preparations. Coordinators, decorators, and caterers moved through the grounds below, making final adjustments to flowers and table settings while music drifted faintly from the reception pavilion near the lake.

And somewhere in all that chaos, Ethan was waiting.

My mate, and in a couple of hours, my husband.

Gods.

My stomach flipped violently as my mind wandered backward to the scent of leather and engine oil hanging in the air, to rows of gleaming luxury cars, to storm-grey eyes lifting toward mine across a car dealership as though the rest of the world had suddenly ceased to exist.

Nyra stirred at the memory, and a smile pulled at my lips as I remembered the warmth of his laugh when I challenged him, the amusement dancing in his eyes as I informed him that if fate wanted us together, it would simply have to wait its turn behind my own stubbornness.

Find me.

Earn me.

Looking back now, I realized that was exactly what Ethan had done.

Day after day, he had loved me not because destiny demanded it or because the bond made it easy. Our relationship was something greater than fate alone could ever have created: two stubborn people waking up every morning and choosing each other all over again until it became as natural as breathing.

So why, standing on the edge of becoming his wife, couldn’t I breathe now?

"Maya!"

A finger flicked my forehead, and I jerked. “Ow!”

I glared up at Sera, who stood over me with her hands on her hips, her feet tapping on the floor.

"I’ve been calling your name for like three minutes."

I blinked. “Have you?”

“I’m the one who zones out in this relationship.” She cocked her head, her impatient expression fading into something soft. “You okay?”

I nodded automatically. “Fine.”

One blonde eyebrow rose. “Try that with someone who doesn’t know you like the back of their hand.”

Dammit.

I sighed, resisting the urge to run my hands through my hair and ruin two hours and five hundred dollars’ worth of bridal styling.

"I’m getting married."

“Yes, babe, that’s generally how weddings work.”

I let out a small, shaky laugh. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Sera took off her headset and set it down on the vanity, letting me know I had her full attention.

“As I live and breathe,” she said with a tinge of awe in her voice, “is Maya Cartridge actually nervous?”

I snorted. "Nervous is finding out your flight has turbulence. This feels like jumping off an airplane and realizing you grabbed a backpack instead of a parachute.”

Sera’s expression softened as she stepped closer and took both my hands in hers, her fingers warm and steady around mine.

"Oh, honey."

I shook my head and whispered, “I don’t know why I feel this way.”

She crouched before me, unconcerned that doing so might crease her dress.

"You love him.”

I nodded. “So much, it scares the shit out of me.”

Understanding flickered across her face. Of course it did. Nobody understood the terrifying weight of having something precious enough to lose quite like Sera, who’d lost and then found that very thing herself.

"You know he loves you too," she told me gently.

"I know."

"Then what are you afraid of?"

The question settled between us, and I stared down at the engagement ring on my finger, watching the stone catch the morning light.

What was I afraid of?

The answer was painfully simple: the same things I had always been afraid of.

I was afraid of how much of myself belonged to him now.

Afraid of how easily the loss of him could hollow me out from the inside.

Afraid of waking up one day and finding happiness had only ever been temporary.

Love was fragile in ways nobody wanted to admit aloud. Sometimes it worked out, and sometimes it didn’t, and sometimes people hurt each other despite that love.

I had spent years convincing myself that if I never needed anyone too deeply, then nobody would ever have the power to truly break me.

Then Ethan had happened.

Stubborn, infuriating, wonderful Ethan.

Ethan, who had looked at every sharp edge I possessed and never once asked me to make myself softer to fit more comfortably into his life.

Who somehow made forever feel less like a promise people made to each other and subsequently broke, and more like an...inevitability.

My throat tightened.

“I’m afraid...” I swallowed against the sudden lump there. “I’m afraid I’m going to spend the rest of my life waiting for something to go wrong. I’m afraid I’m going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy and sabotage my own happiness.”

Sera smiled, small and knowing and unbearably tender.

“Take it from someone who knows firsthand—fear isn’t a prophecy, Maya.” She shrugged. “It’s just fear. Sometimes it screams so loudly that it convinces us it’s telling the future when all it’s really doing is stopping us from living and loving to our full potential."

“I know,” I whispered. “In my head, I know, but in my heart...”

Emotion rose unexpectedly in my chest, sharp enough that I had to blink furiously before it spilled out entirely.

She was being all sweet now, but if I cried and ruined my makeup, Sera would turn my wedding into my funeral.

After a moment, she asked quietly, "What do you need right now?"

The question made me pause.

What did I need?

My gaze drifted toward the window where sunlight spilled across the floor in long golden ribbons.

Not flowers or music or aesthetic photographs or perfectly placed centerpieces.

None of those things were what had my heart beating itself raw inside my chest.

I wanted to walk toward Ethan without carrying old fears with me.

I wanted to stop waiting for love to disappoint me, because part of me had spent years believing that it eventually would.

Most of all, I wanted to stand before him with nothing between us except the truth.

My eyes lifted back to Sera’s.

"Can you call my mom in?"

She blinked in surprise, and I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“There’s something I need to tell her—something I should have told her a long time ago.”