Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 516

Chapter 516

XENOIS

“I got you killed in another timeline, Riley said flatly.

“No, Sophia got him killed,” I corrected. “And me. And Lumina. We all failed in that timeline because we were being manipulated by someone who’d

spent years perfecting her control techniques. But this isn’t that timeline, Riley. This is the one where we got it right.”

“Because Mom died and came back knowing what to look for, Riley said.

“Because someone gave me a second chance, Lumina agreed. “And that brings us to the part of this conversation you really need to understand.

She explained about Janice-the necromancer who’d sent her back, the promise she’d made and broken, the debt that was now coming due. I watched our children’s faces as they processed increasingly impossible information.

Lake looked confused but accepting-he dealt with dimensional portals daily, so time manipulation probably didn’t seem that far-fetched. Ollie seemed scared but trying to be brave. Riley’s expression was calculating, his tactical mind already working through possibilities.

And Shawn-Shawn looked furious.

This necromancer, Shawn said when Lumina finished explaining. “She’s threatening to take you away after we defeat Jerome?”

‘She’s collecting a debt I owe,” Lumina corrected. “It’s not quite the same as a threat.”

‘Sounds like a threat to me,” Shawn said, and I could see his plasma abilities starting to activate in response to his anger. His hands were beginning to glow that distinctive blue-white. “Someone says ‘pay up or I’ll destroy everything you’ve built-that’s definitely a threat.”

‘Shawn, calm down,” I said, recognizing the signs of him losing control. “Your plasma abilities-

“I can vaporize her,” Shawn interrupted, his voice taking on a dangerous edge. “When she shows up to collect this debt. I can hit her with enough plasma

radiation to eliminate her completely. Problem solved.”

“She exists outside normal reality, Lumina said gently. I don’t think plasma blasts would affect her any more than any other physical weapon.

“We don’t know that until we try, Shawn insisted. ‘And I’m not just letting some cosmic entity take you without a fight. You’re my sister in law now.

Family. We protect family.”

The simple declaration-the fierce protectiveness from this seventeen-year-old my parents adopted just weeks ago-made my chest tight with emotion.

“I appreciate that,” Lumina said. “More than you know. But Shawn, Janice can reset time. If we attack her, if we try to avoid payment she Il undo

everything. Put us back in that nightmare timeline where Ollie dies and I die. We can’t risk that.”

“So we just accept it?’ Shawn demanded. Just let her take you?

“We prepare, Riley said, his tactical mind overriding his guilt. We document everything Mom knows about the other timeline. We research necromancers and cosmic debts. We find out if anyone has successfully negotiated with entities like Janice. And we make contingency plans for multiple

scenarios.

“That’s very practical, I observed.

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Chapter 516

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Practicality is all I have right now,” Riley said quietly. “If I let myself feel everything I’m feeling about-about being responsible for the other timeline- I’ll shut down completely. So I’m choosing to be tactical instead.”

‘You weren’t responsible, I repeated firmly. “Riley, I need you to understand this. You were a victim. A child being used by an adult with malicious intent. None of what happened in that timeline was your fault.”

“Then whose fault was it?’ Riley challenged. “If not mine, if not yours because you were controlled, if not Mom’s because she was trying her best-whose fault was it that everything fell apart?”

“Sophia’s, Ollie said simply. She was the bad person doing bad things. That makes it her fault.”

“And Andy’s, Lake added. “She kidnapped Riley as a baby. That started everything.

“And mine, I admitted. “Because even under magical control, I should have been stronger. Should have fought harder against the compulsion. Should

have noticed something was wrong with how I was treating my family.”

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