Read Online Opal's Wish: Book Four of The Crystal Warriors Series by Maree Anderson - Free Book Online

okay.”
    Opal squeezed her eyelids shut against the censure in this stranger’s gaze. If he hadn’t been there for Sera….
    “And where was this young paragon of reliability she trusted to look after her child while this was happening?” His tone dripped acid, and Opal was glad she’d shut her eyes so she couldn’t see his expression. “In
her
bed, being tupped like a wh— ” She heard him counting beneath his breath. “In bed with her young man. Oblivious to Sera’s distress. If I hadn’t escaped the crystal when I did—”
    She opened her eyes in time to witness the horror in his expression that mirrored her own. Without Sera, what was the point of fighting the past anymore? She pushed back the wave of terror at the thought of losing her daughter.
    “Escaped the crystal? You seriously want us to believe that you came out of a fricking
crystal
?” Desiree had pounced on Dan’s unusual phrasing. She wasn’t giving him an inch. And much as Opal wanted to know exactly what had gone on in her absence, she also wanted this confrontation to be over. She wanted nothing more than to tuck Sera into bed and lay beside her until she fell asleep. And then crawl into her own bed… and figure out how to give Stella North the bad news, because no way was Opal leaving Sera with another sitter after this.
    “Come to think of it, Dan,” Desiree was saying when Opal tuned in again, “why did you crash this party in the first place? Did the old guy next door ask you to check in on Sera or something?”
    Dan shook his head.
    “Huh. No way someone who just happened to be strolling past the house could have known Sera was having an asthma attack, so how come—?”
    “It’s true,” Sera insisted, and wriggled until Opal set her on her feet. “Mr. Stone gave me a wishing crystal. I was supposed to give it to you, Mommy, but I wished for Dan. And when the crystal broke he came out and helped me.”
    Opal squatted on her haunches and took her daughter by the shoulders, willing her to listen. “S-S-Sweetheart—”
    “It’s true, Mommy. Tell her, Dan!”
    The vehemence in Sera’s voice about broke Opal’s heart. Damn Peter Stone for filling her daughter’s head with fairytale nonsense about a dratted hunk of stone. Obviously she needed to have a talk with him sooner rather than later.
    And damn
this
man, too, for pretending it was all true and feeding a little girl’s wild dreams. Wishes didn’t come true. You got dealt a crap hand and you had to figure out how to live with it. Life wasn’t a fairytale, and happy-ever-afters were for storybooks. There was a logical explanation for all this. She just needed to get to the bottom of it. Later.
    “’Tis true.” Dan’s full lips compressed into a stubborn, uncompromising line. “I was imprisoned in the crystal for centuries. And then Seraphine—” He sucked in a sharp breath and dug his fingertips into his temples.
    Opal winced in sympathy. If that grimace and those deeply etched lines across his forehead were anything to go on he was suffering a killer migraine.
    “And then?” Desiree’s unsympathetic tone left no doubt she expected an answer.
    “She called me from the crystal,” Dan said.
    “Who did?”
    “Seraphine.” His eyes rolled up until only the whites showed. He gave a hoarse moan and crumpled.

Chapter Four
    “Dan!” Sera lunged toward the stricken man but Opal grabbed her arm, hauling her in for a tight hug, attempting to shield Sera if her “friend” had suffered something devastating—an aneurism or the like.
    “Ssshhh, Sera. C-C-Calm down.” Easier said than done, Opal knew.
She
wasn’t the least bit calm. Her heart was thudding like she’d run a record-breaking mile. And the thought of this beautiful, arrogant, hard-as-nails man struck down by some unseen affliction, maybe even
dying
before her eyes, made her feel frosty-cold and shivery like she’d never be warm again.
    Desiree had dropped to her knees and pressed her fingers to