Our Secret Promise

Prologue: A Simpler Time

Fate. Something I've given little to no thought about just seemed to always push against the small bubble I've created for myself. I laugh. I don't want this. I've never wanted this. I look at my parents and my father look's so proud. Its as if he knows.

I feel the tears sting and I refuse to let them fall.

My mother looks at me with a small smile and one of the hands that rested on her swollen belly comes to cradle my face.

"No tears." She mouths so my father wouldn't hear, and I nod.

'Fate cares not if you're ready' My grandmother's words echo in my head. I'd never understood those words until now. I think back to the argument my grandmother and my father had before she departed this realm and I feel sick.

"The council is full of liars, Sunan... I just wish you would open your eyes to the truth." My grandmother looks to my father, and I can see the turmoil on her aging features.

"Mother you and your superstitious beliefs, I trust the council, they have yet to lead us astray." My dad walks over to the kitchen sink and leans against it.

"Sunan... the council only wants to manipulate her. They intend to use her for their own personal gain.... And you blatantly allow it." She throws her hands in the air.

"Mother for the last time they do not intend to use her... you make it sound so perverted..." He runs his hand through his beard, he would need to cut it soon. "The council only intends to help Eluna -be she the chosen one- to understand her powers."

"Sunan this is what I'm trying to explain that pointless ceremony is unnecessary. Luna is our goddess reincarnated in her entirety... you cannot allow the council to corrupt her." She looks past my father and our eyes meet.

"Why do you refuse to see this as a GOOD THING mother... with luna's confirmed status today, we can finally move up among the clans." My father looks towards me, and I pretend to not be interested in their conversation.

"Are you so thirsty for power that you would sacrifice our family's legacy?" She almost cries gesturing towards our family's grimoire.

"THIS IS OUR LEGACY! Not some dumb book!" He finally yells and we both flinch. "I'm sorry mother... but I NEED you to realize that I am doing this for us." He tries to grab her hand, but she refuses.

"I just want us to have a better future..." He rubs his hands along his face, fingers focusing on the growing stubble on his chin. but she remains silent and refuses to meet his pleading gaze.

His features harden and with a cold glare his resolve doesn't waver. "She will be tested today mother along with all the other children and that is final."

My grandmother turns away and I can tell she's done with the conversation.

He must know this as well as he storms off  refusing  to hide his anger at the situation.

Her sad eyes meet mine and she beckons me closer with a slightly withered brown finger and I don't hesitate to go to her. I sit in her lap and her hands find my growing Locs.

"Mia Luna, you must promise me something?" She says but it comes out like a question.

I just nod not trusting my voice. I can tell that my Nanna is not long for this world how I know, I do not know but I can FEEL it.

 "Now You must always obey your mother and father but hear me when I say this Mia Luna, no matter what your father says you must not let the council bind you. It is not what they claim it to be." She places the grimoire in my arms and the book is so big it feels as though my small arms can't contain it.