Page 124 of Lunar Desires
Rhianna plucked a potion bottle from her nightgown pocket then held my gaze for a few seconds, her features drenched in sorrow.
“I had no choice,” she spoke, smashing the potion into the ground.
In a burst of shadows, she was gone, along with the knocked-out witches.
I collapsed onto my backside as if I’d been shoved in the chest.
“Drake?” Jake spoke again.
Riley. Riley’s out there. My Riley, who’d been locked up inside a cage.
She sacrificed our child for some spell…
My spinning head sent me down into the mire. Struggling to hold on, the room a blur, the grief too toxic.
Darkness creeping in.
My son…
Releasing another strangled sob, I tumbled into unconsciousness.
Two Days Later…
Chapter 38
RILEY
Isang the last lines of ABBA’s ‘Fernando,’ the music fading out.
I’d been using the karaoke machine in the recreation room a lot these past forty-eight hours, along with the gym.
The next song began. Another ABBA number—’One of Us.’
Drake had barely left his room since he’d discovered the truth about Rhianna’s pregnancy. He’d closed himself off, sleeping off the past two days, surfacing for food twice. Told me he needed time, that we’d talk soon.
I missed him being beside me; the bed was so cold without him. It didn’t matter one iota. He’d just suffered a huge blow, and he’d get all the time he needed.
I’d be waiting. Always. No matter what.
Stefan had fallen quiet since his betrayal, though the High Coven protection remained. God only knew what would happen next. Erin sent a report about what’d happened in that abandoned country house ten miles east of Coldharbour. The Kingwoods had been using it as their hideout all this time.
But not anymore. They were back to hiding somewhere else now. With Preston.
Dammit.
Stefan’s secretary thanked Erin for her report, adding nothing more. Even Jake couldn’t reach him. According to him and Ollie, the HQ’s atmosphere was tense, kind of closed off at the moment.
Hmmm.
At least we had a plan for the Rainbow Stones. Aaron had arranged for them to be picked up by some trusted contacts, and friends of House Aurora, to bury them in an abandoned quarry outside Lincoln, deep under layers of concrete, completely out of sight and range to cause any more harm.
We still hadn’t heard from the Winter Queen.
As for Dad, well, tonight was the big night of salmon en croûte.
I’d asked Isaac to come with me too. Really, it was better for him to be there. If the blue figure was our dad, he deserved to hear the truth from my mum as much me.
God, the dread sat in my belly like a ball of lead.
