Brielle bowed instinctively.“You again,” she murmured.“I was hoping for something less ...dramatic.”
The Goddess smiled, her voice echoing like water over stone.“Child of blood and flame, the time for hoping has passed.The new moon rises tonight.By its peak, you must be ready.”
“Ready for what?”Brielle asked, her throat dry.
“To face him.To end him,”the Goddess said simply.“When the clock strikes midnight, the world will tilt.Caleb will bring the darkness he has woven for centuries, and only you can stand against it.”
Brielle’s pulse quickened.“You’re telling me I’m supposed to fight him?Alone?”
“No.”The Goddess’s expression softened.“You were never meant to be alone.But you cannot draw on your full strength until you are whole.Until you have accepted the bond that was fated for you.”
Brielle frowned.“My fated mates.”
“Yes.”The Goddess’s light seemed to brighten, spilling through the meadow.“By midnight of the new moon, you must be bound to them—heart, body, and soul.Only then will your power align with theirs.Only then will you be strong enough to survive.”
“And if I don’t?”Brielle asked quietly.
“Then the world will fall back into shadow.”The Goddess stepped closer, placing a cool hand on her cheek.“You are the balance, Brielle.The storm and the calm.But you must choose soon.Strength is not given—it is claimed.”
The meadow rippled like water, and before Brielle could ask anything else, the light shattered.
She woke with a groan, her head pounding.“Oh, Goddess,” she muttered, dragging an arm over her eyes.Her tongue felt like sandpaper, and every sound in her apartment was too loud.She cracked one eye open and immediately regretted it—the sunlight was offensive.
A soft clatter came from the kitchen.“Don’t move,” Hunter’s voice called out, followed by Lennox’s low laugh.
“Already not planning to,” she croaked.
Hunter appeared in the doorway to her bedroom carrying a glass of water, thankfully what looked like a bottle of aspirin and what looked like toast.“You look like you fought a bus and lost.”
“Feel like it, too,” she muttered, sitting up gingerly.“Is the bus still alive?”
Hunter laughed as he handed her the water and shook out two pills.“Have a shower and eat these, then come on out.We’ll have breakfast ready.”
Not waiting for an answer, he stepped back out to no doubt join Lennox in the kitchen.She nibbled on some toast before standing and decided that she would live.Then she had a shower, reveled in the heat of it a little longer than she should have, before dressing and going back to the kitchen, nibbling on the last slice of toast she’d been left with.
Lennox chuckled from the counter, flipping pancakes like his life depended on it.“Good morning, sweetheart.You look decidedly better than you probably should.”
Brielle eyed them suspiciously.“What are you two doing here?”
Hunter smirked.“We’re making up for being idiots.Starting with carbs.”
She took the water, eyeing him over the rim of the glass.“Apology might be worth accepting.Conditionally.”
“Fair,” Lennox said, sliding a plate toward her.“Eat.Then yell at us.Then tell us what’s next, because you’ve got that ‘we’re doomed’ look again.”
Brielle sighed, rubbing her temples.“We might be.I had a dream.”
Hunter stilled.“The Goddess?”
She nodded.“Yeah.She said the new moon’s in tonight.By midnight, I have to have found my strength and be mated to my fated ones—or I won’t stand a chance against Caleb.”
Silence filled the kitchen.Lennox looked like he wanted to swear but held it in.
Hunter set the plate down slowly.“So ...you have to ...what, exactly?”
“Mate,” Brielle said bluntly.“As in the whole ritual.Bonding.Magic.All of it.”
Lennox blinked.“By midnight?”