“Hardly friend,” Matt pointed out. “She plotted against us.”
“For your own good,” she countered. “Even if you don’t know what your own good is.”
“I refuse to harm anyone,” I argued, inserting that into the conversation, raising my voice until that was the only thing that could be heard.
“Liberation comes at a price,” Trude murmured softly, but I saw the sliver of unease in her eyes.
“It’s not a price I’m willing to pay. I won’t hurt anyone. I won’t have anyone die for a cause that isn’t of their own choice—”
“That’s where you’re wrong. This world that we live in is the way it is because of every single person who allows the status quo to continue.” Her nostrils flared. “This rebellion has been centuries in the making and you will comply.”
“Regardless of what you say,” I spat. “I will do as I will. My loyalties lay with no one except for my Virgo. They’re the only ones in my life who haven’t turned their backs on me. Everyone else has either abandoned me or just decided I’m unworthy. Everyone except them… unfortunately for you, you targeted the wrong person as collateral.”
Trude released a sigh. “If you approach the Fae with anything other than all the power on your side, they won’t listen to you.”
I appreciated her cutting through the bullshit, but I didn’t like what she had to say. “I have collateral of my own.”
“I’m sure you do. It won’t be enough.”
“A battalion of warriors?”
She frowned. “You have a battalion of warriors imprisoned?”
Smugly, I told her, “I do.”
A snort escaped her. “Impressive, to be sure, but hardly enough to corral them. They send them into battle like chess pieces for their own gain, girl. To the Assembly, they’re expendable.”
Inside, I stiffened, because she wasn’t wrong.
“Why did Gabriella want Seph to touch Lars’ magic?”
Trude’s gaze drifted over to Matt. “I had many visions in my youth and that involves one of them. I foresaw the meteors that would bring changes…” Her jaw tightened. “Of course, they were for witch and human gain, not the Fae, but when did that ever stop them from abusing their position?”
“You mean the Fae were the only ones who weren’t supposed to touch the meteors?” I queried.
“Indeed.”
“But if they were for everyone else, how would humans and witches have survived the radiation?”
She sniffed. “You think Sol and Gaia would grant us a gift that would harm us? Harnessing the gift is one thing, but being outright damaged by the blessed vessel is another matter entirely.” She cocked a brow. “Aren’t you all fine? Do you suffer from ill health? Or just a surge in powers, unusual ones at that?”
I blinked. “I suppose. I don’t feel ill.”
“Nor should you. You are well. Strong. Growing stronger with time… That was foreseen. All of this was predicted, and we have been working toward it ever since.”
“Who’s we?” Daniel rasped.
“The first families, of course.”
Uneasily, I folded my arms across my chest. “How have you been doing that?”
“Waiting, mostly. Preparing our children for the day when the Redeemer would come.”
My brow puckered. “The Redeemer?”
“Your title.” Her lips twitched. “We knew many things, but we could not foresee your name.”
To these people, I was the Redeemer?
I shivered with relief when I felt Daniel approach me, his hand settling at the bottom of my back. I had to admit to feeling better at his touch, and I twisted slightly to move closer to him.
When I didn’t reply, when none of my Virgo said another word, Trude carried on, “Lars was prepared, as was his father and his father before him. The Redeemer, we all knew thanks to one of my visions, would come from the air branch. The fire, earth, and water families all knew to expect a visit from the Redeemer at some point, and they were to facilitate her wishes, offer their powers to her for her to do as she would with them.”
Matt grimaced. “That’s why he tensed as though he were about to die.”
She winced. “Indeed. The message, as is often the way, does get diluted with time. A little like a game of Telephone. The story changes over the years.”
“Figures,” Daniel muttered.
“What is Riel supposed to do with Lars’ magic?”
“That’s the most interesting thing of all,” Trude replied, her voice loaded with relish now. “She wasn’t to do anything. Her Virgo were. The Redeemer is Virgo-bound, after all. One would use Sol’s energies to take the metaphysical and make it physical. The next would find the remaining life within the physical, and the last would drain anything that was alive and remove it from the ore.”
My brow puckered. “What? Why would they do that?”
“What remained would be pure, harnessed, undiluted, simmering water magic.” Her eyes were alight with excitement. “Do the same with the air, fire, and earth offerings, and all of a sudden, you have the makings of the weapon we need to take down the Fae.”
“How? How would we do that?” I whispered, taken aback by the zealous nature of her tone.
“By hurting them where they’d hurt the most—resettling the balance among witchkind, easing their power surges.”
Dan gasped. “That’s impossible.”
“Is it? The first families are unique. Their magic is the strongest. They were the ones who connected with the first of Sol’s stones. Lars is a descendant of that first man. That power is harnessed through the generations, not growing weaker but stronger.
“We’re unlike other witchkind. Most will allow the magic to pass to either sex. But first families are different. Only one gender receives the gift, and that gender occurs only once per generation—that is the head of the family. Your grandmother is the head, and when she dies, your mother will be, and when she passes, you will be too. When you have a daughter, the mantel will pass on to her. As is the way with Lars…”
I frowned. “That makes no sense. You’re not a man.”
She snorted. “You noticed that, did you? I married into the first family. My child became the head. I was powerful in my own right, but he was incredible.” Pride glinted in her eye. “Gaia granted me life to instruct you. I am the strongest Seer ever to grace this realm, and she has told me how it must be.”
“No,” I stated, refusing to listen. “There is free will in all things—”
“Not where you’re concerned, there isn’t,” she ground out, and this time, it wasn’t pride that glinted in her eyes, but rage. “Gaia and Sol have been working to right the wrongs they committed for centuries. Those plans will not grind to a halt thanks to a stupid witch who doesn’t know her place!”
“Nice to know what you really think of me,” I snarled, folding my arms across my chest.
“You never mentioned how you’d achieve this plan to dominate the Fae,” Daniel pointed out.
“I was interrupted, wasn’t I?” Trude snapped. “Our powers are pure, and the ore would be condensed.” She closed her eyes and, in a different tone, one that had the white noise in my head surging ever louder, recounted,
“In the Amazon, place the Water stone, to stir the beginnings of change.
“At Suswa, place the Earth stone, to help change grow.
“Upon the Himalayas, place the Air stone, to let change spread.
“Within Heklugjá, place the Fire stone, and from the ashes, change will be born.”
The shift in her voice wasn’t new to me. I knew what it meant, and I was getting sick and fucking tired of it.
A vision.
She was speaking words she’d learned in a vision.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sought patience and failed to find it. I hadn’t asked for any of this. Hadn’t asked to be a Redeemer.
I was a fashion designer, for fuck’s sake.
Not a harbinger.
&nbs
p; And yet, deep inside myself, what she said resonated on a different level because that white noise?
It had gone silent.
The magic within me, the magic that was Sol-granted and Gaia-gifted, was in total agreement.
It wanted what Trude said to be realized.
There was no argument.
No reasoning.
No logic or rationale.
This was our path, and our free will wasn’t worth a damn.
❖
Matthew
I saw the irritation on my mate’s face, but more than that, I saw the agitation. The two emotions might have seemed alike to anyone else, but to me? With Riel? I sensed them for what they were.
Irritation at being cornered.
Agitation because she knew we had no choice.
“The battalion,” I stated, giving my mate time to come to terms with being walled in.
“What about it?” Trude asked, her eyes drifting open, and I saw the fatigue within them. That simple recitation had drained her more than I thought Riel knew.
What was it Linford had said earlier? That even though he was young, he still felt the same pains and aches as he had when he was old?
I couldn’t even begin to imagine the discomfort Trude was in when I considered just how damn long she’d lived on this realm.
“How are they a part of the Gods’ plan?”
Top lip quirking, she murmured, “The Assembly needs to be informed of the new world order, don’t they? What better bargaining power to reach them than the returning of their own? For certain, they are expendable, but if there is hope of their return, a move facilitated by others of their kind, they will surely open their doors to receive news of their fate.”
Riel’s mouth was a tight purse. “What do I do?”
“You allow Seph to crystallize Lars’ magic—”
“Seph is injured. Whatever you’ve done to him—?”
Trude sighed. “Child, you have to learn to stop interrupting. Seph is strong enough to fulfil his part in this. As for after, I am here now, but I won’t be for long. Though you purged most of my magic from him, there is still a seed within him. That will remain for as long as I live—I must help you see this through. Once my purpose is fulfilled, I will pass on, and the seed will die.”
Dan frowned at that, and his hand tightened around Riel’s shoulder. “You can’t survive without Seph?”
“He is, for all intents and purposes, a symbiont for me. My magic and Gaia’s Will kept me alive, but for me to be of any use other than just to remain breathing and subsisting? I need help.” Trude sighed. “Truly, I mean you no ill, and Gaia doesn’t either. Every step you have taken, every choice you have made has led you to this moment. To a moment where change is needed.
“If the Fae continue on in their current vein, they will overrun the witches and the humans, and without us, there will be no balance in this world. If they are allowed to carry on, within generations, magic will die out. The meteors are not for the Fae. They are for the witches and humans,” she urged, imploring Riel to believe. “Their numbers increase every year whereas ours are stagnant. The imbalance is ruining our world. Destroying Gaia’s gift to us. You must see that I speak true!”
I wasn’t stupid. I knew her argument was aimed at my mate and not at me, and though I didn’t appreciate her attacking Seph the way she had, I had to admit I believed her.
“The Fae are too cocksure, too cemented in their power, but they have disrupted the natural order for too long. If they remain on their path, they will destroy our kind. Riel, you have to see that?”
Riel scowled at her. “Why will the witches die?”
“Because magic is not without end. It is a resource just like anything else. The meteors are Sol’s means of seeding Gaia’s soil, as it were. When the Fae capture them before they have a chance to disperse into the environment, robbing the stones of their powers for their own gain, they are robbing themselves.” She cut the still frozen Linford a look. “The gifts they achieve are incredible. Just look at what Linford can do, and even that was foreseen, for how would you find yourself at the top of Everest without the aid of a male such as he? One who can ping you into place just long enough to see Gaia’s task through.”
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Riel gritted out, her hands fisting at her side.
“Then you must do as I say,” Trude replied softly, “for there will be millions hurt if you don’t act now.”
Silence fell at her final words, and I watched Trude’s face pale and saw just how far the drain on her reserves was now.
“Everything you would have us do requires nothing from Riel.”
It was Seph who spoke out, Seph who made me recognize that Riel, whose role was apparently so important, didn’t actually play a part in anything Trude had mentioned.
“No.” Trude’s mouth twisted. “It doesn’t. Her part comes once the ore is in place. She must activate them.”
“Activate them? How?”
“Sol’s stone gave you the ability of each of the elements, but he gave you more than that. You can call on every element in the known universe. In the Amazon, you must call on a tide so strong, the banks of the river bloat. At the top of Everest, you must call on the wind—a wind so fierce that no one can sustain it. Suswa is a caldera—fertile and fecund. You must sink that ore into its crust. Heklugjá is an active volcano. Once the ore is within its mouth, you must trigger an eruption.
“Only you can do this, Riel. Only you have the powers to do this—”
“You want her to trigger natural disasters,” Dan ground out.
Trude cut him a look. “The biggest natural disaster is on its way if she doesn’t act.”
“We only have your word on it,” Dan retorted.
“And why would I endure a half-life for centuries if it were not to impart this information to you and your troupe?” Trude snarled. “Do you think this was a pleasant existence? I could have passed with my husband, instead, I endured. And I didn’t subsist to be questioned by the likes of you.” Her mouth firmed. “You must act, Riel. Whether you like it or not, this is your destiny, and only once it is fulfilled will you have any peace.”
At her words, Riel stunned me by screaming. Her hands came up to shield her head, her fingers pulled at her ears as though she could make whatever the Sol was happening to her stop.
“What are you doing?” I cried, rushing over to her and hauling her into my arms.
Trude’s gaze was calm. “I do nothing. The Goddess does.”
“Bullshit!” Dan yelled as his hands came up to cup her shoulders so he could draw her against him. “Stop it, Trude! Stop it!”
“Only she can stop it by allowing time to pass once more,” Trude replied, as calm as ever. She was done. That was clear to see. In her mind, the time for talking was over and action was required.
When Riel’s knees gave out, and she slumped in Dan’s arms, I had to wonder what in Gaia’s name was happening to her.
“Enough!” she screamed. “Enough!”
“You must act,” Trude intoned, her voice deep, too quiet to be overheard by Riel who was still shrieking, and yet, Riel must have heard, or at least understood because the sound of a coffee cup breaking drew my attention to Lars, telling me she’d unfrozen the clock.
Lars gaped at us all, his attention switching between his relative in the wheelchair, my mate who was wilting in Dan’s embrace, and Seph who was leaning against the wall as though it were the only thing keeping him upright. Linford, on the other hand, was focused on Riel.
“What’s the matter with her?” he demanded, striding forward.
“The noise, the noise,” Riel whimpered, her face burrowing into Dan’s shirt. “Stop, make it stop.”
“Only action will make it stop,” Trude declared. “Lars, boy, prepare yourself. Joseph, only you can start to ease your mate’s suffering. You must do as I said or she will be plagued until she obeys.”
My mouth curved into a sneer,
but I ordered, “Lars, you must go to him. Whatever your bitch of a relative has done to him has made him weak.”
Lars’ eyes flared wide at the insult, but Trude just cackled. “Been called worse than that in my time, boy.”
Nostrils flaring wide with anger, I said nothing, just watched as Lars began to move over to Seph with caution. On his way, he paused and, to Trude, inquired, “Will my family be well without me?”
“Where is your family?” I questioned uneasily, displeased at the notion that someone could jump us.
“We heard the baby before…” Dan began pointing out, then when he tried to explain how Riel had controlled time, I watched him give up and mutter, “But they’re gone now.”
Lars just shrugged. “My wife ran off with my son. I saw her go.” He swallowed. “You mean them ill?”
“No. We mean them no ill, and we mean none to you either,” I said simply. “None of this is our choice.”
His gaze drifted over to Riel. “No. That is quite evident to me.” He sucked in a breath and hustled over to Seph. Within seconds, his palms were loaded with the whirlpool we’d seen before, the miniature waterspout that, for all its small stature, housed such a welter of power that it felt as though every molecule in the room was turbocharged with that unique energy.
Seph tried to raise his hand, but even that was too much for him. Lars, frowning at the sight, lowered his palms so Seph only had to flop his wrist forward to connect with the element.
The second he did, both he and Lars grunted. Agony flashed across both men’s faces, and then there was a crack of lightning, a sharp blast of power that made those turbocharged molecules seem a thousand times more pressurized. My hair stood on end, but with that flash of light and energy, two things happened.
Riel’s low, pained moans ceased, and the water stopped churning on Lars’s palm. Instead, there was a large, shiny rock.
Lars’s eyes were round as he stared at the hunk of metal. “I’m alive.”
Seph’s lips twitched. “So am I. Even if I feel like death warmed up.”
“Your death was never required, Lars. That wasn’t a sacrifice Gaia would take from you, but your magic is another thing. You have none now, but the line will be granted a gift for your sacrifice.”
The Ascended: The Eight Wings Collection Page 58
