Page 54 of Treasured

A shadow slipped from Luna’s palm, and it brushed up against me.

I glanced at her; my brow raised in question.

“We’re going to be flying for a while, right?” she asked.

The winds had died down to a gentle breeze, and with my vampiric hearing, I had no trouble hearing her.

“At least an hour or two.” I tilted my head. “Why?”

Luna drew her lip through her fangs in a very distracting manner. “I was hoping… Will you tell me about Athena?”

My wings faltered, and for one long moment, my entire world stopped. My lungs ceased working. My heart stopped beating. Even my eyes stopped seeing. All happiness escaped me, leaving me dry and empty.

“Athena?” I breathed, certain I had misheard. I must have misheard. Had the winds picked back up? Did something damage my hearing?

There was no way she would ask me to talk about this. I didn’t know if I could. Just saying her name, forming those all-too-familiar syllables, was like eating silver-laced ash.

Luna drew in a sharp breath. “The other night, when you passed out after the Fledgling attack, you were talking about her.”

“What?” I didn’t remember any of that.

“You were thrashing. The pain of the summons was so much, and then… you said her name.”

A flicker of pain and something else went through the Binding Mark, and my chest squeezed. “Luna, I didn’t—”

“It’s alright, Sebastian.” She moved, flying right in front of me. “I know you had a life before me. You lived for over three centuries, for Isvana’s sake. I would never hold that against you. I just… I want to know you. I want to understand.”

Athena.

A thick lump rose in my throat, and I swallowed around it as my vision blurred. I never talked about her. Not really. Why would I willingly bring up the most painful moment of my past?

And yet, this wasn’t just anyone asking me. This was Luna. I would give her anything… including this. If talking about Athena broke my heart, I would offer the fragments to Luna and hope she would glue me back together again.

Rubbing my fist over my aching chest, I exhaled. “The first time we met was at the Festival of the Autumn Moon. That night, the skies were clear, and the full moon cast an ethereal glow over the forests.”

Even now, I could see it perfectly in my mind’s eye.

“Like tonight,” Luna said.

I nodded. “Just like that.”

Staring straight ahead, I led us toward the mountains as we flew. “I was young, having not even seen my first century come and go, and eager to make a name for myself as the prince. I had just returned from one of Queen Marguerite’s errands, and for the first time, I was able to attend the festival. I made my way through the trees, pushing aside snow-covered boughs until the moonlit clearing came into view. Fiddles played, vampires danced, Faerie Wine flowed freely, and there were even some curious humans who’d made their way to the celebrations.”

Luna made a sound in the back of her throat. “It sounds… nice.”

“It was,” I said. Damn the hoarseness of my voice.

My life would have been so different if I’d never attended the festival. It was too late for that now, though. Too late for regrets. Too late for Athena. If we’d never met, she could have lived out her mortal life and been happy.

But we did meet. And because of that, I brought her to Castle Sanguis.

And she died.

I cleared my throat. “The moment I stepped into the clearing, I saw her.”

“Athena?”

“Yes.” My voice cracked, and I coughed. “Her blonde hair caught the moonlight as she twirled in the middle of the clearing, her fur-lined skirt spinning around her as she danced without a partner. She was… smiling. It had been so long since I’d seen anyone truly happy that it took me by surprise.”

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