Chapter Forty-Five
The green smoke curled around me, it felt heavy and hot as it trickled down my throat like a living thing. There was movement in it, but my entire vision was filled with the smoke. I felt tears spring to my eyes as I choked. I felt my body trying to repel the foreign entity as it tried to get in.
Relax. A youthful voice called to me, and I realized it was the Maiden’s voice. Your body is fighting my entry.
I closed my eyes. This was the Goddess.
Of course, it is. Why did you think it was anything else? She giggled, and I forced my body to relax.
I don’t know. The Moon Goddess just fills my body when she wants to take over. I tossed back.
The Three-Faced Goddess laughed, her voice becoming older. That’s because your wolves are tied to her. She enters through the same bridge they take when they have to go to someone else. A backdoor, if you will.
Why can’t you take that doorway? I choked again as my throat tried to force her out again.
Swallow. Rowan’s voice bounced in my mind. It might help. I wanted to snort, but I tried it, and the smoke flowed quicker inside of me.
At least your mate is smart. The Crone’s voice was ancient, like it held a millennia of secrets.
She cackled when she heard my thoughts. That’s because it does.
I felt her hands move over me. I can’t use the same doorway because our powers are different.
I can’t drift down on moonbeams. She cackled again.
I felt my lungs screaming for air, and my vision darkened. I think I might not make it.
I felt fingers run down my face. Believe in yourself, your magic, and your strength. The Maiden’s voice called to me. And believe that I won’t hurt you.
I felt my eyes grow dark, so instead of trying to keep them open, I closed them. I focused on the smoke flowing into my lungs. I swallowed and pulled it in like I was breathing. The smoke moved faster.
“She’s going to die!” I heard my mother’s scream, and I wanted to comfort her. I pictured my father wrapping her in his arms and keeping her next to him.
“Ains, we have to believe in her.” His voice was soft, but I felt the faith he had in me, in the goddesses. “They wouldn’t hurt her. Amy knows that, which is why she agreed to this.”
Theo’s cackle ripped through the room. “It’s been over ten minutes. She’s fucking dead.” Something hit flesh, and I heard a scream. “She’s dead, and you all watched her die. The Goddess killed her chosen whore. This is fucking perfect.” He cackled again. “Congratulations.”
Rowan growled, and I heard flesh hitting flesh over and over.
“She isn’t dead.” His voice dropped lower.
“You can delude yourself all you want. But the Goddesses wouldn’t risk Amy.
” Choking noises could be heard, and then a gasping breath.
“But if by the smallest chance that Amy is hurt, or, goddess forbid, dead. Do you think that saves you?”
“What…do…you…mean?” Theo coughed out.
Rowan’s voice was filled with amusement.
“You brought the spear, Theo.” He laughed.
“You brought the only thing that could rip your wolf’s soul out of your body with you as a threat, and now you’re stuck here, waiting for death.
If Amy can’t do what she was going to do, then I’ll just use the spear.
Either way, you are still dead, and your wolf is gone. ”
“You wouldn’t.” Theo growled lowly. “You always said that you would never use the spear on any wolf under any circumstances. You swore when you were a child it was too inhumane.”
“People grow up, Theo.” Rowan’s words were final. “And if my mate is willing to sacrifice her soul to save this world…then so am I.”
Theo panted for a second, and then he laughed. Only this time it sounded manic, slightly unhinged. “You would turn on your values for…a woman?”
“I would do it for her. Yes, in a heartbeat, without second-guessing it.” Rowan answered.
The Goddess must have stepped in because I heard more movement. “Enough.” The Moon Goddess’s voice cut through the room.
The Mother’s voice whispered to my mind. Your mate is devoted to you. That is good. I was worried about your second life after the first disaster, but with him by your side, I can rest easy.
You care that much? I felt something in my chest relax.
Of course I do. Selene may have loved you first. But you are just as much my daughter as you are hers. She sighed. I know you have seen the beginning of your lines, but you haven’t seen everything.
What else is there to see?
Do you trust me? Her voice shifted to the Maiden’s, and I could hear the youthful hope in her question.
I didn’t hesitate. Of course I do. I breathed in once more, and air rushed into my lungs. My eyes snapped open, and I could see the room again.
“Amy!” My mom ran over to me, and I had enough time to smile.
“Mom.” I reached out for her, and I met air. The room shifted, and once again I was in darkness. Only this time, I heard the call of a wolf off in the distance. And a woman’s song from the opposite direction.
“Kane, you rascal, come back.”
I spun in a circle. Where was I?
“You said you trusted me.” The Maiden stepped up next to me; her youthful face was glowing.
“I do.” I answered.
“Then follow, and see the truth.” She walked through the trees, and I followed. The leaves that were brown and should have crunched underfoot remained whole. The Maiden walked above it all for a while but then, between one step and another, her feet connected to the ground.
“Who’s there?” A deep voice called out in the darkness, and I watched her hesitate before stepping out from behind a bush.
“Henny.” The voice warmed, and there were footsteps that rushed out to meet her.
I stepped out from behind the bushes and froze.
That face. I knew that face. He was still so young, just barely twenty, but his face was bright.
“I have missed you, my love.” He wrapped the Goddess in his arms, and they kissed.
I felt my face fall in surprise. The last time I saw this young man, he was covered in wolf bites, on the verge of death. The Moon Goddess brought him back as his mother begged for his life.
“Have you talked to your mother?” The Goddess asked, her voice a soft whisper; hope sat clear on her face.
“She wants me to marry a girl from the village. She said it would strengthen the relationship with the trappers. But I told her I already loved you.” The man, Kane, explained.
“Henny, just come with me. If she can see us together, then she will surely agree with our being together.” He lifted her into his arms. “It’s obvious how much we love each other.
Once my mother agrees, we can handle your family. ”
I watched as Henny nodded. It was a surreal moment to watch the Three-faced Goddess I have known these last few years be so vulnerable for a man that I almost watched die. “If you’re sure.” She leaned in and kissed him.
They kissed for a long time. Kane pulled back and pulled her in for a tight hug. “They have to understand. You’re pregnant with our child. They can’t separate us.”
The Goddess pulled back and stared up at him with wide eyes. “You want our child?”
Kane grabbed her face. “Always Henny. I will always want our child.”
She started to cry. I felt every ounce of her pain and worry. She truly loved this man. “Your mother is devoted to Hecate.” The Maiden cried. “She had you alone. She should accept the baby if we tell her the truth.” The Goddess pulled back and rubbed her slightly rounded stomach.
Kane blew out a breath. “I told her, but she blew up at me. We can’t stay here.” He pulled her to his chest. “Do you trust me, Hen?”
“Of course I do.” Her words were muffled but devoted.
“I found a place we can live. It’s not-”
Henny pulled back. “Let’s do it.” She stared up at the man with devotion on her face, and I felt worry gnaw at me.
The pair turned away, and the forest disappeared. A rundown cabin bloomed around us, and the loving pair were on the ground. “Help her!” Kane cried to no one. The Maiden was lying in his lap and was clearly in labor. “Please, Goddess, save her.” He cried out again.
Henny grabbed him. “It’s okay. The baby is coming. Go grab water, and we will deliver the baby together.” She panted.
He kissed her before he leapt up. “I’ll grab my mother; she will have to help; this is her grandchild.” He ran out of the cabin, and the Maiden panted. Her eyes met mine, and I could see a tear fall.
“Are you okay?” The question slipped out before I could think.
She laughed as she clutched at her stomach. “No.” She screamed. But then she waved me over. “Help me up.”
“Why?” I ran to her side.
“Because we have a part to play.” She cried as I pulled her to her feet, and I watched as she morphed into the Mother. Her stomach was gone.
“Your baby?”
She smiled, but it was bitter. “Safe…for now.” She clutched my hand when a howl ripped through the air. A pack of wolves was hunting. “We don’t have much time. Come.” She pulled me with her, and the ground disappeared under my feet.
We were back in the woods, in a very familiar scene.
“Kane!” A redheaded woman flew from the trees, chasing off the attacking wolves with a stick.
“Get back. You devils. Get back.” She dropped down next to her bleeding son and started crying.
“Kane, my love. Please. Don’t die.” She grabbed for him, but her hands hovered over his ravaged body.
I felt the Goddess next to me stumble as she stayed hidden.
“Aren’t you going to him?” I whispered to her.
She pointed to the opposite side of the clearing, and I watched my grandmother appear, and then I stepped next to her. “It isn’t time yet.”
I watched a reflection of myself for a second before I turned back to the scene before us. The redheaded woman begged the Three-Faced Goddess to save her son.
“How is this possible?” My words were a soft whisper as the woman called on the Maiden, Mother and Crone.