Page 18 of Lunar Desires (Celestial Magic #2)

RILEY

I floated inside a blue world, my dad bobbing before me in his blue human form.

“What’s going on?” Every word echoed around me.

“Fuck,” Isaac breathed on my left.

My head snapped around, my chest tight with surprise. “You’re here too?”

“Apparently so.” He directed angry eyes at the blue figure. “Who are you?”

“Moon. My son. Sun… Sun my son.”

Isaac’s mouth dropped open. He made a strangled sound, his eyes widening, no more anger on his face.

“Sun and Moon. Mine. Moon mine. Moon is path. Moon is key.” The figure dipped his head.

Pain shot across my forehead, followed by more confusion.

Dad wasn’t here, but in Vermont. So, who was this? Our real dad taking on the form of Daniel Croft? Why? It made no sense.

“Riley…” he said. “Isaac…” He spoke with such a clipped tone, his voice like gravel. “Sons. Sons. Sons. Must have… Must have Moon…”

“Who…” Isaac tried, his voice strained. “Who are you really?”

“Dad,” the figure answered. “I am Dad.”

My brother looked to me, a ghostly sheen passing over his complexion. “Dad?”‘

The blue world swirled around us, part of it opening into a circular window.

“See… See…” Possible Dad said.

We floated forward together, peering through the window, looking out across a beautiful vista of green. A meadow, peppered with daises, the grass gleaming like emeralds under the brilliant sun.

“What a beautiful day,” a woman said.

She appeared first, then the red picnic blanket she sat on cross-legged, wearing a flowy yellow sun dress, the golden hues of her skin reminding me of Isaac.

Her wavy hair, tied up in a yellow ribbon, was also similar to his in color. Pale blue eyes sparkled in her face as she gazed upon a man lying on his side, propped up on his elbow.

He was dark haired, his skin as pale as mine. Blue-eyed too, the color closer to mine and Isaac’s. He was so handsome, his jaw chiseled, dusted with stubble, dressed in white shorts and a pastel pink polo shirt. As starry eyed as the woman.

Dad. He always wore colorful clothes. I got my fashion sense from him.

“The sun’s got nothing on The Sun,” he said, plucking a grape from the bounty of food spread across the blanket.

He held the grape out to her.

She chuckled, leaning forward to claim it. “Mmmm.” She chewed, never breaking eye contact.

Juliet Aurora. The Sun before Isaac.

Our mother.

Heavy melancholy dug its claws into me.

Our mother. Our actual mother.

Dad licked his lips. “Let’s stay here forever.”

Juliet finished the grape, looking up to the sky. “I wish.” Her smile wavered.

“Why don’t we?” Dad said. “We can live our lives away from Coldharbour. Fuck the High Coven and the shame. Let’s raise our kids together. Be free of it for good.”

Juliet’s hand slid to her stomach. It was then I noticed the swell beneath the loose, yellow fabric. “Our sons.” She stroked the bump. “The next generation.”

How far gone was she at this point?

The sadness passing over her face made me flinch, especially knowing her fate. “Oh, Daniel.”

Dad sat up. “What?”

“It’s nothing but a dream. You’re married and I’m a pariah. There’s no future for us.”

Dad did not take that well. His brows pinched together, crimson flooding his face. “Says who?”

“Says the world. Says the High Coven. I have shamed my house. I’m a fallen sacred witch. I failed in my duty.” She sighed deeply, the pain of her situation so clear in her breath.

Isaac bumped into me, throwing his arm around my shoulders. “Our parents.” He trembled against me.

I put an arm around his torso, pulling him close. No words available to convey our feelings, only the aching sensation of grief for the missed years, for never knowing our real mum.

But what happened to Dad after this?

He shuffled closer, taking Juliet’s face in his hands. “I love you so much.”

The former Sun closed her eyes, her bottom lip trembling.

“So, so much,” Dad added. “We can do anything. We can go anywhere.”

Erin had told us how Juliet left the mansion for a while after the fall of House Aurora, depressed, needing some space.

She returned pregnant months later. She’d then given birth to three boys, only to have them cloaked, separated, and adopted.

The same day we were taken away, her sadness forced her to end her life.

What happened to get her from here to walking into the sea?

“Oh, God…” I breathed, holding tightly to my brother.

Dark clouds seemed to engulf Juliet, her mood soured, her hunched shoulders reflecting her misery.

“Go to your wife, Daniel. Be happy.”

Dad didn’t release her face, his eyes glistening with tears. “Run away with me, Juliet. We’ll raise the boys in secret and be happy. I love Emily but I’m in love with you.”

I recoiled at the sound of my mum’s name.

No. Not my mum.

Juliet was my mum.

“I’ll tell her tonight,” Dad said. “I’ll leave her, and we’ll go somewhere warm.” He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “We can do this. We can start again.”

My real mum shivered, her eyes still closed.

“No matter where I go, they’ll know my face.

I’ll never be free from the shame. And our boys…

” Tears rolled down her cheeks, breaking free as she opened her eyes again.

“I can’t do this, Daniel. It hurts too much.

Jonathon has abandoned me, and Janet’s dead.

” A horrible sob broke free. She pitched forward into his arms, crying into the crook of his neck.

Dad tried soothing her, tears of his own streaming down his cheeks.

The window closed, reopening seconds later to show Mum and Dad at our house in Broomstick Gardens. The day he’d given me the lunar diamond.

They argued in the hallway outside of the dining room where she’d slapped him, his head snapping around.

“Ten years I’ve lived with this!” she screamed, slamming a fist into his chest. “Ten years of pain. Ten years of wondering when you’d do it again.

” She whimpered, her brown eyes bloodshot.

“And now you have.” She waved a piece of paper in his face.

“Who is she? Who is she? What’s this about twins? About moving to America?”

“Emily, I’m so?—”

She slapped him again. “Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!”

He rubbed where she’d struck him, staying calm. “Let me explain. Please.”

“What’s to explain? You fuck any woman who wiggles her arse at you. Fuck you. You’re slime.” She scrunched the paper into a ball. “I took you back after you went with The Sun. Even agreed to raise your son when she gave up on him.”

Wow. A vicious response, one from someone so deeply hurt. Still, it stung to hear her say it about Juliet. The former Sun had given us up after being backed into a corner with the pressure of shame bearing down on her.

Realistically, what kind of life could she have given us?

“And I’m grateful for that,” Dad answered, his left cheek blooming red. “But we’ve grown apart.” He took a step back. “Let’s end this. Let’s find happiness again.”

She didn’t answer, staring at him with leaking eyes.

“I’m sorry for everything I’ve put you through, sweetheart. I really am.”

Mum sniffled. “So you…so you decided to run away? To America?”

Dad sighed. “To start again. To take the pain away.” A sympathetic smile crept across his face. “So you can be with Peter.”

“What?”

“I know you want him.”

She wiped her eyes. “I don’t…I’m not a cheater like you.”

He nodded. “That’s why I’m setting you free to find real love.”

Okay, this hurt my soul. Dad sounded like an arsehole here, no matter his intentions. At the end of the day, he’d cheated on Mum and fathered triplets. And not only that, but taken me in after Juliet’s death, totally changing Mum’s life.

Bringing me up and knowing I wasn’t hers, but a product of a betrayal?

I wanted to be sick.

Mum pulled a tissue from her jeans pocket. “What about Riley?” She dabbed at her nose.

“He’s coming with me,” Dad answered pretty firmly. “This is a complete refresh, Emily. You can be free.”

Anger creased her forehead. “You bastard. He’s my son.”

“He’s not.” Wow. So cold for Dad.

“I’ve raised him for these past ten years!” Mum cried. “Me! Not her!” She grabbed handfuls of her hair and screamed, almost tearing her brown tresses from her scalp.

“Emily, I?—”

The doorbell rang.

Dad glanced at the door. “Stop this, Emily. Stop this before it’s too late.”

Mum’s screaming cut off, as if an emergency button had been pressed. She released her hair, giving Dad a vacant stare.

The doorbell rang again.

Dad tensed, his eyes darting between the stairs and the dining room.

“You’ve always been perceptive, Daniel.”

A heavy knock pounded on the door.

Perceptive? About what?

Mum smiled. “This is the end of the line for you.” She ran past him, yanking the door open.

The image collapsed, the blue light falling down like a waterfall of magic. A muffled voice sounded behind it, commotion, even laughter.

What the hell?

“Who was that?” Isaac asked.

Another small window opened up in the blue, showing Juliet and Dad again. Sitting in a car at night, her in the driving seat.

“What did you…”

The scene crackled, voices yelling in the distance.

My attention stayed on the window.

“Take this…” Juliet’s voice cracked, white static forming at the fringes of the scene. “…safe…”

She handed Dad a ring box.

“What….” His words were lost, but he opened the black box to reveal my diamond ring. “By Hecate…”

“Jonathon didn’t get them all,” Juliet said. “It’s cloaked. At least for a good while.”

He’d given it to me to keep it safe. To keep it with its true owner.

Wow.

“Riley!” Not Isaac’s voice, but a woman’s. “Isaac!”

Violence. Burning. Smoke burning the back of my throat.

The scene collapsed, the blue light snuffed out like a candle.

I blinked, immediately choking on smoke. It smothered my vision, making me cough violently.

In the car. In the back of the car.

“Let them burn!” a man roared, followed by a horrible laugh.

My stomach churned.

Uncle Jonathon was back.