Chapter 72
EMMELINE
The ground stopped shaking. The heavens split open, and the sun was almost blinding as it shined down. On the ground behind Rain, I sat in his shadow, looking down at the bones and blooms before me.
I blinked a few times, thinking it was just a trick of the light. My grip on the dagger loosened, and it fell to the ground. Mouth agape, I looked up at Rain. With his blade unsheathed, he took a defensive stance, ready to protect me from whatever threat the goddess might pose.
But it should have been me guarding him.
I looked down at my palms, turning my hands over and searching for what I knew wasn’t there. My breaths came faster, and my mouth dried out. Eyes darting from the pile of blooms and bones to the man who had saved me and loved me and protected me for so long.
Tears filled my eyes, and all I could hear was the thundering pounding of my heart.
Because I hadn’t cut my hand.
I hadn’t had a chance. The moment Rain passed the final flower to me, and I’d set it atop the Supreme’s bones, we’d summoned the goddess.
Rain had summoned the goddess.
His blood, only present on the tip of a thorn, had been enough.
“You,” I whispered, staring at his strong back. Taking him in. Understanding swept over me. “You’re the Beloved,” I said.
But he couldn’t hear me. Blinding white, as if delivered from the sun itself, a woman stepped out of the light.