The Fifth Moon’s Legacy
Book Six of the Fifth Moon’s Tales
Monica La Porta
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Monica La Porta
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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To Roberto.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1
Dragon paced Gabriel’s makeshift studio like a caged animal.
Outside, the azure waters of the Sea of Tranquility shone brightly under Coral. The Fifth Moon’s sun played with the clouds, bobbing in and out of sight and creating pink shadows that stretched inside the room.
Gabriel and Valentine watched Dragon carefully and let him work out his frustration, waiting for him to initiate the conversation.
“We can’t stay here much longer,” Dragon finally said, pausing his march long enough to look at his friends.
“I understand.” Gabriel sipped from his flute of aged Laurum.
“We must get going, too.” Valentine absentmindedly stroked his son’s back. Valemir had been having nightmares since the day of the fire that had almost burned Martelli Manor to the ground. “Mirella’s entering the last trimester of her pregnancy and only trusts Mama Bee to deliver baby Myrenne.”
Traveling from Celestia to Lupine took slightly less than two months, and it was the same length that it took to reach Solaria on the other side of the Fifth Moon’s System. Planning pregnancies and births around interplanetary travel wasn’t easy. Dragon too wanted to leave for Solaria as soon as possible, but he had to wait for Valerian to wake from his healing sleep.
Wounded during the meeting with the rebels of the Front Pro Humanity, his cousin—who was his lieutenant, and most importantly his longtime friend—had been fighting for his life for more than two planetary cycles. A fortnight spent worrying as frustration and anger ate at Dragon.
“How’s Jade?” Gabriel asked.
Valentine perked up, stilling his hand against Valemir’s blue onesie.
“I wouldn’t know since she’s been avoiding me like the plague.” Dragon grabbed one of the flutes on top of the liquor cabinet by the large window. Gabriel’s extensive reserve of rare wines had no equal, and he was a generous host, offering his guests only the best from his cellars. Dragon filled his crystal with a good measure of Silver, one of the vintages from the vampire’s coveted vineyards, the locations of which he kept a secret.
“I thought being in such close quarters would’ve helped,” Valentine cautiously said.
“Thought so too, but it turns out that I was sorely mistaken.” After finding Jade at the Citadel in a turn of events that could only be described as serendipitous, Dragon discovered that his soulmate was pregnant with his child, and yet she didn’t remember him at all. He had been trying ever since to convince her that his sentiments were true. “And to make matters worse, she has been growing distant each passing day.”
“It might be the pregnancy. Hormones—” Valentine said.
“And this whole situation doesn’t inspire romance.” Gabriel waved his half-empty flute around, pointing at the rest of the room. “I can’t remember the last time I slept a full night without waking up at the softest of ruffles. We are all exhausted.” He brought the glass to his lips for a long sip. “I can’t even imagine what it must be like for her, hunted down by the Academy—”
“I’ll never let them get close to Jade.” Dragon’s blood boiled every time the Academy was so as much as mentioned. They had discovered that Jade was with child and wanted to use her as a breeding factory for shifter babies, and the thought made him sick. “I promised her.”
“But she doesn’t know you,” Gabriel said. “Give her time.”
“It’s all I’m doing, but being near her and sensing her shying away from me, day after day, is madness.” Dragon gulped the content of his flute, barely tasting the sweet bubbles crashing against the back of his throat.
Since that first night he and Jade had come back from the Citadel, he requested she sleep with him in the basement—the palatial room underneath the mansion—because he wanted her under his constant sight. If fighting against the rebels had taught him one thing, it was that they could trust nobody. But closeness hadn’t engendered fondness. Not at all.
Gage appeared at the doorway. The House of Martelli’s head guard usually sported a somber expression, but this time, his eyes had a bright spark. “High Lord,” he said to Dragon, respectfully lowering his head.
“Is there any news of Valerian?” Dragon slammed his glass back onto the cabinet, and the content of the spindly piece of furniture rattled under the strength of his gesture. The flute broke but Gabriel waved Dragon’s ready apology away. Immediately, a clockwork servo swept in, vacuuming the shards with its brass trunk.
“Valerian’s just woken and asked for you,” Gage answered after the mechanical worker ceased its noisy activity.
2
Jade looked at the stairs with wary eyes.
Mirella Canalis descended the wooden steps, making it looks like she was floating over a cloud. The woman was elegance incarnated and moved with a regal bearing, even as far along as she was in her pregnancy.
“Hi, Jade,” Lobo’s dainty bride chirped. Not surprisingly, her voice could be described as the epitome of feminine.
Mirella had kept visiting Jade for the last fourteen days, and Jade still didn’t know what to make of her.
“May I come in?” Mirella asked from the last step, gently caressing the top of her large belly.
“Yes, of course.” Jade motioned for the woman to come closer. She had thought once or twice to tell Mirella she was busy, but immediately changed her mind, because in truth, the woman seemed well-intentioned. And left to her own devices, Jade would have continued thinking of Dragon and her mixed feelings for the man.
“How do you feel?” Mirella asked, her bright eyes lingering a moment on Jade’s stomach.
Her pregnancy was starting to show. It was little more than a round softness around her belly, but Jade spent most of the time cradling the bump in her hands, wondering about the little being growing inside her.
“Still no more nausea,” she answered.
“Then I think it’s safe to say that you are officially out of the woods.” Mirella smiled, and Jade couldn’t help but smile back. The woman had a contagious cheeriness about her.
Jade admired the joyful aura Mirella exuded
because the Blessed Bride’s life hadn’t been easy, and yet she refused to let adversity break her. Beneath the fragile exterior lay a core of steel that had tamed one of the wildest shifters in the entire system. A woman who could make someone like Valentine Lobo fall in love with her wasn’t a woman to trifle with. And Jade recognized a fighter when she saw one.
“May I ask you something?” Mirella said, kicking off her slippers before slowly lowering herself to the edge of the pool.
“Sure.” Jade joined her, dipping her toes in the warm, scented water.
Since she had become Dragon’s bunkmate—he hated it when she referred to their living accommodations in such terms—he asked for a few improvements to be made for her welfare. Among them, the temperature of the pool water was raised because he thought it was too cold for her. It was a ludicrous idea. At the Academy, hot water for the cadets wasn’t a priority, but she begrudgingly thanked him. And the first time she waded the shallow end of the larger pool, she had to admit that the sensation was exquisite.
Mirella dipped her entire lower leg into the pool and sighed in relief. “The extra weight is starting to be a nuisance.”
From what little Jade had observed from Mirella’s actions, what she defined as a nuisance was probably full-blown pain in the back for any other woman.
“I was wondering—” Mirella said, turning to face Jade, who sat on the same side of the pool. “Do you remember anything at all about your previous time with Dragon?”
The direct question surprised Jade. Mirella had kept their conversations at a polite, albeit uninspired, chat about nothing of consequence and strictly impersonal.
“No, I don’t.” Her answer wasn’t completely truthful, but Jade wouldn’t delve into the sparks of memories that plagued her from time to time. Emotions, more than full-formed remembrances, that caught her unaware and at the most inopportune moments, and that she wouldn’t share with anyone.
“That’s too bad.” Mirella regarded her with an inquisitive look, but Jade didn’t fall into her trap and didn’t ask why it was too bad. “I hold Dragon in great esteem, and it pains me to see him suffer,” she continued in what sounded like a non-sequitur. To Jade’s obstinate silence, Mirella added, “You might know that he and Valentine almost killed each other—”
Jade nodded. “It’s a well-known tale.”
Mirella had been found in Dragon’s bed, and her husband had challenged Dragon to a duel to the death. Jade felt a strange unease at the idea of Dragon and Mirella together. She knew that nothing had ever happened between them, and yet, the fleeting concept had entered her mind and dug into her thoughts like a burrowing worm.
“What isn’t publicly known is that Dragon would have given his life to save my reputation and in respect of his host, even though he was innocent of any wrongdoing.” Mirella jumped into the pool, unconcerned about ruining the brocade of her gown. She waded toward the deeper end until the water reached beneath her belly that buoyed above the surface, making her sigh again. “Dragon is a man of great integrity and would do anything for the ones he loves. I hope you understand that.”
“I don’t love him,” Jade said. “I don’t know him at all.”
“That might be, but I’m asking you to give him a chance. He’s suffering and is bound to put his life in danger for you and your child.”
“I don’t know what to think about all this—” Jade gestured wildly. “I don’t know anything any longer.” She dropped her hands to the edge of the pool, grabbing the marble surface in a tight grip. “My body wants him as if it recognizes the scent of his skin, like an animal thing, you know?”
Mirella smiled at her blathering.
Jade shook her head in frustration. “I don’t even know what I’m saying.”
“I’ll tell you something I haven’t told anyone,” Mirella started.
“Okay—” Jade regarded her cautiously. She had never interacted with others to the extent of secrets being shared. The Academy wasn’t conducive to fraternizing, and her residence at Oberin’s Fine Jewelry had been too short to create that kind of intimacy with the courtesans or Madame Lisandra.
Mirella paddled back toward Jade, stopping where the water was still high enough to support her belly. “When I first met Valentine, I was terrified. He barely looked at me during our wedding ceremony, and when he visited me in our bridal chamber, he took me and left soon after—”
“I would’ve cut his genitals,” Jade said, already horrified by the tale.
Mirella laughed. “He wasn’t cruel or anything. Valentine knew I was going to die in childbirth and didn’t want to create an emotional attachment with me. All his life, he had lived oppressed by the moral weight of having killed his mother, hated by his own father because he looked too much like his deceased wife. It’s a lot to carry on your shoulders, especially when you live forever, and so he grew detached and cold. But I saw a sparkle of something bright and pure in him, and fought my battle without cutting him to pieces.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Jade understood strategy, warfare, the composition of explosives and poisons. She could kill a person in hundreds of different ways, but was out of her depth when it came to affairs of the heart.
“Because you are acting like Valentine—”
“He was a prick to you, you just told me. I’m nothing like him.” Jade’s vehement answer surprised herself before she realized she had just insulted this woman’s husband, only one of the most powerful men in the Fifth Moon’s System. Not that she was scared of him, but still. “I’m—”
“Don’t you worry. He’s been described with stronger words.” Mirella smiled. “What I meant to say with my comparison is that you’ve shut off the possibility of loving Dragon because you are scared, and in that, you are similar to Valentine.”
Jade opened her mouth to negate one more time the ludicrous idea, but Mirella’s lady’s maid appeared at the top of the stairs with little Valemir.
“My lady,” the girl said, looking down as she gently rocked the sleeping child in her arms.
“Crea, what is it?” Mirella asked, walking to the edge of the pool.
“Sir Valerian’s finally awake, and Master Lobo asked me to bring Valemir to you.” The girl descended the steps making sure not to juggle the child too much, but he stirred as soon as they came closer to his mother.
Crea gave her lady’s soaked clothes a knowing look and turned slightly to show the bag hanging from her shoulder. “Master also told me to stop by your closet and bring you a change of clothes.”
“My husband knows me too well.” Mirella chuckled, climbing the pool steps. “But you would’ve done it even if Valentine hadn’t told you so.” She grabbed the bag from the girl’s shoulder. “Thank you. You are the best.”
Crea blushed. “Just doing my job, my lady.”
“Nonsense, and stop calling me my lady because of Jade. There’s no need to keep up appearances in front of friends.” Without a thought for privacy, Mirella hastily shed her voluminous gown, corset, stays, and stockings to don the new day gown she picked from the bag. “Give me my little monster.” She opened her arms to accept her son, who was now awake and squirming in Crea’s arms. “They are worth everything,” she said, looking at Jade from over the child’s head.
At the sound of his mother’s voice, the boy looked up, and in his eyes, there was the most adoring gaze.
It was then that for the first time, Jade felt something moving inside her. On other occasions, she had experienced the soft flapping of butterfly wings and thought it might have been her child, but now, she knew it was with a certainty that surprised her. Her hand shot to her belly, and for a moment, nothing happened. She breathed in, disappointed, but on the exhale, a small movement rippled under her ribcage.
“Baby,” Valemir said, shocking everyone in the room as he pointed one little finger at Jade’s midsection.
3
Dragon entered Gilda’s quarters to find that Valerian had already bathed and was eating in t
he parlor, all by himself.
At Dragon’s entrance, Valerian lowered his fork to the plate and stood to greet him.
“I see you worked up an appetite during those two cycles you spent napping.” Dragon gave him a one-armed hug and patted his back heavily. “You scared me, cousin,” he added in a lower tone before leaning back.
“I’m fine now.” Valerian’s pale face contradicted his statement. He hastily lowered himself back into the chair behind the desk. “Where’s the rest of the cavalry?”
“Gabriel and Valentine are on their way.”
“Good, so I can relate what happened all at once without having to repeat myself.” Valerian pointed at the chair on the other side.
Dragon sat, wondering why Valerian didn’t want to speak to him alone. “Where’s Gilda?” he asked instead, looking at the door that opened into the private rooms where Valerian had remained while healing. The princess had never left Valerian alone but stayed by his side, hugging his feathery dragon and talking to him.
“She’s barely rested this entire time, and I waited for her to finally fall asleep before letting the rest of the world know I was awake,” Valerian said, pushing one of the trays covering the desk toward Dragon.
“You did right. She comes before anything else.” Dragon grabbed a piece of savory bread.
“I heard Jade’s here.” Valerian poured a measure of wine for both and handed Dragon one of the two goblets.
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