Chapter 53
ISLA
Saoirse was dreaming, meaning Isla was dreaming with her. Saoirse’s slumber was filled with death, blood, and a war-torn landscape that wasn’t a far cry from what will soon be Phobos’s reality.
Phobos’s northern city was in shambles, a consequence of a long-fought battle, an attack by Io and their allies of the north.
But that didn’t matter to Aneurin—her alpha, her mate—because his armies had conquered and destroyed parts of Oberon, Callisto, and Ganymede.
They were in such ruin that no one thought they would recover. All on his march to Io’s doorstep.
She hadn’t seen him in nearly six months now, neither had their son, and the man she glimpsed had become a shell of what he once was. As if the possession of a power as great as his had feasted on him from the inside.
He was unstoppable, unbreakable. The world had gone dark as chaos reigned.
No one could touch him. Even his allies—his own soldiers—were frightened by the breadth of what he was, so much so that they considered assassination.
A fool’s game, when he’d simply tear through their minds the moment the thought arose.
But he was doing all of this for them. He wasn’t trying to take more than he thought they were owed. He was trying to help protect his family, their family, from the person he perceived as a monster.
He still loved her, in that cold way of his. He was still her mate.
“Saoirse.”
Isla was stunned to hear that familiar voice say anything other than “Warrior Heart.”
“No!” Saoirse shouted, suddenly right beside Isla, though she didn’t acknowledge her as the dark winds ripped around them. “I won't do it. I won’t.”
Won’t do what? Isla thought, lifting her hand to shield her eyes, even though it meant nothing here.
“He's my mate!” Saoirse screamed, sobbing. “It can’t be me.”
Finally, the woman appeared, her focus set on the broken luna who was ready to go to her knees.
“That is why it can only be you,” the violet-eyed woman said. “Only you share his power. Only you can get through his defenses. Everyone else has tried and failed, and he will destroy everything unless he is stopped.”
Isla suddenly found it hard to breathe as something sparked in her. A conclusion so horrendous it nearly made her vomit.
That couldn’t have been what this was.
“Even if he showed repentance and remorse, the power would not allow him to do it himself. They would not allow it. It can only be you,” the woman said.
Isla stumbled back, looking between the two women, clarity ringing like a bell.
But, no.
No, no, no.
The woman added, “Find comfort in the fact that you are not the first with this fate, and you will not be the last.”
Isla couldn’t breathe. She needed to find Kai. She needed to get out of there.
“Stay, Warrior Heart.” Now the distant voice called to her. “See and understand.”
“Tell me who you are,” Isla gritted, her voice wobbling as her eyes stung. As she felt Fate lingering in this place that was not a place, in every beat of her warrior’s heart. In the thread she’d drawn from her soul to another—a direct line through his defenses.
Finally, the woman said, “I was the first of us.”
“The Luna of Ares,” Isla breathed, feeling like a piece of a puzzle had fallen into place.
“Andromeda,” she clarified.
Ares, Phobos, Deimos.
Three lunas, three queens cursed to…
To…
Isla needed to find Kai. Needed to get him out. Get him away from all of this. Now.
She closed her eyes and dug for the bond, but met resistance. A cold, dark shell of the man Isla loved more than anything.
“Let me go to him!” Isla shouted over the winds that had grown stronger. “This isn’t us. That isn’t him.”
Kai wasn’t Aneurin. He wasn’t a monster. And he wouldn’t become this, even if their power was the same.
“Let us out!” Isla reached to her side for a blade that wasn’t there. “I understand! I see!”
“No, you don’t.”
“There has to be another way,” Saoirse cried, and Isla snapped her attention back to her. “If it’s a curse, why can’t we break it?”
“There is not enough time to seek that answer,” Andromeda said.
“Even going into my own past, where it began, I cannot figure out how the power was bestowed and how to eradicate it.” She closed the distance between them, her features cold, deadly.
“You have already taken too long. The world is on the brink of collapse, and he’s grown too strong.
If they get hold of him, it’s over. The crown and dagger are your answers.
You are the answer, the only one who can wield them—Goddess-blessed, Goddess-chosen, soul-bound. You end it, Saoirse. Now.”