Crescent Legacy Nicole Taylor (top young adult novels .TXT) 📖

said it didn’t matter,” he whispered, clenching his fists. “You said it didn’t matter who I was before.”

“That was before I found out you’re the son of the woman who wants to kill me and destroy the world. The son who was part of…” I choked on the truth, my throat burning with unshed tears. “How many witches did you kill?”

Boone stared at me, his expression giving away everything. Countless. That was his unspoken answer. Countless.

“She’s in Ireland,” I said, staring past him. “You can go home now. You can go back to where you belong.”

With Boone at Carman’s side, she would know exactly how powerful I was, how I would react, and all the tricks I’d learned to master my magic. I was screwed. Utterly, completely, up shit creek without a paddle. I couldn’t kill him, so I had to let him go. I loved him.

Boone was still in there, and Dain… I didn’t know who Dain was, but he was in control now.

“Skye…”

“What could you possibly say to make this better?” I demanded. “What?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “I did bad things back then. I…” He glanced up at the hawthorn, his face twisted in pain. “I don’t belong there, and I never belonged here. Where do I go?”

“Away,” I snapped, not wanting to hear his broody nonsense.

Turning my back on him, I placed my hand on the ancient hawthorn. There was an opening here someplace, but even I didn’t know how to access it let alone unlock the binding keeping it shut. All of this heartache for a little door.

“I was home…” Boone murmured. “I wish… I wish I’d forgotten forever.”

When I finally had the courage to turn around, he was gone.

Chapter 11

I’d fallen in love with the enemy.

Playing with the talisman I’d made back in summer, I sighed. After Boone had left, I went home and retrieved it from the jewelry box on the nightstand in my room. Then I’d gone outside, intending on going back to Irish Moon, but I hadn’t made it past the carrot patch. There weren’t any carrots in it this time of year, so I was basically sitting in the dirt. Freak.

Without Boone… Without his love and companionship, how was I meant to go on?

Turning over the little golden crystal, I studied the facets and blemishes. The protective barrier was still active, maybe a little duller than before, but it was still there.

“Skye?”

I glanced up at the sound of Mairead’s voice. She was standing over me, looking like a ginormous thundercloud.

“Were you comin’ back to the shop?” she demanded. “Or were you just goin’ to leave me there like an eejit?”

I shrugged, the numbness spreading. It was becoming harder and harder to differentiate between the heartbreak and the cold.

The Goth girl’s angry expression faded. “What’s wrong? Why are you sittin’ in the dirt?”

I’d been so callous. With the Nightshade Witches and with Boone. I saw it now. Why people hated the Crescents. We were cold-hearted bitches who cared for nothing but our Legacy. I was arrogant in the worst possible way.

“Boone’s gone,” I said, clutching the talisman.

“What do you mean?” Mairead knelt beside me, the spot between her eyebrows knitted together so tight that she almost had a monobrow.

“He’s gone.”

“Where?”

I began to shake, the gravity of what had just happened out in the forest catching up with me.

“Skye… You’re wearin’ your crystal again…” She uncurled my fingers and pried the little spear of quartz from my grasp.

I snatched it back, never wanting to let my shield go. It helped me with the sluagh, so it would help me now.

Mairead frowned and sat in the first row next to me. “You’re really scarin’ me…”

Glancing at her, I knew I had a duty even though I felt like imploding. I was supposed to be a good role model and a protector of magic. Not a self-absorbed wallower in a carrot patch.

“You said Carman had three sons,” I began, gathering the first pieces of my shattered heart. “Boone… He’s one of them.”

“Huh?” Mairead’s mouth fell open.

I explained it to her in as few words as possible. How his brother was the one-eyed wolf, how he showed up on Christmas and unlocked Boone’s memories, and how Boone wasn’t going to tell me the truth. Every explanation that came out of my mouth felt like I was choking on razor blades.

“Maybe he was goin’ to tell you,” she said. “Maybe he just needed time.”

“It’s not that simple, Mairead!” I exclaimed. “When his memories came back, so did everything else. Who he was, who he is… Boone was just a person who stepped in to compensate for his lack of knowledge. Dain is back in control now, and Dain the wolf has gone back to his mummy.”

“Dain, the enemy you mean.”

I nodded.

Mairead pouted, looking like she was mad at me.

“Don’t look at me like that!” I exclaimed. “I loved him, Mairead. I was going to marry him! Don’t you understand what betrayal is?”

She nodded, glancing at the dirt beneath us. “I understand, Skye. I’m not a moody teenager anymore. I know about these things. You want to know what I think?”

I didn’t really want to hear anything, but I knew she was going to tell me one way or another.

“All this time he was in Derrydun, he didn’t know. Carman took away his memories, but what if the Boone we knew was always who he was?”

I didn’t want to admit she was right, but it was too late for second chances and righting wrongs. Carman was in Ireland, and she was coming. With Boone or without him.

“You’re making it worse,” I muttered.

Mairead leaned her head against my shoulder. “You still have me.”

For once in my life, I was out of smartass comebacks.

“Thanks,” I said, debating on whether or not I should tell her about the snowstorm that heralded Carman’s homecoming. Shaking my head, I decided not to and rose to my feet.

“Where are you goin’?” the Goth girl asked, mirroring my movement.

“To microwave some dinner. Want some?”

She screwed