Moonflower- A Lunar Chronicles Fanfiction

Chapter 19

"What?"
The exclamation escaped from Cynthia's lips before she could stop to think. How did he know...? Was he really her mother's father?
Dianem nodded slowly. "I see the confusion on your face princess. I promise I can explain everything. Why don't you all take a seat?" The ancient man motioned to the table in the corner of the bookshelves.
Cynthia started to make her way to the table, but Leo reached out his arm and blocked her path. His other hand cautiously started to reach toward the holster on his hip. "Professor how could you possibly know you are Empress Selene's father? I didn't even know you were Lunar."
He was nervous. He was worried this wasn't his professor. Cynthia could hear it in his abnormally uncertain voice. He didn't move his hand even as Dianem slowly and painfully lowered himself into a chair himself at the table.
"What's wrong with Lunars boy? Your own mother is one isn't she?" He challenged Leo. "C'mon Mr. Thorne sit down and let me explain."
Leo bristled as if following Dianem's directions were the thing he wanted to do least at that moment, but he dropped his arm and Cynthia took a seat at the table across from the man who claimed to be her mother's father, her grandfather.
The professor nodded, seemingly satisfied with the princess at least. "I'll keep my explanation brief. There's truly no time to lose. I'm afraid the empress is in grave danger."
"First you all should know," he said in the direction of Solstice and Fitz who had slowly crept toward seats at the table flanking Cynthia. Leo remained standing. "That the stories the empress's father was some scum off the streets of Artemisia Channary ran off to meet are completely false. At the time I was a wealthy Lunar merchant looking to climb the ranks of Artemisia society, so you can imagine I was honored beyond belief when the queen came to my booth one day. She was disguised, they would not have let her out of the palace otherwise, and when she ducked underneath the canopy of my stall and removed her carefully crafted glamour I was struck by her beauty. I was so flabbergasted I couldn't say a thing to her the entire time. She ordered a mirror, my craft, and left. It was one of the best days of my life."
"That sounds like my parents," Cynthia whispered under her breath, but Dianem didn't seem to hear.
"I put all of my heart and soul into that mirror. I crafted the metal workings for hours at a time. It had to be perfect, I wanted her to love it."
Cynthia watched his face dance with emotion. His eyes shone like a boy in love while he told the story. Perhaps time had separated him from the stories of Channary's carelessness.
"When she returned and saw the mirror, she loved it as much as I had hoped, and for the first time she seemed to look at me. And stars, it worked. I was looking for status and she was looking for a forbidden adventure. Within weeks I knew I was in love, hopelessly in love with the queen of Luna. It was absolutely preposterous, and yet to me it made all the sense in the world."
Cynthia felt eyes on her. She glanced up at Leo, and he quickly turned his eyes away.
"About a year later Channary found out she was pregnant, and she was so happy. Before, though I had loved her, she had been a bit temperamental, but when she found out she was going to be a mother she became blissful. We were both overjoyed, I even helped her pick up the name Selene. "
The professor's voice grew sad, his expression drawn. "Rumors began to spread that the baby was the offspring of scum off the street. Everyone knew she snuck away often, and her developing illness seemed to only prove it. I couldn't take it. One night during a dinner together, in a fog of infatuation I proposed to her. Me, a common merchant asked for the queen's hand. She refused. She couldn't ruin her image she explained. The next day her personal guard dragged me onto a ship bound for America, and I never saw Channary again."
The crew was silent. Solstice sniffed. Fitz shifted uncomfortably, but Leo still stood protectively over the group. Cynthia's heart ached for the professor, but she still wasn't sure she believed him.
"I found a modest job at a university and tried to keep a low profile, but every day I would check the feeds for news of Channary and my child. I watched her presentation live on the feeds, and I cried. There she was, my little Selene. I could see her but never meet her. It broke my heart. I received a package from a lunar messenger two weeks later. You can imagine my delight when inside I found a tiny shoe. On the bottom the name Selene curled in graceful silver thread. I had seen the princess wearing the exact shoe at her presentation."
The man pulled a tiny sphere of silver fabric from his pocket.
"At first I hid it in my apartment, but the day the news of the fire broke I couldn't let it go. I've kept it in my pocket ever since."
"This doesn't make any sense! Why have you never come to the palace and told my mom you're her father?" Asked Cynthia.
The man shook his head. "Selene doesn't need me. I'm just another citizen of earth to her now, but I'm very proud of everything she's done. She doesn't need me though. I'm only old baggage that would weigh her down."
Solstice cut in, "Don't you think she deserves to meet her father though? The empress has lived her entire life thinking she is an orphan. Don't you owe it to yourself to meet the daughter Queen Channary kept from you?"
The professor was about to answer, but the elevator door dinged and the doors slid slowly open. A tall dark figure emerged from behind the doors. Her terrifyingly beautiful thaumaturge face flickered in the candlelight of the underground library. Cynthia drew in a sharp breath, and Leo drew his gun aiming it at the figure's head.
"Thaumaturge Nyx," seethed the elderly professor.
Leo fired.