Luna Abigail
Chapter 36

Jasmin’s P.O.V.

I knelt in front of Jonathan on the floor. He seemed so defeated, so broken in a way. He oozed shame and sadness, sitting there with his head bowed down. Not meeting my eyes. Not saying anything to ruin the words his wolf had said.

I ask of him to look at me, and when his eyes meet mine, I have to take a deep breath. The utter hurt and regret swirls like pools of despair. His hands are fisted, almost white at the knuckles. His posture is rigid, as if he is waiting for his execution. He thinks I am going to reject him; I realise.

“Do you forgive yourself?” I ask. Not the question he expected, and he blinks several times before shaking his head.

“I made such a big mistake, and… I. I didn’t mean to hurt you in any way, but.. This is difficult to explain.” He says, looking down again. I nod, taking a hand and intertwining my fingers with his. This also surprises him, but he doesn’t take his hand away. Progress.

“We will talk, and we will figure it out. You need to stop being jealous of my brothers, because we are close and have always only had each other to depend on. This is a story for another time, but trust me, Jonathan. I am your mate, and I want this to work!” His head snaps up, his eyes wide with emotion. Then a smile spreads on his handsome face. I remember his wolf’s name; Poseidon. That’s pretty accurate, because he really looks like a god. Not that I will ever admit to such out loud. Sundancer chuckles in my mind. She agrees fully with this.

We both stand up, looking around the room. My cheeks heat of embarrassment as I suddenly remember the crowd gathered in the room. Jax and Willow send me a thumbs up, while Jasper looks skeptical. But I know he will support me no matter what, he is just worried about me. He doesn’t want to see me get my heart broken again.

Ellie claps her hands together, standing up.

“Now that, that has been solved, I think it is time we do this memory travel. I need a nap after this.” She says while rubbing her hands over her showing stomach. I suspect she is having more multiples, but that’s only based on my experience with pregnant women in the underworld. The swollenness and the shape of the stomach. She and Jason seem very secretive about it, though, so I can’t be sure.

Nods and murmur of agreement sounds at her words, and Adriana stands up.

“I need everyone to sit in a circle, hold hands, and close your eyes. You need to empty your minds and trust in my magic for this to work.” She then waves her hands, and the furniture moves to the walls, making room for us to sit in the middle of the office. She snaps her fingers and eight chairs appear in a circle, with a pillow in the middle on the floor for herself.

We all move to a chair, taking each other’s hand and close our eyes. Adriana mumbles under her breath, while popping sounds from the bottles echo in the room’s silence. Our hands vibrate, like an electric current flows slowly through them, before everything disappears under us all. Adriana tells us to open our eyes, and we can let go of each other again. The spell worked.

– Memory –

We are standing in the hallways of the school. Everything is dimly lit, as per usual, and from one end Adriana walks towards our crowd.

“Remember, they cannot see us, touch or hear us. We are here in a spirit form, only observing the memories of me, Jasmin, Jasper and Jax. We can’t undo things, and we can’t interfere.” Adriana says, while throwing a glance over everyone.

“But we may talk to each other? Right?” I ask, not sure of the rules of this kind of magic. She nods with a small smile.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the little witch/vampire girl. Why don’t you go back to where you came, or crawl under something nasty and die? You don’t belong here. We are demons, not half-breeds.” A pretty boy says, while cornering Adriana up against the lockers with his gang of followers. She says nothing, but only tightens her hold on her books. Tears in her eyes at his harsh words.

“Aren’t you going to answer, little bitch? I am talking to you. Hallo!” The boy sneers, getting up close to her face, almost spitting at her while talking.

Then a girl with fiery red hair runs down the hall. Narine.

She is yelling for the crowd to get lost.

“Leave her alone Camron! She and her mother are favorites of the king, and will personally tell him about your words if you don’t get lost right now!” She skits to a halt, putting her hands on her h**s, staring at the boy. Her eyes are ablaze with anger, and she is not backing down!

“I remember this.” Jasper says. “I saw her make an agreement with Camron outside of school. He was supposed to harass someone in school, but only with words. She payed him to do this. But I didn’t know it was you, Adriana, or that it was for her to come save you. That sneaky bitch!” He sneers at the memory persons.

Out of the side of my eye, I see Jonathan has gone deadly pale. His eyes are wide, trained on the younger version of Narine, and he is trembling. I take his hand in mine, sqeezeing in reassurance. He lets go of my hand, putting his arm around my waist instead, holding me so close to him I can feel his rapid heartbeat.

In the memory, the girls have made friends. We see them play together, read in the library, and walk in the forest of the upper realm. I notice how Adriana is kept out of reach of others. She is constantly told how much others talk about her, behind her back, how lucky she is to have a friend at all and especially Narine of all of them, and how much me and my brothers loath her. Her mother being one of my father’s favorite mistresses, I can understand where that misconception comes from, but I never loathed her.

We jump to where we are all older. We are in the class of demon history. Adriana sits in the very front of the classroom, Narine at her side. I have just turned eighteen the day before.

Narine is looking around the room, smirking at me with an evil glint in her eyes. I roll mine as an answer. Then through the door walks Aron. He sniffs the room, looking around it in interest. His eyes settle on me, and he smiles this beautiful smile. One that makes my knees weak. I have had a crush on him for the longest time. He waves and walks up the stairs. Before he can go up to me, Narine grabs his hand.

“Hey Aron. Why don’t you sit with me and Adriana today?” She asks in a sickly sweet voice.

“Uhm.. I was actually going to sit with Jasmin.” He answers awkwardly. Right then, the teacher walks in and asks everyone to sit down. Aron sighs and sits beside Narine, giving me an apologetic look.

We jump in time and memory again.

“What the hell, Aron!” I yell in his face. He is standing in the cafeteria holding hands and talking intimately with Adriana. She goes scarlet in the face.

“Leave us alone, Jasmin.” She says to my younger self. Young me is seething with anger.

“Leave you alone? How about you leave me and my mate alone?” I ask stalking towards her. Aron puts her behind his back.

“Jass. We need to talk. We need to figure this out. I. We have something, and I can’t explain it, but Adriana is my mate and you need to leave her alone. I don’t know what you are playing at.” Young Jasmin is staring at him with wide, angry and sad eyes. Tears are streaming down her cheeks, and to my surprise, down my own.

“What I am playing at? Are you serious right now? I feel the.. You know what, never mind. I am not the one playing here.” My younger self answer.

Another jump land us in Narine’s room at the castle.

“Come on, Adri! We need to get going.” She yells out.

“I don’t know about this, Nari. This feels wrong somehow. The princess is claiming my mate as her own. And even though I feel the sparks and everything, something seems.. Wrong.” Adriana says with unsure eyes. Narine rolls her in response.

“How many times do I have to tell you, stupid? It is Jasmine who is wrong? She probably used dark magic to create a fake bond with him, and is trying to make you even more miserable.” She smiles a baracuda smile.

“You can create a fake mate bond.. That’s just wrong on so many levels.” Adriana answers angrily.

“Why would she even do that? I have done nothing to her. I have kept out of her and her brothers’ way, as they have asked me through you, and I have made no friends. Outside you, of course.” Narine shrugs her shoulders.

“Because she is a giant, spoiled cunt. And she deserves to have her birthday bash ruined this way! We need to get revenge on her. Come on!” The young Adriana nods, but still looks unsure.

They arrive at the birthday party my father always held. This was extra special, because I gained Sundancer and became a legal adult. Aron meets up with the two girls, kissing Adriana passionately.

“Hey gorgeous.” He greets her. My heart breaks all over again, watching this. Everyone has been quietly observing the event unfolding. Jonathan holds me close, cooing in my ear and running circles on my back to soothe me. Jasper has moved to my other side, holding on to my hand. This going to hurt, again.

“Hey handsome. Are you ready for this?” The young Adriana asks him. He nods, but doesn’t seem ready at all.

“Are we sure we want to go about it this way?” Aron asks the girls.

“I just asked the same question.” Adriana admits.

Narine rolls her eyes again, seeming really annoyed with her minions now.

“The spell can only be broken by rejection. I already told you two that a million times. She doesn’t justly deserve it, she needs it! Everyone needs it to see that their precious princess is not all that great. She is a cunning, spoiled little brat who thinks she can get everything for herself. She is so manipulative, and even you two can’t see that. It makes me sick.”

Both Adriana and Aron nods. They walk in hand in hand. Smiling at everyone. The room goes so silent you can hear a pin drop. Narine walks to the back of the room. Possibly to wallow in her success.

We watch as Aron claims the microphone, walking up to my younger self. Smiling at me and taking my hand. Then his smile turn sinister, and he declares in front of the entire room, that I have tried to use dark magic to create a fake mate bond, but it will not work. Not on him, when he has his true mate.

“I, Aron Clovenfield, rejects you, Jasmin Darkmoon, as my mate and princess.” As the real mate bond snaps and breaks, he falls to his knees in pain. Screaming to the crowd, to Narine, what this was? She has possibly told him it wouldn’t hurt. My younger self cries out at the pain, my brothers running to my side.

“I, Jasmin Darkmoon, accept your rejection.” I hiss before screaming in pain again. My heart breaks into a million pieces. Sundancer is screeching in agony in my head. She wants revenge on the one who did this.

Aron stands up and walks to Adriana. When he takes her hand, his eyes widen in disbelief. He shakes his head, looking between me and her wildly. Chanting no, no, no. Repeatedly. Adriana looks around the crowd. She is deadly pale, and when Jax yells for the guards to grab her, she flees.

– Back in the office –

The last memory dissolves, taking us back to the office. Adriana is crying hysterically, pleading with us to understand she didn’t know. My heart breaks for her! She really believed him to be her mate. Narine tricked and manipulated her all this time. Groomed from little to be her revenge on me. She used their friendship for the ultimate goal.

I fall to my knees again, having my heart break all over again from the memories and for her. The girl I should and could have saved. I should have done more. I feel it from my brothers. Their regrets. We knew Narine. We knew she wouldn’t have a friend because she liked her. But we did nothing. Or not enough.

I crawl over to the girl, sitting there alone on her pillow. Rocking back at forth, pleading with the world to forgive her. Jeremy is there as well, but whenever he tries to touch her, she screams bloody murder. I wave at him to stand back, which obviously is a great struggle.

I place my hand over her heart, and hers over mine. Taking in deep breaths. She is having a severe panic attack, and I need her to calm down before we can solve this.

“Adriana, breath. Just breath! Follow my heartbeat. You are having an anxiety attack. You need to breathe, love. Come on.” I soothe her, speaking in a soft voice. Her breath evens out, but before I can react, she faints.

Jeremy catches her before she can hit the floor. Well, maybe it’s more than an anxiety attack then I think, before I myself feel the world darken. The last thing I feel is someone catching me, and the sparks.