“De—”
I’m on a street; the city around us is burning. The smoke burns my nose, but I don’t look away from her.
“Cai—”
Over and over. I see myself meet her; I live myself meeting her until it stops, and I’m staring at her tied up to the cart on the way to Foreen.
“How many lives have we lived? How many times have we loved each other?” I whisper hoarsely.
“So many more than anyone suspects,” the prophet whispers. “It was the greatest sacrifice any of the gods has ever made.”
No, she’s not a prophet; she’s not human. This is the goddess, the All-Seer. I remember now. And as soon as I make that distinction, her clothes change, and she’s wearing a gown of satin grey that pools around her like liquid. She’s got a headband that hangs low on her forehead with an aquamarine stone set in it.
“Goddess, forgive me,” I whisper.
“Nothing to forgive. Your memories were sealed, and it takes a while to undo them. But it is nice to talk to you without all the hostilities,” she teases.
“Do I remember in every life?”
“No, in some of them you remember, but in others you never know. But this is it. If you don’t save the alphas and omegas, you will not come back. Your souls will fade back into the fabric of what created the worlds, and you will die. If no alphas are born, what body can you inhabit? If no omegas are born, how can she come back?”
Chills run up and down my spine. This is it. I didn’t understand before, but now I do.
“And you?” I rasp out
“Yes, many of us will perish beside you. All the alphas, all the omegas, most of the betas. The world will be reshaped in the image of the Beta Goddess. The gods will never be revived, the world of Remmilow will remain empty, decaying into ruin, and the human world will turn red with the blood that flows.”
“Who is she?”
“The Beta Goddess of Pride lost her way. We call her Rose now because, though she is beautiful, she is full of thorns, and her beauty only goes skin deep. She had a massive following, but she forced her beta allies to fall. Now all that remains is her and her madness.”
“I don’t remember meeting her,” I murmur, clutching my head.
“No, you wouldn’t. You were already living in your forests, and then you’d fallen when she came and rose through the ranks. Perks of being an old god.” Her smile is warm, and I remember hosting her at my table.
“How did everyone miss it? Weren’t there signs?” I snap, frustrated.
“Of course, there were signs, but people looked the other way, those who said things were ignored. Gods were disappearing faster than we could keep track of. I was trying to save as many as I could, but it was too late. She had a power backing.”
“What about the High Alpha and High Omega?”
She stops and licks her lips. “By the time he was there in charge, there was nothing that could be done. I put him there knowing what would happen to him, knowing that he would be the critical tipping point and that he would suffer almost as much as any other. You cannot blame him for what happened, so don’t even think about it.” She barks out, hitting me with a glare that has my shoulders tightening.
I stare at her as my mind makes the connection. “Cadel, you’re talking about Cadel? No, not Cadel, the Winter Alpha? He’s the Anarchy Wolf, right? He did this?” I say, aghast.
“Yes.”
“He did this to us!” I growl.
“Stupid boy!” She snaps and taps a fan to my cheek, drawing my furious attention. She growls and drags us to another vision.
The Winter Wolf, Cadel, is staring into the viewfinder, frantically searching. The entire building is white, and cold mist floats over the floor. Tears run down his cheeks unheeded, turning to drops of ice that fall and shatter on the ground.
“Where is she? Please?” he whispers over and over again.
The blow hits me out of nowhere. “This is who she loved? The alpha she wanted to wait for?”
“He searched for her for thousands of years. It was all he cared about.”
