Page 84 of Luna Rising

“Yeah, well, you suck at it.”

He draped a long white cloak over my shoulders and fastened a ruby and gold latch in the front to hold the two halves together.

“Is this real fur?” I asked, stroking the white strands.

“Yeah, fox fur, I think,” Ewan said, tossing his own cloak over his shoulders like some sort of Victorian era villain.

We were in the living room, about to leave to meet up with Zach, Brooke, Mom, and Mrs. Wynn. Birch had one hand on the door, a not-so-subtle push for us to hurry. We were only a few minutes behind schedule. He really needed to calm down.

“Can I say one thing before we leave? I love you, Zara.” Ewan took my hand.

“I don’t hate you,” I said.

He squeezed my fingers. “I’ll take it.”

Welcome to the Black Parade

The funeral procession began at the lodge. Six Geminis, including Noto, carried my father’s casket from there up to the Temple of Gaia on the Taurus Fae land. Ewan and I walked behind them with Zach and Brooke. Drake, Penn, Essie, a fae Taurus fae elder, and the Capricorn alpha came next, and our mothers and Kiernan behind them. The Gemini pack wolves followed our entourage, some wolfing out. While Ewan hadn’t made attendance mandatory for the Taurus pack, an overwhelming majority filed in behind the Geminis.

There was a lot of pomp and circumstance, and with so many visiting supernatural dignitaries, a lot of unfamiliar rituals. I sort of zoned out a few times, particularly when Essie started speaking in old faerie.

The temple was beautiful, decorated in an explosion of blue and green roses. There were a lot of runes carved into the walls and blazed on the stained-glass windows. Magic leaked from the floorboards, which normally would have bothered me, but I had so much of Essie’s rushing through my veins that I didn’t mind.

My brother and mother spoke at the service, as did a few of my father’s council. Their speeches were nice, especially Mom’s. Then, I stood with my family and received condolences from every single shifter and fae who waited to throw a single everlasting flower petal into Dad’s casket. Ewan never left my side and as promised, I wasn’t very nice to him. I would tell him he was crowding me, so he would step away. Only for me to accuse him of abandoning me minutes later.

Yes, it was childish and petty. But I had lost my father, and I wanted to be childish and petty. Demanding Ewan indulge my whims had seemed like a good idea in theory. Not so much in practice. I just got irritated and stopped talking to him altogether while the receiving line still stretched down through the canyon and into town.

I didn’t know how long I stood there, or how many people I hugged, the number of hands I shook. The number of times someone called me Luna. I gave my blessing to infant cubs and promised to keep people’s sick family members in my thoughts. This sort of thing had never felt natural for me before. Zach was the one with top-notch people skills. I had a more divisive personality. So had Zosia, but she’d been good with social graces and channeling her made it easier to get through the night.

After what felt like an eternity, the last mourner came before me. Then, it was finally time to bury my father. Only my family, Ewan, the Sables, and the pallbearers participated in this segment of the service because it involved a portal. Ewan had offered to bury Dad in the Taurus cemetery beside his own father. Zach felt strongly that Dad belonged in Arcane Falls, so that was what we planned to do.

With the Virgo wolves still loyal to Liam on the prowl, the risk of attack was high. As the cold wind whipped my hair and snow collected on my cloak, I wished they would attack. I wanted a fight. At the council meeting, I had tasted Liam’s blood and my wolf was hungry for more. She wanted him to suffer for his sins against her, against us.

Unfortunately, the coward didn’t come sniffing around.

When Essie had replaced the last clump of frozen dirt over my father’s casket, she looked at Zach and said, “The strong must fall so the might can rise.”

The words were familiar, but I couldn’t figure out from where and didn’t think too hard about it.

When we returned to the Taurus Mountains, Ewan, Zach, and the others officially signed the accords, forming the larger alliance since the fae had ruled the Valley of the Elements. Then, Ewan and I went to the lodge with my family. Since Mom, Zach, and Brooke were all mortal, they were exhausted. I offered to spend the night with Mom so she wouldn’t have to be alone, but she declined. No, the act wasn’t selfless. I was trying to avoid one-on-one time with Ewan.

I had sobered up enough for my anger to return, but not enough to have a discussion about the Luna lie.

Mom’s motherly intuition must have been pinging because when she hugged me goodbye, she whispered in my ear. “Petty squabbles are beneath you, Zara. Act like the daughter I raised you to be.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied dutifully, though I really wanted to tell her that nothing was beneath me at that moment.

Birch didn’t walk back to the house with us, much to my dismay. Ewan let me stew, clearly happy to wait out my silence. My thoughts were still too jumbled in my head to say anything.

The house was dark and quiet. Neither of needed light to see, so we left them off as we undressed. I crawled into bed naked. Not because I was too tired to put on pajamas, but because I knew it would bother Ewan to have me so close and not touch me.

“Do you want to be alone?” he asked, pulling on a pair of plaid pajama bottoms.

“Yes,” I lied.

He grabbed an extra pillow and blankets from the closet and stomped down the stairs to sleep on the couch. That was when I realized that he was mad too. The fucking nerve of him to be upset with me sent my temper soaring and I screamed into a pillow and then tore it to shreds.

Ewan had agreed to indulge my behavior, so it seemed super unfair for him to throw it back in my face. There was enough of Essie’s magic in my boiling blood for me to think telling him how I felt was a good idea.

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