Chapter 42 : The Night There Was No Moon

*Kael*

I remembered the night of the raid in haunting clarity.

It was an oddly cloudy night, the moon nowhere in sight, the Moon Goddess turning a blind eye to the devastation about to occur.

My mother, Kaelin, set me and my other siblings to bed—except Kitron, of course, because he and my father, Adelio, were going to accompany the nightguard Epsilons—not too long after dinner. We slept in the same large, circular room, a third of it having floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking all of Crescent in its shining white glory.

Rian was already fast asleep, so my mother returned to my bedside, kissing my forehead and whispering goodnight. I caught her hand. "Mama?"

She turned, and with the night breeze stirring her hair, the few candles still alight dancing in the reflection of her blue eyes, I thought she could be the Moon Goddess. I loved her more than anything. "What is it, my love?"

"I'm fifteen, Mom," I reminded her as if I didn't just two days ago. "Do I have to go to bed