Page 16 of Lunar Diamonds
Blue light, blue light. Blazing so brightly my assailant was swallowed in it, hidden in the glare.
“A foolish roll of the dice and I pay the price.” It was the same voice as the orb coming from the strangler.
I kicked out, losing my strength, the cold overwhelming. My thoughts slowed, my breath cut off, darkness creeping in. The scar pain faded, numbing me toward the mercy of death.
Here comes the end.
Oh, God. I’m not ready to go…
Chapter 4
RILEY
Ishot awake, clutching my chest with one hand, my phone clasped in my other. On the floor of my flat, still wearing my shoes and coat, wrapped in cold sweat.
“Crap…” I rubbed my breastbone, catching my breath.
I blinked, casting my eyes around my living room, anchoring myself to it. The same green-and-beige décor. The green couch, my TV, and triple bookcase I spent a small fortune on to house my precious book babies.
My home. Free of blue orbs and stranglers. It was just me on the polished floorboards my stepdad had laid for me.
I drew several deep breaths, reconnecting with reality. It’d been a dream. An incredibly believable nightmare, the bite of cold air still nibbling at my skin. But the pain had gone completely, aside from a soft tingle in my head and the fainter throbbing in my foot.
Once I was able to breathe again, I checked myself over and found my bite scar as its normal self. I got up, heading for the bathroom, sunlight streaming across the green and white tiles.
I inspected my neck in the mirror. No red marks from crushing fingers, everything as it should be, apart from my sweat-damp hair.
“Dammit,” I grumbled, washing my hands and splashing my face with warm water.
My diamond ring gleamed in the sunlight, forcing me to pause. Just for a moment, leaving me to think of my dad and his…betrayal.
I held the ring up, studying the white-gold band and the single diamond within a hexagonal nest. A gift from Dad, a treasure as well as a constant reminder of him leaving the UK for America to start a new family.
Cheater. Father. Terribly missed. Sometimes he wrote me letters, never emails or texts or anything like that. I always wrote back to plead for a video call or even a chat on the phone. But he never acknowledged those requests.
Mum, heartbroken over him running off with his secretary like a total cliché, simply called him scum. Nothing more. She refused to talk about him beyond cussing him out, grunting dismissively whenever I tried.
I should hate him, but I couldn’t. I wanted to see him again, as a man. I’d been ten when he’d left, standing in the doorway sobbing as the taxi drove him out of my life.
The moment the ring fit my finger a few years later, I never took it off. Happy to have a part of him with me all the time.
Okay. Enough of this. Time for a shower, a cheeky glass of spiced rum, and a nap. Today had been rough. An afternoon and evening of downtime would do me good. I might even slap on a face mask.
But what about that dream? Moon? Sun? Star? They were the components of sacred power, also known as celestial magic—the greatest magic in existence. Until the High Coven took it away.
Why would the blue thing be talking aboutthat?
Hmmm. The coat stand must have hit me harder than I thought.
Of the four branches of witchy power, shimmer witches were the most common, drawing upon the shimmering Hecate Crystals—the source of all magic on Earth. Without them, no witch of any kind could survive. They were like oxygen.
The crystals grew everywhere, a common sight across the world. There was even a cluster outside my bedroom window—three white shards clinging to the exterior of the building. Hecate Crystals fed magic, constantly gleaming, releasing their special gift into the atmosphere. A gift heavily filtered by the High Coven.
Scrying witches were rare, different. Magical, yet unable to use any magic other than their searching ability.
Sacred witches were born into their roles as a set of triplets from time to time, and only into the famous Aurora bloodline here in Coldharbour. Blessed by Hecate, the goddess of all witches, to fight apocalyptic threats with their incredible power.
Aurora triplets were a sign of a coming apocalypse, a warning from Hecate of a dark future that must be thwarted. Once the siblings reached their twenties, the deadly ball would start rolling.
