"Ready?" I let out a small huff. "What does that mean? Why can't we go back now?"
Celeste began shaking her head before I even finished the sentence. “If we send you back now, you will be taken by the Sun Witches, and your cause will be lost. You're not powerful enough to fight them yet, but we will train you to use your magic properly so you can stand a chance against them.”
The tiny bit of hope she gave me stole my breath away. “And Kaden? Will I be able to save him too?”
Sadness made Celeste's eyes crinkle, and her smile faded away. “I don't know for sure, but yes, there is a small chance you can save Kaden as well.”
I didn't listen to the word ‘small.' All I heard was yes. There was a way to save Kaden, a chance he wasn't dead. That was all I cared about. I closed my eyes and breathed in the warm smell of chocolate, focusing on that flickering hope inside me. I'd wanted so long to learn how to use my magic, and now I would do it for Kaden, no matter what it took. But that thought only brought more questions.
"Why me?" I asked. "Why not one of the other Ophiuchus? Or Kaden? I'm pretty sure they all have more magic than I do."
Celeste straightened her back as if bracing herself for something. “You're my daughter, Ayla.”
My mouth fell open as the mug slipped from my fingers and clattered against the table, sloshing cocoa from the rim. I barely noticed, too busy scanning Celeste up and down with wide eyes, trying to understand what she'd just said. This is my mother? Somehow I found it harder to believe than the idea we were in a magical moon realm. My hands shook so bad I had to clutch them tight in my lap to make them stop. Mother. After all these years, she was sitting in front of me, and she was nothing like I'd expected.
“But—” I wanted to say a hundred things, but what came out was, “but your hair is white!”
Celeste let out a laugh that seemed almost startled out of her. “Yes, it is. Your hair should be white too, but when you were a baby I used a spell to change it to hide you better. No one would ever look twice at a red-haired little girl and think she had Moon Witch blood.”
My hand jerked up to touch my hair. I'd always thought I'd inherited my red hair from my mother, but that was another lie. The thought sent a wave of crushing despair through me.
“I can change it back for you, if you'd like,” Celeste said.
"No," I said with perhaps a bit too much venom. I tucked my hair behind my ear, almost protectively. Even if it was fake, it was a part of my identity now, something I'd lived with my entire life.
How much of my identity is built on a lie?
“Of course," she said quickly. "It does look lovely on you, especially with your eyes. You've turned into such a beautiful girl. Sorry, beautiful woman." She reached across the table as if to take my hand. "I'm just so happy we are together again. You have no idea how much I have longed for this day.”
I jerked away, sudden anger piercing through the shock, sadness, and despair. “If that's true, where have you been my entire life? You abandoned me with a pack that hated me! Where no one wanted me, not even my own father! Do you know what I've had to endure all these years?”
Celeste drew back, and a flash of remorse went through her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Ayla. For everything."
"How?" Tears began to stream down my face. It was all too much. Kaden. My mother. This weird place. I covered my eyes as my whole body trembled with the grief and pain. "How could you leave me?"
I felt Celeste's hand on my back, light and tentative, as if she was unsure if she was allowed to touch me. "It was the hardest decision I had to make," she said, her voice cracking. "I'll explain everything to you, I promise, but right now you need to rest. You've been through so much in the last twenty-four hours, and I don't want to burden you with anything more until you've had a chance to recover."
"No, I don't want rest." I shook my head vehemently. "I need answers!"
"Soon." Her hand moved up to pat my head as her eyes gazed into mine. They began to glow with faint silvery light. "For now, let your mind clear, and your body relax. Rest, my darling girl."
Her cool, calm magic seeped into me, and though I tried to fight it, it was impossible. I was already on the verge of passing out from pure exhaustion and heartache. My eyes drooped, my limbs grew heavy, and all I could think about was how good a nice, warm bed sounded.
“Fine,” I muttered, as I rested my head on the table. “But then I want those answers.”
"Of course."
Celeste took my arm and helped me up, and in a half-asleep trance, I followed her, abandoning my half-finished hot cocoa on the table. She led me up a spiral staircase and into a bedroom, though everything about the journey there was a haze.
"This is your room," she said, as I struggled to keep my eyes open. "There is an attached bathroom, and though we don't have electricity here, we've made do with magic. Your shower will be warm whenever you're ready to use it.”
I mumbled something in response, though I wasn't sure what exactly, and then I blinked and I was in the bed and alone. A semblance of clarity returned to me as I struggled to remove my shoes, along with an odd, horrible feeling in my gut, one that was all too familiar. Though I'd felt it many times before, I never got used to it. I just want to go home.
But where was home without Kaden? It crashed over me again that he was gone, and I was trapped in this random place with no one I could trust. My mate, my true mate, was dead, and there was no way my heart or soul would ever recover from that. Dead. The word rolled around in my head, and though I didn't want to believe it, I'd held Kaden's body in my arms and known he was gone.
The emotions became too much to handle and I buried my face in a pillow, covering the tears already escaping from my eyes. I'd dealt with loss before, more times than I could count, but it never got easier to handle. Even Wesley's death hadn't hit me this hard. This was so much worse because Kaden's death had taken part of my soul too.
I can't do this without him.
My body physically hurt as sobs wracked through it. I shoved a fist into my mouth to stifle any sounds. I'd wanted to find my mother and the Moon Witches for so long, but not like this. Kaden was supposed to be by my side, going through this with me. I wished desperately that Kaden was here with me, reassuring me with his cocky attitude and his inner strength. He would know what to do, what to say. But he was gone, and I was here alone with half my heart missing. And unless I could find a way to save him, he'd be gone forever.
The thought caused another set of sobs to wrack my body, and I pressed my face into the pillow, trying to make the feeling go away. It was a relief when the magic finally swept me into a dark, dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER TWO
I woke up slowly, feeling so groggy I wondered if I'd truly slept at all. I had no recollection of getting to this room, and when I blinked my eyes open, they were crusty. I must have fallen asleep crying. How did I get here?
I sat up and rubbed at my eyes, trying to clear them so I could better look around the place. The bed I was in had a dark wooden headboard and footboard carved with tiny stars and moons. Silvery light streamed in through an open window that brought with it the smell of the ocean.