Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 504

Chapter 504

LUMINA

“It’s not wrong, Janice said. “But it’s not what we agreed to. And now, Lumina, I’ve come to collect my payment.”

Terror shot through me. “What payment? What do you want?”

“I’m not going to tell you that, Janice said, and her smile was absolutely chilling. “Not yet. I just wanted you to know that I’m watching. That I remember our agreement even if you chose to ignore it. And that when the time comes-when this final battle with Jerome concludes-1 will collect what I’m owed.

“Please, I begged. “Tell me what you want. Let me prepare. Let me-

“No, Janice interrupted. “You don’t get to prepare. You don’t get to plan around this or find some clever way to avoid payment. That’s not how debts work in my world.”

She moved closer until we were nearly touching, and I could feel cold radiating from her form. “But I will tell you this much-the payment will be proportional to what you received. I gave you time, knowledge, and the power to change fates. What I take will be equivalent in value.”

“Are you going to kill me?’ I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

“Death is too simple,” Janice said. “And too final. No, Lumina, what I’ll take from you will be something that matters. Something that makes you understand the true cost of the gift I gave you.”

She stepped back, and the fog around us began to swirl more rapidly. “I’m being generous, you understand. I could have collected immediately. Could have appeared the moment you broke our agreement and demanded payment. But I’m allowing you to finish what you started. To see this conflict with Jerome through to its conclusion. To ensure your family survives the war you helped prevent in your first timeline.”

“Why?” I asked. “Why let me finish if you’re just going to take something from me anyway?”

“Because I’m curious,” Janice admitted. ‘Curious to see what you’ll do with the time you have left. Curious whether you’ll tell your mate the truth or continue carrying this secret alone. Curious if knowing I’m coming to collect will change how you face these final battles.”

The fog was getting thicker now, obscuring Janice’s form. But her voice still carried clearly.

“One more thing, Lumina. A warning, since I’m feeling generous. That timeline you escaped-the one where Ollie died and you died and Xenois held your corpse while you cursed him-I could make that reality again. I have the power to unmake everything you’ve changed, to reset events back to that original trajectory. So don’t even think about trying to avoid payment or find some loophole. Accept what’s coming with grace, or I’ll take everything you’ve worked to build and return you all to that nightmare.”

‘No, I gasped. “Please, anything but that. Don’t hurt my family. Don’t take away what we’ve built.”

Then pay your debt when I come to collect, Janice said simply. Accept the cost of the gift you received. And maybe maybe your family can keep the happiness you manufactured through time manipulation.”

The fog swallowed her completely, and I felt myself falling, tumbling through darkness toward-

Light. Harsh, fluorescent light that made me squint.

I was lying in a hospital bed, my chest aching, monitors beeping steadily beside me. The dream-vision-whatever it was-faded slightly, but the

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Chapter 504

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memory remained crystal clear.

Janice. The necromancer who’d sent me back. Who’d given me a second chance at the cost of a promise I’d broken.

And who was coming to collect payment I couldn’t predict or prepare for.

“Lumina?” Xenois’s voice, thick with relief. “Oh thank god, you’re awake.”

I turned my head to find him sitting beside the bed, looking haggard and terrified in a way I’d never seen before. Our boys were clustered around him- Ollie on his lap, Riley and Lake pressed against his sides, all of them staring at me with worried eyes.

“Hi, I managed, my voice hoarse. “Sorry for scaring you.”

‘Sorry?” Xenois repeated incredulously. “You had a heart attack, Lumina. You nearly died. Sorry doesn’t begin to cover it.”

I tried to sit up, but pain lanced through my chest and I fell back against the pillows. The heart attack had been real, then. Not just part of the vision.

“What happened?” I asked, though I knew. The stress, the weight of secrets, the approaching confrontation with Jerome-it had all become too much. My heart had literally given out under the pressure.

J

“The doctors said it was cardiac arrest, Xenois explained. “Extremely rare for someone your age and health profile. They’re running tests to determine

the underlying cause.”

They wouldn’t find one. Not a medical one, anyway. The heart attack had been my body responding to the debt coming due. A warning from Janice that

time was running out.

“Mom, are you okay?” Ollie asked, his small voice breaking slightly. “You looked really scary. All pale and not breathing right.”

I reached out and managed to touch his face despite the IV in my arm. ‘I’m okay, baby. Just tired. My heart needed a break.”

“That’s not how hearts work, Riley observed with his usual clinical precision. “But the doctors say you’ll recover fully with rest. Ninety-seven percent

probability.”

Ninety-seven percent. That meant three percent chance something could still go wrong.

Three percent chance Janice might collect her debt before I was ready.

“I need to rest,’ I agreed, though what I really needed was time to process what had just happened. Time to figure out what Janice might take from me Time to decide whether to tell Xenois the truth.

“The offensive operations,’ I started, but Xenois cut me off immediately.

“Can wait,” he said firmly. “Lumina, you nearly died. That takes priority over everything else.”

But Jerome-

Will still be there when you’re recovered, Xenois insisted. Right now, you need to focus on healing.

I wanted to argue. Wanted to explain that we didn’t have unlimited time, that something was coming and we needed to finish this before

Before what? Before Janice collected her debt? How would rushing into battle with Jerome help with that?

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