Chapter 33
Reverie
We rode hard through the forest, mist curling low on the ground, Mira leading the way with Pantar by her side, their tentacles waving around, scenting for danger. Kharox followed in silence, hulking, protective, terrifying to look at but calming in his presence.
My men stayed close.
Too close.
Nathan kept glancing at the shadows. Zane nearly rode backwards in his saddle half the time to keep an eye on me. Jet never took his eyes off me, insisting I ride with him. Zeke was half-shifted into his Draxon form, feeding me snacks from his saddlebags now and then.
And my Oren was more stressed than all of them combined, shifting his gaze between me and our surroundings, never relaxing his guard for a second.
Ahead, Tanya, Razor, and Malik joined our formation, ready to help execute whatever plan would get Trent alone without any of us ending up dead. Razor had insisted on coming because he knew the ins and outs of Bellona along with my father, Sly.
Speaking of my fathers... they traveled at the back of our group, surrounding my mother. Each of them was edgy about having her and me exposed like this. But on the other hand, they understood that if they wanted Rue back, all of this was necessary.
I tried to keep my breathing steady. I’d ridden horses my whole life, but these animals were huge, and I was still a little hesitant around them.
One minute I was gripping Jet’s waist, and the next… the world tore away.
A cold voice whispered inside me. “Remember, child of my blood.”
I didn’t have time to scream before the vision hit.
White stone. Silver banners. A queen’s heartbeat.
I wasn’t me.
I was her.
Lilibet.
Standing in her throne room with magic pulsing through my veins like starlight. The six Faction marks burned bright across six chests. Mine glowed at the center.
Love.
Unity.
Power.
Destiny.
And then—
The prophecy.
A voice like thunder cracking inside my skull. “One life must be given to save the realm.”
I felt the truth settle like a stone.
It had to be me.
The Ancestors demanded the queen.
My Faction—my heart—knelt before me one by one.
“We’ll support your decision,” Bren whispered.
“We tried to find another way, but we understand now.” Ambrose's deep voice spoke loudly, filled with assurance. “Our sacrifice will be rewarded, and we’ll live again together.”
Each man nodded in agreement, their face full of grief, but hope shone brightly beneath it.
Except for one.
Kratos.
He stepped forward, shaking, furious, eyes burning with a wildfire devotion that terrified and warmed me at once.
I was aware he had difficulty with this. His struggles had split our Faction, leading to numerous internal conflicts. Still, I had hoped...
“No,” he shook his head. “You will not die.”
I touched his cheek. “Kratos—my love—”
He grabbed my wrist with trembling hands. “I won’t lose you. Not for prophecy. Not to the realm. I WON’T!”
He kissed my palm—desperate, shaking.
I reached for him. “I need you to stand with me—”
“No,” he whispered. “I will stand AGAINST the Ancestors.”
An ability I didn’t know he had, one forbidden to use, surged at his fingertips.
“Kratos, STOP—”
“Let them take the realm,” his voice was cracking. “Let the world burn. Let all of Aurathia become powerless. I won’t let them take you from me.”
And then—
He let his ability free.
The air shattered like glass.
I screamed.
My Faction screamed.
The bond, once pure and golden, warped into something monstrous and jagged. I felt five hearts seize in unison.
One died instantly.
Two fell broken.
Two crawled toward me before their marks flickered—flickered—faded—
“No—NO, NO KRATOS WHAT HAVE YOU DONE—”
He collapsed to his knees, sobbing. “I saved you.”
“I didn’t need saving,” I whispered. “I needed you with me.”
The realm trembled. The Ancestors were furious. The dark seed of corruption had seeded itself in the wound he had opened.
I felt my own soul crack.
And as I knelt with my dying Faction, I touched Kratos’s face one last time.
“Beloved,” I whispered, “your love was never the realm’s enemy. But your fear destroyed everything.”
His agonized scream echoed through centuries. “I’m sorry—I’m so sorry—kill me—”
“No,” I mourned, grief eating through every bone. “No, Kratos. That would be mercy.”
I laid my hand on his heart, my magic trembling and broken. “I curse you to remember. Life after life. Era after era. Until she—the girl who carries my soul—sees the truth.”
My voice cracked as the mark flared.
And until you understand what true love requires… You will always be too late.
I came back to myself screaming.
Not figuratively. Actually screaming.
My men jerked their heads toward me—each of them going feral in an instant, searching our surroundings for danger. Jet pulled me in front of him and clutched me to his massive chest in desperation.
“Nexi, what the fuck is going on? Did you see something?” Nathan shouted.
“She’s hurt. She’s broken. I feel it.” Zane babbled, jumping off his horse and pulling me from Jet’s death grip.
“Her mark flared,” Jet rumbled. “I saw it. I FELT it.”
Oren pulled me away from Zane and held me tight enough to hurt. “Baby, look at me—breathe—just breathe.”
My fathers ran over, each of them confused but ready to defend my invisible enemy.
Only my mother seemed to understand. Her face, filled with heartbreaking concern for me, gave me the strength I needed to overcome the panic.
Tanya jumped off her horse, eyes wide. “Are you okay?”
I could still feel the blood. The broken Faction. Kratos’s desperation and Lilibet’s heartbreak.
Oren cupped my face. “Reverie. Say something. Anything.”
My voice trembled. “I saw Lilibet.”
Everyone froze.
“And… Kratos.”
Oren’s voice deepened. “Kratos? As in the Ancestor who—”
“No,” I stared into his eyes intently. My chest hurt like I’d been stabbed. “Not an Ancestor.”
They all stared.
I swallowed. “Kratos was part of her Faction.”
“Like us?” Zane took one of my hands in his.
“Yes,” I choked.
“And he…” Zeke hesitated. “He betrayed her?”
My throat closed.
Oren brushed a tear from my cheek with shaking fingers. “Baby… what exactly did you see?”
I looked at him.
At all of them.
Then whispered, “Trent was him.”
They all went still.
Completely, terrifyingly still.
Pantar moved to my side, “Nexus, there is a purpose to everything. Do not despair. The Ancestors always set things right.”
Kharox nodded his head, then made the sign he’d been doing since the moment he met me. “Your Fellat is wise, Khal’ Sira.”
Pops frowned. “If Reverie knows… then I would bet Trent knows too.”
I shivered because the bond pulsed once.
Hard.
Like Trent’s soul had responded to his statement.
Nathan started pacing. “You should have told us about these dreams sooner.”
I sighed. We’d had this argument multiple times already. “Maybe, but what difference would it have made? We were running for our lives. There wasn’t time to try and figure out what it all meant anyway.”
I squeezed Oren tight, then dropped my feet to the ground and went to my Psycho. “I know all that, but I don’t like feeling helpless. Maybe Zane and I should teleport to him and kill the bastard. Even if we don’t make it, at least you’d be safe.”
Zane cackled, “I love that idea. Nothing says romance like being covered in the blood of my precious girls, enemies.”
“No, you will not!” I screamed, “What happened to living for me, asshole?”
I pushed his chest, furious at the very thought of anything happening to him or Zane. Especially with my vision still fresh and Lilibet’s pain when seeing each of her men fall dead.
He didn’t move.
“Nate,” I whispered.
He inhaled sharply at the nickname I hadn’t used since we were little kids. I’d hoped it would soften him, but tonight he didn’t soften.
Tonight he was a storm.
His eyes glowed like embers. “No. I don’t want to lose you. Not again.”
“Nathan—”
He grabbed my wrist. Gentle, but the kind of gentle that barely contained something feral underneath.
“I think this is our cue to leave.” I heard my mom say, and my dad’s grumbled as they followed behind her.
“Say it again.”
“Nate.”
He exhaled like I’d punched the air from his lungs. Then he hauled me in. There was no warning. No hesitation. Just heat.
His hand slid up my spine, gripping the back of my neck as his mouth crashed against mine—hungry, angry, desperate. His body pressed me back against one of the thick tree trunks close to us, pinning me there with all that fire and pent-up terror.
I gasped, and he took advantage—deepening the kiss, teeth catching my bottom lip, growling into my mouth like he needed to taste my heartbeat.
“Nathan—” I breathed against him. My blood heated from the intensity of his kiss.
His thumb brushed my jaw, tender for half a second—
Then he tilted my head, angled his mouth over mine again—
And kissed me like he wanted to claim every thought I’d ever had.
My knees buckled. He held me up effortlessly.
Heat flared with every sweep of his tongue against mine until I felt like I would combust. His chest trembled against me, his breathing harsh, furious, and terrified.
When he finally tore his mouth away, he pressed his forehead to mine, panting.
“Just know that nothing has changed if he comes for you,” his voice was like molten steel. “I will burn the Ancestors themselves to ashes.”
My whole body shivered.
He cupped my face with both hands, thumbs brushing my lips as if memorizing the bruise he’d left there. “I’m not gentle, I’m not calm. I’m not rational. I’m scared, Nexi. I’m so fucking scared.”
“Okay, not to interrupt Nathan’s emotional crisis meltdown—”
“—but the rest of us are dying too!”
Before I could respond, Zeke approached me like a winter storm on legs, eyes fixed on me with a hunger I felt deep in my spine. “Nathan got to go first,” voice low and rough. “But don’t think for a second I’m going without touching you myself for a second longer.”
Nathan snorted. “Nathan has been first right from the start—in everything.” He waggled his brow obnoxiously.
I smiled softly just as Zeke cupped my jaw with one hand—cool, steady, grounding–and kissed me with precision that made my pulse stutter.
But the moment my fingers slid into his hair, he broke—just a little—pressing his forehead to mine.
“You scare me,” he murmured. “Please don’t let this shit take you from us.
” His thumb brushed my lower lip right where Nathan’s bruise was, possessive and soft at once.
“Next time you dream, I want to be there.”
Jet stepped forward next, quiet but burning behind the eyes. He touched my cheek with his massive hand, as if asking permission.
I nodded, eyes never leaving his.
He picked me up then kissed me like a secret he’d been waiting to confess—slow, deep, needing. His breath trembled against my mouth.
When he pulled back, he didn’t look away. “I’m not losing you,” he growled. “Not to a prophecy. Not to a past life. Not to him.”
My chest tightened. “Jet—”
He lowered me to my feet. “I’ll do whatever it takes. That you can count on.”
Zane didn’t ask. He never did.
He swooped in, grabbed my waist, and dipped me like an overdramatic hero in a romance novel—except his kiss was nothing like those simpering heroes.
It was messy.
Hungry.
Possessive. A little reckless.
And so very Zane.
He pulled me upright and rested his forehead on mine. “I love you. Don’t go Lilibetting off into danger without me.”
I laughed, but then stopped when I noticed that my men had fallen silent.
The reason for that was still sitting in the shadows, watching me with those deep, unreadable eyes.
He rose slowly.
Deliberately.
Like he was keeping his power from spilling everywhere.
When he reached me, he didn’t touch. Not at first.
He just looked through me, into me, like he was searching my soul for cracks… or others that might be occupying my body. “Come here.”
I went.
He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me in gently, cautiously, then kissed me with a careful reverence that made something inside me shatter wide open.
He kissed me as if he were afraid I would vanish. Then, as if he were afraid he would.
When he finally broke the kiss, he rested his forehead against mine, breathing hard. “You are the center of everything I’m trying to hold together,” he whispered. “Don’t ever forget that. My family isn’t allowed to destroy that.”
My eyes stung.
He brushed his knuckles down my cheek. “And if Trent ever touches you…” His voice deepened, darkened. “…I will ruin him.”
We chose to camp at this spot, and as we all settled down, there was no pushing or crowding. Instead, they formed a circle around me—one by one, each gently pressing a kiss to my forehead, temple, hair, shoulder, and hand.
And as I drifted toward sleep, surrounded by their warmth, their breath, and their bodies draped like shields—
I had no idea it would be the last peaceful moment before Trent’s shadow swallowed us all.