Page 8 of Lunar Diamonds (Celestial Magic #1)

RILEY

T he woman dumped Drake into the boot, then joined me in the backseat.

“There.” She smiled at me. “How are you, sir?”

“Sir?”

The fae guy in the passenger seat turned to offer a friendly nod. “All good back there?”

What a sprightly tone. “Yeah. I think so.”

Translation: Absolutely not!

The other witch—the driver—greeted me with a wink before tearing off into the night.

“Did he hurt you?” the witch beside me asked.

I didn’t like this sir thing. “No. I’m…fine. He said I was an Aurora.” I explained the details as the car gathered speed.

Her smile dropped. “The Kingwoods are moving quickly. Did they hire him in the boot to find the diamonds before us?”

I shrank slightly into the seat. The Kingwood name never failed to bring on the queasiness.

“Should we go back for Rhianna?” the guy asked. “This might be a good opportunity to take out a Kingwood.”

“Drake…” I swallowed, licking my lips. “Drake said she can’t be killed. Yet.”

“What does that mean?’” the driver said.

“I don’t know.”

“Weird.” The woman drummed her fingers on her black jeans—they all wore black. “Could be a nasty consequence on her. A recoil spell, perhaps? Let’s keep going.”

The man sighed. “Darn it.”

“I’m sorry this happened,” the woman added. “We’ve been trying to find you to formally invite you to Aurora Mansion. You know, to talk about this.”

The man in the passenger seat turned to face me. “We knew the Kingwoods might be up to something. But hiring a scrying witch? Sneaky. Although he doesn’t seem to be working for them.”

“Nothing a truth potion won’t fix.”

Another banned concoction. And what the hell were lunar diamonds?

I wrung my hands, attempting to formulate questions. But my mind struggled to compute, completely wonky, submerged in a swamp of bemusement.

“We’ll soon give you all the answers,” the guy said. “Don’t worry.”

The driver took a sharp corner, my stomach flipping from the jolt.

“First, let’s introduce ourselves,” the woman beside me said. “I’m Alice. This is Aaron and our driver here is April.”

“We’re the Bramble siblings,” Aaron said, offering his hand for me to shake.

They all sported red hair, freckles on their fair faces, and green eyes. Kind of identical.

Only Aaron wore glasses.

I shook his hand weakly. “N-Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. I’m fae, these two are witches—if you haven’t checked already. We’ve got a fae dad and a witch mum.”

I nodded, chewing on my bottom lip.

“I’m the oldest,” April said. “He’s the baby.”

Aaron pushed his glasses up his nose, facing forward again.

Alice drummed her fingers on her thigh. “We’ll be working for your family. Our dad used to be a caretaker at the mansion, and we were called to join the staff for the incoming Aurora triplets.”

This couldn’t be right. We didn’t need sacred witches anymore. And I couldn’t be one of them. I was Riley Croft. Born to Emily and Daniel Croft. I’d come so quickly my mum delivered me in the box room of number six Broomstick Gardens where she now lived with my stepdad, Peter Hall.

I did not belong to House Aurora.

“This is a lot to take in,” Alice said.

I’ll say!

“Erin Lovell will explain everything.”

Everything I knew was a lie. I wasn’t sure whether to be angry, upset, or confused. All of the above, I guess.

By Hecate. What was happening? Why was the damn day so packed with drama?

I wanted to cry, to lay down, to fling the door open and make a dive for it. But I stayed still, as tightly wound as a coiled spring. About to break. About to laugh at the ridiculousness of this whole thing.

“Why did the scrying witch bring you out here? Why not take you to the mansion?” Aaron wondered. “We’re what? Five miles out from Coldharbour?”

“To confuse Rhianna,” a muffled voice answered from behind me.

“You’re awake,” I blurted.

Shuffling. “Yes.”

I squirmed, continuing to bathe in confusion.

Arsehole.

Hottie.

Damn.

“The sleeping potion will have cleared her system by now,” Drake continued. “She’s resilient. And she’ll be long gone by now.”

So that’s what’d been in that purple candy.

“That still makes no sense,” April said.

“Distraction. Confusion. Surprise. She expected me to take Riley west. But I went north. Maybe it’s a tad convoluted.”

“More than a tad,” Aaron countered.

“That’s desperation for you.”

Desperation?

“Why were you working with her?” Aaron questioned.

A beat of silence. “I’ll explain once you get me to the mansion.”

Aaron snarled. “Don’t start making demands. You’re lucky your head’s not on the side of the road.”

Yikes.

“You can’t kill me,” Drake rebutted. “And you can’t kill Rhianna Kingwood. Yet.”

“What’s protecting you both?” Alice asked.

“Get me to Erin and I’ll explain everything. I promise.”

Alice punched the back seat. “Fucker. Now shut up, I’m?—”

A shade landed in the road, sending the vehicles into a mad spin.

Oh. Crap.