I take a step back, Kyra’s words hitting me like physical blows.
“I’m sorry,” I choke out. “I didn’t think.”
“No, you didn’t,” Kyra says. “But it’s alright. I haven’t fully considered your situation, either, and we shouldn’t compare. Bringing Sakesh down was never going to be easy. He’s killed so many, and lived in these woods for thousands of years, just waiting for the perfect conditions to take over the right person and spread across the whole world.”
A shudder runs through me as I think of Sakesh with the power to move across whole continents. He’d bring hell to earth, turning our beloved forests to ash and all water to lava. Fire would live on the skin of the world instead of flowers and animals.
“Anyone who survived it would live in agony,” I whisper.
Kyra nods. “And Sakesh still needs to be fed. People would need to be kept alive to suffer. That’s how it works.”
“You’re right,” I say, squaring my shoulders. “I hear what you’re saying… but that doesn’t mean I can do it. What happens if I don’t?”
Kyra shrugs. “The world turns. You know how it is—the cycles flow, all we can do is try to flow with them. You also know that decisions we make with our minds aren’t always what our heart chooses.”
“Yes,” I say, feeling the conflict rising in me again.
Does this scare me so much because it gives me permission to do the one thing I really want to do and not worry about the consequences?
“We need to go,” Trix says. “But we’ll call you again when we need you.”
“Try not to kill me,” I mutter, hugging them both. “Give me a mental nudge instead of a scream, okay?”
“I’ll try,” Kyra chuckles.
I wave to them as they walk away, then turn back towards home. My emotions tumble inside me, not as intense as before, but troubling still.
Does this mean Dan is my fated mate? If that’s true, then we really are compatible; we just haven’t learned it yet. If being with him is inevitable, is there any sense in fighting it?
I examine myself carefully, and I know I can’t just hurl myself into his arms because the prophecy said so.
I have to be ready—I have to choose it. I’m my own person, and that is important in the great scheme of things. It has to be.
Deep down, I still feel like I wouldn’t even be here with Dan if the coven hadn’t ordered it, and it makes me angry, even as I try to reason it away.
Suddenly, a sense of foreboding trickles through me. I stop, looking around in the dark woods. I can’t see or hear anything, but my magical senses are screaming alarms at me.
I’m being followed.
To test my theory, I turn away from town and jog a short way, and the strong presence gets even stronger. Fear sparks in my chest, and I turn back towards town, breaking into a hard run.
A crackling sounds behind me, and the forest is painted with golden light. A sob bursts from my throat as I realize what it is, who it has to be.
Sakesh.
Not daring to look back, I run even harder, knowing that there is no way I can outrun him. When my foot catches on a rock, and I crash into the ground, a scream of shock tears my chest in two, and I turn over to see the shimmering golden glow of Sakesh rising above me.
Grace…
Its voice hisses, somewhere beyond hearing but understood in my soul. The air shimmers with heat, and I scramble backwards, watching helplessly as it dips its head and slithers closer.
I can taste you, Grace…
“Then eat this!” I scream, throwing my hands up and thrusting them towards him. Rocks and debris from all around me fly through the air, hammering Sakesh’s semi-solid form. I’m not really hurting him, but it’s holding him back from attacking me.
He’s not at full strength!
Groaning with effort, I pour more power into my hands until I’m at my limit. My skin begins to sizzle as Sakesh fights back, getting closer to me and bobbing his head, tongue flickering out and almost touching me.
