Page 6 of Moonstriker (The Summertide Chronicles #4)

Chapter 6

Aubrey

Lunch was mostly quiet for a while after the new arrivals.

Lord Moonstriker and Lord Dawnchaser. The former was unmistakable on sight, and his very arrival made me jealous of Kit Moonstriker. His father practically leaping forward to embrace him like that was...well, it was certainly something I would never have.

It made me miss my mother, who’d very much been the kind of person to do that.

Florian Dawnchaser, on the other hand, was somewhere near my age, and much more reserved. Aunt Titania introduced us and we shook hands, but he remained quiet as he ate his lunch.

His sister was another matter entirely.

I couldn’t help blinking in shock when she dismissed her father’s death, but then...well, how much had I reacted to my own father’s death? I’d barely known the man, and what I had known, I hadn’t liked. I hadn’t reacted much different than Fawn.

Well, no, I’d at least been surprised by news of his death, if not emotionally affected all that much.

Mostly, hearing about Oberon’s death had made me mourn Mother again. My mother had been a near-perfect human being. Kind when she could be, and a vicious fighter when people tested her. Smart and strong and entirely unwilling to ever give up.

If I could be half the person she was, I’d consider my life a success.

Aunt Titania talked about Mother often, and seemed to hold her in the same esteem as I did.

Well, no, that wasn’t quite right. Sometimes, I thought perhaps Aunt Titania had been in love with Mother. She got this wistful, faraway look when she talked about the things Mother had done or said in her youth. At first I’d assumed she was simply missing a bygone era, but then I had realized Aunt Titania didn’t really miss her youth. Her father had been cold and controlling, her older brother distant, and her younger brother...well, he’d died. Even if she had fond memories of him, I imagined it would be difficult to think about him at all most days.

Like it was still hard for me to think of Mother, even though her death had been after a long illness, and not sudden and violent like Titania’s brother’s.

Most of the people present drifted over to the other side of the room when they finished eating, watching the news or talking in low voices about things I wasn’t privy to, so I was the odd man out.

I suspected that would always be the case in this sort of situation. I hadn’t been raised among these people, didn’t know them, wasn’t married to or sleeping with any of them. I simply didn’t belong.

I turned to Aunt Titania, hoping for the proverbial port in a storm, only to find her deep in conversation with the beautiful dark-skinned woman who’d arrived with the Sunrunner. I almost didn’t recognize the look on her face, because I’d never seen it on her before, but when the woman returned it with a coy lowering of her eyes, I realized that maybe I did recognize it after all.

Aunt Titania was flirting with the woman.

“Everybody likes Moonstrikers,” Fawn Dawnchaser said to me as she leaned in, her eyes also on Aunt Titania and the other woman. “They say Dawnchasers are pretty, but everyone wants a Moonstriker. Maybe it’s because they’re so smart.”

I turned to her, cocking my head to the side. “She’s a Moonstriker?”

She nodded back. “She’s Frost and Kit’s sister, like I’m Florian’s. They went all the way to Sunrunner lands to protect her cause she asked. Like Florian used to protect me from Father.”

I blinked at her for a moment, not sure of how to respond to that, because...well. Her father was the man who was dead, whom no one cared about. I supposed it wasn’t a shock he’d been the kind of man someone had needed protection against, if that was how everyone felt about him.

I shook off my astonishment after a moment and smiled at her. “I’m very glad you had your brother for that.”

“Me too,” she agreed, as she looked over at where he was leaning against Lord Moonstriker. That was a lot to deal with. The Moonstriker was exactly what I might have pictured as a child. Tall and imposing, with a serious demeanor that made me wonder if he ever smiled...well, until he looked at Florian Dawnchaser, and he did smile. It transformed him from the terrifying powerful figure I’d always expected him to be into a person I could imagine having a conversation with. From a statue to a human being. Fawn turned back to me, her head cocked at an angle that reminded me of a bird, and asked, “Do you have a brother?”

“I’m afraid not.” I glanced around and realized that made me unusual in the room. Among the rest of them, only Caspian was an only child. Even Aunt Titania had once had brothers, even if they were both now gone. Maybe it was something about being in a ruling family—they’d been required to have lots of children to ensure succession lines or something.

This, for some reason, made Fawn screw up her whole face in what looked like concern. “That’s no good. I’d give you Florian, but he’s very busy now. Dawnchasers are terrible, you know.”

Again, I had no idea what to say to that. Wasn’t she a Dawnchaser? “That’s very kind of you,” I hedged. “But I’ve managed so far without a brother. I think I’ll make it. I have Aunt Titania, after all.”

She turned and looked back at where Aunt Titania was definitely flirting with the beautiful woman, watching them a moment. Then finally, she nodded. “Cove likes her, and he’s a very good judge of people. That means she’s good.”

Cove.

Aunt Titania called the Moonstriker by his given name as well, but that fact didn’t make it any less surreal. I supposed if they liked each other, it didn’t make sense to call each other by titles.

Still, it was all so very strange.

“She is,” I agreed. “Aunt Titania is the best. I don’t know what I’d have done without her since my mother died.”

“Oh, mine too,” Fawn said, beaming, like it was something wonderful that we shared. Then her face fell. “But that was a long time ago. She died when I was born, so I didn’t know her. Did you know your mother?”

“I did. I grew up with her, lived with her until this spring when she died.”

Her face went soft and slack, and somehow, despite never having known her own mother, and clearly disliking her father, there was nothing but empathy in her gaze. “I’m so sorry. It’s good you have your aunt. Having people is important.”

I ducked my head, nodding, and tried to be subtle about wiping my eye. “It is. It’s very important to have people, or even just one person.”

She patted me on the hand, and then stood up, heading over to practically drape herself across the laps of her brother and Cove Moonstriker.

Surreal. It was all surreal. Like going from watching a movie to being thrust inside it, interacting with people you’d only ever seen on a screen before.

A moment later Aunt Titania bounced over to take Fawn’s empty seat next to me, barely suppressed excitement bubbling in her eyes. She took my hand, squirming in her seat like a child who needed to go to the bathroom.

I raised a brow at her. “Something you need to discuss?”

“You have to come to dinner with me on the terrace. Did you bring a sweater?”

“I did. And . . . okay?”

“Well, with me and Ember Moonstriker. I told her I’d bring you. So...I have to bring you. I didn’t want it to be weird. Is it weird? She’s too young for me, isn’t she? It is weird.”

I turned our hands over and grabbed hers, holding it tight and meeting her eye. “Aunt Titania. Cove Moonstriker must be close to twice his beau’s age. I’m almost certain that you’re younger than him and she’s older than Florian Dawnchaser. If anyone judges you for it, screw them.”

Her shoulders dropped and she nodded, letting out a deep breath. “You’re right. That’s right. It’s okay. But you can come to dinner, right?”

I couldn’t hold back my smile at her. “Of course I can. I’ll be happy to.”