The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0639Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

We slipped into the hallway easily enough. The lights were off, so we stuck to the shadows. We didn't go far when we started to hear raised voices.

"I want to know if Piper was telling the truth." It was Jane.

"You cannot mean to trust her more than me," that was Hawk. His cold voice sent shivers running up and down my spine.

"I do not," Jane countered. "That's why I'm asking you. Are you only using me to gain more power?"

Hawk was quiet for a long moment.

Joyce and I inched closer to the open doorway their voices were coming from.

"Careful," Joyce whispered, as we drew close.

I inched toward the door, but was careful to stay hidden in the shadows. Leaning over slightly, I peeked into the

room.

A fire burned in the fireplace, casting eerie dancing lights in a library. Hawk was facing the fireplace, his arms crossed over his chest. Jane was standing behind him, arms outstretched.

*You aren't answering me!" Jane snapped.

*I do not speak to anyone who takes that tone with me," Hawk replied.

"To hell with all of that," Jane said. "You should be listening to me! I am the princess!"

"Your sister is the princess," Hawk said, voice icy cold. He swiveled on his heel, suddenly facing Jane.

In surprise, she stumbled back a step.

"You are nothing, do you understand? Nothing, unless I dictate it so," Hawk's voice dropped lower, now barely more than a cold growl.

"I am a princess of the North!" Jane said, recovering her nerves and her indignation at once.

Hawk narrowed her eyes.

"You are the one who is nothing without me," Jane said. "When I am Queen, I could snap my fingers and have your head lopped off. It is only by my good nature that you will be allowed as advisor at all."

My heart quaked for Jane. As far as she had drifted, she was still my sister. And she could not see how she was prodding a shark right there in that moment.

"You are not a queen yet," Hawk said.

Jane lifted her chin. "I might as well be. And you would do well to bow while I am still feeling generous."

Pompous as she was, Jane's lifted face kept her gaze upright and away from where Hawk's hands were curling into fists.

*You wish me to bow," Hawk said.

*I demand it," Jane replied.

Hawk stood still for three full seconds. Then, in a blur, he was suddenly on Jane, with his fingers curled around her throat, and with her falling down onto the ground. He crawled over her, sitting on her chest as he squeezed and squeezed. She clawed at his hands as she gasped, suddenly devoid of breath.

Instinct pushed me, and I started to move.

Joyce grabbed my arm, fiercely yanking me back before I could enter the room.

"Stop," he whisper-yelled in my ear. "You will give us away!"

"That is my sister," I growled back, trying to keep my tone soft even as rage swelled in my heart.

*She wouldn't do the same for you," Joyce said.

He was right. But I wasn't my sister. I was me. And I would always try to save her, no matter how far out of reach she felt.

Yet before I could pull myself free, a deep thud sounded throughout the building. It shook and rattled. Dust flew free from the nooks and crannies that had been uncleaned for years.

And in my heart, I felt the string stretching between Nicholas and I suddenly become much shorter.

Somehow, Nicholas was here.