Gods, with everything that has happened, the amulet and my memories were the furthest thing from my mind until now, but it is why I’m here. To find the truth. To find myself. I am so fucking scared. Staring into Kairos’ eyes, the hope overpowered by pain that lingers within them, my heart already threatens to crack in two. I don’t want to hurt him. Either of them.
“The truth shall set us free,” I lie, because the truth no longer feels like freedom, it feels more like a poisonous affliction I’ll be granting someone. I take a deep breath, unable to look into his eyes, to face the pain there any longer, so I look at the amulet instead. “I guess it’s now or never.”
He tilts my chin up, leaning in until his face is just inches from mine. “Please,” he breathes, his warm breath brushing against my lips. “I can’t take this pain any longer. I need you to remember. I need this nightmare to end.” His eyes burn into mine, searching my own for something, as his glaze over and fill with tears.
It hurts. I can’t stand the heartbreak that rises and falls like broken, stormy waves within those dim green eyes. He loves me. And looking at him now, the light and adoration that his soul wraps me up in, I’m brave enough to admit the truth to myself for the first time. I love them both. How could I not? Fate brought them both to me for a reason. I just have no idea why.
I push myself to my feet and offer my hand out to Kairos. He sways and then hisses in pain as he stumbles into me. I wrap his arm around my shoulder, looping mine around his waist, until he straightens and steadies himself, then nods down at me. His eyes pin me in place, like he doesn’t want to or is afraid to let me go, but I release him and he’s able to stand upright on his own.
Hekate gasps, drawing all of our attention, and then she quickly slides away from Nyx as blackness seeps from her skin and settles on the ground around her. Slowly, her curved horns and leathery wings begin to crack, and before I can even blink, they shatter and turn to ash. The black blood trickling out of the burn on her chest, the wound my flames gave her, fades to a bright crimson. That evil I felt wrapped around her before is gone. I sense powerful light and a pure heart that has been buried beneath a century of darkness. The darkness isn’t gone. It’s still there, coursing through her veins, but it’s different. Her celestial blood overpowers it.
“Nyx,” Hekate whispers, crawling across the ground and taking both of her hands. “You’re free, Nyx. You’re finally free.”
Her eyelids flutter open and warm brown irises greet me as I meet her gaze. She sits up, looking at all of us with wide, terror-filled eyes as she slides backward on the crumbling dirt. She doesn’t stop until her back is pressed firmly against the side of the black, rocky mountain. She doesn’t speak. She only screams. She screams and sobs uncontrollably, unconsolably, as Hekate tries to take her into her arms and Nyx forcefully pushes her away. Hekate gives Kairos a dazed and terrified glance as she opens a portal to leave. Ere steps up behind me, placing his palms on my shoulders, thumbs absentmindedly caressing my skin, but I can’t look away from Nyx. She seems so…broken.
“Please…take me home…these are not my thoughts. I do not belong here.” Nyx curls into the fetal position on the ground as Hekate gently brushes hair out of her face and then cradles her head in her lap.. “You do not belong here,” Nyx spits, eyes pinned in my direction, Ere stiffening behind me.
Hekate blinks and they’re gone.
“What the hell just happened?” Kairos steps away, eyes searching the ground where Nyx’s darkness disintegrated to ash.
I force my mouth closed as my mind races with thoughts of what it all could mean. “I have no idea,” I whisper.
Ere steps up beside me, lifting a hand and running the back of his fingers across my cheek. “You are safe. That’s all that matters to me.” He smiles, golden eyes warm and comforting. “It’s Nyx. Probably a new game she has decided to play.”
He’s right. I felt light within her, but none of us know what’s going through her mind, or what she’d be willing to do to get exactly what she wants. She didn’t seem okay. What if this is another game? I hope Hekate is safe.
Kairos, Ere, and I stand in silence for a moment, none of us knowing what the hell to say or do.
Kairos lifts my necklace over his head and takes my hand in his, gently closing my palm around it. “I believe this belongs to you.” He smiles at me and then glares in Eres direction.
He backs away but his eyes search mine as I look from him to Ere. I should be happy to be holding this. I should be thrilled that it’s finally over. But gods, I’m terrified of what truths I might uncover.
Opening my palms, I hold it in front of me and gaze into the swirling, hypnotizing colors. “What do I do now?” I glance over at Ere.
He steps up behind me, reaching over my shoulders and placing his palms beneath my hands. “Whatever it tells you to do, my love. Close your eyes and feel the power. Listen to the magic within it.”
I don’t even feel him walk away, too engrossed in listening and feeling and connecting with whatever magic holds onto my memories. In my mind, I’m holding the amulet and filling it with water from a river that glows with lights and colors so vibrant and full of power that it takes my breath away. I seal the bottle closed with a wave of a hand, and slide it onto a dainty, golden chain. I know what I have to do. I open my eyes and hold the bottle upright, waving a hand above the top, hoping and praying my magic works. I’ve only practiced with my flames. Nothing else. A flash of soft light envelopes it for a moment and then slips away. I feel the power calling to me, whispering my name, my real name, as I bring the bottle to my lips.
I keep my eyes closed tight as I drink the contents down, but then I’m swaying, hands gripping my arms and keeping me on my feet. I gasp as memories come rushing back faster than I was prepared for. I let them all in. Memories of Kairos and I training our soldiers and laughing as we walked home after a long day. Memories of Mio and Kairos and I fighting side by side against Nyx, both right there always, keeping me safe and guarded. Then there are memories of him… Erebus. The rush I felt as we slowly fell in love under the stunning backdrop of the stars those nights we’d sneak away to the Earth Realm. All the nights we made love beneath them when we should have been sleeping. The night I told him I loved him for the first time, and he told me he knew from the day we met that our love was written in the stars. He’s the one I’ve always loved. The one I made promises to as I was dying in his arms after we fell from the Realm of Light. The one I willingly walked over roses covered in vines for in the meadow, because I wanted more than anything to bind myself to him for eternity. He is my fated mate. I am his and he is mine, always.
Warm tears flow down my cheeks as I open my eyes, my gaze settling first on Kairos and then shifting to Ere. I step toward him, my heart overflowing with more love than I ever thought could exist. His smile brings me back to the nights under the stars and the way he looked at me the day of our claiming ceremony, so much love and passion he was offering all to me. How did I not feel it with such certainty even as a mortal? How could I be so blind? Erebus—he is everything to me. I throw myself into his arms and he lifts me by my waist and wraps me around him, my ankles locking at the small of his back and arms clamping tightly around his neck. I never want to let go of him again. The rest of the world drifts away, there are no sounds or people left who exist, no demons hiding within caves all around us. It is only him and I.
“I remember you. I remember everything.” I sob, our lips crashing together as he grips my face and pulls me to him, his tongue and his lips consuming me, claiming me as his. “I’m never leaving you again. I promise.”
His warm golden eyes darken, the crimson and feral glow taking over. “I am yours, Mera. I always have been. You are never getting rid of me.”
“Our promises. I remember,” I whisper.
“Say it.” He smiles, his hands sliding down my body and settling at my hips.
“Until the Underworlds sky shines bright.” I brush my nose against his the way I used to, closing my eyes and breathing in the sweet reminder of our love.
“Until celestial wings are neither black nor white.” His lip twitches, a single tear sliding down his cheek.
“Until the realms are shattered and made anew.” I wipe the tear from his cheek as my own cascade down mine.
“You belong to me, and I belong to you,” he whispers, his voice cracking with all the emotions and memories and love he has had to live with alone for the past century. The things he had to bury down deep to keep hidden from Nyx so she would continue thinking he was a slave to her manipulation and power.
