The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0593

The next morning was the final of our time on the island, so I made sure to set a personal alarm to wake me up just before dawn. When it finally went off, I grumbled a minute, before remembering my plan and forcing myself out of bed.

I turned toward Elva and shook her gently, rousing her.

"Mommy?" she asked, peeking open one eye.

"Would you like to watch the sunrise, honey?"

That woke her up right away. "Yeah!"

I shushed her gently. "Let's not wake Nicholas," I said.

"I'm already awake," he said from his air mattress on the ground.

I had tried to tell him late last night, after we had very diligently cleaned up after ourselves and finally came upstairs to sleep, that he didn't have to guard us now, with Ronan in jail and Bridget under supervision.

But Nicholas would not be talked out of it.

And now, thusly, he had been woken up before dawn.

I rolled over on the bed to peer down at him with an apologetic glance. "Sorry," I said.

He rubbed his eye with his forefinger. He huffed a small exhale as he shook his head. "I wouldn't want to have missed this," he said. "I'm glad I was here."

We all rolled out of bed. Since it was so early, we didn't bother changing out of our pajamas as we descended the staircase and made our way out onto the deck. We had to come around the house to face east.

Already the sky was lighting up in warm oranges, the sun near the horizon.

To my surprise, Veronica was already there, reading the book she had borrowed from the merfolk. She had a tiny book light clipped onto the top of the book. I marveled for a minute at how it could do so without bending the pages.

her. I had no idea if she was serious or

of blinding white stretch out across the entire horizon. Then the top of the sun brought all of the sunshine back

the sun cresting above the waves, as the light painted the sky with a rainbow

and Nicholas, coming to stand between them. I placed my hand on Elva's shoulder. Nicholas clutched my

"It's beautiful," I whispered.

leaned close to my ear. "Not as beautiful

Smooth talker.

soft smile. He returned

were unable to look at the sunrise any longer, not wanting to damage our eyes. By now, some

sat in the shadow of the sandcastle Bridget had made for her. We'd thought of dismantling it,

Julian said to her. "Let's make our

fun," I told Elva, to encourage her. She hadn't shown as much

sighed as she said, "Okay." She took Julian's hand and they went closer

he decided me rather quickly

her. Veronica didn't seem

the book, then stood from the beach towel she had stretched out for herself. As I was closer now, I could see that she had made extreme progress on

able to remove Elva's curse," Veronica said. I wanted to celebrate. That should have been good news, but her dire expression kept me from expressing

mean?" I asked. "Do we

said.

said. Usually I wouldn't have minded. I liked the unique way Veronica's mind seemed to work. But this time, I needed clarity. "This

He inhaled

are talking about?

"Or health, near the end. Or quality of life. And the more life force that is needed the more painful it would be for... the

he could get in line. Elva was my daughter. If anyone had to sacrifice

could only

remove the curse, but not the means," Veronica confirmed. "She will

I said at once, before Nicholas

said. "I'll do it. I'm an Alpha. It's the least I can do for my pack. It's my