“I’m here, my love,” I whisper, falling to my knees beside him. “I’ll always be here.”
He stretches his hand across the dirt, and I place mine over the top even though it slips right through.
“Wipe your tears. This is too important for sorrow.” He sighs and there is no inhale.
My eyes are too full of tears to see the moment his drift closed.
Aside from the universe ringing, the forest is silent.
I stagger to my feet, pacing back from his lifeless body as my mind struggles. Semi-detached from it all, because this hasn’t happened yet. My husband is safely outside this vision. I haven’t lost him yet.
Only one dose? There can’t be. Maybe the antidote isn’t a potion, but a healer’s ointment, or something from the Veil itself.
There has to be a way.
When the leaves sit heavy, the path through the forest will be fraught with danger. Pain will come through the Veil – and the whips will take your soul.
I can’t get any clearer than that, though talking in riddles is a ProphecySeed’s native tongue. I don’t know the year, or the reason they’re in the forest, or the reason the attackers have chosen this moment.
The humming stops, and I step outside the scene, viewing the universe from amongst the stars and blackness and feeling too exhausted to even touch the pages.
A rock settles in the pit of my stomach, one I won’t pick up until I absolutely have to.
The humming peaks, then settles into an almost pleasurable pulse.
This is the moment, the split in time. In one reality, the result of only one story, the scene ends with a brand new prophecy. My husband dies, but hope that this kingdom will one day be whole does not. But if I change that, if I find the cure, if I try to save my husband, then this prophecy about two girls being born isn’t even in existence. He sets things in motion with his dying breaths and a very specific unfolding of events.
Someone always dies, but only in that one option does Vidarr see a cure. When you find the cure for this poison, you’ll have one dose – save it for the one who’ll save them all. And a way to save them all.
But from what?
And why does only one reality offer hope?
Is it me? Is it because I chase the cure? Does that somehow, inadvertently, interfere with these children and our chances? Make the prophecy pointless, the options voided. These two babies being born right now. And the mortal I’ve been searching for since I was handed the same lines that led me to Lucif, but who knows when they will be born.
There aren’t many lasts of any kinds – only a few Seeds have died out. ProphecySeeds are very close to extinction, but I’m not nor ever will be pregnant, so it can’t be one of my kind. Alphas, Darknesses, Chaos… but the last of those are all boys. There are the Origins; there’s only one of those left.
My whole body shakes with realization.
I put Haryk and Lisa in each other’s paths. I took Lucif and left Lisa there. I’ve not seen Haryk since, but I know Lisa has kept in touch with her niece, Tamma, thanks to some careful meddling on my part.
Lisa and Lucif were my first prophecy. They were the beginning of the end.
In the hands of the last Origin shall be found, – Lisa, Haryk was holding Lisa.
The one who runs from their problems and refuses to see – Lucif.
The one who sought to heal the pain that began this game – Lisa. Lucif never sought to heal anything in his life.
The one who will sacrifice all to protect those they love – Lisa.
They shall be the one to sire this Kingdom back to greatness – Lisa.
It was Lisa all along! How could I not see that? Muinthel and I were so very, very wrong.
And the one quick to temper and eager to pain must be removed from the game – Lucif, not Lisa at all.
The greatest threat to the heir, and the walls of his kingdom, is the warrior with a mortal soul – not our enemy, as I first thought, but perhaps our best ally. But a mortal soul? Not a mortal, exactly. Something more, but still not a Saber. There’s a third child, a mortal soul born of mortal and Aeon magic. Stop hunting her, she’s out of your control now.
Something I’ve done, or not done, has changed the prophecy I was given, and the universe is now telling me that the mortal child is where she needs to be.
All this time I have been gathering our perfect team. Lucif to lead, already amongst the nobles and running large enterprises in this country. And my boys as the realm’s strongest warriors.
Tears finally flood from my eyes. The prophecy seemed so simple. To protect this realm, I’ve been protecting Lucif despite seeing his wicked ways. I was so very wrong, but that’s my burden to bear and my sacrifice to make.
The ultimate sacrifice.
An Alpha shall bring greatness to Silva.
An Allure to change the tides of time.
A Darkness to light the way,
A Chaos to pull the strings.
And the one a gift from an Origin.
Out of all this shall be our survival. For without them this realm will blacken to nothing from the inside – then be burned to ash from the outside.
And now, could it be that Lisa is having a baby? And somewhere in this world another last of is also giving birth. One the light, the other the dark. But which is which?
I can’t risk choosing wrong, not again. As soon as I’ve found them, any two babes born to a dying lineage on this night, they will both go into stasis.
The most logical place to start is with Haryk, but I haven’t sought them out again because deep down I knew my actions were wrong. I chose Lucif. My very first prophecy was a rift, and I took the wrong path.
Never again.
An odd little extra thought unfolds in a quiet part of my mind – an Origin would be a perfect match for each of my boys. The one Seedline left that has the ability to form the kinds of MateBonds they each will never know otherwise.
Not just the perfect match – the only true match.
I’d never dream of forcing two people to fall in love, but introducing them and letting the universe do the rest is an entirely different matter.
If I can find these two girls. If I can put them into stasis. If I can save my loved ones – and this whole cursed kingdom. There are a lot of ifs.
But there are certainties here too – because if any one of these other realities comes into existence, the ones where Vidarr doesn’t receive a prophecy and instead, he and my boys die on the forest floor, then I have a feeling the consequences will be worse than even I can imagine.
I sigh deeply then inhale just as much, repeating the process several more times before leaning down and picking up the rock in my stomach.
It feels too heavy, and my heart screams that it’s impossible to carry. I can’t do this.
And yet, as I settle the metaphorical stone beside my heart, I’m already pretty sure I will, whether it crushes my soul or not, because I have to make things right.
I have to let my husband die.
There is no other way.
I slip back into my body, wavering on the moon balcony and almost falling over with exhaustion. But I don’t, because Vidarr is holding me up. I have no idea when he arrived or how long he’s been there, steadying me as I drain myself so low I’m going to need a few days of sleep to recover. The glow on the horizon says it’s almost dawn.