Page 137 of Lunar Diamonds
“Riley!” Isaac called.
I held up my hands, covered in blood. They blurred around the edges, not really my hands. No, they couldn’t be mine. They weren’t built for killing. They leafed through books, shelved them at the library. Soft hands waiting for a prince to come along and kiss them before he led me into the sunset and the sunrise.
Like Drake. He’d kissed my hand and now he lay there dying.
“Drake…”
Isaac appeared, barreling down the hallway, a long white coat billowing behind him.
“Fuck me!” he yelled, skidding to a stop, his eyes darting around the scene.
“Drake… April…” I managed.
You killed a man…
My brother didn’t need telling twice, getting on with healing them. Only, there was a problem with Drake.
“I need your help,” he said.
I looked down. Drake had lost all his color.
“He’s crossedthatline,” my brother added.
Immediately snapping to my senses, I lent him my strength. It worked, the relief sending me to the floor.
“The others!” April cried, back on her feet. “They’re hurt.”
Isaac followed her to go help them.
The scent of mint enveloped me. “Riley?”
Slowly, I faced him, a sob tearing from my throat. “You’re okay. You’re okay and I killed him and you’re okay and I had to… I had to… I had to…”
I collapsed onto my side. Drake came down with me, holding me, allowing me to howl uncontrollably into the crook of his neck.
“I’m so sorry,” he soothed, tightening his grip on me.
I didn’t stop crying for an hour.
Chapter 43
DRAKE
Ifound the real Erin Lovell an hour later, tied up and gagged in the wine cellar.
“He told me he wasn’t done with me yet,” she’d said, shaking with a cup of sweet tea. She was unhurt, but terrified.
Jonathon launched his attack on her while we were facing the shadow witches on the beach. He locked her in the cellar, then wore her face.
Ollie consoled her, taking her to her room shortly after, staying with her.
We’d found Jonathon’s diaries in an undiscovered hidden room on the basement level, complete with secret entrance and tunnel to the beach. He’d been using potions to hide his shadow magic, the trace of celestial power in him confusing the protection spell. He said so himself, writing two pages worth of self-praise at tricking us.
“Right under my nose,” Erin had said with quiet fury. “That bastard.”
Ollie and the Brambles sealed the tunnel and the room with a plan to add further protections over the next few days.
I’d missed him, too. Not once did my power give a read of the former Moon lurking in the mansion. So close to all of us, so close to Riley.
