2. Evelyn
2
Evelyn
I sat in the field, the remnants of the battle eerily absent—as if it had never happened. No broken bodies, shattered earth, or even a single drop of blood to stain the ground.
It was as though the earth had swallowed every trace, erasing it all.
But it couldn’t erase the void inside me.
The silence pressed down, amplifying the hollow ache Alister’s sacrifice left behind. I curled into myself, knees tucked to my chest, holding on so tightly it hurt, trying to hold the pieces of me together—because if I didn’t, I might shatter completely.
My wings popped out, securing themselves around me. But the void where Alister had been wasn’t just empty—it was ravenous. It pulled deep and wide at the edges of my soul, daring me to fall into the abyss.
For a fleeting moment, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to resist.
I wasn’t sure if I even could.
Wings beat the air, followed by pounding footsteps. I lifted my head, and my vision blurred with tears. Relief surged through me as I saw the guys sprint towards me. The sight of Lucien riding a hellhound, clinging to its fur for dear life, should have made me laugh, but I was too broken to find the humor.
Behind him, Rafe and Ryker flew, their wings slicing through the air. Chad blurred mid-run, shifting into his human form and sending Lucien to tumble off. Rafe swooped down and caught him effortlessly just as he was about to crash to the ground.
Before I could react, Chad barreled into me, his arms wrapping around me so tightly it hurt.
“Little witch!” he cried, squeezing me harder. “I can’t believe you’re here!”
The others closed in, each taking their turn to hug me fiercely. Their warmth wrapped around me, grounding me in the present. They were okay—all of them.
Chad pulled back just enough to look me in the eye. “Where’s Alister?” he asked, his voice laced with concern.
The mention of his name shattered me all over again. My heart tightened, and tears spilled hot and fast down my cheeks. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop them.
Rafe’s voice was quiet. “A sacrifice had to be made.”
I nodded, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. They embraced me again, passing me from one set of arms to another. Each hug brought a new wave of emotion—relief tangled with sorrow, love entwined with pain.
Lucien held me tight, his whisper barely audible. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
Confusion cut through the fog of my grief. I blinked at him, wiping my tears. “What do you mean? The battle was only moments ago.”
Lucien shook his head. “Evelyn, you’ve been gone for over a year.”
The words rooted me in place, cold shock rippling through me. I looked at each of them in turn, taking in their worn faces—dark circles under Lucien’s eyes, the stubble on Rafe’s usually smooth jawline, and the hardened edges of Chad and Ryker’s expressions.
A year.
An entire year had slipped away.
The weight of those lost months was etched into their faces. My heart ached as I took them in, realizing how much they had endured in my absence.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” I said, wrapping my arms around them in a group hug.
“We never stopped thinking of you.” Ryker’s deep voice was rough with emotion. “Not for a single day.”
Rafe’s hand found mine, his fingers intertwining in a comforting squeeze. “I called upon my brother for help. He confirmed you were being ‘detained’ in the Shadow Realm,” he explained, “but he was forbidden to intervene.”
Forbidden?
“He told us measures were being taken for your return, but he couldn’t elaborate further. We never lost faith,” he continued. “We knew you’d come back to us.”
“Yeah,” Chad confirmed. “Just took a little longer than we expected.”
“But why a year?” I asked, turning to Lucien. “Why would Hecate wait so long to send me back?”
Lucien shook his head. “We don’t know.”
I glanced around at the field. “What happened here? I mean, after Alister and I left?”
“We lost it when you disappeared,” Chad admitted. “It was pretty much mayhem.”
Ryker’s jaw tightened. “My father fled in the chaos.”
Lucien nodded grimly. “The Elders took advantage of the chaos. They escaped—and the rest of us were powerless to stop them.”
“Hecate mentioned magic was unstable. How did that affect you all?” I asked.
Lucien nodded. “Yes. It’s been flickering in and out for the past year. All supernatural beings were affected. The guys—” he nodded to Chad and Ryker “—could barely shift, and when they did, they couldn’t sustain it.”
“But it’s better now. Stronger. Like it used to be.” Rafe’s eyes lingered on me, thoughtful. “I think it stabilized when you came back, Evelyn. When I felt you on this plane again, everything snapped back into place. We got here as fast as we could.”
A heavy weight pressed against my chest. Everything that could go wrong had. “So everyone thinks Alister and I are dead?”
“We informed your friends,” Lucien started, “that you were in the Shadow Realm. And we did inform the Supernatural Law Enforcement Agency of what transpired here.” He waved at the field. “But they were skeptics.”
I nodded, absorbing everything, then swallowed hard, forcing myself to ask the question that had weighed on me since they arrived. “What about Lia? The last I saw her, she was spelled by Morgana. Is she okay?”
The guys exchanged uneasy glances, a silent conversation passing between them. My blood turned cold.
Rafe hesitated, then spoke softly. “Maybe we should talk about this back at the mansion—”
“No,” I interrupted. “Tell me now.”
Rafe sighed, dragging a hand over his face before finally meeting my gaze. “The Elders took her. We’ve been tracking her as much as we can. We believe they are using her as a vessel for the reincarnation of the goddess.”
The words froze me, and disbelief anchored me in place. My friend—my sister in all but blood—was now a vessel for a goddess.
“Eris,” I whispered.
“We were hoping you could confirm otherwise,” Lucien said cautiously. “But yes, based on what we’ve gathered, we concluded it has to be Eris.”
The ground seemed to shift beneath me as I tried to process everything.
Alister—gone.
A year lost.
My guys, who had suffered so much in my absence.
And Lia’s possession—trapped in a fate she would have never chosen.
I clung to Chad’s arm for support as the enormity of everything threatened to pull me under. The void inside me yawned wider, hungrier. Eris’s name echoed, but I kept seeing Lia’s face.
All the trauma I had buried deep inside—burning at the stake, Theo’s death, my parents’ murder, Alister’s sacrifice—rose like a flood. Everything I’d promised myself I’d face later crashed over me in relentless waves.
I had told myself I’d survive it and had no choice but to keep moving forward. To get revenge on the goddess who had already stolen so much from me.
But now, I wasn’t so sure.
Part of me was broken. The pain and sorrow inside me were heavy and suffocating, promising peace in surrender. As the void stretched wider, its pull grew stronger, tempting me to let go.
To stop fighting.
To give up.