Chapter 93 #2
“I am Evelyn Carson,” she said through gritted teeth. “No one defines me—not you, not this realm. I’ve fought and bled to defeat the darkness, and the power weaved into my soul, that is the essence that has broken your curse. It is you, Macha, that is nothing now.”
Underneath Evelyn’s skin, veins grew alight, brimming with silver magic as she drove life one last time into the earth. She pulled her staff from the dirt, and the light continued. She’d planted enough of her life magic, now it grew without her.
Silver flame wove across the battlefield, healing anything and everything touched by darkness. Vampyrs, demons, trees, the hills. The more life that peppered the air, the more Evelyn’s power glowed at her fingertips.
Ahead of her, the ever tree grew taller, its leaves silver and full, reflecting her triumphant expression. Soon, its shadow cast behind Evelyn and loomed taller than Kade, its promise reaching far below and high above the Void.
The Sun Goddess faltered a step, eyes narrowing. Metal swished in the air, and the Sun Goddess dodged Kade’s blade almost a moment too late. She stumbled back into the Mother of Darkness’s reach and became encircled by all three of them.
“Your hold on this world ends today,” Kade said, even and calm.
The blue sky and the green hills painted Drystan in a new era. Like a dark blanket being tugged, the curse receded off the land. Wonder rippled across the battlefield, and the fighting slowed. Vampyrs stopped and basked in the rays of sunlight beaming through the parting clouds.
“No . . .” the Sun Goddess breathed, spinning in circles.
Kade held out his sword, and it flared blue. The Mother of Darkness crouched, planting a hand into the soil, a triumphant smile curving across her lips. Evelyn swallowed, gripped her staff tighter, and released the first attack.
She veered left and slammed her staff into the earth, pushing flames toward the Sun Goddess. Silver and gold burst as they collided.
At the epicenter of the battle, the four most powerful beings in the world clashed. Light and darkness fought as one. Kade’s light of the moon weaved with the uniqueness of his wolf and soul, offering balance to Evelyn’s light and the Mother of the Darkness’s shadows.
Kade’s sword clanged against the Sun Goddess’s, blue sparks igniting upon impact.
The goddess thrashed, yanking her sword across Kade’s.
Metal grated against metal, piercing Evelyn’s ears.
Her bones rattled with the goddess’s next scream, and it reminded her all those years ago, the distinct, dark howl on the Callum wind.
The years and months stained by the Sun Goddess’s touch reeled through Evelyn’s mind, but instead of losing her balance or wit, she harnessed the memories and manipulation as fuel to feed her flames.
She was Evelyn Carson, third born and protector thick and through, and this silver flame, grit, and determination belong to no one but her.
Evelyn had written her own path, and with it, Sorin’s freedom from a goddess’s tyranny.
Silver flames surged higher on her left hand and flared at the tip of her staff. With a loud cry, Evelyn spun and released it all from her staff and hand.
Both bursts hit true, barreling into the Sun Goddess’s belly.
The goddess rocked back, her own flame sucking inward and extinguishing.
She dropped her sword, and time slowed as she collapsed to her knees.
She gulped, and the stench of burning flesh hung on the wind.
A large, darkened hole sat in her metal armor, steam rising from the injury.
A breath whooshed out of Evelyn, and she stumbled back, unable to believe her eyes. She blinked, swallowed.
“Evelyn . . .” Across the way, pride glistened in Kade’s eyes along with the reflection of shimmering silver.
Look.
Kade’s voice inside her mind was the gentlest caress. Evelyn turned, and one tree rooted in the Drystan soil continued to grow, it’s mighty branches full of silver leaves. The ever tree’s magic pulsed back and forth over the land, and blue painted the sky more than the eclipsing gray.
You did it, love.
We did it, Evelyn corrected.
She swallowed and met her fated’s stare again. He straightened to his full height and lowered his sword. The power of a thousand words brimmed in their locked gaze.
The truest of unions will defeat the darkness.
The line of prophecy rooted itself in Evelyn’s heart. Tears stung at the edge of her eyes.
Fucking flames, they’d done it.
Between them, the Sun Goddess’s life drained from her like ash twisting into the wind. Her skin peeled back, revealing a molten layer of flesh, red and angry like lava.
The battle around them stilled and stopped. Swords ceased to clang. Werewolves shifted from their beast forms. Demons retreated. Evelyn couldn’t decide where to rest her sights, to find her friends and loved ones or focus on her enemy’s final moments.
The Mother of Darkness prowled closer to her soul sister, blade at the ready. Her mouth fell into a thin line, her beautiful, sharp face void of any emotion. Shadows leaked from eyes, as if she released tears from the past, present, and future.
For Morrígna had created the Mother of Darkness and banished her into Hel, and now she stood, forcing her hand to end a soul sister, and ultimately end her existence, too, sending them both into oblivion.
Metal sang as it cut through the air, and Badb positioned the blade at Macha’s neck. Evelyn braced for the brutal blow.
Waited, waited, and waited—
Pink darted across Evelyn’s peripherals.
“Linx!” Kade’s voice boomed with confusion. “What are you doing?”
The Sun Goddess’s eyes widened. “Betrayer!“ she hissed.
The Mother of Darkness recoiled back. “No—“
A loud boom swallowed her outcry. The force knocked Evelyn off her feet. She flew through the air, spinning and falling—
Evelyn landed yards away with a harsh thud. Her ears rang, and the world around her blurred to the colors of smoke and battle. She fought to stand, a harsh pain radiating down her right side. Fucking flames, she’d broken something. Her rib? An arm? Both?
“Fuck,” Evelyn hissed.
Gritting her teeth through the aching, she crawled to the ever tree. It still stood, untouched by the explosion. Above her, the sky still bled blue, and no remnants of the curse filtered on the wind.
But where were the goddesses?
Evelyn rose, grasping hold of the ever tree’s birch-like trunk and using it to keep her steady. Behind her, a crater now sat, but through the billowing smoke, Evelyn couldn’t make out anyone. Not the Mother of Darkness, Linx or—
Where was her mate?
“No, no, no,” Evelyn whimpered.
Kade! Evelyn shouted down their mating bond. Yet, she couldn’t feel him at the other end. Their thread brimmed with love and light, but he was—
Gone.
“KADE!” she roared his name again, this time through the chaos.
But he didn’t answer, didn’t appear out of the smoke rising over the hills.
But there was nothing. No remnants of his soul. Not kindness. Not goodness. Not even the presence of his beastly energy. The other end of their bond pulsed with emptiness.
My love for you spans wider than the realms, and it’ll burn longer than existence. No matter what world or lifetime, my soul will always belong to you.
She cried out, screamed an animalistic sound, like she’d been ripped open from the inside.
“EVELYN!”
Hope flitted through her. She whirled at the sound of her name, but that voice . . . It belonging to the most beautiful witch.
“Belle?” Evelyn breathed.
Her friend, awake and running, barreled into her. She fell to her knees and grasped hold of Evelyn’s hands as she caught her breath. Behind her, Todd sprinted to them, shifting out of his werewolf form.
Matted with sweat, his dark gaze drilled into Evelyn. “I’m so sorry, Evelyn. Forgive me.”
Evelyn’s ears rang. “What is it? What is he talking about?”
“It’s Linx. S-s-she fooled . . . us all. She’s . . .”
“Breathe,” Evelyn said. “Breathe.”
Belle gulped for air. “Linx is Matilda Moore.”
Evelyn’s blood ran as cold as ice. In her peripherals, the battlefield spun.
“I don’t understand.” She shook her head, trying and failing to grasp what Belle was telling her. “Odin said Matilda died—“
“He was wrong. We were all wrong.”
Evelyn gripped her friend tighter. “How do you know this? Why are you so certain?”
“Because it wasn’t the Sun Goddess who put me in a trance, Evelyn. It was Linx. She did it for her. Linx connected them all—Riven, Circe, Claus, Ingrid. . . She’s been working with Macha the entire time.”
Evelyn’s mind reeled. “If Matilda Moore had never truly died like Odin or Badb suspected, that would make her one of the Three.”
Belle nodded. “Linx is Nemain. She is the missing third soul-sister, and she just made Morrígna whole again.”