Ella
“My dad doesn’t have powers,” I argue as I follow Ravenna through her crystal palace. Ryatt follows close behind me as we ascend a narrow set of stairs. “He doesn’t. I would have known. My mother would have known.”
Ravenna opens a wide, heavy door at the top of the stairs and walks into a darkened room. I follow her inside, and overhead a domed crystal ceiling gives us a glimpse of the storm still raging outside. Lightning flashes, dusting the room in blue light. I pause mid-step as an observatory comes into view, brass equipment glinting in the hazy light.
Ripples of unease flutter over my skin as Ryatt comes up behind me. Soft lights flicker on, swirling with that mysterious magic I’ve seen everyone we’ve gone.
“You’re right, he doesn’t have powers. But that’s not what’s important, Luna. It’s your bloodline.”
“My bloodline?” I mumble the words as Ravenna walks in a wide circle around her observatory. I glance at Ryatt, who stands by the door with his face cast in shadow. He looks absolutely miserable.
I can’t shake the feeling left in the wake of my dream, or the feeling I hadn’t been imagining his arms wrapped around me while we slept, but I break from his gaze and look back at Ravenna.
“Your mother’s power comes from a line of witches who never once set foot in Eastonia. They’re a different breed entirely, born exclusively from the magic of the Moon Goddess. Their gifts of light, of healing she received in the fountain,, are not comparable to what we are.” She smooths a hand over her midriff with a soft smile. “Plus, they’re wolves.”
“And you’re not?”
Ravenna makes a slightly disgusted face. “Of course not.”
I raise my brows. “I didn’t realize–”
“We are not shifters by any means. How our kind came about is up for debate, but I believe we were here long before the wolves.” She waves a hand at the observatory. “My mystics see many things, even past the veil between our kingdoms. We’ve been watching your mother’s progress for some time, especially once fate brought her to her mate, your father, and the lines crossed as fate intended them too.”
“Fate?” Ryatt laughs dryly. “None of this had to do with fate, Ravenna. Her mother was his breeder.”
The way he says breeder has my heart rate spiking. “She was a lot more than that,” I cut in, flashing him a glare. “They loved each other, and still do!”
“They’re fated mates, like you and our king.” The words are a low hiss that makes my skin crawl as I turn back to Ravenna.
“How does any of this help Hannah? And why are you saying my father has powers?”
“He doesn’t. At least, not enough for him to wield, let alone feel. But would you agree that he’s a remarkably powerful wolf? Did he ever tell you the story of how he returned the sacred Diamond of Faith to the forgotten temple? That temple was built by the Firestone Witches and would not have shown itself to him had he not been born from their bloodline. During the great war, when the veil between our kingdoms fell, the Firestone Witches died out, never to be seen again. What we now know, Luna, is that some survived in your homeland, passing those powers down through the generations until they went dormant, waiting for a spark… your mother’s spark.”
“But, my brother–”
Ravenna shakes her head. “Your brother's powers are gifts of the Goddess, not a born right. You, on the other hand… you are what we’ve been waiting for.”
I look at Ryatt. He nods, but his eyes are absent of emotion as she continues, “You are a witch, Ella. A shifter too, but, predominantly, a witch. And it’s likely you’re the only Firestone Witch left at all.”
Ryatt shifts from foot to foot, crossing his arms over his chest as he looks down at the floor. Ravenna eyes him, her long, black hair falling over her slender shoulder. “His mother was Firestone.”
Ryatt looks up, his chest rising and falling in a controlled manner that makes me wonder if he’s struggling against lashing out at the Witch Queen.
“We took her in as an infant,” Ravenna continues, her eyes slightly misty all of the sudden. “Her mother was part of our coven, and her father a drifter that had come through our lands to trade. They fell in love, and our sister left with her mate.” She turns around and walks to one of the crystal windows, placing her hand on the surface. “We know now that her mate was a descendant of the Firestone Coven, likely the last one left on this side of the veil. Neither of them knew, and they didn’t know their daughter would inherit the firestone gifts.”
Ryatt leaves the room, slamming the door shut behind him. The act sends a tremor through the observatory. My chest tightens, and I struggle to take a breath as his anger and pain at the mention of his mother ebbs through our bond.
“He loved his mother,” Ravenna says sadly, turning from the window to look at me again. “And she loved him.”
“How did she end up with the Alpha King of Eastonia?”
Ravenna taps her nails against the windowsill, her eyes downcast in thought. “When she was an infant and after her parents had been murdered by Royal Warriors, she was brought here by a witch who lived as a healer amongst the shifters. We raised her as our sister, but as a child she began to show signs of powers that were… not of our coven. It was clear what she was. But Ryatt’s mother was headstrong, and just… beautiful. The most beautiful woman we’d ever seen. That’s a Firestone gift, sister. Beauty. Ethereal beauty. The dark hair, the sea-green eyes. She wanted more than our coven could offer, and she went to live with the shifters. We’d warned her against using her powers, but she was a remarkable healer.”
I look down at my hands, curling them into fists. I didn’t have those gifts–otherwise I would have healed Hannah already.
“You will learn in time,” Ravenna says, hinting that she understood. She licks her lips and continues, “The village where she lived was raided during a war between the Alpha King of Eastonia and the smaller packs near the mountains, now known as the Roguelands, the Deadlands, and the Land of Witches. She was taken as a slave, as most women were during those times, and sold into servitude in the Alpha King’s castle. We don’t know the full truth about what happened there, but she… bore his son.”
“Ryatt.”
“Yes, Ryatt Kane, the Heir of Eastonia. The Prime Apparent. The King of the Rogues.” Ravenna walks a slow circle toward me. “He is a Firestone male, and the powers he inherited from his father only heighten his abilities. The two of you are the most powerful beings in our world, Luna.”
“I don’t know how to use my powers,” I admit.
“But you do, sister,” she urges, placing a hand on my shoulder. “You figured out how to open portals to wherever your heart desired? You stopped time to prevent Ryatt and your brother from killing each other on that battlefield.”
“I stabbed my brother in the chest–”
“You held his life in your hands until the time was right,” Ravenna says sharply. “You did that. You harnessed and manipulated death itself to your whim. And you learned, on your own, how to link with your mate’s powers to call him to your homeland when you were ready to come back to your rightful throne. The Firestone Coven will rise again, and it must, if his father is to be defeated.”
“And what about the Moon Goddesses beast aspect?” I ask, deciding I might well get the answers I’ve been searching for while Ravenna is here and willing.
She looks me up and down, tilting her head to the side. “Such an old legend.”
“My brother has those powers.”
“And you as well.”
“It’s different for me,” I tell her. “I can’t turn into a… a giant, glowing wolf with wings.”
“That was only a fracture of what those people were,” Ravenna laughs–a light, feminine sound that betrays her normal tone. “One chose to stay beside its Goddess while the other chose its mate. That’s all this is about, sister. You chose your mate and left your homeland behind–the land of The Moon Goddess, just like the legend states. It only means history will repeat itself, like it always does. In those early days after the veil fell between our lands, many kings ruled. Many wars were fought before Ryatt’s father took the throne.”
“Is he only a shifter?”
“No,” she breathes, shaking her head. “He is something else. Ryatt has some of his powers, but even I don’t understand what exactly that means or what he can do with them. I just know…” She waves a hand toward the swirling, glittering light coming from several brass pendant lights hanging from the ceiling. “I just know Ryatt keeps the lights on during the darkest night. His wards and shields on every pack and village protect our lands from the Alpha King, protect our freedom. Otherwise we would all be hunted and killed, or worse…” She trails off and looks into my eyes.
“This is Ryatt’s powers?” I look up at one of the lights. “That’s his magic?”
“Yes.” Ravenna looks terribly sad all of the sudden. “Ryatt has the power to send your friend home to her maid, and save her life, but not right now. He’s spent, sister. He uses his powers to not only protect this kingdom but to protect you as well, to keep your powers from eating you alive. It’s not your fault, or his, for bringing you here just before the next Lunar Eclipse, or the Cleansing, as we call it. It happens every decade or so, and our power is at its weakest. His power is weakest now, with the eclipse beginning tomorrow night.”
“So Hannah can’t go home for–”
“For a while. There’s only one way back to your homeland without tearing a rift through the veil, which will put both your life and your homeland at risk, and that place is guarded heavily by the king. She is safe here and will live but will continue to weaken while her mate remains on the other side of the veil.”
“Could we bring him here?” I ask.
“Only people like us, people with magic in our veins, can cross that veil without our souls being torn to ribbons, and even then… It’s almost impossible to survive. Ryatt and his father are the only ones with that kind of power. And you, of course, with Ryatt’s help.”
I blink, my head feeling suddenly heavy, like all of this knowledge is weighing me down completely. But I know one thing for certain. Hannah is safe here. I feel it in my bones that she is safe.
“How old was Ryatt when his mother died?”
“Five,” she says quietly. “She brought him here with the last of her strength before dying from wounds inflicted upon her by the king. We hid him here, raised him in this village, until it was time for him to rise against his father.”
I nod, my heart sinking at the thought of Ryatt as a child having gone through so much at such a tender age. My nightmare of him being beaten scorches through my mind and causes tears to spring along my lashes.
“I’m tired,” I tell her, unable to form the words I need to ask the billion questions dancing through my mind.
“We’ve set up a room for you here for the night. It’s just down the stairs. The lights will guide your way.”
I nod, my eyes on the floor, and when I look up, Ravenna is gone.
I blink rapidly to clear the tears from my eyes, thinking she’s just crept back into the shadows, but I’m utterly alone.
I leave the observatory and stand in one of the many narrow hallways in this strange crystal castle. The sconces on the wall do, in fact, flicker and burn to life with that strange magic, my mates magic, to light my way to my bedroom.
But as I round a corner, a trio of cloaked figures step out of the shadows.
Petra lowers her hood, her full lips pulled into a smirk. “A Firestone Witch,” she purrs, glancing at her two hooded companions. “Can you believe our luck?”
One of the other women lowers her hood and smiles maliciously at me. “And the Rogue King’s mate, no less.”
“I don’t smell him on her,” the third woman, her face still hidden by her hood, says in a rasping voice. “He has not claimed her.”
Something like terror rips through my body as the three women move in on me. Petra at their center smiles like a cat, her nostrils flaring. “You’re right, Lucia. He does not want this witch. How about we take this burden off his shoulders so he’s free for the Cleansing?”
Her pointed fingernail digs into my skin as she uses it to tilt my face toward hers.
“Show me your powers, little wolf. I haven’t had a worthy opponent in such a long time.” She leans close to whisper the next words over my cheek. “And I don’t like others touching my things. Your mate does not belong to you. He was promised to me. He is mine.”