Stars of Magic: Wings of Power (Book 1)

Chapter 25

Luna couldn't believe it. This was the secret Thundercloud and Seashell had been keeping from her? A missing princess? Luna, of all dragons? The mash-up weirdo? The dragon who enchanted herself to be a hybrid?

"Now where did you get that idea?" Starlight said, turning into a human. Her purple silk gown glowed in the sunlight and her light brown braids were embedded with bejeweled beads that sparkled so bright, Luna had to blink a few times to get used to the light.

"Um," Luna stammered. "It's just, well I-"

"All because of some wishful thinking?" Starlight said. "That's not true. I'm a hybrid myself."

"I know but," Luna asked, "how?"

"My mother, Queen Twilight's parents were a Night Bringer prince and a Weather Wing soldier," Starlight said, walking forward toward Luna. "My mother was supposed to marry a Night Bringer general, but she fell in love with a poor Weather Wing who had lost his home. So I am a hybrid, just like you."

"But, but, my dad is a Water Sprayer?" Luna asked. "And the cousin of Queen Splash?"

"Yes," Atlantic said. He had turned into a human while Starlight was speaking. His skin was similar to Spray's and he was dressed in blue and yellow armor. "The proud father of the heirs to the Night Bringer throne!"

Starlight rolled her eyes.

"But this doesn't make any sense," Luna said, turning to a human and pacing. "Why did this come up now? Why would this be all of these years? Bigwings said something about an assassin breaking into the palace. To keep me safe, you couldn't keep me. So why did you give me to Seashell and Thundercloud? Unless . . ."

Luna turned towards Seashell and Thundercloud, who had already stood. Seashell nodded. The Water Sprayer looked up at Atlantic.

"Hello, brother," Seashell said to him.

"My aunt and uncle?" Luna asked, turning to Starlight.

"Yes, Luna," Starlight said.

Luna stepped forward towards Starlight, then hesitated.

"Luna," Starlight said, "I know you feel uneasy about all of this. I can see why you don't really believe me. You've been told a lot of lies, but trust me, you being my daughter isn't one of them. After all of this time, I thought you would never come back to me."

The queen wrapped her arms around Luna and pulled her in close. The warmth of her mother's arms calmed Luna's mind and gave her a sense of purpose. As though someone really loved her for who she was. Seashell's embraces felt good, but this, this felt right. There was always something off about Seashell's hugs, but this! This was Luna's mother. Her real mother. But this would take a little while to get used to. Luna sensed her mother glaring at Seashell and Thundercloud. Did she know about the mistreatment Luna was given?

"Darlings, come here," Starlight said, she and Luna both turned into dragons and the queen waved a talon over to them. Shadow stepped down from her throne, making hostile looks at Luna. Eclipse hopped down from her throne and helped Sapphire down from hers. The three magets walked up to their mother, sat down, and looked at Luna in curiosity. "This is your older sister, Luna."

Shadow paced around Luna, inspecting her every scale. After a while, Shadow finally stopped and turned her furious eyes towards Starlight.

"Mother," Shadow growled, "you said I was the eldest and I was the firstborn."

"Oh, please be firstborn!" Eclipse suddenly shouted, grabbing Luna's arms and rattling her anxiously. "Shadow has been giving Mom enchantments to protect her from challenges! She's killed all of the adults that have planned to challenge Mom! She wants Mom to die peacefully so she can inherit the throne and kill the rest of us!"

"How did you know that?" Sapphire asked.

"Yeah," Shadow growled at her little sister. "I always block my mind from you!"

Luna looked over at her mother. Shadow must have given her mother jewelry. There were dangling sapphire wires hanging from her horns, dangling amethyst necklaces around her neck, and dangling ruby and pearl necklaces.

Don't worry, Starlight thought at Luna. No enchantments of hers can work on me.

Luna shielded her thoughts so the others couldn't hear. The Night Bringer princess grinned as Eclipse explained how she knew about Shadow's plan.

"Sis, we share a room," Eclipse said. "And you talk in your sleep, dreaming about your great plan."

"Well, it doesn't matter," Shadow said. "Even if Luna challenges Mother, she'd die within a heartbeat. My jewelry is still intact. Ha!"

"Actually," Luna said, putting down her mind shield, "Mom told me your spells don't work on her. Oh, and by the way, that attention spell you cast should have casted it so that she gave all of her attention to you, not to her firstborn."

"Wha?" Shadow sputtered in panic. "B-but, m-my sh-sh-sh-shield-"

"My pal Lake taught me to read the pain eye," Luna said. "And I could tell what you wanted to do."

Starlight's eyes went wide with realization. "Oh!" she said. "Oh, dear, I nearly forgot. How could I? Bigwings, please get our guests!"

"Already had it covered, Your Majesty," Bigwings said, standing by the west doorway. He poked his head in the doorway and called, "Okay, you can come out now!"

To Luna's surprise, Lake and Bubble poked their heads out of the doorway and spotted Luna. Lake's eyes went wide and Bubble squealed in joy.

"Luna!" Bubble squealed.

The two Water Sprayers flew into Luna and wrapped their wings around her. The impact knocked Luna away from her sisters. Lake's brain was an avalanche of thoughts, and Bubble was trying to wrap Luna's arms around herself.

"Luna!" Lake exclaimed. "What in the name of- I thought you weren't supposed to come here for another couple days!"

Luna pulled off Lake's arms from her shoulders. "What?!" she said. "You knew?!"

"Knew what?" Bubble asked. "Ohhh, do you mean that you're actually the daughter of Queen Starlight which makes you a princess which explains why that crown of scale stars is only on your forehead and Starblast had to have you raised by momma and daddy and momma is your daddy's sister and the two connect the Night Bringer royal family with the Water Sprayer royal family?"

Luna blinked in confusion. "I have two questions," Luna said. "Number one, how do you know all of that? And number two, what are you guys doing here?"

"When we heard that you went missing, we went out to look for you," Lake said. "Ahem, per someone's request. I told you Luna could take care of herself! She's amazing! And besides, we could have been killed if it weren't for Luna! You nearly tore a wing off of a Night Bringer!"

Huh, Luna thought. That's new. Well, I have answered at least half of my questions.

"You know, I can't believe how many answers I've found in these past few days," Luna said. "It's like this place is a treasure trove of answers."

"People have always said they always find the answers inside of the place. I think I did a pretty good job with the place," Starlight said. "Although I think it was because of that spell I cast in a huff when I was little."

Luna giggled and ran over to her mother and wrapped her wings around her. "Thank you," Luna whispered.

Starlight put a wing around her daughter and steered her towards the east exit. The other magets followed. "Come now," she said. "We have some things to speak about."

Thanks for reading guys! Hope you enjoyed! Have a great day/night!