Page 45 of Lunar Diamonds (Celestial Magic #1)

DRAKE

I waited on the almost-empty train station platform, riddled with guilt.

Should I go back and stop being a selfish wanker? Again. Always selfish, always useless.

The train to London would arrive in five minutes. Then what? Back to Norwich? Somewhere else?

Man, this emptiness sickened me. I wanted Riley’s bond back inside me, to whip me into shape. To pop me back to his side, forcing me to see reason.

He’s better off without me…

Four minutes to go.

Coldharbour’s main station overlooked the city with a clear view of the mansion on the cliff. Sunlight painted its rooftops, a blue sky its backdrop. Inside those walls, I’d left an incredible man behind.

Go back…

Three minutes to go.

I couldn’t go back. Clearly I distracted him. I was nothing but a hurdle he had to overcome. He’d get over me quickly. In a few days, he’d forget the trash and move on. He deserved a decent man, one worthy of his majesty.

Go back…

Two minutes to go.

Gentle threads tugged at my heart, begging for me to be reasonable.

I adjusted my backpack, listening to the voices around me, the train almost here. The moment I boarded, that would be it. No more Coldharbour. No more Riley.

No more promise.

What the fuck was I doing? I’d promised to help him, to prove myself. All this did was shove a coward label across my face.

“I have to go back.”

“The train now arriving at platform one is the 11:08 service to London Waterloo.”

Not for me it wasn’t.

I turned toward the exit, already piling up my apologies.

Rhianna stood a few feet away, wrapped in a long black cloak.

Alone.

“Hello, you.”

I drew the gun Alice gave me, pointing the pistol at her head.

She laughed. “Oh, Drake. Would you shoot a pregnant woman?”

The bottom of my world collapsed. “What?—”

“Yes, it’s yours.”

Someone threw a sack over my head, sticking me with a needle in my back.

I smelled the violet aroma of a sleeping potion.

Pregnant , the word echoed in my skull as I slipped into unconsciousness.

Pregnant…

Mine…

How? She showed no signs of pregnancy at all. Not now and not over the past six months. Anyway, we’d used protection.

Pregnant…

That baby, if there even was one, wasn’t mine. It couldn’t be.

You’re not pregnant! I screamed on the inside, slipping away. Impossible…

Darkness swallowed me.