Page 69 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
"This isn't a trick. Do you want to see your parents?" Madelien asked gently. "I have enough power to allow us one more glimpse."
Both women nodded.
"Show us Nova and Vivi’s mother and father," Madeline said. Her hands were shaking as the magic drained her of energy, but she wanted to give this to these women from whom so much had been stolen. Everyone deserved to know a parent who loved them enough to leave a protective spell on them.
The image changed to show a woman with a long, dark braid with hairs that had come free from along the plait. She wore jeans and a loose, paint-splattered T-shirt while she laughed and danced. Freckles splattered across her nose and cheeks, which were pink as if she’d spent too much time in the sun that day. A man with short dark hair and a beard spun her and dropped her into a dip before kissing her. His look said he loved her deeply. When he pulled her up the woman rotated out of his arms to kneel and hold out her arms. A small girl with red hair ran to her and hugged her tight. Her mother kissed her forehead. "I love you, Nova Stella."
Sweat poured down Madeline’s back and her hands shook with the effort to hold through the whole memory. She closed her hand around the stone and stumbled, catching herself with a palm against the wall. Dizziness spun her mind. "I’m sorry. I can’t keep going. It’s too much. Takes a lot out of me and I’m not very strong right now, not after cleansing the necromancer filth last night."
Nova remained fixated on the point where the image had been as if frozen in stone. Then a huge sob came out. She covered her mouth with a hand. With her other hand she reached out to touch Vivi.
Vivi swiped at the tears pouring down her own face. "Gary was so amazing."
"Of course, you’d focus on the animal and not on seeing our parents." Nova emitted a shaky laugh.
Madeline said, "I’m sorry—"
"No," Nova interrupted to stop her. She wiped at her eyes, smearing makeup. "Thank you. I mean, it could all be a con, but somehow it didn't feel fake." She nodded. "To know she loved me. Before, just knowing that she was killed protecting us as best she could, yet I couldn’t remember her, hurt so much. Seeing her was a gift. Seeing my father…" She inhaled a rough breath and looked upward. "To know they knew that kind of love…" She took Madeline’s free hand and squeezed. "Thank you."
"If you want, maybe later we can try to remember more?" she offered.
"I’d like that." Nova met Vivi’s gaze. "In exchange I can try to undo that spell or curse or whatever the hell I sent your way when I was pissed. So you understand, Roman almost died." She offered a small smile.
"Deal."
Chapter Twenty
Evie breezedinto the dining room moments after Madeline arrived, wearing a fitted black spaghetti-strap gown with a slit up her right thigh.
Vivi stopped whispering with Ky to shoot Madeline a supportive smile. Nova seemed to be arguing in whispers with Roman.
Everyone went silent when Evie arrived.
Evie pointed. "Roman sit next to me. Then Flynn and Ky. Shane you sit down there next to Ky. Girls on the other side. Madeline next to me. Antonio, you sit down there at the other head of the table." Evie took her seat at the head of the table.
"I don’t want to sit next to Ky," Flynn complained while rolling a lollypop in his mouth. He glared at his designated chair. "He steals my wine and kicks me under the table."
"You don’t like red wine so what’re you complaining about?" Ky remained standing.
Flynn took out the sucker and pointed it at Ky like a six-year-old, not like the however-many-scores-of-years-old he was. The candy’s golden color matched the highlights in Flynn’s hair. She wondered if Flynn did DIY kits like her or got a professional highlight treatment. Looked good.
Flynn said, "Maybe I want to drink all my wine tonight. I might want to get piss drunk to survive the full moon. It’s not like I have a guaranteed hookup like you."
Ky’s nostrils flared as he stepped toward Flynn. "Don’t ever call Vivi a hookup."
"It’s fine. He’s jealous." Vivi squeezed Ky’s arm before moving to the girls’ side of the table.
Evie pressed her lips into a thin line. "Shane sitbetweenFlynn and Ky."
"Flynn smells like candy," Shane complained as he sat next to Antonio in his originally assigned spot.
Madeline snort-laughed, which earned her a glare from all the guys. She’d never heard Shane complain or use that my-brother-is-annoying tone.
"Does my smell annoy your inner demon?" Flynn smirked at his own joke. "I don’t want to sit next to the vampire, anyway."
"Does Antonio smell funny too?" Evie sat and clasped her hands on the table until her knuckles turned white.
"I bathed before I dressed just now, thank you." Antonio straightened in the chair. He lifted the lapels of his suit, sniffed, and shook his head.
