Page 42 of Lunar Diamonds
Tears brimmed in my eyes. “This can’t be happening…”
Isaac slid closer, throwing an arm around my shoulders. “Easy there.”
I tensed, as rigid as stone. What was he doing? Offering me comfort like a brother should? I didn’t know him. We’d only just met, and he should be in the same state as me. Shaken to the core, on the verge of screaming to the heavens to wake me the hell up before I smashed that vase over by the fireplace against the wall.
Ha! As if I’d ever do that.
Crap. Here came the waterworks, the sniffles, a breach in my sparkly wall. A pathetic sob escaped my throat. I hunched forward with my hands over my face, whimpering into my palms.
I want my mum…
I just want my mum…
“It’s okay,” Isaac soothed, patting my spine. “We?—”
I sat ramrod straight. “No! It’s not okay. It’s… It’s…”
It was real. I was still awake in this living room with these people, anchored in a strange new reality.
Anchor…
Immediately, I drew the circle on my palm for some respite.
You have to face this…
“Be angry,” Erin said. “Both of you have every right to be. This is an incredible revelation. Your lives have been lies, and I can only apologize.”
You have to face this…
Isaac slid away from me to the other side of the sofa. “I don’t know how to feel.” He sounded so empty. “This is insane.”
The circle calmed me down, helping me see things a little clearer.
We could both run the gauntlet of emotions or listen and face the music.
I sniffed, rubbing at my eyes. Wow. I’d certainly made a fool of myself.
“Here.” Isaac grabbed a box of tissues from the coffee table.
“Thank you.” I took two, sorting out my snotty, teary self.
Crying really could be cathartic. Not a cure, but a steppingstone to more levelheadedness. Combined with the circle technique, it even patched up the hole in my sparkly.
I drank some tea to steady more of my nerves.
“All good?” Isaac asked.
I nodded. At some point, I would face my mum, I would ask all the questions. Right now, I just wanted answers so I could throw the pieces into a melting pot and watch it come together.
“Carry on,” my brother said to Erin.
His phone rang. With a spectacular eye roll, he switched it off and dumped it beside him. “Can’t I have five minutes peace?”
“Are you ready?” Erin steered the conversation back to the matter at hand.
Gnawing on my bottom lip, I sat back and listened.
“After the fall of House Aurora, and the shame it brought to your family name, your mother became withdrawn.” She looked between us. “Juliet Aurora.”
