Evander
I think I might want to kill Sydney.
For someone so stoic and all business, he’s also extremely sarcastic and has found every opportunity to push my buttons the last twenty-four hours or so.
Thank the gods we can’t mind-link because I’m sure he’d be rattling off insults and jests in my ear every waking hour we spend traveling back to Moonrise.
We’re close to the sacred valley now. Close enough I can sense the wards Ryatt put up around the city to keep it hidden.
I pull on a shirt as I look out over the mountainous horizon. Summer is in full swing, and the rolling mountains are nothing but emerald green trees.
There’s a lake in the distance that sparkles like diamonds over a sheet of the purest turquoise, but no sprawling, golden city in sight.
“We’re here,” I grumble, stooping to tie my boots.
Sydney shifts out of his wolf form several feet away and makes a show of stretching, completely naked, before pulling clothes out of the pack he’d carried on his back since we left the Roguelands.
Neither of us can jump, so the entire trip was done on foot and paw. I stayed in my fox form for the majority of it, enjoying how much faster I could navigate the forest than Sydney.
Once we walk down this last hill, we’ll pass through the wards, and the city will come into view. That’s how it works. Only those with connections to the coven or direct invitation from the king can breach the wards.
I squint up at the canopy of trees over our heads. The sun is setting. Tonight is the Rite, and I only have a few hours, if that, to find Kenna and stop her before it’s too late.
Too late for what, I’m not sure. But something feels wrong.
“Hurry,” I growl, glancing at Sydney as he buttons his shirt.
“What’s the rush?” he teases, hiking his backpack over his shoulder. “Oh… yeah, right. Your mate is about to get sealed in a cave with a man that’s not you.”
“I’m not here because of that,” I retort, but the idea of anyone else touching Kenna rips through my body like claws. “Kenna could be in serious danger, and I’m not wasting any more time.”
Sydney steps to my side, and we walk down the hill, following a well beaten trail that seems like it leads deep into the forest.
The only problem is that it does only lead into a dark, endless forest. The trees are so tight here that I can’t see past them, and after an hour, I’ve realized we’ve been walking in a circle.
We can’t get through the wards.
“What’s going on?” Sydney rasps, his blue eyes alert as they scan the shockingly quiet forest.
My nostrils flare as I look up at the canopy. The sun has nearly set. Once the Eclipse starts, we’re too late. I have to get to Kenna before that happens, before she goes into the cave.
There’s a real possibility that I’ve been locked out of Moonrise. If she told anyone about us and asked her parent’s to keep me away, this could be Ryatt’s doing.
I find that hard to believe, though. Kenna isn’t that kind of woman. She’s not cold and petty. She wouldn’t separate me from my family.
Sydney fumbles with something in his pocket. He curses as he drops a bronze, circular object that falls to the ground with a thud.
“What is that?” I ask, intrigued.
“A compass,” he grumbles, smoothing dirt away from its surface. “My dad made it for me. Watch.” He holds it up in the air, and the lid pops open. I hear gears spinning, and suddenly a whoosh of air rolls through the forest.
I look at Sydney as the trees sway around us. His eyes are glowing in the darkness sweeping across the woods.
What kind of power is this?
My ears pop, and I feel an electric pulse shoot up my spine as he lowers his hand and drops the compass back into his pocket. He blinks, and his glowing eyes return to normal.
“What the fuck did you just do?”
He shrugs. “I just broke through the wards. Come on, we don’t want to be late.”
He sets off in a jog down the trail we’ve been traversing in a circle for an hour, and I follow, but all of the hair on my body is standing on end when the trail turns from raw earth to the smooth cobblestone lining the streets of Moonrise.
We break out of the trees, and the city rises before us. It’s busy–every shop is open. The streets are teeming with people and festivals take place in every square.
Paper lanterns hover over the lake, casting crimson streaks of light across the surface of the water. It’s as still and as smooth as glass.
But I’m on edge, and beside me, Sydney has lost all traces of humor as well.
“I should have been allowed past the wards,” he says in a whisper over the thrum of music coming from the city. We walk toward the lake instead, toward the ancient street leading to Old Moonrise.
“I told you something was wrong,” I reply, running a hand across my belt. My fingertips brush over the hilt of all six blades I’m carrying. “Go to the castle. Find Queen Ella and alert her about the wards. I could be wrong, and I could easily be the reason you weren’t allowed access because they want me out, but if there’s a threat–”
“I got you, you’re fine. Find Kenna.”
Sydney takes off with another word, and I’m alone.
My gaze sweeps over the lake, to the bonfires dotting the far edge. The moon breaches the peaks of the mountains as I walk steadily along the lake.
In the distance, along the side of the mountain hugging the lake, I can see the outline of several torches. They’re being carried by mystics–easily seen in their white and silver robes.
They have Kenna.
I’m not too late.
I hope.
* * *
Kenna
My heart pounds erratically as I walk up a set of stairs carved into the side of the mountain. Behind me, at least a dozen mystics in their robes and masks follow holding torches to light our path.
I’ve only heard stories about the Rite and the rituals that take place during this sacred night. For a few moments, the Goddess sleeps, her powers waning to nothing under the pull of the Eclipse. The lines that blur the realms of the living and the dead are so fine you can reach your hands between them, or so they say.
I can feel my powers recoiling as the Eclipse begins.
But it’s nothing compared to the sudden nerves settling deep in my bones. I have an urge to turn around, to run home, but it’s too late.
I spent the entire day in the company of the mystics. They chanted over me, sliding their thumbs over my forehead as they blessed me and the union that will take place tonight.
In some ways, I am a child of the last Rite that took place. Evander is the child of that Rite.
I wonder if that’s why we’re mates, but the thought is fleeting. I’ve reached the entrance of the ancient temple.
My pale white robe is removed from my shoulders to reveal nothing more than a thin, white slip that covers my body and drags on the ground behind me. Moonstone dust covers my skin, and it shines in the torch light.
I look at the entrance of the temple. It’s dark and empty, and an echo of air streams out from its depths. I’ve never been inside. Even the mystics don’t go inside.
This place is only for the chosen.
I find it hard to swallow.
“Princess Kenna,” one of the mystics says as she hands me a torch, “you will know where to go.”
I nod because I can’t find words right now. My blood rushes, and my heartbeat echoes in my ears as I turn to look down at the lake, which is alight with lanterns and bonfires. Everyone is celebrating and honoring their dead loved ones and ancestors tonight. Everyone is counting on me to help bring back the Goddess’s powers, I guess. However the legend goes.
It’s not that I don’t believe in the gods and goddesses. I worship the Moon Goddess as a shifter, of course.
I’m just nervous. I’m terrified, actually. Maybe Mom was right.
“Is he already down there?” I ask breathlessly.
“The other chosen will be here shortly. He had a long journey.”
I narrow my eyes at the mystics, but because of their masks, it’s impossible to read their expressions. A soft breeze comes from the temple entrance, and then the mystics are gone, turning to little puffs of mist.
A chill snakes up my spine as I turn back to the temple. Now or never.
I edge into the temple and feel a change. The air is different here–colder, stiller. There’s an emptiness about this place that takes hold of me, and I can’t shake it off as I run my hands along the ancient marble walls and walk down a long flight of stairs into a vast darkness.
My torch barely gives me enough light to see, and I’m not sure where I’m going, but eventually my feet meet solid earth.
I’m in some kind of tunnel, I think. The walls glimmer with crystal as I walk toward a new source of light.
I’ve been told the temple gives way to ruin deep underground, and that a cave is where the ritual takes place.
Whoever told me that was right.
The second I set foot in the cave, small warming fires erupt, their flames a strange shade of blue. For whatever reason, I imagined some sacrificial altar in the center of this space where I’m meant to lie prone and have sex with what could be a complete stranger, but the ground is covered in furs that are warm to the touch as I pad across them in my bare feet.
Today has been a day full of prayer already, but I find myself asking the Goddess why She chose me and why She changed Her mind and brought me here, instead of the other woman.
The Goddess works in mysterious ways, and that truth rings loud and clear over the sound of hurried footsteps sounding behind me, echoing through the tunnel.
I whirl around so fast the torch I’m holding burns out, and in the blue-hued light of the fires I find myself looking at the man meant to be father of my child if we’re successful.
Amanda told me what it felt like to be down here during the Eclipse. She said it felt like she’d been… drugged. Like all of the power she ever had simply went away, leaving her numb, leaving her empty and desperate for feeling.
That’s how I feel now as I drop the unlit torch. It hits the ground and rolls away.
Evander stares at me, panting, his eyes glowing in the firelight.
I feel…
It’s like a blow to my heart. It’s electric, something life giving and undeniable. Little gold threads weave through my heart and pull tight, binding me to him.
Why now? Why would I feel the mate bond like this now?
“Are you here to reject me?” I whisper, and it takes a tremendous effort to do so.
But his eyes are on my mouth as I say the words. He looks slightly lost and off kilter as he takes a single step in my direction.
I’m suddenly acutely aware of how little I’m wearing. My nipples peak under the thin fabric of my dress, and the straps have fallen down my shoulders. His gaze sweeps over my body in a way that makes me tingle with desire.
“No,” he rasps. “I’m not here to reject you.”
“Then why?”
His lips part, but he shakes his head. “You–what have you done to me, Kenna?”
I’m trembling, my knees suddenly weak. “Please, Evander. I am yours. I would be yours regardless of the Rite. I…” I meet his eyes. “I want this. I want you. If this is the only way I can have you, if this is the only night we will ever be together, please.”
He closes the distance between us in three steps.
And then his lips brush over mine. “Lie down.”