Chapter 73 Luka
LUKA
I never thought I’d met the Goddess, let alone meet her more than once. But here she was, her starry form wavering in front of us once again, for what, the third time?
Her form seemed darker somehow, the darkness lingering between her stars appeared black instead of the deep blue from before.
“I’ve been watching what’s been going on,” she said before her form could fully manifest. “What a mess you’ve gotten yourselves into.”
“Is it true?” Lennox wasted no time either. “Did Keziq reverse the spell?”
Astria’s face darkened. “Yes, it’s true.”
“Then how come I’m still alive?” I took a step toward her shimmering form, falling into step next to Lennox.
“I wasn’t entirely honest in my warning. I do think things through, whether you choose to believe that or not. But I would never create a spell that undoing it would eliminate an entire species.”
“You lied to us.” I could feel the anger radiating off Lennox.
“She was clever with her words.” Luciana raised a single dark brow from where she rested, leaning against the dresser with her arms crossed.
Astria ran a hand down her starry form. “I wanted to ensure no one would ever try to reverse the spell—so I lied. I wrote that note as a warning. I never intended the spell to be used—for the journal to be kept so long anyway. I never intended for this all to happen.” She waved a hand dismissively.
“It’s not my fault the Galtain’s became so obsessed with me and my history. ”
For fucks sake, all the worshiping of her had to have gone to her head. I didn’t care if she was the Goddess, she was self-absorbed and annoying as fuck.
“So only the vampire used to undo the spell dies?” Lennox questioned.
“Yes,” Astria confirmed. “The spell only works on one vampire at a time. It reverses the curse of vampires on that vampire before killing them.
“Well, I guess that’s good news.” I scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “But still—Keziq has that ability—”
“Killing people is one thing, but what she did to that vampire before it died—” My mate shuddered.
Lennox turned her gaze to Adreona. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?
” I could hear the anger rising in her tone.
“All of this—all of this pain and death and—everything. This all could have been avoided if you’d been honest with us!
If you’d told us the truth from the start!
” Lennox let out a bitter laugh. “Has that always been your intention? To screw us all over? To make us all as miserable for eternity as you are?”
Astria looked as if Lennox had slapped her. I doubted anyone had ever had the nerve to talk to the Goddess the way Lennox did. “Of course not,” she said finally. “I-I just—”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. I’ve got more important things to worry about right now. You can fabricate your sob story and tell it to me once we’ve won this war.” Lennox turned her attention back to the rest of us.
“We have to stop her.” Lennox’s voice left no room for argument. “Her and Adreona will not stop until they’ve killed every vampire on the continent.”
“We need to sever the tie between Luka and Keziq as soon as possible,” Luce interjected.
“Once Keziq is dead that eliminates one of our biggest threats. Taking down Adreona should be easy after that,” I added.
“Well, I wouldn’t say easy. This is still war,” Declan countered.
“But it will help focus our attention instead of having it stretched in different directions,” Lennox argued.
“And from what I’ve gathered, she’s kept information from her army; they are unaware of her overall goal—they don’t want to die.
They don’t want vampires to cease to exist. If we eliminate Keziq and Adreona and any traces of the spell—”
Lennox met Astria’s gaze. “That should win us this war…”
The Goddess dipped her chin. “There are a lot of paths that this could end in—this is war after all. But there are paths to the light—there is hope if you can accomplish what needs to be done.”
“But you can’t tell us exactly what needs to be done?”
Astria shook her head, her long, starry hair swaying around her face. “But I can tell you, you are headed in the right direction. Keep on.”
“Okay, we can do this.” Lennox braced her hands on her hips. “Thank you. I know I haven’t exactly been kind to you and I’m still fucking pissed at you, but thank you for what you have been able to give us tonight.”
Astria smirked. “I accept your apology. All the fuck yous are forgotten.”
The side of Lennox’s lip quirked up. “I honestly hope we never have to meet again.”
“Me too, Queen of Stardust.” She dipped her chin in my direction. “Keep that one by your side, and all should be well. I’m glad to see she let go of her stubbornness on something.”
Her starry figure started to dissipate, her stars winking out.
“Wait!” Luce leaped forward. “What about my mother?”
“What about her?”
“How do we wake her up?”
“I have no hand in Ichor magic. Whether she wakes up or not is up to you, Luciana Ambrose. You have a journey of your own you need to go on.” With that, the Goddess disappeared.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Lennox huffed a breath. “Welcome to my world.”
“Lennox.” We halted as Luce caught up with us.
“What are we going to do about Caterina?” Blood still coated Luce, her leathers were caked in it. Even her hands were still stained with the substance as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Nothing right now.”
“What do you mean nothing?” There was a hint of ire edging into Luce’s voice now.
Lennox took a step forward. “Luce, we’re in the middle of a war.”
“You think I don’t fucking know that?” She bared her teeth.
“Luce,” I said carefully, but she ignored me, keeping her angry gaze fixed on Lennox.
“This is my mother, Lennox. Your aunt, you think you’d fucking care.”
I could feel Lennox’s magic rising. “I’m aware.
Trust me, Luce; I’m well fucking aware. I’m always aware of the consequences, which is why we’re not doing anything about this right now.
We need to win this war first because we might not make it out of here.
It would kill me to put resources toward waking one person, even if it is my aunt, if we ended up losing this war anyway, it would have all been for nothing.
It kills me to say it, but she’s one life in the thousands of lives that hang in my hands, Luce.
Unlike you, I have others I have to look out for besides myself. ”
“You’re a bitch, you know that?”
“Don’t you dare talk to her like that.” My voice was low as I took a step forward in an effort to shield Lennox.
“I’m well aware. But at least I own my actions,” Lennox shot back.
“You going to hide behind your guardian, huh?”
“I’m not her guardian, I’m her mate.” I bared my fangs at Luce. I didn’t care if she was family, if she came after Lennox—
“You should be happy he’s guarding me because I might come after you if he didn’t.”
Lennox turned, leaving her cousin glaring at her back.
“Fuck you, Lennox!” Luce called after her cousin.
Lennox flipped her middle over her shoulder.
“If you’d feel better about it—” I started.
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say, you’re on her side,” Luciana sneered.
“Yeah, I am on her side. But I’m also on your side, Luce. Lennox is looking out for you, she always is. Do you know how much she worries about you? She can’t worry about you right now. She’s got bigger problems. Right now, you need to fall in line.”
“What and be a good little soldier? Just like you?”
“Yes. Exactly. Because that is what you are. What we all are. Her soldiers. Our High Queen’s soldiers. Even I know that.”
Luciana lowered her gaze and kicked at the ground. “Now, what I was going to say was if you want, we can have Caterina transferred somewhere safe—either back to the Mystic Court or to Alethens with Nol.”
“You can spare the resources for that?” There was still an edge to her tone now, but some softness crept in.
“Yes, we can. For fucks sake, Luce. Take a breath. I know you’re worried about your mother but stop taking it out on us.”
She froze.
“Take some time to think about it and let us know your decision. But we need you back on the battlefield tomorrow. Circumstances be damned. As Lennox said, we have a war to win.”
I found Lennox in our tent. Her knees pulled to her chest as she sat on the bed.
“Was I too hard on her?” Her voice was soft, partly muffed by her chin resting on her knees.
“Maybe a little, but nothing she can’t handle. She’s your cousin. You can be harder on her.”
I sat against the headboard, opening my arms to her. She scooted back, folding into the crook of my arm.
“I just—”
“You don’t need to explain anything to me.”
“She’s my aunt, too. Does she think I want to lose another family member? Caterina is the closest thing I have to a mother. I—I can’t even think about losing her right now. At least if she’s in a fucking coma, I don’t have to worry about her dying.”
“We’ll get through this.”
“You don’t know that.”
“But we have to believe that we will, otherwise, what’s the point?” I rubbed my hand up and down her arm.
“Sometimes I wonder what is the point? We’ve witnessed so much death—”
“But think of the lives you’ll save. The futures you’ll safeguard. Our future.”
“I try—but sometimes it’s so hard to look past our current circumstances and imagine an ending where everything is okay.” She traced circles on my knee with her fingers.
“So let’s try right now.”
Her brows furrowed.
“I see a life for us, Lennox, a life where we’re happy. Where we get our happy ending.”
“Tell me about it.” Her voice was quiet and tentative like she was afraid to ask.
I pulled my thoughts of our future to the forefront of my mind. The future I saw for us when I looked at her when she wasn’t paying attention. The life I imagined for the two of us while I tried to fall asleep to keep the nightmares at bay. The future I fought for on the battlefield.
I picked one of them to share with her.
“We’re sitting by the lake in Alethens. You’re in my arms like you are now. It’s summer, and the sun is high in the sky, warming our skin. We rode Odin and Zola there, they’re grazing in the grass. We’re full from the picnic lunch we devoured, our heads light from the sparkling wine.”
Lennox leaned further into me, closing her eyes and humming.
“We’re watching our children play in the sand.”
“Children?” Her eyes opened as she tilted her gaze to meet mine.
I nodded. “Yes, children. I imagine we’ll have two younglings, one boy and one girl.
Many years from now, we’d have many years together first. Living our lives together.
But someday—someday, I’d like children.” We never talked about children, briefly, yes, but never seriously.
I had no idea if that was something Lennox wanted.
If she didn’t, that was fine too, but if she did—that’s an adventure I’d love to go on with her.
“Me too. I’d like that too.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “Yes, really. I’ve never thought about kids, but when you paint that picture—I want that.” She bit her bottom lip between her teeth.
“But I think I’d want three, like I had. Or maybe even four. I guess it doesn’t matter that much—I’d want them to have siblings, though.”
Warmth radiated in my chest. “Me too.”
I pulled her closer and placed a kiss on her forehead. “We’ve never gotten a chance to talk about this—about the future we want. The future we deserve. That we’ve earned.”
She tensed in my arms. “You have earned this future—whatever future you want—you’ve earned it, Lennox.”
She was quiet for several moments, her fingers scratching lightly over my leg.
“A life—a life with you, that’s what I want,” she said finally. “Whatever that might look like—that’s what I want. A life.”
I tilted her chin toward me, placing a soft kiss on her lips before pulling back and looking into her eyes—the emerald pools glistened.
“I promise you’ll get it, Lennox.”
Her thumb brushed over our mate mark on my palm, causing the skin to tingle. “Until the stars turn to dust, Luka Rossi.”