This Is My Kingdom Come by Megan Rees (red white and royal blue hardcover txt) 📕

He deserves it, in the end. He’s had such a hard start to life and now he can begin to find himself as a true Pureblood. Luna reflected.

Once her brother had disappeared, the wavy blonde haired teenager pulled up the hood on her jumper and made her way out to the forest. She hadn’t been there properly since the night of the Demon attack which had sparked the quest for the Phoenix’s Treasure after it was stolen. It had taken five gruelling days, but they had retrieved all three Treasures.

The only thing they’d lost was Rune.

Thinking about the happy black haired girl made Luna feel rather down rather than her usually cheerful self. Ever since Rune had died, she had felt like she’d lost a slice of her heart. The young girl had been her closest female companion throughout childhood and her lost had devastated Luna, but not as much as her foster brother Atlas. He’d gone insane over her loss and caused Ash’s arrest by openly blaming him. Since the verdict was given, neither boys had spoken to each other. Atlas had avoided the dark brown haired teenager since he was released from prison.

Once Luna had reached the forest, she sat on one of the low-hanging branches of a tree and thrust her hands towards the ground a few feet away, releasing a ball of fire and thus creating a small fire to keep her warm. She curled up into a ball next to the trunk of the tree and rested her head against it, watching the flames with weary eyes.

“I’m surprised you came here of all places to find peace.”

Luna didn’t need to look up to figure out that Ash had followed her out from the cabins. He was slowly approaching her with his hands in his trouser pockets and his dark green eyes focused on her. “Is everything okay, Luna?”

“I just want to get away from it all at the moment and go back. Go back to the old times where we were a tightly-bound group with everyone happy and alive,” Luna replied wistfully. “Back when not every day was a constant fight.”

“Back when I was a self-centred pig?” Ash pointed out. “Back when little Cody had no hope and no one to look up to? You may not realise it, but you saved his life.”

“But I couldn’t save Rune, could I?” Luna retorted. “I should have gone in her place; she had so much-”

“No,” he interrupted firmly. “You shouldn’t have.”

Luna narrowed her blue eyes at him fiercely. “Give me a good reason why not.”

“Rune was just too wonderful for this world. She was part of a story which didn’t conclude in the way people thought it would. If someone dies, they did for a reason that we sometimes can’t explain. There are some people that you must continue across your story without, but they’ll always be in your memory until the final page.”

“That’s not a reason to why I shouldn’t have taken Rune’s place.”

“If you had died, you’d hurt more people than you believe. Mia and Cody would have gone insane with grief and I’d feel even worse knowing I’d killed you. I already feel horrid about sending Rune to her death and I deserved the sentence, but I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt of killing you, Luna. You’re my best friend as well as my girlfriend now: we now both hold more responsibilities to each other than ever. We’re supposed to trust each other’s word, which you do not at the moment.”

Luna took her hood down and blinked at Ash. “Of course I trust you. I just feel it was my destiny to die in the Land Of The Lost rather than Rune’s.”

“If it truly was your fate, then you would not be here now,” Ash pointed out, a new wisdom around him than Luna hadn’t seen before. “You are here now, and that’s all that matters. Live for today and know that you are too precious for this world to loose now. The plotline requires you here.”

The blonde haired Pureblood gave him a warm smile. “You must teach me how you can put sweet things into lessons.”

The boy’s emerald green eyes darkened. “I’m serious, Luna. I don’t want you moping around blaming yourself for something that wasn’t your fault. Come back out of the cold and get some sleep, for goodness sake.”

“It’s not cold.” Luna insisted.

With a sigh, Ash made his way over and sat next to her on the tree branch, his back slumped. “You’re impossible.”

“That’s what you love about me really.” his friend teased.

Ash didn’t respond for a while and didn’t look up at Luna either: he just sat there and stared at the flames as they danced before him. The light they produced showed a red mark on his cheek and there was a bit of dried blood on his chin, which concerned Luna quite a bit. “Did you talk to Robert before coming here?”

“What does it matter to you?” Ash retorted sharply. “I’m trying to block him out of my life; stop bringing him up!”

Luna let out a deep sigh. “I’m sorry, Ash.”

The brown haired boy blinked at her in surprise. “No, it’s fine. I’m just a bit tetchy today.”

“No kidding. When should I bother you next?”

“In ten years time.”

“Why, where do you see yourself in ten years time? You won’t pass training minors seeing as you’ve already been kicked off the training program and thrown in prison.”

“I hope to be the honourable and worthy Pureblood I’d aspired to be as a young boy living in the shadow of abuse. I want to be able to live my life normally without the fear that my so-called parents will attack me.”

“You need to tell one of the more sympathetic Councillors about what Robert and Matilda have been doing to you. They could be sentenced to prison for a long time or maybe even exiled from Nighthollow.”

“Robert and Councillor Airing are friends. Councillor Airing won’t throw his friend in prison because his nephew comes out with claims that he’s been abused by that man. Besides, if word does get out then the boys in my cabin will torment me about it.”

“All you can do is try to speak up.”

“I appreciate your concern, but there’s nothing I can do. We’ll just leave it at that.”

Silence came with his words. Luna didn’t really know how to respond; she couldn’t help Ash face up to his greatest fear which she had tried to help him overcome for some time now. She feared that Ash would be killed or forced away from Nighthollow unless he found his voice. At this time, it didn’t look like he would. He really needed a breakthrough.

Then she remembered something as she put her hands into her jacket pocket. “Ash?” she began timidly.

Ash looked up from the ground to his friend. “Yes?”

“You still have birthday presents left which you didn’t receive a month ago.”

The brown haired teenager tilted his head to the side in confusion as Luna produced two brown paper packages from her pocket and handed the slightly larger one to Ash. “That’s from Cassie and Will.” she told him.

Nodding, Ash carefully tore open the package to reveal two books. One didn’t have a clear title and just had the dark blood-red leather cover, while the other was a normal reading book by the looks of it. Ash raised an eyebrow at the second book. “100 Short Stories That Could Change Your Life.” he read out loud.

“I’m curious to know how exactly it will change your life. For all we know, it’ll probably give you nightmares or something,” Luna teased. “Anyway, what’s the other book?”

Her friend picked it up and opened up to the first page, which had a small note with it which made him light up. “It’s a bit like a biography of my parents up to when I was born.”

Luna smiled. “That sounds nice,” she remarked, handing him the other package. “This one’s from me. Sorry it’s not much.”

“I’m sure it’s thoughtful, no matter what it is,” Ash assured her kindly, unwrapping the package and picked up one of the presents in his hands, which happened to be a smooth grey stone the size of his palm. He stared at it curiously with his dark green eyes. “Is this supposed to be a bad pun? Like as in ‘you rock’?” he questioned.

“No, you noodle. It’s a Seeing Stone. You can use it to see what is to come or what has passed.” Luna explained.

“Egyptian times, here I come,” Ash teased. “Thanks Luna. It’s a really great gift.”

“There’s another present there.” the blonde girl pointed out, tossing her wavy hair over her shoulders.

The tall Pureblood gazed at the second present, which looked like some sort of silver badge. The outline was in the shape of a star and in the middle was a long blue diamond which shone whenever the lights of the fire caught it. Ash looked up and smiled at her. “The mark of the fallen star, right? Rosco told me that the blue diamond is a symbol of good luck and very rare. Oh Luna, you didn’t have to go to such lengths for me!”

“Well, you go a bit far in desperate attempts to save my life.” Luna teased, amusement sparkling in her pale blue eyes.

Laughing, Ash leapt up to his feet and pulled her into a tight embrace, taking Luna by genuine surprise. “You don’t usually hug people!”

“It’s not illegal to hug someone now, is it?” the tall boy pointed out cheekily. “Anyway, you should get some sleep. There’s probably going to be a Council meeting tomorrow of some sort – you’ll need every ounce of strength to stay awake during that. Come on.”

Oscar had retired from the feast not long after Stefan had announced his execution. He had been unable to hold back his fury and shock, so he had left and sat in his room watching as people begun to take the party outside. Some were wobbling about in a drunken manner, while others remained sober for the entire evening.

“This is ridiculous.” the Prince grumbled to himself as he watched the party-goers begin to leave. He had shown a new vulnerable side tonight – a side he hoped no one would see for a while yet. He was going to their King if that little toad hadn’t been born! He couldn’t show weakness in front of his people!

When he heard a pair of heavy footsteps and another more light-footed one, Oscar quickly jumped onto his bed, grasped his pistol from his bedside table and pulled the blankets over him, his heart thumping rapidly under his shirt. It’s got to be Stefan and one of his little friends. It can’t be anyone else.

He nearly stopped breathing when he heard the door squeak open and the two people enter. He heard a heavy breathing sound that sounded like a sigh. “Little Prince Charming Herring didn’t last long