Epilogue #2
Behind them, Jen paced near the center of the fae council chamber while Decebel leaned against one of the towering crystal pillars, arms folded, watching his mate with the exhausted patience of a male who had long ago accepted chaos as a permanent feature of his existence.
“This is bad,” Jen announced for at least the fourth time in ten minutes. “What did you call it, Nissa?”
Nissa, seated across from the gathered wolves on her low silver throne, looked almost offended by the understatement. “The foundations between realms have been shaken.”
“See,” Jen pointed at the high fae. “Shaking foundations is never good. And why in holy hell have we not discussed whatever the heck are foundations between the realms? I keep asking for a supernatural book that tells us all this crap.” She slapped her empty palm, “Does anyone see a book? No? Funny, I don’t either.
Which means when new shit happens, we don’t know what to do. ”
“Female,” Decebel growled. “Getting angry about it isn’t going to fix it.”
Jen paused, glanced at her mate, and took a deep breath. “I love you.”
He grinned. “Are you reminding yourself, or me?”
“Both, just in case I kill you in your sleep.”
“You’d never give him such an easy death,” Jacque laughed. “Quit lying.”
Heather sat quietly beside Kale, her blind eyes unfocused as silver gypsy magic drifted unconsciously around her fingers.
“The darkness is learning,” Heather whispered suddenly.
The chamber went silent.
Kale immediately turned toward his mate. “Heather.”
Her expression tightened.
“It touched the foundations and survived,” she said softly. “Now it understands where the realms connect.”
“How do you know that?” Kale asked her.
“Rachel,” Heather said and pointed to her head. “Healer bond thingy.”
“Well,” Jen said, slowly. “That is slightly terrifying.”
Decebel straightened slowly from the pillar. “Raja.”
Heather nodded once.
Before anyone could speak again, moonlight flooded the chamber.
Not from outside.
From everywhere.
The crystal walls glowed silver. The fractured light beyond the overlook stilled. Every supernatural in the room rose instinctively to their feet as power older than realms settled softly across the chamber.
The Great Luna stood near the center of the room.
Jacque inhaled sharply beside Fane.
The goddess looked tired.
That frightened him more than the trembling realms.
“Great Luna,” Fane said quietly, bowing his head.
The others followed immediately.
The Great Luna’s gaze moved slowly across the room before settling on Fane and Jacque.
“A sacrifice has been made,” she said softly.
Grief moved through the words like an echo.
Jacque’s fingers tightened painfully around Fane’s hand.
“The foundations hold,” the goddess continued, “but only barely.”
“What happened?” Fane asked.
The Great Luna’s silver eyes darkened with sorrow.
“Love,” she answered quietly. “And the cost it sometimes demands.”
Nobody spoke.
Because somehow that answer felt worse than war.
The goddess turned then, looking toward the fractured silver horizon beyond the overlook.
“The child born beneath the foundations bought the realms time,” she said. “Nothing more.”
Fane’s wolf stirred uneasily beneath his skin. More war. Coming fast now. And somewhere beyond the barriers between realms, Raja was still moving. Still gathering strength. Still waiting.
The Great Luna looked back toward them one final time. “Prepare yourself, Alpha of alpha’s,” she said softly.
Then her expression shifted, and the gentle Creator was gone, and in her place a fierce battle maiden appeared.
“There are darker things waking now. They don’t fight to win.
They fight to kill everything good. Some will desert you.
Some will hide. Some will join the other side because it seems like the easier path.
Choose your allies wisely. I go before you now and make way for your battlefield. ”
The moonlight vanished.
There was a long pause before Jen spoke.
“Does it make me awful that I suddenly have the urge to place bets on what child was born, who died, and for what person they died for?” She quickly held up her hand.
“Don’t answer that. I already know. Pretty damn awful.
But at this point, can anyone really blame me? ”
A room full of “Yes’s” went up.
“Shut up,” Jen muttered. “I’m just the one who always says what everyone else is thinking.”
Suddenly a phone vibrated.
“It’s me,” Heather said as she pulled it from her pocket and tapped the screen. Her unseeing eyes looked in Kale’s direction as she answered. “Hello? You’ve reached the apocalypse hotline, please tell us your emergency.”
“And that is why I love the blind chick,” Jen chuckled.
“La-who?” Heather asked. “Wait, let me put you on speaker, I don’t want to have to repeat all this.” She handed the phone to Kale, and he tapped the screen and held the phone out so everyone could hear.
“I said, my name is LaVerna, though everyone here calls me Verna. Or Gram if you’re under a hundred-and-twenty-five. Once you reach a certain age, you become the resident grandparent of everyone. So it’s whichever you prefer. I’ll answer to either.”
Fane stared at the phone and then looked around at the others. Who looked just as confused as he did.
“Ooookay,” Heather said. “Um, LaVerna, Verna, Gram, how exactly did you get my number?”
“Kara gave it to me–rather, she gave me her phone after dialing your number. She’s busy nursing little Joyce, so I get to be the one to tell you I have another grandtroll.”
“She’s not a troll, Verna. How many times do I have to tell you that?” Nick’s voice came through the speaker.
“You can say it as many times as you like, wolf, and I’ll still tell you that you’re wrong and you’re too skinny to provide for your female.”
Jen perked up. “Oh, I like this Verna-Gram lady. She sounds feisty.”
“We just wanted to let you know that Kara and Nick and their little joyful noise are safe and sound in our realm and, at least for the moment, they can rest easy,” Verna said, her voice soft.
“We love you, Kara!” Heather called out. “And congratulations! Wait, how the hell did you have your baby already?”
“It’s a long story,” Kara called back.
“She’ll get back with you on that,” Verna said. “Oh, and Alpha,” she paused.
Fane looked at the phone as if he would be able to see her face. “I’m listening.”
“You’re young, let that be the reason you’re underestimated. Your battle isn’t against flesh and blood, Fane Lupei of the Romania pack. But you have the trolls, our people, our flesh and blood that will fight with you.”
Fane bowed his head. “You have my gratitude, Verna of the trolls.”
“We will be waiting on your call,” she said, and, before she hung up, she added, “And bring me all my new grandbabies to meet. Joyce is going to need playmates soon, or she will begin to think she’s a troll. Okay, bye now!”
The room went quiet and everyone kept staring at the phone.
“She sounds a little crazy,” Kale said as he handed the phone back to his mate.
Heather grinned. “Right. I like her already.”
To be continued…
Thank you so much for reading Veil of Ruin. I hope you enjoyed this journey with the Grey Wolves as much as I loved writing it.
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