“I’m Marcus Taylor,” Marcus offered. “You’re from my coven, aren’t you?”
“Marcus,” a woman breathed, as if she was relieved to see him. “You’re Nadine and Lucas’ son. I knew we’d meet again.”
“Again?” Marcus asked. “Forgive me, but I don’t remember you.”
“You wouldn’t,” the woman said. “You were only a baby during the Miriamic Conflict. I left shortly after the conflict ended, to serve witches living in neutral territories. I was living in Paris when Doctor Taurus found me years ago. I’ve been his prisoner ever since, forced to give him information about the future, despite the limitations of my foresight. I thought of your parents during that time, because they had already saved the witches once. I didn’t know how it’d happen, but I knew I’d see them again.”
“How did you know my parents?” Marcus asked.
“I was your father’s therapist,” she said. “My name is Doctor Linda Mack.”
Marcus drew a sharp breath. “Doctor Mack? Dad’s talked about you before. He said you helped him a lot. He’ll be really happy to see you.”
“Your parents are safe, then?” Doctor Mack asked.
Marcus hesitated. “For… now. That was you at the end there— that warmth right before the explosion— wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Doctor Mack said. “I wish I could’ve used my foresight to prevent all of this, but I can’t see everything. All I knew was you needed protection, so I cast a shield around everyone here. But it wasn’t enough to save the Elven Gate.”
That comment snapped me back into my body. I pushed myself upright. Oberi scrambled off my lap, but he didn’t rush to take action as I did, merely stood there like he’d already given up. Danny and Kallie moaned as they got to their feet, crying out in pain.
“The Gate,” I slurred as I stumbled to my feet. “We need to get through the Gate?—”
“Charlie,” Kallie started apprehensively. “It’s… gone.”
I knew it. I had sensed it fall before I’d passed out, but that had to be a figment of my imagination. I’d made it up. It couldn’t be gone.
I could hardly make sense of my surroundings. So many trees had fallen that it didn’t seem we were standing in the forest anymore, just an open, empty field that was vast and barren. The woods had been completely eradicated by the Warden’s power… much like my faith that we could still win this.
I staggered forward until my feet landed upon crumbled bits of stone. I fell to my knees, running my hands along the shattered pieces of what was once the ancient doorway. I found a piece of wood and lifted it, skimming my hands along it to find a keyhole in the center.
Kallie was right.
“No. No!” I cried, punching my fist into the ground. “Fucking no!”
I didn’t want to believe it was possible, but I couldn’t deny the reality staring me in the face.
Everything we’d worked for had been for nothing. The Warden had taken our keys, ascended to the Blessed Haven, and destroyed the Elven Gate in the process. Now that it was gone, there was no chance of me leading the Elves to the Blessed Haven. That meant everyone’s souls that were stuck in the in-between would stay there, cursed to linger outside the afterlife, never able to truly cross over. Those souls that were still living in this realm would join them once they died, creating a massive prison of souls that was inescapable for all beings. I’d damned and imprisoned everyone in our world to an eternal existence of torment. I hadn’t just taken away Ava’s future, but everyone’s.
It was a fate I’d tried so hard to avoid, that I’d nearly killed myself to prevent, but I’d brought us all here anyway. After everything we’d been through…
We’d lost.
Kallie was trembling beside me. Softly, she uttered, “Kaz.”
“Kallie—” Marcus gasped, but I heard the tell-tale opening of a portal, and knew she was already gone. She’d disappeared in seconds, off to Malovia to search for her twin brother.
“No! Kallie, no, please—” Marcus sputtered, pleading with his goddess to bring his fiancé back to him.
I didn’t know if Kallie would find Kazim. The Warden was certainly on his way to the rest of the magical territories that had defied him, intent on obliterating the remainder of his enemies. By the time Kallie found her brother, the Warden could destroy the remainder of the fae in an instant. If Kallie was there, she would go up in flames with the rest of them.
Marcus knew that. It was the reason he was weeping now.
My fingers clenched into the cold earth as I admitted the heartbreaking, bitter truth. There was nothing left to fight for anymore. It was all over.
The Warden had won.
Chapter Fourteen
