I didn’t realize he was my other half when I met him, but he was. After our bonding ceremony, we couldn’t live apart. Not for long. Not if we wanted to live.
I knew I was too weak to fight anyone tonight. I’d been pushed to the brink of death fighting the queen’s magic for twenty-one long months. It was a poison in my veins, weaving through my soul, sucking the life from my body. It made me forget who I was, what I was, and everything important to me.
My wolf paid the price of keeping me alive until Dastien found me. But I was with him now. I would eat and rest and heal.
At least I would if I could do this.
I had to push through. One more thing and then I could relax for a while.
So, I took the energy and power that Dastien sent me and prayed it’d be enough.
One more fight.
One more night.
One more and then I was taking a break from all of this. So, I needed to make this one, last thing count.
When my brother had been hurt and we’d been pulling up to the warehouse, I saw so many different ways this could go. So many terrible ways. Endings with us dying. Endings with fey wars. Endings with so much needless death. Innocents. Humans. Werewolves. Fey. Witches.
The futures I saw terrified me, and there wasn’t one that ended well. Almost every time we fought, we lost. Even when we won, the cost wasn’t worth it.
Which meant I couldn’t fight this. I couldn’t start a war with the fey. Not then and not now. I had to find a way to end this.
The only path to stopping our destruction started with my surrender.
And today, tonight, right now, that path ended.
I wasn’t sure what lay beyond this, but if I could pull this off, then I at least had some hope for what came next.
Van pulled us through realms. The black abyss swamped me—tossing and turning me through space on the worst rollercoaster of my life—until we landed in the middle of the Lunar Court’s throne room.
In the middle of a battle.
Swords clanged against swords. The walls were flickering quickly. I was sure it meant something, but what? Warning? Defense? Instructions? There was so much magic being flung around the room that it was enough to drown in, but I was here to do one job. I would do it and leave and never come back.
I didn’t know enough about the fey to know who was good and who was bad. Were they all from the Lunar Court? Or was this an intercourt war? Van hadn’t said who started the fight or why.
Our group stayed tight in the center of the chaos, but we couldn’t stay there.
“Van?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
“War,” he said, and now I knew why he was still carrying his sword in his hand.
Cosette flicked her wrist, and her flaming sword appeared.
Lucas and Blaze shifted.
They were about to jump into the battle, but they couldn’t. We didn’t know enough. They didn’t understand that this had to stop. This fight—this war—it wasn’t happening. At least not yet.
The bond that linked the new council together pulsed. Each tie led to me. I felt their magic rising as they primed themselves for the battle ahead.
But I had another use for their magic.
I pulled it into myself until the tingles of magic on my skin turned into burning, searing pain. And then I let it brew some more, until Dastien squeezed my hand.
That’s enough! He shouted at me through our bond.
It’s okay. I’m fine.