For the Reign

by Debbie Cassidy

  The dark-haired man sighed. “You don’t have to convince me, Cernunnos, we have a deal.” He looked down at me. “Do you recall your mortal name?”

  Name … I’d had a name. What …? It hit me like a punch. “Eva, I’m Eva.” Memories came rushing back, knocking the breath from me. My knees buckled, and I grabbed hold of the golden-haired guy. “Cernunnos. You’re here. You’re here because you’re dead. This is death. I’m dead.”

  “Well, technically, I’m Death,” the dark-haired man said with a cocky smile. “And this bridge leads to the underworld. But.” He held up a finger. “You don’t have to make this journey. Not yet anyway.”

  Cernunnos slowly released me, and I took a step back. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that your mortal body is dead, and your mortal soul’s time on the earth is at an end, but you are more than mortal, Eva. You are an anomaly of creation. You have immortal energies within you and that gives you a choice.”

  “You claimed the horn, Eva,” Cernunnos said. “You picked up my mantle and the fey energy in you began to grow. It’s what allows you to remember, to retain who you were in life. It is what will allow you to return if you so wish it. The immortal energies inside you—the djinn, the fey, and the Vladul—are on the verge of merging, and when they do you will be born anew.” Cernunnos smiled.

  Veles tutted. “Now, now, Cernunnos, give her all the facts.” He turned to me. “Cernunnos is right, you will be born anew, but you will be bound to the Hunt. You will be the Hunt and you will belong to Faerie.”

  Cernunnos was watching me intensely.

  Revelations tickled my senses. “You could have gone back, couldn’t you?”

  Veles let out a bark of laughter. “Yes, I see why you would want to pass the torch to this one.”

  Cernunnos ignored him and focused on me. His gaze softened. “Yes, child. I could have gone back. The Vladul tore me to shreds, but I am no ordinary fey, no ordinary immortal. I am a god, and gods retain their memories when we are reborn, and so my energy found its way to the underworld. I could have returned to the Hunt. I am bound to it, after all, but I chose to stay here as I knew I always would.”

  Alaron, the Winter King, had said Cernunnos had become jaded.

  Veles stepped in. “What Cernunnos is trying to say is that he tested the paths, and he knew that this one would lead to your birth, to your existence, and to this very moment where you would be given a choice. So, Eva, your fate and his is in your hands. What will it be? Will you choose death and a mortal rebirth, or will you turn back now and be reborn bound to the Hunt?”

  Peace lay ahead. Peace and oblivion, but that wasn’t who I was. The men I loved and my people, all those people, were depending on me. I lifted my chin. “My Hunt, my rules.”

  Veles began to laugh and Cernunnos hushed him, his gaze speculative.

  “Elaborate.”

  “I get to use them to save the mortal realm. I get complete control, and you don’t get to come back and try and interfere.”

  “The Hunt would be yours completely, Eva,” Cernunnos said. “You would be reborn, and they would recognize the change in you. They would fear and respect it. But the Hunt cannot exist outside of Faerie for long. It is bound to fey land and so will you be. You will have to leave your mortal friends behind. You will have to leave your lovers behind.”

  Leave the guys behind? “What if they want to come with me? What if I want to come back and visit?”

  Cernunnos smiled. “You will change, Eva. Your desires, your needs, your priorities will change, and you will care for nothing but the Hunt. Would you really want to take them with you, to break their hearts slowly, one day at a time, as they watch you drift away from them?” His smile was sad. “Best to leave them to their lives. Best to move on quickly. Because trust me, move on you will. The Hunt is a possessive, seductive beast.”

  He was right. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt the guys. Leaving would be bad, but they’d heal, they’d remember me for the woman I’d been. If I asked them to come with me, I had no doubt that they would, but then they’d be forced to lose me a little at a time.

  I steeled my spine. “At least I’ll be leaving them to a better world.” There was no choice. “I want to go back.”

  Cernunnos exhaled sharply in relief, but Veles was watching me intensely. “There is one final thing.”

  “Veles …” Cernunnos warned.

  “No, she must understand the full implications.”

  I nodded. “Tell me.”

  “You will be reborn, Eva, but you will no longer be mortal. You will be an immortal god, and that means an eternity of the Hunt. It means watching those you love slip away.” His eyes were filled with darkness. “Eternity can be a very long time.”

  A shiver of apprehension skated over my skin because eternity was never my goal, just enough time to love and be loved, to feel and to experience, but that wasn’t in the cards for me. At least this way I could take care of the ones I loved. I could free Tobias and tell him … Tell him how much he meant to me.

  “From what you’ve just told me, I won’t care either way soon enough. I understand. I still want to go back.”

  Cernunnos sagged in relief.

  Veles pursed his lips. “Well, Cernunnos, it looks like you’re truly off the hook.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Cernunnos’s time in Nawia was about to come to an end. The call of the Hunt was getting louder; they can sense him even here in the bowels of the underworld, and if you’d refused to take up the mantle fully then he would have been forced to return. The Hunt knows this.”

  Was that why Caister had seemed so mocking toward me? He’d known Cernunnos would have to come back at some point, but now, when I was reborn, Cernunnos would be truly free.

  Cernunnos took my hands and our fingers began to glow. “Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood,” he said. “Do you willingly take on my burden?”

  Swallowing the lump in my throat, I lifted my chin. “I do.”

  A fist slammed into my chest, and the world was suddenly on fire.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Logan

  My arms strain as they hold on to Ash. He’s a wild beast, a man undone as he thrashes in my arms.

  “No. Ash. No.”

  An inferno rages inside the cell, held captive by the reinforced fireproof glass. But the beep of the alarms tells us how hot it is in there. It’s the kind of heat that would melt skin and incinerate bones, and Eva is inside.

  Eva is gone.

  The energy inside her finally found its way out, taking her with it.

  “She’s gone, Ash. She’s gone.”

  He sags in my arms, his knees hitting the ground. I go down with him, holding him as his huge body shakes with sobs. In all my years, I have never seen Ash break like this. In all my years, I have never felt as if someone has reached inside and torn out my heart.

  Jace stands at the monitors, his hands flying across the keyboard as he pulls up stats. He shakes his head. “That can’t be right …”

  “What?” Sage hurries over. “What is it?”

  Noah strides across the room to join them, and Ash slowly raises his tear-stained face.

  “Jace, run it again,” Noah says.

  “I’ve run it three times already,” Jace says.

  I stand, and Ash pulls himself up with me. Noah looks to the cell, his dark brows drawn in a frown.

  “What is it?” Ash signs. But Noah isn’t looking our way.

  “Noah, what the fuck?”

  He licks his lips. “There’s a lifeform inside there. Alive.”

  Elias’s head whips round. “Eva’s still alive?”

  Ash makes a beeline for the doors. But Sage intercepts him. “Wait.”

  The two massive guys face off, but my gaze tracks back to the cell, to the blue flames. And then the fire begins to morph and twist and change color from blue to silver, it shrinks into the center of the cell where the gurney was, but there is n
o sign of the metal contraption. Instead, a figure strides out—tall, lithe, powerful, and completely naked. Silver hair cascades over her shoulders and breasts, and her eyes are so pale they almost blend into the whites, but there is no doubt who she is.

  “Eva!”

  Elias presses his palms to the cell, and her gaze locks on him; for a moment she stares at him as if he is a stranger, as if he’s an insect under a microscope, and then the harsh lines of her face soften.

  “Elias?”

  Ash is at the doors, hammering on them. Eva turns to him, and the silver flames licking at her skin wink out.

  She rushes to the door. “Ash, oh, God. Ash.”

  I stride over to Jace, who is standing, open-mouthed, staring at the spectacle. Noah’s eyes are slits of speculation, but fuck them both. I hit the keys to begin the sequence to unlock the cell.

  It’s impossible, it’s a fucking miracle, but none of that matters because Eva’s alive. She’s back, and that’s all that fucking matters.

  Chapter Twenty

  Ash wrapped a blanket around my body and led me out of the cell. My body … Different, larger, more powerful. My hair was longer and silver. My hands … Oh, God. Everything was exaggerated.

  I looked up into Ash’s face. “Do I look like me? Can you … Can you see me?”

  He cupped my face and kissed me softly on the lips.

  My breath escaped against his mouth. Home. He tasted like home. A chair appeared as if from thin air, and then I was ushered into it. Logan tucked the blankets around me, securing them and covering me.

  His dark eyes were probing, but he asked no questions. Thank goodness, because there was so much information swirling in my mind, too much that needed to settle.

  It was Elias who spoke first. “You’re back for good, aren’t you?”

  I nodded.

  Sage crouched before me, his ember eyes scanning my features. “You’re not mortal anymore, are you, Eva?”

  I shook my head.

  He nodded slowly. “Let’s get her dressed and somewhere comfortable. I suspect Eva has much to process before she can tell us what’s happened.”

  He scooped me up into his arms, and the others stepped out of the way as he carried me out of the chamber and into the corridor beyond.

  Whereas before the clothes provided by the bunker had been slightly loose, now they fit snugly as if tailored for me. My body had never been soft, but it was tauter now than ever, ridged with definition. Was this what being a god meant? My hand went to my face, bronze skin and irises so pale they were almost white, and my hair … I picked up a tress and stared at it. A white-silver color that rivaled Elias’s. The horn sat on my bed, waiting for me to pick it up and tuck it into my belt. We were bound now and there was no going back. Bells tinkled softly.

  “Yes, yes, I know. We have work to do. But first we have to fix this world.”

  The bells stopped, and I picked up the horn. Ash was waiting outside my door, his presence a familiar heat signature visible to me through the wood. The others were in the lounge. I could feel their energy not too far away: Sage, Jace, Logan, Elias, and even Noah. Their disconcertion was a beacon. They saw me, but they felt the change and it scared them.

  They were right to be wary. Everything had changed—my body, my soul—and yet my heart, the love I had for these guys, was as consistent as ever.

  You’ll have to leave them behind.

  You made a vow.

  Gods didn’t need their father for guidance. I squeezed my eyes shut, and his voice splintered into a thousand shards. It was time to tell the others half the truth. The rest would have to wait until it was time.

  All eyes were on me and every heartbeat was slightly elevated. Would I ever get used to these heightened senses, to this connection with the guys I was in love with?

  We were seated in the lounge. The door was shut, and Noah leaned up against it to keep out the humans. Ash and Logan sat on either side of me on the sofa, and Jace and Sage had taken the single-seater sofas. Elias leaned up against the wall opposite me. His sleek silver hair had flopped forward to cover one of his violet eyes. He looked like a figure from the graphic novels Tobias used to read back at the compound, all pointy chin, pouty lips, and startling eyes.

  He looked like me. Alien and other.

  Kira was perched on the coffee table, her eyes wide and stunned. “Fucking hell, Eva.” She studied me almost warily.

  “So, the horn summons the Wild Hunt, which will help us defeat the Vladul,” Logan summarized what I’d just told them. “And you’re now a god.”

  “That’s right.”

  Sage stepped in. “The Hunt cannot be harmed, and it cannot be stopped by anyone but Eva. There is no way the Vladul can stand against it.”

  “Sounds like a win-win situation,” Elias said in a low voice. “What’s the catch?”

  My pulse skipped, but my tone remained unaffected. “There is no catch, Elias.”

  He pushed off the wall and stalked closer to me. “You’re lying. You’re hiding something. I can feel it.” He made a fist and placed it against his chest, where his heart was. “What are you hiding, Eva?”

  “Back off, Elias,” Logan snapped. “She can’t lie. Her fey gene binds her.”

  “She’s not pure fey,” Elias said. “If she was, I’d know, but the Vladul in her is strong.”

  “As is the djinn,” Sage said.

  Ash signed beside me and Jace nodded. “Ash said if Eva hasn’t told us something then it’s not the right time for us to know.”

  “And she gets to decide that, why?” Elias asked.

  “Enough,” Noah said.

  Elias turned on Noah. “You may be their leader, but you don’t get to tell me what to do.”

  Noah locked gazes with Elias. “No, Elias. I’m no leader. I’m just a man trying to keep the peace.” He jerked his head in my direction. “Like it or not, she is our only salvation. You’re just going to have to trust her.”

  Elias held his ground for a moment and then his shoulders relaxed. He looked to me. “I have a bad feeling.”

  I plastered a smile on my face. “No need. Everything is going to be fine. We leave at first light, and by this time tomorrow the Genesis Foundation will be ours. We have the schematics Elias helped make, and Noah, in his guise of Malcolm, alongside Elias, will get us in, and once they do, the Hunt will clear a path for us. We’ll bring down the Vladul who follow Malcolm, and we’ll free the human and supernatural prisoners, but our priority will be getting the cure synthesized and into the drones. Getting the cure out there must come first. Are we agreed?”

  Everyone nodded or murmured yes.

  “We have equipment that can synthesize large batches of the cure in a matter of minutes,” Elias explained. “We’ll just need to get to the lab and convince the head scientist, Deana, to help us.”

  The way he said the head scientist’s name, the inflection in his tone, told me there was more between them than a professional relationship. But I kept my mouth shut, staunching the sudden pang of jealousy.

  I leaned forward. “Here’s what I think we should do …”

  I laid out the plan while the others listened, contributing here and there, and when we were done, there was no doubt that the Vladul would fall. But there was a niggling feeling in the back of my mind that whispered how minor the mortal predicament was. How insignificant.

  Mortal predicament?

  Had that thought come from my mind?

  “Eva? Are you all right?” Kira asked tentatively.

  The detached feeling fell away, and the present, this moment with them, rushed up to meet me. The horn and the Hunt were doing this to me, pulling me away from them, from my feelings. I needed to be close to my guys, needed to be surrounded by them, because soon they’d be taken from me. Soon, I’d have to leave them behind.

  I took Ash’s and Logan’s hands. “We should get some rest, but I have a request.”

  “Anything,” Sage said.

  “Y
eah, Eva, whatever you need,” Logan replied.

  To think, a few days ago he’d probably have made some sarcastic comment and stalked off.

  “I want us to bunk down together. Drag some mattresses in here and just curl up together. Can we do that?”

  I looked at each of my guys in turn. “Tonight, I want to be close to you all.” One last time …

  Elias’s jaw tensed. He suspected something was up. I tore my gaze from him and fixed it on Ash, on his trusting, loving face. I stroked his cheek and then turned to Logan and pressed my lips to his jaw.

  Kira blew out a breath. “Well, I guess this is my cue to leave. I’ll prep my guys and we’ll be good to go at dawn.”

  Sage stood and headed to the door after her.

  “Where are you going?” Jace asked.

  “To get some fucking mattresses.”

  My cabin looked mundane and much smaller. Everything felt lesser, everything except for my feelings for the guys. Such a short space of time and yet such powerful emotions. Such a short space of time, yet such intense experiences. When broken into hours and days it felt like nothing. Like too soon. It felt impossible, but in this fucked-up world, a day felt like a week. Fighting to survive day in, day out, side by side with Sage, Ash, and Logan, it had been easy to lose my heart, to become intrinsically entwined with them. Everything had been heightened. Everything had been urgent. But Elias …Elias hadn’t found his way into my heart yet, although if I could stay, it wouldn’t be long before he did. The attraction, the need, the desire was there. But it would be over soon. It had to be.

  I’d just pulled on my joggers and a T-shirt when there was a knock on my door. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

  The door opened, and Elias stepped into the room.

  “No.” I made to brush past him, but he grabbed hold of my arms to hold me back.

  I could have broken free. The power coursing through me was ten times what he had access to, but there was no point in a show of strength—this was about a show of wills.