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"No, I don't want rest." I shook my head vehemently. "I need answers!"
"Soon." Her hand moved up to pat my head as her eyes gazed into mine. They began to glow with faint silvery light. "For now, let your mind clear, and your body relax. Rest, my darling girl."
Her cool, calm magic seeped into me, and though I tried to fight it, it was impossible. I was already on the verge of passing out from pure exhaustion and heartache. My eyes drooped, my limbs grew heavy, and all I could think about was how good a nice, warm bed sounded.
“Fine,” I muttered, as I rested my head on the table. “But then I want those answers.”
"Of course."
Celeste took my arm and helped me up, and in a half-asleep trance, I followed her, abandoning my half-finished hot cocoa on the table. She led me up a spiral staircase and into a bedroom, though everything about the journey there was a haze.
"This is your room," she said, as I struggled to keep my eyes open. "There is an attached bathroom, and though we don't have electricity here, we've made do with magic. Your shower will be warm whenever you're ready to use it.”
I mumbled something in response, though I wasn't sure what exactly, and then I blinked and I was in the bed and alone. A semblance of clarity returned to me as I struggled to remove my shoes, along with an odd, horrible feeling in my gut, one that was all too familiar. Though I'd felt it many times before, I never got used to it. I just want to go home.
But where was home without Kaden? It crashed over me again that he was gone, and I was trapped in this random place with no one I could trust. My mate, my true mate, was dead, and there was no way my heart or soul would ever recover from that. Dead. The word rolled around in my head, and though I didn't want to believe it, I'd held Kaden's body in my arms and known he was gone.
The emotions became too much to handle and I buried my face in a pillow, covering the tears already escaping from my eyes. I'd dealt with loss before, more times than I could count, but it never got easier to handle. Even Wesley's death hadn't hit me this hard. This was so much worse because Kaden's death had taken part of my soul too.
I can't do this without him.
My body physically hurt as sobs wracked through it. I shoved a fist into my mouth to stifle any sounds. I'd wanted to find my mother and the Moon Witches for so long, but not like this. Kaden was supposed to be by my side, going through this with me. I wished desperately that Kaden was here with me, reassuring me with his cocky attitude and his inner strength. He would know what to do, what to say. But he was gone, and I was here alone with half my heart missing. And unless I could find a way to save him, he'd be gone forever.
The thought caused another set of sobs to wrack my body, and I pressed my face into the pillow, trying to make the feeling go away. It was a relief when the magic finally swept me into a dark, dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER TWO
I woke up slowly, feeling so groggy I wondered if I'd truly slept at all. I had no recollection of getting to this room, and when I blinked my eyes open, they were crusty. I must have fallen asleep crying. How did I get here?
I sat up and rubbed at my eyes, trying to clear them so I could better look around the place. The bed I was in had a dark wooden headboard and footboard carved with tiny stars and moons. Silvery light streamed in through an open window that brought with it the smell of the ocean.
Everything came back to me as I drew in a deep breath of sea air. Celeste—my mother—had cast some kind of sleep spell on me last night, even though I'd desperately wanted more answers. A surge of anger propelled me out of bed. I was going to stomp down there right this instant and demand she answer my questions immediately—no more excuses. She sure as hell wasn't casting any more spells on me either.
But when I stood, I stopped at the sight of the blood and dirt on my clothes. My head began to spin as some of the despair from last night returned. The sudden grief was so heavy it felt as if I had weights pressing down on my limbs, and I knew how easy it would be to simply wallow in it. Maybe it was better she'd knocked me out. At least I'd had a brief respite from this misery.
Then I remembered Celeste's words from last night. She'd said there was a chance for me to save Kaden, and even if it was the smallest bit of hope, I would cling onto it. I'd put all of my energy into training to become the best damn Moon Witch the Zodiac Wolves had ever seen.
I looked outside instead of dwelling on the pain of losing Kaden. It was dark out and still raining softly, droplets of water hitting the window in a soothing cadence. How long had I slept?
I went into the attached bathroom, surprised to see a set of towels and toiletries set out already next to the claw-foot tub. Celeste probably wanted to make a good impression on me, but she'd need to do a lot more than that to wipe away twenty-two years of abandonment. Not even a fancy little soap shaped like a seashell could put a dent on that pain. The claw-foot tub had a shower attachment and I gave it a skeptical look as I turned it on, but the water instantly turned warm. Not as hot as I would have liked, but it was hard to complain when it was fueled by magic. I wondered if they'd teach me that sort of thing too.
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