Ella
Giselle watches me as I dip my toes in the lake. The little stone dock is probably older than the coven itself and so narrow only one person at a time can fit at the end.
It’s not a full moon, but I can feel power all around me as I shed my cloak.
I look over my shoulder at where Isaac and Ryatt are standing on the shore, their faces shielded by shadows. Ryatt’s sword glimmers in the moonlight, and Isaac looks odd standing next to him dressed in khaki pants and a blue button up shirt. He was wearing them when he breached the veil, apparently, and had them mended in the meantime.
I exhale deeply, humming to myself as I look past them toward the twinkling lights of the coven. Somewhere in the depths of the glimmering village, Amanda, Granger, Westfall, and Cressendra are waiting, watching over Kenna for us.
None of us knows what’s going to happen. I’m not even sure how to do this.
But as I sweep my gaze back toward my mate and my brother, I see the mystics appearing in their white robes and crystal masks, and then one of them appears behind me.
She places the Firestone mask in my hands then brushes her thumb over my forehead in a silent blessing.
Chills skitter up and down my spine, but I hold firm. I will not be afraid. I will not yield.
I will not drown.
Because I feel, deep in the marrow of my soul, that this lake is where it all began–and where it will end.
I put on the mask. It only takes a few seconds for my power to merge with its own. Ancient voices whisper, falling over one another to be heard.
I take one last look at my mate. I drink him in, every line, every curve, every angle–and then I step off the dock.
The only light comes from my mask. The moonstone glistens a deep crimson in the lake water, melding with the inky blackness as I let myself drift deeper, and deeper, until the pressure is enough to pull the air from my lungs.
It’s empty here. Quiet and still. I have a moment of reflection as memories of this morning flood through me. Kissing my daughter's cheek before passing her off to Amanda. Falling into bed with Ryatt. My mate’s mouth on my neck, and my breasts, as we tangle in the sheets. Cressendra and I talking in hushed tones on the balcony overlooking the city.
Then memories from long ago rush in. Me as a child playing in my father’s office. My mother brushing my hair while I play with her makeup. Hannah and I arm in arm, drunk out of our minds on cheap wine and warm beer, while walking back to our dormitory at Wellington.
But memories that aren’t my own filter in, fragmented and blurry.
Cressendra holding Ryatt for the first time. Westfall meeting his son, holding him, while wondering how he’s going to get his family out of this situation, their slavery.
The memories stretch further, deeper. I see my mother walking up a set of steps in the rain, fighting to swallow as she looks up at a set of double doors. “Can I really do this?” she thinks, before the memory slips away, replaced by one of my father pacing outside her bedroom door wondering why this breeder has such a hold on him.
Then I’m thrust into the gloom, and a city lost to time sprawls out in front of me.
I open my eyes.
And I’m standing in a throne room.
“You found my mask,” she says, turning toward me. Her black hair is tightly curled and fixed atop her head, woven through a crown of pure gold and dripping with gems. She’s beautiful in a way I didn’t think was possible. Young, likely my age. Her sea green eyes crease as she smiles. “I’ve been waiting so long for you, Ella.”
I know this is just a vision. I’m underwater, but here, I feel like I can breathe. The sun is shining on my skin as I walk toward her. Through archways built of pale stone, the lake is much smaller. It glistens in the distance beyond a city of marble where music hugs the air and flowers bloom, sending the soft scent of spring in my direction.
The mountains are familiar. This is where the coven stands now.
This is the city beneath the lake.
The Firestone kingdom.
“You cannot take this back,” the Firestone Queen says, her eyes still locked on mine. In my vision, I see her clearly, the woman who ruled here before me. “Once you bring down the veil, it cannot be undone. Everything will change.”
“I have to. It’s what I was born for, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” Her smile is radiant. “Do you want to know a secret?”
I nod. Why not?
“Your mate loves you deeply.”
“That’s not a secret,” I laugh.
She tilts her head. “You are so blessed, Ella, to have been given such a mate.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not all bonds are gifts.”
I feel a shattering kind of unease settle in my stomach.
She sighs, turning to look through the archways of her grand castle. “You will live a long life, Ella. A grand one. Your people will love you, cherish you. Your name will be written in the books children read centuries from now.”
Still, I feel like something bad is about to happen.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you need to know that despite what trials come your way, everything you will do will be for the good of your people.”
“Is something going to happen?” I ask.
“Many things. You will love deeply. Your bond with the Shadow King is the purest kind. Your daughter will rule one day, but…”
“But?”
She meets my eyes again. “Your family will be tested. Two kings will rise, and two queens, but without a veil to keep them apart.”
I open my mouth to ask what the hell she’s going on about, but suddenly she’s before me, holding the crown that was once on top of her head.
“It’s time to rise to your full potential, Queen Ella of the Firestones.”
“Wait–”
She places the crown on my head, and the world spins out of control.
I’m going to die. I feel it in my bones. I can’t breathe. The veil–I’m in the veil, and it’s pressing down on me with all of its magic.
I scream in agony as the mask burns into my skin until we are one. My last thoughts are of Ryatt, and Kenna, and how I’m doing this for her. For them. For my family.
I made my decision. The veil must come down, despite what I just saw, just heard.
And so I do it. I don’t know how, but I feel like I’m shifting into my wolf form–no, just that power. That lupine strength. I hang onto it, and then everything around me shatters.
The ancient voices stop. The crimson light all around me dims until I’m looking up at the stars again, and water is lapping at my legs.
“Ella! Gods above,” Ryatt grunts as he drags me from the water.
A blast of energy ripples over the lake. The sky seems to part, shimmering with bands of violet and the brightest blue, and then the world is still and quiet for a few seconds before it begins.
Ryatt gathers me in his arms and runs. I hear Isaac call out then shout over the sound of the waves suddenly racing our way.
From the depths, the ancient city rises, sending water bursting into the coven.
“High ground!” someone shouts.
I must have blacked out because one minute I’m in Ryatt’s arms, and the next, I’m opening my eyes to daylight, to trees and birds whispering overhead.
I blink as I sit up. Ryatt is sitting next to me, hugging his knees.
“Where are we?” I whisper, my body thrumming with power, but it's… different. I reach up as a tingling sensation along my hairline catches my attention. Little scares pepper my skin–symbols and lines and whirls I don’t recognize.
I look over at my mate. He’s holding something in his hands.
It’s the crown. I wasn’t imagining that.
“Ryatt.”
“Look at it, Ella,” he whispers and points.
In the distance, a great city is nestled between the mountains where the lake used to be. It’s soaking wet, covered in waterfalls that stream down from a massive castle and into the city proper. Weeds coat the city as well as a thick layer of sediment.
“It’s happening all over,” Ryatt says softly, in obvious disbelief. “Cities are rising all over Eastonia. From the rivers and the sand.” He goes on to explain that in Tarsian, Jaxon’s people awoke to Oasia giving way, and rushed to safety in time to witness an ancient kingdom emerge from the sand. In the Roguelands, temples and old villages broke through the very ground they stood on.
Rifthold collapsed in full, and the river separating the once towering fortress from Ryatt’s lands filled the space left behind, burying it under water.
“Where’s Isaac? Crescent Falls…”
“We can mind-link with Maatua from here,” he says wistfully. “He’s already spoken to Poppy.”
I feel like I’m going to pass out. He looks over at me, scoots closer, and gathers me into his arms. He kisses the burning scars on my forehead.
“How did I do it?”
“I don’t know,” he whispers. “But you came back with this.” He hands me the Firestone crown.
I reach up to touch my face where the mask should be. Ryatt traces a finger over the network of scars on my hairline.
“The mask is gone, isn’t it?”
“I think this is the mask now,” he says, and he sighs. “There’s a lot we don’t know, Ella. But the veil is gone.”
I rest my cheek against his chest as we look over the kingdom I freed.
“What now?” I ask.
* * *
Three years later…
“I don’t get it,” Kenna grumbles, clutching my nightgown. “You need to tell it again.”
“Again? I’ve been talking for two hours, Kenna. I know you’re tired.”
“But what happened after, Mama?”
“After what?”
“After you flooded the coven!”
“Oh, that.” I roll my eyes. “Daddy and I went home, sweetie. We went back to Veiled Valley and slept for like, a week. Your uncle Isaac took a boat home to Maatua, and your aunt Maddy didn’t kill him like I thought she would. Meanwhile, you hung out with Gramma and Grandpa for a while.”
“So Gramma got her memories back?”
“She did, and she was so happy about it.” I kiss the tip of my three-year-old chatterbox’s nose. “Seriously though, Ken, this is textbook manipulation. I know your dad told you this same story last night.”
Kenna growls at me. Little demon. I kiss her on the forehead and tuck her blankets around her body until she giggles. “That tickles!”
“Then stay still!” I laugh. “Goodnight, for real this time.”
“But I’m thirsty.”
“No, you’re not,” I reply in a sing-song voice. “Goodnight.”
Another growl as I shut the door. I sigh, running my fingers through my hair as I lean on her door for a moment then set off to find my husband.
Ryatt is in his office like usual. Crates of books are stacked everywhere, and I have to pick my way across the room.
He looks up from a stack of paperwork. “Is she asleep?”
“Of course not.” I slide onto the edge of his desk. “What are you doing?”
“Going over the checklist again.”
I purposefully slide the paper away and scoot across his desk, then straddle his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. He leans back with a sigh. “This is nice.”
“You know we can’t move to Moonrise for another year or so. There’s so much construction going on in the city.”
“This is our checklist for our trip to Maatua.”
“Mmm… I see.” I lean in and kiss him, smiling as I say, “We won’t have a moment alone while we’re there.”
“We don’t get any time alone anyway,” he says into my neck.
I close my eyes. “But we’re alone right now.”
“What should we do?” he rasps, then nibbles my neck.
“Whatever we want,” I smile.
“I hope you left out some of the more… inappropriate bits about our love story,” he whispers against my skin.
“Of course,” I laugh, my fingers tangling in his hair.
“I think what I want to do right now is… relive them.”
So we do. And when I wake the next morning cozy in my bed, I let the sun warm my face and count every blessing.
Kenna crawls into bed between us like usual, snuggling deep, while beyond our bedroom windows, the city of Veiled Valley wakes to peace.
Finally.