Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 323

Chapter 323

LUMINA

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The morning after our return to Silver Creek had been surprisingly peaceful, all things considered. Xenois had somehow managed to convince the elders to postpone the council meeting until the weekend-four days away-which gave us a reprieve I desperately needed. Four days to get the boys settled, to establish some sense of normalcy, to prepare myself for the inevitable interrogation about where we’d

been and what had happened to Riley.

Four days felt simultaneously like too much time and not nearly enough.

“Mom, do I really have to fill out all these forms?” Ollie complained from the passenger seat, clutching a stack of papers that seemed

absurdly bureaucratic for a five-year-old’s life.

“Yes,” I said firmly, navigating through Silver Creek’s downtown traffic. “All of them. Riley needs official documentation that he’s back,

and Lake needs identification papers so he can actually exist in society.”

In the back seat, Riley was staring out the window with that distant expression he’d worn almost constantly since starting the medication. Lake sat beside him, quiet and watchful in the way that suggested he was cataloging every detail of his new environment for

potential threats.

The immigration office was a squat brick building that looked like it hadn’t been updated since the 1970s. Inside, it smelled like old coffee and bureaucratic despair. The woman behind the counter-a middle-aged human with tired eyes and a name tag that read “Debra”-

looked up as we entered.

“Can I help you?” she asked in that tone that suggested helping us was the last thing she wanted to do.

“We need to file paperwork for my sons,” I said, injecting as much luna authority into my voice as possible without being overtly supernatural about it. “Riley Blackwood was taken five years ago and has been recently recovered. Lake- I hesitated, realizing we’d never discussed what last name he’d use. “Lake Blackwood needs new identification papers.”

Debra’s expression shifted from bored to suspicious. “Lake Blackwood? Is he adopted?”

“He’s under our guardianship,” I said, which was technically true even if it sidestepped the more complicated reality. “We’re in the

process of making it official.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but something in my expression must have convinced her it wasn’t worth the effort. “Fine. I’ll need both boys to fill out these forms, have their pictures taken, and provide any existing documentation you might have.”

The forms were extensive and invasive in that special way government paperwork always managed to be. Riley filled his out with mechanical precision, his handwriting neat and controlled. Lake took longer, occasionally glancing at me with questions about information he didn’t have-birthdate, place of birth, previous addresses. We made up plausible answers that would satisfy the bureaucracy without raising too many red flags.

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Chapter 323

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The photo session was awkward. Riley’s smile looked forced, his eyes still carrying that medicated flatness that made my chest ache. Lake’s expression was carefully neutral, giving away nothing. When Debra handed me the temporary papers-official documents would take two weeks to process-I felt something loosen in my chest.

This was real. Riley was officially back. Lake was officially part of our family, at least on paper.

“Can we get ice cream now?” Ollie asked as we climbed back into the car. “To celebrate?”

“Ice cream sounds perfect,” I agreed, pulling out of the parking lot.

The local ice cream shop was a Silver Creek institution, the kind of place that had been around for generations and served portions that were criminally oversized. Ollie ordered his usual-chocolate chip cookie dough with extra gummy bears-while I got vanilla. Riley and Lake both ordered strawberry, though I noticed they picked at their cones more than actually ate them.

“You don’t like it?” I asked gently, watching Lake stare at his ice cream like it was a puzzle he couldn’t solve.

“It’s… fine,” he said, which was clearly a lie. “Just different from what I’m used to.”

I didn’t ask what he was used to. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what Andy had fed the children she’d kept captive in her facility.

Riley wasn’t eating his either, just letting it melt down the cone while he stared at nothing. The medication did that-dampened not just his emotions but his appetite, his interest in things that should have brought him joy. I hated it. Hated seeing my son so diminished,

so absent from his own life.

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12:56 Thu, Jan 29 M..

Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart