In front of me sat a group of beings that looked human, but instinctually I knew that they weren’t.
They looked far too perfect—far too beautiful to be any sort of human I had ever seen.
The person in the center must have been the one who had spoken because she smiled at me softly.
“I have wondered when we would finally be able to speak face-to-face, Guinevere,” she said, though her smile turned sad as she continued. “I do wish it had been under better circumstances.”
“Give them back,” I said, my voice raw from screaming. “Give them all back to me.”
Another one of the gods—a man this time—made a rude noise under his breath. “She dares demand such things from us? A mere human?”
“Bran, you must understand her reasons,” the woman chastised softly. The tone of her voice triggered the memory of the dream I had had before we were ambushed in the village the day after my wedding.
“It was you all who were talking in my dreams that day,” I said out loud, mostly to myself as my brain tried to catch up with how preposterous it all was.
“Bran, this business has little to do with you,” another woman said, her eyes obscured by a hood. “So I must suggest you step back.”
“But Arianrhod!” Bran began to protest, but one look from the first woman seemed to quell the man’s urge to shout.
“Now,” the first woman said, offering me a smile that I wished I could wipe off of her face. It was her fault that I felt so alone. It was all of their faults that my fate always seemed to end with me losing the ones I loved the most. “My name is Rhiannon and I am here to offer you a choice.”
“A choice?” I repeated, sounding stupid.
Rhiannon nodded, glancing over at the hooded woman. “Arianrhod?”
The hooded woman lifted her hands and they began to glow then, in a flash, Merlin’s body appeared. He floated in front of the gods, his eyes closed as if he was just asleep.
“What did you do to him?” I gasped, trying to move forward to touch him but found my feet seemed to be glued in place, keeping me right where I was.
“We have done nothing, Guinevere,” Arianhrod said, her voice echoing as if many voices were speaking. “He has done this. This is my creation—a vehicle with which we moved fate forward in order to create the true king of kings.”
“How are you supposed to create a king of kings if Arthur is dead?” I asked, my voice sharp as I thought about Arthur’s lifeless eyes again.
“Patience,” Rhiannon told me softly. “Arianhrod has a story to tell.”
“I created Merlin from my own flesh,” Arianhrod continued as if none of us had spoken. “He is as much my child as any of my creations, though it took him a long time to fit in amongst the humans. He was tasked with bringing you to the past and creating a space for your pack to form with your alphas.”
These were all things I already knew, but I held my tongue, waiting for the woman to go on.
“But what even my eyes could not see, was that he had become more and morehumanas time went on. He experienced a new life through the eyes of the omegas he pulled first and began to yearn for more,” Arianhrod said, sounding suddenly sad. “He was meant to return to me once his task was complete, but I fear that may no longer be possible.”
“Why?” I asked, wishing I could touch him and bring him close to protect him from the will of the gods—whatever that may be.
“He has chosen to cleave his soul in half, Guinevere,” Rhiannon said, staring fondly down at Merlin. “To give you back your pack, and costing him everything.”
“But I never asked him to do that!” I gasped, my fists clenched as I realized where they were going with this conversation. “He shouldn’t do that for me!”
“I am inclined to agree, so I shall give you a choice,” Rhiannon began. “You may either keep Merlin and his soul intact and whole—or you may have your pack returned to you.”
“I want both,” I said without needing to think about it. “I am so tired of you gods trying to rule my life and the life of those around us. I want both—no I demand both after all the bullshit you’ve put me through.”
Rhiannon’s pale brows lifted. “Bold words from a human at our mercy.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, calling their bullshit. These were gods, so I didn’t have to choose and they could figure it out. “You wouldn’t have pulled me here in the first place if you didn’t need something from me.”
Rhiannon opened her mouth to speak, but Arianhrod put a hand on her arm. “Child, you are as precocious as you are brave. Very well, we will take your desires into consideration, but you must do something for me.”
“What is it?” I asked, frowning as Merlin’s body disappeared completely.
