“You touched his sword?”
We glanced at each other and laughed, our shoulders shaking.
“If he shows up, whatever you do, don’t look intimidated,” Kirsi warned once she stopped laughing. “Shadows sniff out fear because they’re predators and they know how to turn it against you.”
“Will do. And, Kirsi, I’m actually glad you came.”
I was. There weren't many women like us. I might consider joining that sisterhood club with the delicious cakes.
“I’ll go now, but you stay right here.”
“What? Why?” I said.
She had such a mischievous smile. “Look over there, Luna.”
I glanced in the direction she had pointed. Celia Trice stood inside the cafeteria’s main door, in a dark woolen coat and scarf, smiling at us.
I put two and two together. Kirsi was Celia’s faithful herald, the person who had informed her of my involvement in the metamorphic night.
Whatever truly brought Celia to my new home must be very serious.
Kirsi squeezed my hand and took off, leaving her chair to Celia.
Faion’s grandmother cupped my hand in hers. “So lovely to meet again much sooner than we thought, my dear,” she said.
I almost didn’t want to ask. “Do you have news for me? How’s Faion?”
She leaned forward. “Indeed, I do, and Faion is as always, having too much fun. Do not worry, my news is not unbearable.”
That didn’t sound as reassuring as she thought. I couldn’t help it, I became impatient. “Did you divine my origins? Or who gave me to Winter?”
“No,” she said. “That which I reveal today will not bring further clarity to you, child. The path to enlightenment ventures in and out of darkness as it goes winding along.”
I’ve been on that path a while.
“I will always choose the light,” I said. “I’m done with Shadows and their murky ways.”
Celia sat back to open her purse. She took out one of her cigarette-shaped gums. “The choice isn’t always between light and dark, Luna. Not in the basic world. Not in our world. We all have our own shade of reality.”
“And that’s what you came all this way to tell me?”
Celia took a deep breath. I had never seen the grand lady one bit anxious before, not until this very moment. “The Shadow known as Chaos, you and he share the same blood.”
I smiled because that was literally true. “He gave me a blood transfusion, Celia. That doesn’t mean we’re going to exchange gifts at Christmas.”
She was not amused. She looked into my eyes with a Grandma’s concern.
“What?” I said. “You’re trying to say he’s related to me somehow?”
“I feel a blood connection, and it is strong.”
Yeah, no way. Wires crossed. Diviner Wi-Fi down.
“Did you hear what I said, Ms. Celia? Back in January, Chaos donated some of his blood to help me heal. That’s it. That’s all you’re picking up.”
“My sweet Luna, only an Immortal blood relative can match your blood.”
The world came racing in on me.
“You mean, both Winter and Chaos knew Chaos is related to me?”
Celia did not answer. She didn’t need to.
Motherf—I stopped. Even swearing in my head was not cool in front of Faion’s Grandmother.
“I can’t be his relation,” I said. “We’re not even the same thing.”
Celia shrugged. “Stranger things have happened in heaven and hell and all the realms between. Immortals mating with mortals and every other possible mix. Love and desire are boundless, the uncontained magic. There are even cases where the blood relation is artificial, as in the case of a predestined coupling in infancy where blood is exchanged between the infants to bond them for life. A very archaic and rare practice but not unheard of and that’s the tip of the iceberg of possibilities.”
She had one thing right at least. This brought me no clarity. In fact, if she had rubbed mud in my eyes, that would have been better.
“How related could we be? He’s thousands of years older.”
“I don’t have answers,” she said, “but there is someone who can look into the past for you,” Celia went on, “but she always asks for a price, and that price will not be an easy price to pay, whatever it will be. Such knowledge comes at a substantial cost.”
And there it was, another awful choice looming. I could ignore what Celia said and keep on with my nearly idyllic life as a graduate student, or I could risk everything to uncover the mystery of who and what I was.
When you live forever, reality will always catch up with you.
“Luna,” Celia said, “I am here, whatever you choose.”
A group of students stepped onto the floating patio, gesticulating and talking loudly. I recognized two of them from a party I’d been to last week. I’d watched them get drunk while I pretended to be tipsy.
My life was absurd, even when at a basic party. I looked at my feet, remembered buying these shoes with Lil.
My vision blurred. Blood thumped in my ears.
“Yeah, let’s do it. Arrange a meeting, Celia,” I said. “It’s not like it wouldn’t happen eventually. Might as well do it now. Let me know when and where.”
I stood and glanced across the water at a woman hanging her knickers outside a third-floor window. She had a white ribbon in her hair.
My idyllic life suddenly felt like a terrible ruse, a deception of self. All that I had lost was my innocence. I had to accept it. I had to accept that I was a mist rider and that I had embarrassing Immortal relatives.
I’m not the first girl who ever had to endure embarrassing relatives.
The final battle for a free Earth lay out there somewhere on the Eternal path, a path that winds and never ends, a path I can never escape.
Now is when I stop running.
Coming Soon: Silver Dust
(MIST RIDERS #3)
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Books by Stella Fitzsimons
____________________________________
THE PLANTATION
THE PLANTATION (BOOK 1)
THE DARK LEGION (BOOK 2)
DAPHNE (BOOK 2.5)
THE SHADOW EMPIRE (BOOK 3)
BEYOND THE RIVER OF TIME (BOOK 4)
RISE OF THE SAVIORS (BOOK 5)
PLANTATION ORIGINS (BOOK 6)
MIST RIDERS
LUNA (BOOK 1)
WINTER (BOOK 2)
SILVER DUST (BOOK 3)
For more information and links, click here: Stella’s Books
Author Note
Winter proved a quite difficult book to write. It required tons of research and took longer to finish than originally anticipated. Family members and pets had to suffer me in the process, and I’m forever grateful they didn’t get too visibly upset over my unavailability for months.
If you have read more of my books, you probably know I like to put my characters in impossible situations and then, somehow, have them claw their way out. As I’m working on Book 3, I have to admit, I’m not quite sure how Luna is going to survive what I’m throwing at her. Sometimes, being a writer forces you to do evil things.
(As an aside, I’m also working on a few scenes written from Winter’s POV and I will be sharing those
with my newsletter subscribers and Facebook group.)
Please, feel free to contact me with comments and questions, and if you’re enjoying the books, consider leaving a review on Amazon to share your thoughts with other readers.
Winter (Mist Riders Book 2) Page 20
