I nodded and we completed the second repetition.
I felt my teeth lengthening, my body flowing like water. I knew I could take almost any shape I chose now, but I kept my hand clasped in Elex’s. I only wanted to be his.
His power now dazzled around us like fireworks. His dark hair blew around his face in the wind, his blue eyes glowing like sapphires.
We began the final repetition of the ritual. Suddenly the voices of three women joined us. The three women I now remembered from the last time I was in this darkness walked forward, each carrying a torch. Their voices joined our own.
Help us guide the lost.
Help us punish the wicked.
Help us mend the broken.
As we unite to fulfill your wishes
As Sons of Hecate
“So let it be,” They said, Their voices echoing in the darkness as we ended.
I turned and looked at Elex. In this place, his face seemed younger, somehow. Not as careworn. Not as hard.
“So let it be,” we whispered together.
Chapter 20
Elex
The strange dream of standing with the three women, speaking words I didn’t know how I knew, finally ended and darkness spread over us like a blanket.
The darkness was suddenly replaced with a light so blinding it made my eyes burn and tears stream down my face.
“I can send dreams, too,”a male voice snarled in my mind.
Skyla stood next to me, blood pouring from between her fingers.
“How could you, Kat?” she asked, her voice quiet as the blood streamed down her arms. “We’re both Mageia. How could you kill your own blood?”
“Your fault,” a familiar voice spoke. Mitera stood near my feet. She wore the dressing gown the King had gifted her, but blood poured from her body, staining the white satin a deep red.
I was on the ground, in some kind of box. I was unable to move. A coffin, I realized. The blood from her wounds rose higher and higher, slowly covering my body. The hot, viscous liquid moved along my skin, first seeping into my ears, then toward my mouth.
“All your fault, brother,” Erix said as he stood over me, his bloated, pale flesh barely sticking to his bones as the blood began to fill my mouth and choke me.
I sat up, scrubbing at my lips, desperate to keep the blood out of my mouth and nose.
“Hey!” I heard a familiar voice beside me, and warm arms wrapped around me. I immediately began trying to fight my way free.
“K-kat! Elex! It’s okay, it’s me!” Helios said shaking me.
I froze at the unfamiliar use of my name, then slowly relaxed and gulped air into my lungs while trying to calm my racing heart.
Great. Just what I needed. More nightmare material.
“You okay?” Hel asked, concern written clearly on his face.
I nodded without looking at him, grabbing my pants and shirt and hastily pulling them on. I stood and combed my fingers through my hair in a vain attempt to tame it. Fuck, it had been a long time since I’d had a nightmare this bad.
“Don’t do that,” I heard Hel say behind me.
