Epilogue
Diana
T he grimoire was a weight in the bag slung over my shoulder, the demon killing blade resting in a sheath next to it. Though the further I got from the Werewolf Territory, the lighter the bag seemed to be. Strange. When I’d first picked the book up, it had taken all my strength to lift it from its hiding place by the river.
“Fucking Maverick,” I grumbled under my breath. To think that all along he’d been dabbling, tempting fate, carrying a curse…and I’d let him just walk into my life.
Gods, I felt like a fool, even now. Shame still burned me that I could be taken in by Maverick so many times. That I had been blind to his treacherous nature.
Worse, that he’d gotten away from us after the battle of the clans. Slipping away before he could be held accountable. Anger and shame warred within me, and I struggled to breathe past that deadly combination.
Through the bond with Raven, I felt his calm reach toward me. A flow of love that was so strong and solid I could have physically leaned into it. The shame faded some, and the anger slid away. “Thank you, love.”
He knew how much I beat myself up about Maverick. No matter what he said, no matter how he tried to show me that it hadn’t been my fault, I couldn’t help but take the blame for all the deaths—deaths that Maverick had caused in an attempt to overthrow everything.
I blew out a breath and tried to focus on the world around me. This part of the forest skirted several borders. The river running down the length of our territories acted a bit like a natural border.
The forest of the wolves gave way to ethereal plants, gossamer leaves, and songbirds of such beauty that it took all I had to keep walking.
The fae would not bother me, as long as I stayed close to the river. Or at least, I hoped Cleona would hold to her word. Not that she was a liar but…I did not fully trust the fae queen. I wasn’t sure I ever could with her fickle nature.
The river hustled along beside me, tumbling south.
I took a step and the weight in my bag suddenly redoubled.
“Damn.” I tried turning to cross the river and the same weight was there. Just as an experiment, I stepped backward, toward the werewolf territory. Same increase of weight. I turned left and the weight lessened.
Good enough for me.
I kept on moving, knowing that I was in a sort of no-man’s land. There were these strange little pockets of neutrality here and there over the continent. Like Myrr’s hut. The ruins. And, apparently, this witch’s haven.
The forest was different here again. Darker, the branches of the trees sparser, dotted with long hanging moss, and rot. I sniffed the air. Rot and magic. They both lay heavy on the land here.
Other than Raven, no one knew I was here. Not that it mattered where I went any longer—I was no longer queen. Hell, I was a vampire in enemy territory no matter how I looked at it.
I shook my head. No, not enemy—allied territory. And that was what this was about. We needed all the allies we could muster to face Lilis. If this witch was as powerful as Maverick said, then it couldn’t hurt to have someone like her on our side.
My brothers would have shit bricks if they knew I was coming here. We’d all been raised on the stories of witches ravishing the land, of them stealing children and destroying crops. Yet…I wondered if that was even true. The way Maverick’s memories had played out, she hadn’t seemed like that at all. She’d seemed reasonable at the worst, and, at the best, she’d seemed to have a true desire to help. I could only hope that that had not changed in her, that Maverick and the years since he’d seen her last had not hardened her.
The shard seemed to warm inside of me as I took a few steps into a small clearing. This was the space. The earth was soft beneath my feet, moss and loam sinking at my every step.
I pulled the bag around and held it up. “Lady of the forest, I bring something that belongs to you. A bastard named Maverick took it many years ago, and I would return it to you.”
Around me the forest stilled. The bird song had faded. The light brightened and the ground below me shifted. I stumbled backward as a chimney and roof erupted from the ground, shooting upward, followed by a cottage of wood and beam, wrapped in deep green vines with even deeper red ruby flowers hanging like heavy droplets.
The door burst open, and a woman strode out. Her skin was as dark as Evangeline’s, but her eyes were silver, rimmed in gold.
She was, in a word, stunning in her beauty. But it was her smile that caught me off guard.
“Diana. Huntress. Vampire. Werewolf. Queen.” She tipped her head. “You carry the Veil well, young one.”
Young?
A shiver went through me. “You know my name, but I do not know yours.”
Her smile widened. “Yes, yes, I believe I can give you my name. Khalida.”
Her name echoed between us, rippling with power. I tipped my head. “An honor to meet you, Khalida.”
She motioned with her hand to enter her house, and it was my turn to smile. “I thank you for your generosity of your home and hearth, but I came only to return this.”
We were close enough that when I held the bag out to her, she was able to take it, her long, tapered nails clacking. “You found my grimoire.”
“Maverick hid it, at the river where I met him. I suppose it got too heavy at that point, and he could carry it no further.” I grimaced. “He’s a dick.”
Khalida’s head snapped up and she laughed. “He is that, isn’t he? But why do you seem so…upset?”
Strangely I found myself spilling the truth. “He fooled me so many times. He caused so many deaths. I should have let that demon have him on the river all those years ago!”
She huffed as she flipped her grimoire open. “Regret is a strange thing.”
“Do you regret giving him the blade?” I motioned at the bag. “I returned it as well.”
“No. That was paid for. He stole only the book.” She handed me the bag back. “The blade is yours now, princess.”
I blinked. “Princess?”
“Are you not a child of the vampire king? You may no longer be queen, but you are still a princess.” Her head tipped to one side. “What do you wish in return for the grimoire?”
I almost said we wanted her as an ally. To face down the dark goddess. But…I just couldn’t.
“I was going to ask for you to be an ally to our cause but…I do not want to have an ally whose hand has been forced. You cannot trust them. Take the book as a boon. A righting of at least one wrong that Maverick caused.” I took a step back.
Movement in the doorway drew my eyes. A second woman stood in the doorway. She had her mother’s frame, but her skin was lighter, as if I’d caught the night sky just as the dawn approached. Her hair was lighter too, hints of gold and copper threaded through the long curls. But it was the shape of her eyes and mouth that had me staring. It couldn’t be…she looked like him . Maverick.
“Yes. That is his daughter. And the only reason why I didn’t kill him outright. A gift of a child is no small thing in our world, Diana. You know this.” Khalida smiled fondly. “Perhaps one day you will know her name too, but today is not that day.”
Her daughter straightened. “I am no longer a child, Mother. With her here, the signs are aligned.”
Khalida sighed, her smile slipping. “You are not a child, my love.”
I didn’t understand exactly what was going on between them, but I felt the tension rising.
“It is time, Mother. I am ready to take my step in what the fates demand of me. You know that her arrival is a sign. When the lost queen returns that which was stolen, the stars wait for me to face my fate.”
Khalida clasped her hands to her chest over the book. “Yes, that is as it was said at your birth.”
Her daughter stepped out of the doorway; her smile fiercer than her mother’s. “Then I go, and with my leaving I take the knowledge that my mother loves me. And that the world needs me to become the witch I am meant to be.”
There was a crack in the air, like lightning, and Khalida’s daughter was gone.
The witch’s shoulders slumped. “She is headstrong. But her heart is good, Diana. Please remember that.”
“You think she will cross paths with me?”
Khalida’s smile trembled. “She will, I am sure of it. But not yet. Not yet.”
A shudder passed through her, and she looked over me as if her only child had not just disappeared in front of us. “I hear the animals speak of you, Diana, of your loss.”
I blinked at her, the change in direction throwing me off balance. “My father?”
“As devastating as that loss surely was, it is the natural order of things to lose a parent. This is deeper than that…” She shook her head with a sad smile. “Your wolf.”
Pain lanced through me. “I–yes. It is perhaps the greatest loss of my life. She was my strength when I did not think I could continue. She taught me to be brave again, to be strong when I knew I was on the right path.” I struggled to keep my words balanced and not full of tears. There would never be a day that passed, that I did not miss my wolf. Her strength. Her love. Her friendship. It wasn’t like the love of a pet, or what I felt for Kevin the hell-hound. It had been like losing one half of a whole. My twin heart.
Khalida stepped back. “A gift then, from ally to ally.” She rolled her wrist and sparks danced in the air between us, silvery white and blue. They hovered and then fell and when I looked up, Khalida was gone, as was her house.
I blinked and shook my head. “Good luck, Khalida, to you and your daughter.”
A crack of twigs behind me had me tensing. I was close enough that a demon could have wandered this way—and, seeing as they would fight me, even now, with Gabe aligning with us…well, it was in their nature to kill first and never ask questions later.
I crouched and pulled the glowing blade free from its sheath. “Show yourself.”
Another crack of twigs. A shadowy figure ghosting between the trees.
I stood up, chills sweeping through me. It couldn’t be. I nearly dropped the blade, fumbling to get it back into its sheath.
White fur, high black socks, the black tipped ears, the black tipped tail. It could not be her and yet…there was no other with her coloring.
A name I’d never uttered out loud, one I’d barely allowed myself to think of slipped from my lips. “Eira?”
The wolf stopped and turned, frosted blue eyes staring into my soul. I dropped to my knees; certain I was seeing things. Either this was the cruelest of tricks or the greatest of gifts.
Eira stalked toward me, ears pricked, eyes on mine. She stopped only inches from me, the blast of her warm breath washing over my face, warming the tears that flowed down my cheeks.
My hand shook as I lifted it towards her, certain that I would encounter nothing but empty space, certain that I was seeing things. Yet the hope…the hope that bloomed in my chest was all I could hang onto.
Slowly, I pressed my hand to the side of her muzzle, feeling the warmth under my fingertips, the solid press of fur tickling against my skin.
“Eira.”
I collapsed forward and she surged toward me at the same time, half catching me against her solid shoulder. Sobs wracked my body, as I clung to the other half of my soul, and I knew then that anything was possible.
That no matter the doubt and fears that plagued us as we faced down the darkest of goddesses, that perhaps, just perhaps, love was truly enough to see us through this.
Hope was enough. Faith in one another was enough.
I felt more than saw Lycan’s presence, as if his hand rested on my shoulder. Even those who’d left us were still fighting from the other side, to help us through.
I blinked back tears as I sat back on my heels, my hands buried deep in the ruff around Eira’s neck. Her eyes gazed deep into mine, sparkling with energy and the connection that she and I had always had.
She let out a soft huff of air and I grinned, knowing what she wanted as if she were still a part of me. “Yes. Let’s run. And then let’s go find our next key. We have a goddess to stop, Eira. Are you ready?”
Her lips rippled up over her teeth and she tipped back her head.
And howled defiance to the world.
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