Epilogue - Poppy #2
Silence settles around the chamber, but Cassandra nods slowly. “It’s possible. We can’t see them with the naked eye, but they’re there. I’m sure of it.”
Cyrus folds his arms. “Then we’ve narrowed it down.”
Before anyone can respond, the doors behind us open.
Every conversation dies immediately.
The Golden Raven Sisters file quietly into the chamber, their white robes flowing softly behind them as though carried by a breeze that doesn’t touch the rest of us.
Sister Aoife walks at the front, her expression calmer than it has been since the ritual, and the moment Dorian rises to greet her, she offers him a respectful incline of her head.
“The wards have been completed around Fort Smit,” she announces.
Relief visibly settles over several faces around the table.
“The protection will hold against corrupted magic for as long as the runes remain intact. At sunrise tomorrow, our sisters leave for Cedar Valley. After that, we shall continue through every allied territory until every pack falls beneath the Moon Goddess’s protection.”
“Thank you,” Dorian says sincerely. “You’ve done more for our people than we can ever repay.”
Aoife simply smiles. “We are stronger together.” Her gaze drifts around the room before stopping on me.
More specifically, on the necklace resting against my chest.
Her smile suddenly disappears, confusion replacing it.
Then disbelief.
She slowly steps toward me without saying a word, her eyes never leaving the familiar gold pendant that had belonged to my mother.
Instinctively, my fingers wrap around it, almost protectively. “Sister Aoife?”
She doesn’t answer immediately. Instead, she takes another careful step closer, her eyes glistening with tears that seem to appear from nowhere.
“May I…?” she asks softly, gesturing toward the pendant.
I nod slowly, still confused, but knowing I can trust her as I unclasp my fingers from around the pendant.
The moment she lifts the pendant into her trembling hand, a broken breath escapes her.
“No…” she whispers, closing her eyes. “Oh, Cerci…”
The familiar name makes my heart skip a beat. “You…you knew my mother?”
Aoife opens her eyes again, and when she looks at me this time, it isn’t as though she’s looking at Luna Poppy.
She’s looking at someone’s daughter. The daughter of someone she knows all too well.
“I made this necklace,” she whispers, carefully tracing the engraving on the back with her thumb.
“My sister asked me to.” Aoife frowns as she stares at the back of the pendant.
“But she added one small phrase to this. A spell. It’s probably why your powers didn’t emerge for a long time. How long have you had this necklace?”
“All my life…” I whisper, feeling Damian’s grip tighten around my hand beneath the table as the room goes awfully silent. All I can hear is my own heartbeat as it quickens.
“My sister…” Aoife repeats, her voice thick with emotion. “Cerci Evans.”
My lips part. “My mother was your sister?”
Aoife nods slowly. “You never met her, did you? You didn’t know who she was?”
I shake my head. “My father hardly spoke about her. He only told me she died in childbirth.”
Pain flashes across Aoife’s face. “Perhaps he didn’t know she was a witch. She didn’t die in childbirth, Poppy.” Her fingers remain curled around the pendant as though she’s afraid to let it go. She takes a slow breath before returning the pendant to my chest.
“Our coven was never meant to become nomadic.”
Her words pull everyone’s attention toward her, and she sighs as she continues., “Centuries ago, the Golden Raven Sisters lived peacefully in Medicine Park, nestled within the Wichita Mountains.”
She looks toward the map Cassandra placed on the table, and her expression hardens. “It was our home. Until another coven came. The Obsidian Veil.”
Aoife gulps. “They believed power should never be shared. They practiced corrupted magic. They hunted witches who refused to join them. They sought dominion over every sacred place where the Moon Goddess’s light remained strongest.”
A heavy silence settles over the room, and Aoife looks down. “We fought them,” she says quietly. “For years.”
I notice her hands trembling again as she closes her eyes.
“We believed we had won. But victory came at a terrible price. My sister remained behind.”
My chest tightens as Aoife looks directly at me.
“She performed an ancient ritual that allowed the rest of us to escape. She gave her life protecting our coven.”
A lump rises painfully in my throat.
For so many years, I imagined my mother dying giving birth to me.
Instead, she died saving others.
“Before she sacrificed herself,” Aoife continues, “many of us believed Cerci was the child spoken of in our oldest prophecy.”
I frown. “What prophecy?”
Aoife smiles sadly, her eyes softening as they meet mine. “It tells of a White Witch born beneath the Moon Goddess’s blessing. One who would finally destroy the Obsidian Veil.” She pauses. “We believed that child was Cerci.”
Another silence stretches between us before she slowly shakes her head.
“We were wrong. She was pregnant, but never spoke of the child’s father. And when the Obsidian Veil attacked us, she told me she’d hidden her child somewhere safe, and asked me to never go looking for her. But the Moon Goddess sent her to me instead.”
Something inside me stills.
“The prophecy wasn’t about my sister.” Aoife smiles through tears as she reaches for my face. “It was about her daughter.”
The room itself seems to hold its breath with me.
“The prophecy speaks of one born of two worlds,” Aoife whispers. “What none of us knew was that it spoke of a child carrying the blood of the wolf…” Her gaze flickers briefly toward Damian. “…and the oldest light.”
I glance down at my hands, remembering the white-gold magic that flowed through them on the battlefield. Strangely, I don’t feel afraid of what’s out there, or who I am. Not anymore.
I don’t feel burdened.
I simply feel certain.
“I don’t know why the Moon Goddess chose me,” I admit quietly. “And perhaps I never will.” Lifting my chin, a sense of strength washes over me. “But if these gifts were given to protect the people I love”—I squeeze Damian’s hand—”then I won’t run from them.”
Damian smiles beside me, pride shining in those familiar blue eyes that have become my safest place.
“You won’t have to.” He says it so simply, as though it’s the easiest promise in the world. “Because you’re not doing this alone.”
My heart swells.
Not from the prophecy.
Not from learning who my mother truly was.
But because, for the first time in my life, I believe him.
Cyrus straightens in his chair, drawing everyone’s attention back to the map. “Then we stop waiting.” His voice carries the quiet authority of an alpha who has already made up his mind.
“If the Obsidian Veil is hiding behind those waterfalls…” Flynn’s grin spreads slowly across his face. “…then we flush them out.”
One by one, the council members nod. Alpha Simon is the last to nod, as if he’s reluctant, but he finally relents.
I glance toward Damian just as he turns to me.
His fingers lace more firmly through mine beneath the table before he leans close enough that only I can hear him.
“Do you remember what I told you?”
A smile tugs at my lips. “We’re a team.”
His forehead brushes mine for the briefest moment, hidden from everyone else around the table. “We always will be.”
Strong emotion wells inside my chest as I hold his gaze. “I love you, Damian.”
His smile reaches his eyes. “And I love you, Poppy.”
Whatever waits for us beyond Wichita Falls… Whatever this prophecy truly means… Whatever darkness still lingers in the world… We won’t face it alone.
Not this time.
This time, we’ll face it together.
As a team.
*****
THE END