Chapter Fifty-Two #2
“I don’t know.” Selene’s voice was soft.
“You made the spell with other gods. So we would need to check with them, but if the spell was with me, the answer would be no. The spell would fail as soon as your souls took flight.” Hecate’s voice was matter of fact, but when I looked at her, I saw black-tinted tear tracks on her face.
“You’re crying.” I sounded surprised.
“You’re my daughter, and you are in pain. Of course I’m crying.” She gave me a sad smile. Her words were meant to support me, but they just made me realize the difference.
I turned to glare at my mother. I pointed to the Goddess. “This is what love looks like when you don’t taint it with your own agenda.”
Both of my parents looked like I had stabbed them. They dropped to the ground with their arms hanging at their sides. “Amy…” They both raised a hand to reach for me but I turned back to the Goddesses.
“Did you know?” My question was cold.
But both shook their heads. Selene dropped to her knees first. “I cannot see the future. I can only see when things take a turn. I have given everything I could to support you. To save you from your last fate.” She turned to Rowan and ran a hand down his head. “I didn’t want this outcome.”
“Bring him back.” I winced at the command in my voice. “I’m sorry.” I looked up and met her stare. “Please. I’ll do anything. Bring him back, or let me go.” My hand gripped my chest as what was left of my heart throbbed in pain.
Selene cupped my face. “I can’t.” She kissed my brow as a whimper slipped from my lips. She stood and moved back, Hecate taking her spot.
She lifted my face and kissed my brow too. “Let’s see if the spell will survive without you first. Then we can see what our options are.” She shifted to the Maiden, and I saw sorrow matching my own mirrored back at me. “I’m sorry you have to go through this pain.”
I nodded. “Me too.” I smiled, but it was broken, just like me.
Hecate looked at Selene, who just nodded. “Gaia, Pontus, Uranus, we have need of you.” Selene’s voice was powerful as she shouted the call. I felt the ripple go out, calling the gods to us.
One by one they came to us. The ground bubbled, and Gaia stepped out. She looked around and her gaze fell on me and my dead mate. “I’m sorry, my love.” She walked over to Selene. “Why did you call?”
A column of water shot out of the ground like a fountain, and Pontus stepped out.
His gaze snapped to mine, and he tilted his head.
“I said I was interested in you one time and your mate dies…” He smiled, but there was none of his earlier cockiness.
His gaze swept over everyone, and he shook his head.
“I like you on your knees less than I thought I would, little wolf.” He walked next to Gaia and turned to Selene. “You called?”
Thunder rumbled in the distance, and a bolt of lightning cracked across the clear sky.
A soft thumping could be heard, then a loud whistle that had everyone looking at us.
A missile aimed directly at us slammed into the ground.
Uranus pushed up from his knee, eyes fully on Rowan.
He stared for a long moment before he turned to me. “Godling, what can I do?”
And just like that, the tears started again.
I threaded my fingers into Rowan’s and pulled his cooling hand to my chest. “Help me save him.” I stared at my mate for a second.
His smile came to my mind, and I wept. It took me a minute to gather myself before I looked back at the five gods.
“I did everything you wanted. I saved them. All of your creations are safe. I will help Carly bring home the lycans. I will spend the rest of my life worshipping all of you. Just help me bring him back.” I dropped his hand and shuffled over to the gods.
Then I bowed, placing my head against the ground.
“I will do whatever you need from me, as long as it is within my power, and it’s not evil.
Just bring my mate back.” I lifted back up to stare up at all the gods.
“Please.” My lips quivered, and I had to bite them to stop it.
I knew I sounded broken. I was begging the gods to bring someone back from the dead. I turned to Selene. “You did it for Kane.” I turned to Rowan.
“I gave Kane a different soul to bring him back.” Selene’s gentle voice cracked. “Rowan already has two.” Selene shook her head.
“I have three…can’t you make him like me?” I begged, but she shook her head.
“I can’t. You are special.” Selene looked away, and a silvered tear trembled on her eyelashes. I felt it all slipping away. I nodded once. The bridge between mine and Rowan’s souls was starting to splinter. Nix and Megan ran towards it, and I made my decision.
I turned to the other gods. “Can the spell I made protecting the packs survive if I die?”
Gaia gasped. “Amy, no.” She shook her head.
Pontus and Uranus looked at each other before they crouched. Pontus reached for one of my hands, and Uranus grabbed the other. Pontus spoke first. “Your power and the sacrifice of life on these grounds are the fuel for the shields. If you die, the power fades with you.”
“We aren’t allowed to interfere. Once your power fades, the shields will fail, and your kind will be at the hands of the humans.” He tried to deliver the news as softly as he could, but I knew with the thunder he was feeling my pain.
I screamed, and lightning flashed in the sky. Gaia sighed. “Uranus, keep a better hold on your power.” He cut her a look I didn’t have the energy to discern.
“Is there any way that we could pull them to this pack and have my father take over powering the shield?” I looked at the two men with the last shred of hope.
But they shook their heads. “So you are all telling me I have to live without my mate for the rest of my life just to keep everyone else safe?” The truth ripped out the last remaining ember of hope I had.
There was a soft cough. “Well…there may be one way.”
Everyone turned to Carly to see her glassy white eyes. “Oracle.” Hecate bowed her head.
“Mother.” Carly’s tiny face smiled. “It has been a long time.”
Hecate nodded as her lips turned up. “How has Selene been treating you?”
Carly grinned. “You saved me a lot of pain by taking me from Apollo.” She bowed her tiny body. “I never got to thank you properly.” She sat back up and turned to me. “But I think now I can.”
“What do you mean?” I focused on my pup, but I felt nothing. All my love was dead along with my mate. The guilt hit after my realization. Carly deserved better than what I could give her.
She tilted her head. “You are feeling guilty, but there is no need to do so. You are stronger than you feel at this moment. Even if your mate stayed with the Goddess, you would still do right by this pup.” She nodded to me.
“You still have a lot of love; you just don’t feel it right now.
” She turned back to the gods. “We still might be able to save the King.”
Selene dropped to her knees. “Shaman, are you sure?”
Carly nodded. “You have dominion over the wolf souls, and death.” She waited for Selene to nod. “You could bring back his soul.” Selene nodded again.
I gasped, but the Goddess turned to me. “I could bring his soul back, and while I have some ability, I can't bring him back to life. Erubus’s soul would just be trapped in the body.”
I gasped and shook my head. “No.” I turned to Carly. “He doesn’t deserve that kind of afterlife.”
Carly smiled. “Nor would I ask that of him. Or you.” She turned to Gaia. “Call Hades.”
Gaia frowned. “Why would you call him?”
“Because Selene has dominion over the soul of the wolf. However, Hades has dominion over human souls and their bodies.” She turned to me. “You have to convince him to help you.”
I felt my mouth fall open. “I don’t know what I could give him to get him to agree.”
Gaia sighed. “He is fickle and arrogant.” She blew out a breath. “Hades, I have need of you.” Another ripple went out with the call, and I felt something ripple in my soul.
I gasped as I saw a dark shadow rippled from the ground.
A pale man with dark hair and a trimmed beard stepped out.
He was in a three-piece suit, which, compared to the other gods, seemed wildly out of place.
He tugged at his shirt cuff as he surveyed the clearing.
“Grandmother.” He turned to Gaia. “You called for me?”
She nodded once. Her green lush skin rippled with a yellow hue, as if just being near the god of the underworld took some of her lushness away. “I did.”
He turned to Rowan. “I just saw this man.” I gasped.
“Is he okay?” I shuffled towards his feet. “Is he safe?” I raised a hand without thinking and grabbed his pant leg. As soon as I touched him, I gasped. Something resonated with the God in front of me, and he lifted a brow.
Hades stepped back, tugging his leg out of my grasp, before he crouched in front of me.
With the tip of his finger he tipped my head up, and he tilted his to the side as his gaze swept over my face.
“Interesting.” He stared at me for another moment before his eyes flicked to Rowan’s body.
“Rowan is safe. His soul was granted passage into the fields as he had spent his life sacrificing for his people. He was a good man, and a good king.” A whine slipped from my lips, and his eyes snapped back to mine.
“You are a wolf?” I nodded. “And a Lycan?” I nodded again.
His eyes turned to Hecate’s. “And she is one of yours?” Hecate nodded this time.
“Very interesting.” He finally dropped my face and stood.
“Why did you call?” He turned to Gaia, but she was staring at me.
“It was for me.” I murmured. He turned back to me and waited.
I searched for the words, my eyes landing on my twisted hands.
“I wish I had the ability to explain everything, but time is running out. My tether to Rowan’s soul is fracturing, and I know that once it does, he will be lost to me.
” I looked back up at Hades. “You owe me nothing. I know this. But I beg you. Please. Bring him back to me.” He scoffed, but I grabbed his pant leg again, and a shock ran up my arm.
“I will do whatever you want as long as it isn’t evil, and it is within my power.
Take me instead if you have to. But please bring back my mate.
” I swallowed past the lump in my throat.
“I have lived two lives, and in all this time, I just found him.” I tugged at his pants.
“Please, just give him back to me. You said it yourself. He was a good man, and a good king. Without him, we won’t survive. ”
He crouched again, his finger finding my chin, his black eyes searching my face. “You can’t trade your life for his.”
“Why not?” I grabbed his hand, and another shock rippled through me.
“Because you can’t trade five souls for two.” A gasp went through the crowd. “You have three souls, and your pup has two. It would be an unfair trade.”
My hand shot to my stomach, and I heard my mother sob.
“She’s pregnant?” My mother’s choked question was soft, but I ignored her.
“What can I do?” I pleaded.
He stared at me. “The trade had to be fair, and freely given.”
“Then take me.”