Luna laughed; a nervous, uncomfortable sound, as if she was attempting to soothe herself. It didn’t work. Inside, she was cringing. All she wanted was to see Nina, not relive her trauma for someone else’s entertainment.
Corey leaned forward, her ears perked forward like this was about to become her new favourite bedtime story, one she’d treasured for years.
Luna shook her head. She didn’t think she could bear to say it out loud.
Even though she had taken out her enemies, she hadn’t been in control. Her magic had surged through her, wild and consuming. Truthfully, she hadn’t meant to kill all those people; she’d only been trying to get William off of her. If Damien hadn’t been able to absorb her excess power, she might have taken them out as well.
His hand moved to her knee, giving it a light squeeze—grounding her in the present—before he answered for her, “She transformed. Exploded into starlight and shredded them all. There was nothing left of the place.”
“Good for you!” Corey cried, the fierceness in her voice replaced with sudden delight. She then trotted off to the kitchen only to return with another handful of cookies. “That’s how we treat those who wrong us. You get extra cookies.”
She handed Luna one, then paused a beat too long, her eyes catching the subtle tremble in Luna’s fingers as she took it.
Turning to Damien, she stuck out her tongue. “And you get none.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes,” she answered, her voice still playful, though the teasing edge had thinned. “Next time, do a better job protecting my new dearest friend and you can have some.”
Dearest friend?Luna swallowed the bite she’d been chewing. This was only their second time meeting . . . and she wouldn’t have thought they were friends, let alone dearest. But perhaps Corey was one of those people who made friendships quickly, or maybe she didn’t know what real friendship was . . .
Damien turned a sharp eye on Corey. “You think I just sat around and let her get hurt?”
“I think if I was there,” Corey purred, flicking her hair over her shoulder, “nothing would have happened.”
Luna stiffened, the comment knocking the breath from her lungs. In one sentence, Corey had reduced everything she’d endured to a failure of protection, as if she hadn’t fought, hadn’t suffered, hadn’t survived. It stripped something from Luna, diminishing everything she had been through. She wanted to say something, to argue, to somehow prove that she was strong, capable, but words failed her, dissolving before they could form. All she could do was sit there, small and helpless all over again.
And that—more than anything—infuriated her.
Damien shook his head. “Your arrogance blinds you.”
“What do you mean?” Corey swung her head so fast in Damien’s direction, Luna was half surprised her horn didn’t fling off. “I train fucking hard and you know it. I would’ve killed every single person there and saved her from having to do so.”
Damien remained still, composed, one arm draped over the couch’s arm like a ruler on a throne. His expression gave nothing away, no offense taken, no heat behind his words. “Your hubris outweighs your actual capabilities,” he said, voice even, unmoved. “There is zero chance you would’ve fared any better than the rest of us.”
Corey may have been attempting to be supportive, but it hadn’t landed well.
Luna’s gaze moved from the floor to Damien’s, grateful he had the words she didn’t.
“I speak the truth,” Corey shot back, a retort ready on her lips. “I would’ve stopped shit from getting bad before they had a chance to.”
“Just like you did when you were with Ella?” Damien asked, sharp.
Corey gasped. “That was different.” Her fingers curled tight into the couch cushions like she was physically restraining herself.
“Was it?” Rising to stand, Damien’s hand sliced through the air. “You were supposed to make sure nothing happened to his fiancée, and now she’s as good as dead. When I realized Luna was gone, I went after her. I found her before it was too late. Can you say the same?”
Every word sent Corey sinking further into her chair, and when he was done, her complexion was ghostly pale.
Luna tilted her head. Now was probably not the best time to ask what happened to this Ella person. That’d likely be too rude, inappropriate even, but damn the skies—why not? Corey had deemed it acceptable to argue about Luna’s traumatic experience seconds ago. Fair game.
Placing her uneaten cookies back on the table, Luna asked, “What happened to her?”
Silence.
Then finally, Corey said, “She used to love an adventure. Always wanted to go everywhere, see everything . . .” She let out a ragged breath, her voice hollow, void of its usual musical sweetness. “But after she got engaged to Gregory, she changed. When I finally convinced her to go exploring near Winta and Felix’s, we ended up in a fight. I stormed off, thought she was right behind me . . . but she wasn’t.”
“Where did she go?”
