Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ava
As soon as my foot touched the porch, the winds screaming around the house expanded around me. The bushes and trees were bent nearly in two by the force of the gale, but to me it was a gentle breeze.
Rhiannon and her creature appeared nearby. The tempest tore at her clothes and hair for a moment but she closed her eyes and suddenly the wind no longer touched her. Her creature stared at me with malevolent black eyes, his humanity completely lost in the frenzy to feed. He was glutted with energy, electricity snapping and sparking around him.
“Sister,” she greeted me, her voice a sinister whisper in the roaring wind.
“Don’t you mean niece?” I retorted. My reply was dry and devoid of emotion.
Genuine surprise crossed her face. “Mother has told you more than I expected.”
“She told me everything,” I stated. “And she gave me the means to defeat you.”
Rhiannon laughed. I’d expected it. “Maybe it would have worked before my pet fed and shared his power with me. But now…” She stopped speaking and lifted her hands.
Immediately, the power twisting and turning around the house stopped. Without the deafening wind, even the silence seemed too loud. I sensed her triumph as she sucked the power into herself, feeding her own until she was brimming with it. She was full of magic, stronger than she had ever been. Even stronger than me.
It was exactly what I wanted.
When I laughed, her smile faltered. I could still feel the glittering well of power within me. I had more than enough for what came next.
I could feel Arien behind me, her body nearly touching mine. Without looking, I lifted a hand, erected a wall of magic between our bodies and everyone behind us.
Kerry gasped and I heard Macgrath growl. I knew they wouldn’t understand what I was doing, but it was necessary. I needed space and time for what came next.
“Ava.” Macgrath’s voice was a low rumble, a warning and a threat.
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “I need you to trust me, Ewan. And I’m sorry it has to be this way.”
His face changed then, his eyes growing wide and his fangs elongating. “What are you doing?” He stepped forward but he couldn’t move more than a foot before he hit the shield. “If you think you’re going to sacrifice yourself, you can forget it. I will break down any wall between us before you have a chance.”
I smiled at him and I wondered if it looked like my grandmother’s smile when we spoke of Rhiannon earlier. I imagined that it did. “There is no need for me to sacrifice myself. But I am giving up something that we both wanted.”
Confusion stole over his features. “Whatever it is, I don’t care. I only want you to be safe.”
Dampness welled in my eyes because I knew that wasn’t true. I could see into his heart.
“Our vengeance,” I murmured. “I gave up our revenge for what Rhiannon did to us and what she did to our daughter.”
I could see and feel the anger then. “You had no right,” he growled, moving forward again until he bumped into the ward that I’d raised between us.
“Maybe not,” I agreed, “But it’s done. I promised the Goddess to spare her child, to show mercy where our enemy did not. I will fulfill my vow.”
I turned away from him then, knowing that he would be too angry to be reasoned with. I only hoped that we could resolve it once this was all over.
Regardless, I would not regret this. After speaking with the Goddess, I knew that this was the right path. The path to light and freedom.
Rhiannon watched and waited. Now that I understood her and knew what she truly was to me, I could touch her mind. I could feel her glee and her anticipation at having me at her mercy.
But beneath that was an ocean of pain. So deep and wide that it was unending. Her time as a mortal hadn’t twisted Rhiannon, it had broken her.
With each new agony, she’d distanced herself from her emotions. She refused to acknowledge that she needed love and that she hurt for humanity. That she felt empathy for the people she harmed.
Her denial remained until the chasm between her pain and her heart was so great that she believed she would never bridge it.
Seeing it and feeling it, I was glad I had listened to my grandmother. After the ritual was complete, she would feel it all, everything that she denied, and it would be a far worse punishment than death. And she would have to live with that pain for century after century, just as I had lived with her curse for two thousand years.
Arien slipped the flower into my palm. I closed my fingers around the delicate bloom and lifted it in front of me.
“I have a gift from your mother,” I murmured.
When Rhiannon saw what was in my palm, she exclaimed, a wordless cry of denial.
Her creature lunged forward to attack, power gathering around his hands. I could feel the sparks of it along my skin, even from ten feet away. When he loosed his magic, a crackling ball of light and heat, I merely waved a hand.
Rhiannon’s eyes widened when the ball balanced on my palm before dispersing in a shower of blue and white energy. I absorbed it all.
“It can’t be,” she whispered.
“It is,” I replied.
With the gifts the Goddess had given me, I had become more like her. I could feel it. The magic in the earth, the water, the air, and in the fire, it all responded to me. It existed within me. I was part of it. When and if my mortal body died, I would return to the elements. I would become like the Goddess, able to see and hear everything in every realm.
But only when I was ready.
I lifted the flower. “I call the power, Rhiannon. The power you absorbed was not mine, but your mother’s. With her blood vow, I call it back to her.” I took a deep breath. “And I curse you, Rhiannon. Not as you cursed me. I curse you to feel all the pain you deny, to relive all the moments that you have hidden from your mind with magic and time. You will feel, my aunt. You will feel it all. There will be no escaping what you have done, however desperately you want to.”
Rhiannon lifted her hands, chanting spells and curses, anything and everything she could think of to destroy me.
But it was useless. The magic she used wasn’t her own, but the Goddess’ and mine. She could not turn our own power against us. Not anymore.
She threw her head back and shrieked, a guttural sound of pain and defeat.
I lifted the flower and her form shimmered. As she vanished, I felt her presence within the heart of the delicate petals. The pulsing light brightened until it was nearly blinding and then it faded.
She was trapped there until her mother released her, forced to relive everything she had done.
The creature collapsed when her control over him vanished. He fell face down to the ground. I felt pity well within me. He was changed now, possibly forever. Perhaps I could find a way to help him with Gaius’ grimoire. If not, I only hoped that he could be brought back from the insanity that Rhiannon had forced upon him. That the atrocities he’d committed hadn’t twisted his psyche irrevocably.
The flower in my hand glittered, the edges fading slightly. It pulsed with light once more then slowly dissolved. I could feel the Goddess’ presence and looked up. A good distance away, at the edge of the trees that surrounded the property, she stood in her white gown, her dark hair blowing in the gentle wind.
Thank you for sparing her. I will not forget.
I nodded once, lowering my now empty hand to my side. Just as I will not forget all you’ve done for me.
She lifted a hand and as she disappeared, she whispered to me once more. I have one more gift for you.
Then I felt her in my mind, the barest touch, and a kaleidoscope of color filled my mind. Suddenly I could see her, my daughter. From birth, her childhood, to adulthood, I saw her life unfold before me. Every beautiful, precious moment of it. It hurt, but it was the exquisite pain of a longing fulfilled. It would never replace what I lost, but it brought me a small measure of comfort.
“Thank you.”
I whispered the words aloud, my lips parting in awe with each crystalline moment that filled my mind.
Then she was gone.
I released the breath that I’d been holding and let the shield surrounding me fall. Arien laid a comforting hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. I knew she had listened to my conversation with the Goddess.
It was time to face my mate and my friends. No, my family. Somehow they had become exactly that.
I turned around and my eyes immediately fell on Macgrath. He was staring at me with glowing green and gold eyes, his anger nearly palpable. I approached him, keeping my shoulders back and my chin lifted. I could not be ashamed about what I had done.
As I drew closer, I realized that his mind was closed off to me. I couldn’t sense him nor feel his emotions. Sadness stabbed at my heart. Though it hurt, I had expected as much. I had been the first to separate myself. He had a right to his anger and his privacy at the moment.
“Why didn’t you tell me what you planned?” he asked.
I could feel the eyes of everyone else upon us and I knew they were wondering the same thing. I could have mentioned it, even if I knew time would be short.
“Because I knew you wouldn’t agree,” I replied. “And I made a vow.”
Macgrath was silent for a long moment, his eyes searching my face. “Maybe not, but I had just as much right to vengeance as you did. You were not the only one Rhiannon hurt and it wasn’t your decision to make alone.”
“I could not tell the Goddess no when she pleaded with me, Macgrath,” I stated evenly.
“Why not?” he demanded. “She allowed this to happen to us.”
I shook my head. “She protected us,” I retorted. “She gave me the power I needed to save you two thousand years ago. She gave us both the power to withstand Rhiannon’s curse.”
“And what about our daughter?” he asked, his voice little more than a growl as he loomed over me.
I nearly flinched, but managed to control the urge. “What happened to her was not Rhiannon’s doing. The Goddess shared the truth with me and our daughter—”
Macgrath snarled and turned away from me, stomping across the porch. “I can’t listen to you say these things right now.” He faced me once again, the distance yawning between us. “You betrayed me.”
The statement was sharp and flew with incredible accuracy. It pierced my heart, shattering it.
Without another word, he traced away, putting even more space between us.
“He’ll come back,” Savannah whispered, stepping up to my side. She wrapped her arms around me. “He’s your mate. There is no way that he won’t return for you.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t as certain. If anyone could break the mating bond, it would be Macgrath. He was old enough, and with his powers as an Echo, he could sever our connection if he truly desired to.
And after the way he just looked at me, I wasn’t as sure as Savannah.
“We’ll see.”
Kerry and Finn stepped in front of me, their eyes full of concern.
“The Goddess asked a great deal from you,” Kerry said.
I blew out a breath, a soft laugh following. “That’s an understatement.” Then my eyes met Finn’s. “Did you already know?” I asked.
He tilted his head and I closed my eyes. That movement. It was an echo of mine. Of Rhiannon’s. Of the Goddess herself. It was something we all did. A shared trait.
“Know what?”
I opened my eyes and looked up at him. “That you are my descendent.”
He nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I did.”
“That means you are my only blood relative. I expect you to visit me regularly.”
His smile widened into a grin. “I can do that.”
“Good,” I said as a wave of exhaustion washed over me.
Now that it was over, fatigue dragged at my limbs. Channeling the enormous amount of magic required to trap Rhiannon had leached away my energy.
I swayed on my feet and hands caught me when I would have stumbled. I lifted my eyelids, surprised when I realized I had closed them. Above me I saw two concerned faces but I had no idea who they were.
As if he read my mind, the one with dark hair and a wealth of suffering in his eyes spoke. “I am Marcus and this is Callum. We are Macgrath’s offspring. We came to help.” He leaned down and lifted me into his arms as my knees collapsed beneath me. “Though it turns out we weren’t needed after all.”
Callum stared at Marcus with his mouth agape, as though he couldn’t believe he was speaking. I wanted to laugh at the expression on his face but my eyelids were growing heavier.
“I’m glad you came,” I whispered as exhaustion dragged me down toward the darkness. I fought it, but it was a losing battle. All the power I had channeled through my body left me feeling empty and wasted. All I wanted to do was sleep.
“I am as well,” he murmured, his gruff voice more soothing than I would have imagined. It was rough and deep, but his accent was melodic. “Rest, witch. You will be safe.”
I wanted to tell him that my safety didn’t mean shit to me without Macgrath, but something between my brain and my mouth short-circuited and I merely sighed. I prayed to the Goddess that this would be the last time I passed out for the next few decades.
I couldn’t have my mate and his offspring thinking that I was the swooning type.
I rested my head against his shoulder and let the darkness take me.