Sadie would give the prophecy a full week to play out before returning to the Irish Bear kingdom. Then both she and Naomiwould have to break the news to their people that they would be going into full lockdown for the foreseeable future.
Because when Dorie failed to return to her own hometown, the Scottish Wolves would try to invade the Irish Wolves’ secret kingdom again. And this time, there would be no staying out of it for the bears.
The first ceasefire had lasted centuries before the Irish Wolves invaded the Scottish kingdom and stole all those brides. This latest one had barely made it twenty years. In a week, their fragile peace would be gone.
Because of what Sadie had done.
“Hopefully, she understood and said the fating spell,” Sadie whispered. She wondered if she’d ever stop seeing the look on Dorie’s face when she fell backward into that lake.
“She did.” Naomi sat down beside Sadie without letting go of her hand. Her hard expression faltered. “She looked so much like Leora. I wasn’t prepared for that.”
Sadie nodded, understanding. She’d thought the same thing when the little girl she’d met in Scotland stepped off the plane, looking so much like Naomi’s oldest sister.
“How about if we misread the Prophecy?” Sadie said again, unable to stop herself. “How about if this doesn’t change anything?”
“It has to.” Naomi squeezed Sadie’s hand so hard it hurt.
“But—”
“It has to,” she growled between clenched teeth. “Sea and Wild gave up everything to fulfill their part of that Prophecy. Wild was a true believer. Fulfilling this final piece has got to mean something—close the circle, like the three gods promised.”
“But what does closing the circle even mean?” Sadie couldn’t keep the tremble out of her voice. The doubt her best friend didn’t seem to share—not since Naomi investigated the Prophecy herself and found the last passage.
About the Dragon Queen.
“Queen Naomi, Queen Sadie, I am so sorry for keeping you waiting.”
The slightly growly voice snapped their heads up from their miserable hunch on the dark sanctuary’s bench that, like the walls, was laced with green light tech.
Sadie and Naomi both stood to greet the shifter head cleric of what the bears and wolves called the Sanctuary Kingdom.
The Tiger Cleric lowered the hood of her green robe and greeted them with a formal bow. “For the three gods.”
“For the three gods,” Sadie and Naomi answered. A lot more solemnly than they had a month ago, when the three of them had concocted this plan.
The Tiger Cleric was shorter than Sadie but taller than Naomi, and younger than them both. Sadie had never seen her outside the sanctuary city’s green robes, but the cleric had a pouncing quality about her that made Sadie suspect she was lithe and well-muscled underneath her garment.
That morning, her slightly upturned amber eyes glowed with excitement, and she couldn’t quite keep the youth or the chuffing lilt out of her voice. “I can’t believe it’s really happening! Everyone’s still buzzing about getting to see the Final Prophecy yesterday.”
The Final Prophecy. That was how they referred to Dorie. As if her whole identity only came down to those three words. As if she was a collection of instructions, not a living, breathing she-wolf whose life they'd just ended. At least as Dorie knew it.
Sadie pressed her lips together, and an irritated feeling rose in her chest. “It was a little hard to explain why you were all out there staring at her as we rode by.”
“I apologize for that, your highness.” The Tiger Cleric bowed her head so low Sadie could only see the top of her tawny-orangehair. “But we could not pass up the opportunity to witness even a bit of the last part of the Prophecy being fulfilled.”
Before Sadie could respond, the smaller shifter then asked, “How can I serve our prophesied queens today?”
The irritation faded, and Sadie found herself too choked up to speak.
Yes, she and Naomi had been prophesied to serve in their roles, and until yesterday, she had been nothing but grateful for the Prophecy that had brought her to Ireland—to her loves and this life, which had been almost exclusively happy for the last twenty years.
But now…
“I have to check the last passage in the Prophecy again,” Sadie told the Tiger Cleric. “Just one more time. I have to know I didn’t just push that she-wolf to her death.”
“Oh, your highness, I have faith you did not.” The Tiger Cleric’s face softened with sympathy. “But of course, I am happy to assist the fulfillers of the Final Prophecy. Right this way, your highnesses.”
The Tiger Cleric led them deeper into the sanctuary, and Sadie followed, trying very hard not to think about Dorie falling backward into dark water.
