Moonlit Scales [rewriting]

Moonlit Scales: Fourteen

M O O N L I T   S C A L E S :
Chapter Fourteen

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"LUNA, PLEASE!" I shouted to the closet door, feeling remarkably embarrassed. "It's just Papa."

"No, it's not just Papa. It's Addison Flora and Piper Divince and your father. It's everyone I have lied to."

"Mum, you're acting like a child. Do you honestly believe they will refuse to forgive you?" I asked, feebly trying to show my mother reason and see sense. She was being ridiculous.

"When they honestly believed I've been dead for fifteen years? Yes, Sky, I think that won't be easily remedied," she countered bitterly.

I groaned and threw my hands up in the air. "Fine! I will let them know you were too cowardly to show in person, but you send them the best." It was an empty threat, but it was enough to break Luna out of the closet.

"Sky, you can't do that, and you know why. I just . . . I can't face them. Not yet."

"You'll have to, eventually. Come on, I'll be there with you."

When she shook her head, her distant eyes focused on all of her faults, I grabbed her shoulders. "Look at me. You're family. And family means no one gets left behind, no matter what they've done in the past."

This seemed to sink in, albeit only a little. She took my hand and together we walked to where I left Ambrose standing at the landing of the staircase.

He smiled when I approached him, and I clasped his good hand in my empty palm. The three of us marched down the stairs to the dining hall, where we were greeted by two panting bloodhounds.

"Gracie, Bella. Down," commanded Ambrose, and they obeyed, planting their rumps on the lavishly detailed rug, imported from who-knows-where. I turned to the long, cherry wood buffet table, where Papa was seated with Piper. Addison was already struggling to untangle herself from the chair and running towards me with her arms outstretched.

She was squealing as I lifted her up into the air, the first proper hug I'd given her since returning from the battle. Her small arms snaked around my neck, and she held on tightly.

I whispered in her ear, "What did you tell them, after I didn't come home?"

Without hesitation, she replied, "The truth."

The truth? I supposed it was better than a lie, but I couldn't imagine that it lessened the weight of concern at the thought. Before I could elaborate on the subject, she smiled mischievously and shrugged. "Come on, they're all waiting for you."

"Wait, Adds." I tugged on her little hand.

Her blonde hair flew as her head swiveled to look at me. "Yes?"

Not knowing how to proceed, I gestured to Luna. "Meet Momma."

She glanced at her before returning my gaze with a frown. "But . . ."

"Addison, child." Luna pursed her lips, restraining the tears from leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

I don't know whether it was Addison, as a person, that accepted people so quickly. Maybe it was her excellent judge of character, or her desperation as a twelve-year-old without a mother. Or, perhaps, it was Addison's eager gratitude for whatever was gifted to her, and even if she wouldn't believe it, or couldn't understand, she'd seize the opportunity and make it what she could. This was something I had come to admire most about my sister, and I wished that I could've been more like her in that way.

She didn't ask questions as she burrowed her head in the crook of Mum's neck, clinging onto her and afraid that, if she let go, she would disappear, just like she had handled the grapefruit. This made my little sister vulnerable, but it had become a part of who she was, and I wouldn't trade her for the world.

Piper's chair scraped the polished marble as she, too, stood and embraced our mother. "I never realized it was you," she choked out, before she erupted in a fitful of joyful tears. Even if Luna hadn't appeared, or the stories were true and my mother had died, I'd always had Piper. She was there like an anchor that harbored me in that safe, loving ocean that became all I'd ever known. I'd miss her after her betrothed sailed off with his new bride, but I knew she'd be happy, and if anything mattered, it was that Piper, who had done so much for her family, was happy.

Papa smiled from his place at the head of the table, folding his arms in front of him with satisfaction. I raised my eyebrows. "You knew," I accused him, with a playful grin strapped to my face.

He tilted a shoulder in admittance, but with no shame. That was something I had learned about my father over the week that I had left him: He was a sick, weak man, with the strength and will of an angel that kept him fighting in a way that could never compare to what I had endured at the Battle of the Beasts. No, this was a more powerful force, and it made Papa the man that I was proud to call my father.

Ambrose squeezed my hand, and, limping, he led us to the table. We were seated side by side, and I realized that he was everything I'd need now that I had found him. When he turned to look at me, that familiar, sincere expression glinting in his eyes, I knew that we would, eventually, live to see our fate that we so much deserved. It wasn't love at first sight, but it would always be enough.

King Morgan cleared his throat. "The dragon that you slaughtered, Sky," he began, treading carefully because we weren't on the best terms, "was the leader of their flock."

I had no idea they even followed a particular beast. "What does that mean?"

"It means, child, that the Lutheran dragons will no longer bother Avalon as long as it exists," clarified Queen Ehrony, and looking around the dining room, taking in everyone's face alit with joy, I could not have wanted anything more, not even sleep.

"What comes now?" I whispered into Ambrose's ear as the governesses served us our meals.

"That's the exciting part, I guess," he mused, with a sincere smile, "Nobody knows."