The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0593

The next morning was the final of our time on the island, so I made sure to set a personal alarm to wake me up just before dawn. When it finally went off, I grumbled a minute, before remembering my plan and forcing myself out of bed.

I turned toward Elva and shook her gently, rousing her.

"Mommy?" she asked, peeking open one eye.

"Would you like to watch the sunrise, honey?"

That woke her up right away. "Yeah!"

I shushed her gently. "Let's not wake Nicholas," I said.

"I'm already awake," he said from his air mattress on the ground.

I had tried to tell him late last night, after we had very diligently cleaned up after ourselves and finally came upstairs to sleep, that he didn't have to guard us now, with Ronan in jail and Bridget under supervision.

But Nicholas would not be talked out of it.

And now, thusly, he had been woken up before dawn.

I rolled over on the bed to peer down at him with an apologetic glance. "Sorry," I said.

He rubbed his eye with his forefinger. He huffed a small exhale as he shook his head. "I wouldn't want to have missed this," he said. "I'm glad I was here."

We all rolled out of bed. Since it was so early, we didn't bother changing out of our pajamas as we descended the staircase and made our way out onto the deck. We had to come around the house to face east.

Already the sky was lighting up in warm oranges, the sun near the horizon.

To my surprise, Veronica was already there, reading the book she had borrowed from the merfolk. She had a tiny book light clipped onto the top of the book. I marveled for a minute at how it could do so without bending the pages.

"Magic," Veronica said when I asked her. I had no idea if she was serious or not.

"Mommy, look!" I turned my head just in time to see a line of blinding white stretch out across the entire horizon. Then the top of the sun brought all of the sunshine back into itself. 

It was amazing to watch, the brightness of the sun cresting above the waves, as the light painted the sky with a rainbow of colors.

I walked closer to Elva and Nicholas, coming to stand between them. I placed my hand on Elva's shoulder. Nicholas clutched my other hand in his.

"It's beautiful," I whispered.

Nicholas leaned close to my ear. "Not as beautiful as you," he whispered.

Smooth talker.

I gave him a soft smile. He returned it just as softly.

Too soon, we were unable to look at the sunrise any longer, not wanting to damage our eyes. By now, some of the others had awakened. Soon, Julian had found us and joined us out on the sand.

Elva sat in the shadow of the sandcastle Bridget had made for her. We'd thought of dismantling it, but... we didn't want to traumatize Elva any more than she already was.

*Come on," Julian said to her. "Let's make our own sandcastle."

"That could be fun," I told Elva, to encourage her. She hadn't shown as much interest in sandcastles since receiving Bridget's gift.

She sighed as she said, "Okay." She took Julian's hand and they went closer to the water to recover the wet sand needed for such an endeavor.

Meanwhile, Veronica called me closer. Nicholas seemed torn about whether to follow Elva or me, but he decided me rather quickly when Veronica added, "I want to tell you about what I found in here."

We both moved closer to her. Veronica didn't seem troubled that Nicholas had joined us.

She closed the book, then stood from the beach towel she had stretched out for herself. As I was closer now, I could see that she had made extreme progress on the book since the last time we'd talked about it. It seemed as if she was nearly done.

*The Oracle should be able to remove Elva's curse," Veronica said. I wanted to celebrate. That should have been good news, but her dire expression kept me from expressing my joy. "But she won't be able to do it alone."

"What does that mean?" I asked. "Do we need to find someone else?"

"Yes," she said. "And perhaps no."

"Please don't be cryptic with me about this, Veronica," I said. Usually I wouldn't have minded. I liked the unique way Veronica's mind seemed to work. But this time, I needed clarity. "This concerns Elva. Please."

*Forgive me," she said and cleared her throat. "I did not mean to undermine the importance of this, or keep it from you." He inhaled deeply. "The curse itself is tied and bound with life force, so it will take a considerable amount of life force to remove it."

*Life force?" I asked. "What are talking about? Like years off our life?"

"Most likely, yes," she said. "Or health, near the end. Or quality of life. And the more life force that is needed the more painful it would be for... the donor."

"So you need a donor?" Nicholas asked. Already I could sense he was about to volunteer. Well, he could get in line. Elva was my daughter. If anyone had to sacrifice anything to save her and give her a better life, it was going to be me.

It could only be me, really.

*The Oracle has the power to remove the curse, but not the means," Veronica confirmed. "She will need a donor. Or donors."

*I volunteer," I said at once, before Nicholas had a chance to.

"No," Nicholas said. "I'll do it. I'm an Alpha. It's the least I can do for my pack. It's my responsibility."

His... pack? But we didn't belong to the same pack.

And I wasn't going to let him off with that Alpha bullshit, on top of it.

*Elva is my daughter. As her mother, the responsibility is mine before all."

*And you are -* He seemed to cut himself off from saying something. He cleared his throat. "Special to me... As

is Elva. I won't let you do this."

"I did say 'donors'," Veronica reiterated. "As in plural. You did hear me, right?"

I did but... "Nick..."

*Let me, Piper," he said. "If anyone has to give up anything to protect that little girl, let it be both of us. Together."

I couldn't argue that. I didn't want to. Maybe the dream of us as a family was just that, a dream, but it felt very real in this moment. And as a family, as a couple, this would be something we would do together for our child. Content fróm NóvelDrama!!

It warmed my heart to know that Nicholas would do this for Elva on his own. And now with the two of us...

"Very well," I said.

I turned to Veronica. "How soon until we can call for the Oracle? Should we delay our departure?"

"That won't be necessary," Veronica said.

I frowned at her.

She motioned out toward the ocean, where I saw movement just under the water. Three merfolk were there, just

beneath the surface. The one in the middle most ethereal of all.

She had told me, when my heart was free of fear, that she would come.

The Oracle, it seemed, was here to keep that promise.