She takes my hand, but I’m too stunned to pull away. “Come, Alpha, there is something I need to tell you, and then you will have a choice to make. But this time, there will be no forgetting. You will remember who and what you are when you wake up.”
I stare at the tent I grew up in. The world seemed so huge back then, but it was so small. This yard, this shitty tent. It was my everything.
“What happened to Sorcha?” I ask quietly.
“Your sister fell with the other gods,” she murmurs softly. “I’m sorry.”
“She’s gone? All these years of missing a memory that wasn’t even mine, and she was gone. She needed me, and I wasn’t there?”
“But the world needs you now. All of them. It’s your choice, everything, all your decisions, no one can force you or make you. I offer only guidance and tell you what I see. You will remember everything now. Choose what you divulge carefully.”
“Did you know all this was going to happen when you recruited us?”
She doesn’t answer, but when I turn to find her, she’s already gone.
I go into the tent and sit on my bed, finding the carved image on the stone floor of me and my sister who never existed in this life.
I put my head down between my knees, and I cry.
I cry for all of us.
Chapter 42
Left behind
I didn’t dream at all, but when I wake up, I think of them, and I smile before I even open my eyes. That smile dies when I see Jarek lying beside me, staring at me with an expression that can only be described as devastated. I reach out my hand to him, but he rolls to his feet and rushes out of the temple before I can even think of something to say.
“What’s wrong with him?” Mordecai asks quietly.
I shove up on my knees and shrug.
Mordecai stands up fluidly and holds out a hand to me. My feelings are bruised, but his offer takes the sting out of Jarek’s actions. He pulls me up, and I find myself staggering into his chest, staring at the immense expanse, my fingers unconsciously stroking.
He traps my hand against his chest. “We can’t. It’s too dangerous.”
I snatch my hand back, my cheeks burning. Of course, it is.
“Sorry,” I mutter.
“Kaida, don’t be sorry—”
I shake my head; he reads me easily and cuts off his sentence.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks instead.
“Of course. If we do it quickly and quietly, we can get everyone out before anyone notices.” My words are stiff, but when I turn, there is Cadel.Huge, larger than life. A god. His eyes drop, sliding over my body before crawling back up.
He doesn’t need to say anything. I can feel it in the air. His scent hits me, and I whimper.
Mordecai snarls. “Not the time!”
I rip my gaze from Cadel and inhale deeply through my mouth, trying to calm down.
“We need to find the Resistance first,” I stutter out.
“Fresh air will help,” Mordecai mutters. “But let me handle finding the Resistance. We have our ways.”
I follow Cadel and Mordecai up to the street. Jarek is nowhere in sight. I scan our surroundings, then do it again. I shift on the spot, unsure what to do before Mordecai grabs my hand and tugs me away.
