Page 7 of Moon Claimed

They’dalllied. The person least to blame was ironically the person I’d blamed since three years old. Murphy.

“Ragna stole you though.”

“Savannah gavebirthto me. Don’t you think it’s strange that none of the stewards saw a massive pregnant woman waddling around? How did no one know I existed? I mean, Mum fucked up too many times to count in my life, and I’m well aware of that. But something bigger is going on. People don’t just steal babies.”

Rhona rose, rounding the desk. “Have you searched in here? I haven’t. Maybe there’s something that could help us. A fifty-page letter detailing all the answers we want.”

I arched a brow. “Yeah, right. And I feel like an imposter sitting in this chair. So no.”

Rhona elbowed me out of the way. “Get over it. You’re the eldest. Tradition is tradition.”

This woman had an odd, kind of brutal way of lightening my heart. I opened the drawers to my left as she started on the right.

In the top drawer, I found a list of the stewards. That could come in handy. Digging underneath, I found another folder titledImporter Contacts.

Also handy.

The next drawer down was filled with stationery. The last drawer had a change of clothes and some toiletries. Couldn’t blame him. There was a definite pressure to appear put together in this position. Maybe I should do that too.

“What are these?” Rhona straightened from searching the bottom drawer, two books in her hand.

My mouth dried. “They look like the journals Mum used.”

She’d used a black, leather-clad journal each year. I’d read until age seventeen and assumed there weren’t more. Herc had purposefully concealed these.

Rhona handed them over.

The first was titledI’m 18and the secondI’m 19.

If Herc concealed these, the journals had to contain truths he hadn’t wanted me to learn.

“What’s wrong?” Rhona gripped my arm.

I hovered my fingers over the page corner of the first, arrested by fear. Mum left at nineteen with me and Murphy. Was I ready to learn the truth? “She lied to me so badly. She’s not even my mother, and I should hate her for pretending. But she was the only person I had. How could she do that to me?”

Whydid she hurt me? Again and again.

And why did I always forgive her?

Since her death, wedge after wedge had been slammed between me and the memory of her. I couldn’t take another hit without losing her completely.

Rhona whispered, “I guess the answer is inside those journals.”

I cast her a look. “Herc kept these journals from me, Rhona. What if there’s something more in here? Something worse.”

I couldn’t fathom what couldbeworse, but anything was fucking possible at this point.

My sister paled.

Exactly.

I shut the cover. “I’m one blow from emotional knock out. We need to get through Grids this week. Whatever’s in here can wait.”

Until I could handle it.

“Just promise me, Andie, no matter what’s in there, you tell me. No matter how hard the truth is, I want it. I’m so sick of the lies.”

Guilt slammed into my chest. I inhaled slowly, hating myself. “I promise.”

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