Page 43 of Lunar Desires (Celestial Magic #2)

RILEY

“ P reston?” Isaac breathed from the other cage.

My spaghetti brains were now trapped inside a blender.

No. No. No.

Marcus pulled The Star into a hug. “I’ve missed you terribly.”

Wait. Wait. Wait. Back the hell up. This must be a trick, right? Some game playing on the Kingwood’s part?

Rihanna hadn’t given birth at all. She’d brought a man down from, what, the sky? Our missing brother?

My throat thickened, confusion a swamp with no escape route.

“Preston?” Isaac spoke louder.

Marcus ended the hug to inspect Preston, who blinked, the rest of him as still as stone. “Look at you.” He cupped his chin, moving his head gently from side to side. “As beautiful as ever.”

“Is it really him?” Rhianna rasped, sitting up, her belly flat again. She was dripping with sweat, clearly exhausted. She reached out to her father, repeating the same words.

His scowl could turn fire to ice. “Go and clean up. You stink.”

She recoiled, dipping her head. They were all caked in dust, and tears tracked down her grubby face. “I gave you…I…” She sniffled. “I gave everything up for you, Daddy. The least you can?—”

“Leave!” he roared. “Get out of my sight before I burn out your tongue.”

Her shoulders shook from sobbing, but she still threw another question at him. “What about Drake, Daddy?”

Gave up what?

“I told you to leave,” her dad warned.

“But Drake’s mine. You promised?—”

“Don’t you dare disobey me.” The quiet rumble of his tone rolled through the room as an icy breeze.

The same witch she’d threatened to kill helped her off the bed, leading her away.

“I gave up everything for you,” she said through increasingly frantic sobs. “Daddy!”

But she vanished through a door, her anguish soon fading into the distance.

Holding myself together with as much success as tissue paper under a faucet, I met Isaac’s stunned gaze. Neither of us knowing what to say, only stare and hope Preston wasn’t down there.

Drake and Jake were still on their knees, the witchcop fiddling with his restraints. But Drake was slumped, his chin on his chest.

Had he expected to see a child born?

“I gave up everything for you…”

What did that mean?

Marcus took Preston’s hands in his. “We have a lot to discuss, my darling.” He kissed both hands, my brother still not reacting.

“What have you done?” I finally voiced. Queasy, confused. Were they lovers?

“Is this some sick joke?” Isaac chimed in.

Marcus glanced between us, his lips spread in an unpleasant smirk. “The triplets reunited once again. For the next minute or so, at least.”

Drake got to his feet. “What happened to the baby?” His voice was as dusty as the particles painting his body.

Marcus kept his eyes pointed upward. “My daughter gave me the greatest gift of all. Your brother. She sacrificed her child for my heart. Sacrificed my chances of being a grandfather.” He closed his eyes. “For my happiness. For me to heal.”

My breath caught in my throat, words cut off from me again.

“Your happiness?” Jake joined in, on his feet, his hands almost free. “What spell did you use?”

But Marcus ignored him, smiling at Preston, mesmerized by my brother’s handsome face. “No spell is greater than falling in love. My heart swells for him, my aches are eased.” He kissed Preston’s hands again. “I’ve longed for you since the special night we shared.”

I’m going to puke and puke hard.

Sorrow washed over Marcus’s face. “I lost you, and it cost me so much to make this possible.” His eyes returned to me first, then Isaac. “Thank you for the gift of your blood. I won’t forget it.”

“Is this what you wanted all along?” I questioned. “To get your hands on…him?”

“Yes. And you. Join me, become a new version of the Aurora triplets on the right side of history, or die.”

How much more was I expected to withstand? I found myself in another cage. A metaphysical one, the walls closing in.

Marcus and Preston? Really? What was the other twist here?

“As I told you before,” Marcus continued. “I am your future. You choose how you want it to look.”

“What if we tell you to fuck yourself?” Isaac said haughtily.

“You won’t if you value Preston’s safety.”

“So loving,” Isaac rebutted. “All this just to hurt him?”

Marcus caressed Preston’s face with the back of his hand. “I would never hurt him. But don’t fuss with me. I won’t stand for acid tongues.”

“Oh, honey. You have no idea what acid I’m capable of,” Isaac tossed back.

Marcus chortled rather than slap Preston, as I anticipated. “Without The Star, you are weak,” he said. “If you want him, then join me. Join us. Reclaim your name. Be better. The spells inside our grimoires are far beyond your imagination. The power we can wield will be incredible.”

Screw him and his apocalyptic tendencies. Never mind the fae woman. Marcus just shot to the top of my list of potential ultimate threats.

Marcus pulled out a potion bottle filled with black liquid. “Your choice, Auroras. Choose wisely. Return here in two weeks at eleven in the evening with your decision.” He smashed the bottle on the ground, black smoke engulfing him and Preston.

Seconds later, they were gone, along with every other shadow witch in the room.

Pure, unbridled shock landed. I grabbed the bars, chest as tight as a snare drum, lost in confusion, a new surge of grief rising.

Preston. Our Preston. Marcus Kingwood’s lover. The head of the shadow witches must have been the person Preston met in London.

Right?

“I’m getting you down!” Jake called up.

The oil slithered inside me, my head super woozy, drawing an iridescent net across my eyes. I barely made out Jake cranking the lever.

There was a shake and then the cage began to descend.

Turning my head took so much effort, but I managed it to see Drake.

He stood there with his hands still tied behind his back, breathing heavily, his fingers glowing blue.

Who or what was he scrying for? Marcus? Preston?

Rhianna?

“She sacrificed her child…”

His child. Their child. Oh, God. I couldn’t even imagine what he was going through.

The moment the cage reached the floor, the door popped open. Jake appeared, offering me his hands. “I’ve got you.”

“Drake!” I heard Isaac yell. “Riley’s out.”

Agent Jake dragged me onto the floor, the effects of the oil ebbing. But my limbs were concrete. I rolled onto my back, totally winded.

“You okay?” Jake asked, standing over me.

“Yeah…”

“I’ll get Isaac.” He took off for my brother.

I licked my lips, my mouth as dry as stale crackers. “Drake?” I managed.

Running footsteps.

“Drake?” Jake said. “Where are you going?”

“What…what’s happe?—”

A gun went off somewhere in the building.