Dark Side of the Moon (The Lost Royals Saga Book 2)

by Rachel Jonas

  The room was eerily quiet and I felt empty inside, unloading these questions on her. For so long, I’d been holding these things in with nowhere to direct them. But now, I had a living, breathing target. The one who’d brought it all on.

  Elise’s posture changed and some of the guilt and shame seemed to fade. Her eyes locked with mine and I detected that same stifling confidence I tended to only see in Liam’s eyes. But tonight, it was in hers.

  Maybe, although she wasn’t his biological mother, this was a trait he inherited from her.

  “You’re here because we need you, Evangeline.”

  Hearing Elise admit that, Liam’s head lifted. He’d been so quiet and still while she and I spoke, it was almost like he wasn’t even here until now.

  “And, while I’m sure this won’t make much sense to you,” she went on, “giving you up was the hardest and easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

  My brow quirked at Elise’s strange wording.

  “Keeping you would have been as good as sentencing you to death myself.” She blinked, and to my surprise, her glassy eyes shimmered with tears. However, she was too poised to let them fall.

  “You were always a special child. For more reasons than I can explain. But your father and I weren’t the only ones who knew that,” she added. “When I brought you back, I had no choice but to hide you. I was very selective about who adopted you, and Todd and Rebecca turned out to be as stellar a choice as I knew they would be.”

  She paused and I took advantage of the break, needing a moment to comprehend all of this. Hearing that my parents had been studied and … chosen for me?

  “I handed you—the only important thing I had left in this world—over to them, because they were among the few, genuinely good-natured people I found. I gave you to them, Evangeline, because, despite the fact that they’re only human, they were far more capable of protecting you than I was,” she admitted. “If the Sovereign knew I was still alive, the lives of everyone I love or care about would be in danger. By some small miracle, he has no idea that I, a dragon, have infiltrated the lycan High Council. Those who share my vision have secretly elevated me to one of the highest-ranking positions of the organization. For that, he’d have me, most of the Council members, and the Elders killed without question.”

  Her eyes flitted up toward mine and I felt what she said next. Right in my chest.

  “To a man like that, all life is expendable, Evangeline. And I couldn’t justify putting the same target on your back that I’ve willingly put on my own for the cause.”

  I couldn’t move an inch as I listened.

  “Yes, I watched you grow from a distance, mostly through the eyes and reports of others, but don’t think for a single moment it didn’t kill me over and over and over again, having to stay in the background.”

  The pools in her eyes filled a little more.

  “Several times, I nearly intervened,” she shared. “It took everything in me not to go to your home in the middle of the night, determined to take my little girl while she slept. But … each time, I reminded myself of the pain I felt when I lost you before,” she added. “So, if staying away was going to keep you alive, I was steadfastly willing to suffer so you could live.”

  I hated that she chipped away at the hardness of my heart.

  “You said you brought me back because you need me. Why?” I forced out, doing all I could to maintain the same, clipped tone I’d spoken to her in before. She couldn’t know I was softening. Not yet. Not until my questions had been answered and I’d had time to process it all.

  Elise lowered her head, maybe knowing her answer wouldn’t go over well with Liam.

  “There are certain things I’m not allowed to reveal right now. The Council has strict stipulations, and not sharing all the details of the plan is one of them. They, too, risked a lot letting me bring you back, Evangeline, and as much as I want to divulge it all despite the oath I’ve taken, I simply cannot.”

  “With all due respect, Elise,” Liam cut in, “you’ll have to do better than that. I understand there’s a ‘plan’ and you and the Council have the bigger picture in mind, but—”

  She offered Liam a dim smile from where she sat. “You can relax. I would never put Evangeline in harm’s way. Not for anything,” she added. “But I truly cannot say more than I already have.”

  He stared at her and frustration clearly marked his expression.

  The emptiness inside me grew as Elise’s explanation settled into my thoughts. At first, I didn’t understand where the feeling came from, but then, out of nowhere, it hit me. In all she said, not once did she mention that I’d been brought back because she wanted me here. It sounded like, to her, I was nothing more than a means to an end; some sort of resource she needed as a contribution to her ‘cause’.

  I was set to keep my thoughts to myself, but then remembered the only one who’d suffer from holding it in was me. For so long, I had questions about my past. Now, I had the chance to ask them, so I’d bare it all in the name of self-healing.

  “Why now?” I blurted. “I’ve been gone for centuries. Why bring me back now instead of years ago?” My breaths came quick and shallow. “Just because you need me?”

  I put myself in her shoes, tried to imagine having the power to bring back a loved one, or even give my parents their memory back whenever I felt like it. It would’ve taken an act of God to stop me, but not Elise. If I was hearing her right, she chose to wait until now. Chose to go on without me. Until I was of some use to her.

  Her head lowered and I wasn’t sure what the answer would be. Seeing that she hesitated was more nerve-wracking than I cared to admit. However, before she could answer, Liam cut in with a theory of his own.

  “Was it because bringing her back would also mean another Liberator would be born?”

  Elise lifted her eyes to meet Liam’s and it surprised me when she shook her head. I honestly thought he might have been on to something.

  “As dreadful as that curse is,” she answered, “not even that would have been enough to keep me from bringing you back straight away, Evangeline.”

  When she addressed me, I can’t explain why, but my heart leapt. I quickly quenched the feeling, though. For all I knew, this was a mind game—her way of making me think she actually cared.

  Liam and I stood there, waiting for an explanation, and in the end, all Elise offered was a cryptic riddle, making it clear we had, once again, wandered into the territory of what was off limits to discuss.

  “In short,“ she sighed. “It’s a matter of Newton’s third law coming into play. It’s true what they say: for every action, there is, indeed, always a reaction. And let’s just say the potential fallout has grave enough consequences that I waited centuries, until things were dire enough to warrant bringing you back.” She flashed a dismal smile that never reached her eyes, eventually letting her solemn gaze slip to the floor.

  The explanation did nothing but make me ten times more paranoid than I already was. What could have been so bad that it weighed this heavily on Elise’s decision?

  “How’d you do it?” Liam asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

  Elise crossed one leg over the other, searching for the right words.

  “Well, like I explained before, I had a close friend’s assistance,” she explained. “I was only allowed to enlist the help of one witch, so that meant the magic we had at our disposal was half of what we actually needed. The full spell called for two, which would have enabled us to bring you back fully transitioned, memories and abilities intact. So, with just one witch, we had to adjust the spell, placing your soul back inside me and, essentially, starting your life over from the beginning.”

  I stared at her because I was intrigued. Liam stared at her differently, though; like there was another point he was waiting for her to get to.

  She sensed it when her eyes landed on him, and then went on. “But, judging by your expression, I’m guessing that’s not the information you were
after.”

  Liam shook his head, and when he spoke, it was hard to miss the pain present in his voice, although I believe he meant to conceal it. “She was dead, Elise. Gone. Completely.”

  There was a hush in the room and I felt it weighing me down like wet sand.

  “I’m asking what you had to do to bring her back.” There was an undertone of an accusation I don’t think Elise missed either.

  She held Liam’s gaze and the two engaged in a brief stare-down. “I didn’t do anything, Liam. There was a talisman,” she confessed.

  Liam’s eyes were barely visible through the slits they narrowed to. “What talisman?”

  Elise blinked at him several times before replying, maybe weighing her words because she noticed, like I did, the instability present in Liam’s gaze right now. However, when she finally answered, his expression reverted to the calm, sensible look he wore before. There was actually a bit of shock or confusion there as well.

  “Her necklace,” Elise asserted.

  Naturally, my fingers drifted toward my bare neck. I got the feeling I was the only one who didn’t know what necklace she referred to, which may be why she went on to explain.

  “It was a gift from your father and I on your twentieth birthday. On the day you first shifted.” A smile, one heavily doused in nostalgia, touched her lips. “A week prior, I made a trip to visit my friend, Hilda, with a special request in mind.”

  Liam stared with both arms folded across his chest while listening.

  “She’s your father’s sister, and one of my dearest friends,” Elise added. “She’s the one who helped me bring you back, an extremely powerful witch. One not only known in our kingdom, but around the world.”

  I was surprised to hear that I not only had ties to lycans and dragons, but witches, too. Liam mentioned her name once months ago, but not that we were related.

  “I handed her a large, black diamond; the one your necklace’s stone was intended to be cut from,” Elise explained. “And I asked her to make it … more than just a stone. I asked her to make it a link to your soul so that, if something should ever happen to you…”

  Her expression flickered, showing sentiment as her words trailed off, but the look was quickly wrangled in. She seemed more comfortable with her rigid posture and stone-faced countenance, as if she wasn’t proud of the decision because it hadn’t been one devised from logic, but rather … emotion.

  “It linked Evangeline to the necklace,” Liam interjected, trying to understand. “So, when she died, her soul went into the stone?”

  Elise nodded. “Yes. Hilda did as I asked and I had several pieces of jewelry made using that stone, actually. One of which being the necklace.” Her gaze shifted to Liam next. “And your love for her did the rest.”

  At those words, I saw his brow twitch.

  “After the Liberator took her, you kept searching. You didn’t stop looking for her until you were sure she was gone; didn’t stop until you found the one piece of her that always has and always will belong to you.”

  I held my breath as she finished her thought.

  “You found her soul.”

  Liam lowered his head, maybe recalling all he’d been through that day. The day he’d only spoken of once in my presence.

  The day I died.

  He mentioned that all he’d been able to recover were some of my belongings—a necklace and a bracelet.

  “You may not have realized it then, but you did save her life, Liam,” Elise said through strained, broken syllables. “He didn’t steal all of her from us that night.”

  Liam said nothing.

  “Not everyone has realized this yet, but we’re in the middle of a revolution. One in which a shift in power has begun to take place, one where eyes are being opened, one where the real enemy is being revealed,” she stated. “I didn’t just set out to establish these facilities around the world because our young shifters need to learn who they are and where they came from. I shared my vision because … it’s high time we mend the rift between lycans and dragons and unite to defeat our common oppressor.”

  It went without saying that the common oppressor she spoke of was Sebastian, the Sovereign, ruler of the lycan race, menace to supernatural beings worldwide regardless of species.

  I was a ball of confusion. I’d come into this room feeling justified in my hatred toward Elise. I believed I had her figured out, believed I was the only one broken. But now, I saw this plight from a different angle.

  Hers.

  I saw through the eyes of a mother who’d made a string of tough decisions with no chance of a favorable outcome.

  I saw through the eyes of the queen of the dragons, a woman who loved and bore children with one of two lycan kings. The existence of my siblings and I was proof our species could thrive together.

  Regardless of what my stance had been mere minutes before, the overall picture had changed. And one of those things I came to understand was that the strength Liam spoke of when referring to Elise, was no myth. She was poised and graceful. Just as one would expect a queen to be.

  While I seemed to be a key component, I now saw the forest for the trees. This, regardless how painful, how personal, was not all about me. My feelings, my struggle, were secondary to the cause—one I couldn’t help but to sympathize with.

  Maybe because I’d come from Elise, I’d inherited her sense of duty as well.

  The things I endured were, in a sense, my contribution, my sacrifice for the greater good. Liam had made them, and it wasn’t until now that I realized Elise had made them, too. Giving me to my parents was hers.

  I hadn’t been tossed aside and forgotten by her.

  I hadn’t been discarded.

  In Elise’s own way, giving me up was an expression of her love. Even if the aftermath was sometimes hard to accept. My eyes were now open and I summed it all up with three impressively elegant words when I addressed her:

  “I get it.”

  She smiled and it was the warmest I’d seen her give so far. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. All I’ve ever wanted is for you to understand.”

  She stood and after a single step, stopped abruptly. Both her hands clasped in front of her and it was strange seeing such a confident woman wearing such an uncertain expression. Her eyes flitted toward Liam as he stood off to the side. He pursed his lips as we slid into awkward silence.

  However, he and I had our own way around that.

  “I think she wants to hug you,” he said, speaking in our unconventional way, via our thoughts.

  When I glanced at Elise again, completely unaware of the internal prompt Liam had just given, she seemed so vulnerable. In some ways, broken. I, again, put myself in her shoes, wondering how it would feel to go this long without family, only to be staring into the face of a child I bore twice, not knowing if it was okay to embrace her.

  It didn’t take me long to decide to do what she hadn’t found the courage to.

  Hugging her was like I’d been snatched out of the present and hurled back in time. She was so … familiar. Even her scent—lilac. Initially, I’d taken this step for her, but, now that she held me tight to her, I realized I needed it just as badly.

  The sense of belonging I’d only ever felt in Liam’s arms washed over me now, too.

  Soft sobs rose from her chest and neither of us rushed to let go.

  “I’m so sorry about Todd and Rebecca. If there was anything I could do to change what’s been done to them, done to you, I would.”

  I leaned away from her, but only to ask a question. “What about Hilda? You mentioned how powerful she is? I know one witch’s magic can’t be undone by another, but … is there a way?”

  Before she even had the chance to answer, I knew what she’d say from the look in her eyes. It was the same one I’d gotten from Liam when asking a similar question.

  “If that were possible, I would have taken care of it already. But you have my word, when the time is right, I’ll see to it t
hat Scarlet and her sisters cooperate fully.”

  My heart sank a little lower than it already had as I was reminded of my parents’ fate. It didn’t lessen the blow knowing it was temporary. But this was all about sacrifices, right? Giving up the things you love, stepping out of your comfort zone for the greater good?

  For now, I’d just have to accept that they were out of my life for a while and find comfort in knowing that, one day, I’d have them back.

  —Chapter Twenty—

  Two months later…

  Evie

  Back home in Michigan, I was certain Mom and Dad were putting up their tree while ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ played on the living room television.

  How did I know this?

  Because it was our family tradition to put our tree up exactly one week before Christmas while watching Mom’s favorite movie of the season. According to Beth’s update from home, they had roughly four inches of snow, meanwhile, here in Louisiana?

  Just rain. Lots and lots of rain.

  …Not that any of us were actually allowed to go topside and see it for ourselves.

  The first couple weeks of lockdown were more annoying than inconvenient, but then week three came. Hundreds of moody teenagers all confined to one space, even a space as large as this facility, was like a whole new kind of hell. Mood swings had become the norm, a few minor fights broke out almost daily, and the drama only increased when news about having to stay put for Thanksgiving began to circulate. Needless to say, enough hell was raised that the staff made special arrangements for busses to transport most of us home for Christmas.

  Most of us, meaning those with someplace to go.

  I was among those staying behind.

  Come nightfall, myself and a handful of students and monitors would be all that remained. Down here, it’d feel like being the last people on Earth, I was sure. My only comfort was knowing Liam would be around to lessen the loneliness.