“A traitor, a love taken, families destroyed all for power. A masquerade hiding evil has been in place too long. It’s time to reveal who is under the mask. Only a power stronger than True Love can defeat the dark magic as evil as this,” Helena said as she looked at her son and daughter-in-law.
“Only together can you stop it. Fate has played her last hand,” Linus said with a soft smile.
Helena smiled down at them and blew them a kiss. Linus gave an encouraging smile and then they were gone.
Samuel blinked and there they stood in the clearing, hand in hand. Slade, Zoey, and he saw that his right hand was outstretched toward Polly. He took a deep breath as they all came to terms with the prophecy.
“Excuse me. I have a True Love I need to claim.” Samuel dropped his hand from Zoey and stalked across the clearing. First Katrina and then Helena and Linus. The Goddess wasn’t just giving hints. She was bashing him over the head to make sure he saw what had been right in front of him for centuries. His real True Love.
4
Polly laughed at something Cavallaro brother number who-knows-what said. She could barely understand his accent, but it was sexy as all get out. However, as if by their own accord, her eyes kept drifting back to Samuel.
It was strange when she had seen Zoey holding on to his arm, but then it was even stranger when Slade, Zoey, and Samuel were standing completely still holding hands, staring off in the distance. Polly glanced over at them now only to find Samuel stalking toward her with a look on his face she hadn’t seen since they battled side by side four hundred years ago. His eyes were narrowed, magical power rolled off him, and he seemed impossibly big as he blocked out the morning light.
The brothers said something in Italian, but Polly didn’t realize there were other people around them. She saw it, the magical bond beginning to connect them. They were True Loves! She gasped as her magic reached for his across the clearing. His reached for hers and together their powers intertwined. Her red fire power licked its way along his green earth power until a yellow light joined them heart to heart.
When Polly looked up from the light Samuel was standing in front of her. “It’s been you all along, all this time. The battle at court . . .” Samuel shook his head. “I didn’t see it–the way I fought to get to you. I should have. I’m sorry. But I see you now. I see us. Four hundred years I’ve waited to do this.”
Polly’s heart was beating as she looked up into Samuel’s deep brown eyes. “Do what?”
“Kiss you.”
Samuel lowered his head and Polly forgot to breathe. When his lips claimed hers, she didn’t need air to survive. She had her True Love. Warmth filled her body as their powers crackled around them. Samuel’s arm caressed her back as it pulled her tightly against him while his other hand cupped her face to angle her lips just the right way to deepen the kiss. Polly’s fingers speared his hair as she tugged him closer.
She didn’t know how long they kissed, but she gasped when she finally pulled back. “Samuel, your eyes!” No longer dark brown, his eyes were an amber color glowing back down at her.
“I’d always loved your russet eyes, but this is my favorite color now. We match.”
Polly reached up and touched her face. Her whole body seemed to be vibrating with a new energy. “My eyes are amber too?”
“Even more beautiful than gold.” Samuel used a finger to push back a lock of hair and then kissed her again. “Let’s get out of here.”
It was then Polly remembered the entire witch population of Moonshine Hollow surrounded them. Polly looked around only to see white. It was like they were inside an egg.
“Zoey,” they said together and then laughed.
Samuel knocked on the wall and the egg disappeared. Around them, witches were working on their powers and Grand Mistress Lauren was smiling, her wedding book in hand.
“I knew you two were True Loves! Two of our greatest warriors were destined to be together.” Lauren sighed happily as everyone stopped to notice the new couple. “Now, about the wed—”
Grand Mistress didn’t get a chance to finish. Samuel had poofed them away.
“No offense to the Grand Mistress, but I’d always imagined being the one to propose to you,” he said to a startled Polly.
Polly looked around and smiled when she realized where they were. They were at the Standing Stones of Stenness. It was the place where countless witches had come through the ages for a blessing from the Goddess. It was also the place where their friends, Jane and Galen, now lived as the keeper of the stones.
Polly looked around at the ancient stones in the full Scottish daylight. Down the path sat the stone house where Jane and Galen lived. “I want to get the Goddess’s blessing,” Samuel said to her.
“I’ve waited so long for you. I’ve loved you in my heart for four hundred years,” Polly said, reaching out to clasp both of his hands in hers. “But I’m glad we’re doing this the traditional way. It means a lot to me, Samuel. I was young when the war started. I lost my parents and our traditions make me feel closer to them.”
Samuel bent his head until their forehead rested together. “Now that I’ve opened my heart, it’s filled with nothing but my love for you.”
They closed their eyes and held each other’s hands. Samuel spoke softly in the old language of the Goddess. Polly listened as he offered up a prayer to the Goddess, told her of their love, and asked for her blessing. The stones seemed to hum around them as Polly’s powers surged to life. They shot from her body and she opened her eyes fearful she’d hurt Samuel. Instead, she found their powers twisting together into one, forming a circle around the stones. Their powers twisted, turned, and combined into a bright yellow light that filled the stones before racing back into their bodies.
Polly gasped at the power she felt flowing through her. It was the power of light, the power of good, the power of love. Zoey had told her that True Loves shared stronger powers, but now she fully understood.
“Congratulations!”
Samuel and Polly looked to the side of the stones to find Jane and Galen smiling at them.
“I knew you’d come to your senses eventually,” Galen said to Samuel. “I was afraid I was going to have to give you the True Love talk Slade gave me.”
“We have the blessing of the Goddess, now we need the blessing of the stone keepers,” Samuel said as he shook Galen’s hand and Polly hugged Jane.
“Well you have it. You’ve had it the whole time,” Jane said with a laugh. “Come into the house. Zoey and Slade will be here soon.”
“That’s nice that they’re here to celebrate,” Polly said, leaning her head against Samuel’s shoulder.
“Tonight we celebrate,” Samuel said in a tone that made Polly look up at him. She noticed the warning in his gaze and wondered what it was about.
“Of course,” Jane said, understanding his tone, as she led the way to the house. “We have a cute guest cottage down the path there that you two can use for the night. Tomorrow is soon enough to come back to reality. Now tell me, has Grand Mistress Lauren brought out the wedding book yet?”
Polly wanted to ask more, but Jane shut it down, locked it, and tossed away the key. She was firmly in the pretend there’s nothing to talk about tomorrow camp. By the time they arrived to the house, Slade and Zoey were inside popping the cork on a bottle of champagne.