Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Sinad gives us that all-knowing smile that makes the lines on her face deeper, and waves over her shoulder as she hurries to catch up with my father as we near the very end of the courtyard.
Where we’ve come to say what the humans would call a goodbye.
His mother stops before him, taking his attention away from his babbling grandchild momentarily so he can lean down for her to whisper something in his ear.
“I know, Mother,” I hear my father say.
“I’ll get it ready, then?”
“Well, give us a moment,” Bothaki says suddenly, clenching tighter to Fate even when his mate steps closer to take the baby. He only shakes his head at Selina, like he doesn’t dare to let the baby girl go. Bo turns to stare straight at our father. “It’s not time yet, is it?”
“Almost, I think,” my father replies.
The drums still beat, but deep in the palace, at the farthest section of the courtyard garden where the catacomb of tunnels into the mountain begins, they’re even louder. A constant backdrop to our thoughts and conversation. The ever-present melody that reminds me no matter how much my father smiles or how happy we all are, he will not leave this place with us.
At least, not alive.
A beaming Fate that reaches for Nowas with both hands silences us all when my father reaches back for her and their hands meet. Her chubby legs kick against her father’s hold even harder in her excitement, and Nowas smiles back.
“The sweetest Fate that ever was or will be,” he tells his granddaughter.
To Bo, though, my father says, “Give your mate the baby, son.”
“But—”
“For a moment,” my father urges.
Bothaki gives Selina a look from the side but her hands find a way to unwind his arms from the child that has acted like a buffer between him and our father. No one wanted to say it throughout the changing moon that saw us through our last feast and time with my father, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t happening.
“Take a little walk with her,” my father suggests to Selina.
Bo doesn’t look away from Nowas when he adds, “But not too far.”
Selina exchanges a look with my mate that Luna returns when she passes her on the path, murmuring to the baby who continues to look back at the rest of us, “Let’s go find where we left Grammy Zarah in the hall, hmm?”
“Should I go with her, do you think?” Luna asks me quietly.
“I need you to stay here.”
She reaches for my face, and the graze of her fingertips along my jaw loosens muscles I didn’t even realize were clenching until her touch makes it better.
“I’m here,” she says.
I hear it like a promise, and it’s exactly what I need.
“Come here, Bo,” I hear my father say.
I look in just enough time to watch my father pull Bothaki in for an embrace that isn’t really an option given the way our father’s arms lock around him like bars. Off to the side, Sinad looks on to her son who hugs his own before she disappears into the tunnel entry where only the Mina are allowed to go.
The sob that rips from my brother is as painful as the calm words that pour from my father.
It won’t be okay.
This is an end even if there’s a beginning still on the horizon.
We’re all hurting.
The tug on my hand draws my gaze away from my brother and father, and whatever he tells Bothaki. I focus on Luna taking in the shadowed pathway we just left behind and the glisten of tears on her cheek that she lets me wipe away with the brush of my knuckles.
“It’s okay,” I find myself lying, too.
We’ll all just keep saying that, apparently.
Until it is …
I don’t know if it’ll ever be.
Luna nods like what I say is true, anyway, but nobody needs to say that they don’t truly believe it, either. The momentary distraction with her gives me the chance to appreciate the way the evening’s moon lights up her face when it starts to break through the clouds, and she stares up.
I reach to brush another stray tear from her cheek and her gaze catches mine at the same time. I can’t remember if I even took the time to tell her how beautiful she looked cloaked in satin the color of Hallan pink. From the gown that sweeps the floor to the hooded cloak sweeping the path behind her.
But it’s the crown she wears tonight of delicate gold points and with a crescent that sits above her forehead carved from a gem made of the finest, most precious black Hallan stone, that fits her best, I think. Made special for her because she’s extraordinary for us, Luna will be the first queen of our planet to ever wear a crown.