“We start tonight,” I said, “The ambush. The strike. The retribution.”
Taya grinned, her green eyes flashing. “Hell yes we do.”
Amaris nodded once. “Make them bleed.”
ଝଟି(62)
Luna Nira just smiled. “Let them feel what happens when they awaken the old power.”
Luna Aelira looked to the sky. “And may the gods stand the fuck out of your way.”
I was halfway back to the keep courtyard when it hit me.
A pull. Not physical. Not magical. Cosmic. It twisted in my gut like a tether had just snapped taut and yanked me back toward the Star Temple.
I stopped walking. “Something wrong?” Aelira asked behind me.
“No,” I murmured. “But I have to go back.”
No one argued. The other women kept walking, fading into the twilight mist that had begun to roll across the courtyard. I turned and walked alone, back toward the Temple of Stars.
By the time I stepped inside, the temperature had shifted. Colder. Quieter. More sacred. The sky above had darkened unnaturally fast…an indigo veil full of swirling constellations that blinked like living eyes.
The center of the temple glowed silver, the air thick with unspoken truth. And then…she stepped forward. Elanithra.
Not walked. Not shimmered. Just appeared.
She looked like the night sky wrapped in mortal shape. Her skin was the color of deep space, flecked with stardust. Her hair trailed behind her in waves of light, braided constellations hanging like crowns.
Her eyes… were every galaxy I’d never seen.
“You’ve returned, Elowen Skye Thorne.” Her voice wasn’t sound…it was vibration. Felt in my bones, in the back of my mind, in the very blood of my ancestors.
“I didn’t mean to..” I whispered.
“You were called,” she said simply. “Because I have chosen you.”
I swallowed hard. “The Moon chose me. The Earth. The Bear. The Wolf. How many pieces do I need?”
Her head tilted slightly. “As many as it takes to survive what comes next.”
I blinked up at her. “You saw the footage. You know what I’m facing.”
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11:28 Wed, Oct 8
Chapter 146
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“You’re not facing enemies, Elowen.” Her voice was velvet steel. “You’re facing the children of your heart. And nothing cuts deeper than a blade you once held with love.”
1 shook, my chest tightening, throat burning.
‘Why me?” I asked. “Why always me?”
“Because you do not run. Even when it hurts. Even when it breaks you.” Her starlit eyes flickered with fire. “And because what has been taken must be restored. The stars keep their promises.”
Then she stepped forward, raising one hand. “Give me your pain.”
My knees buckled….but I didn’t fall. Instead, I felt her fingers, cold and bright as comet fire, touch my chest. And the rage. The grief. The betrayal. It exploded inside me like a supernova.
Visions slammed into me…Vaela as a child, laughing at me. The rage and anger. Soria tripping me. Bullying me. Blood. Fangs. Runed skin. Betrayal. My own face, twisted in rage.
Then… starlight swallowed it all. And in its place…….Calm. Clarity. Steel.
“You will face them.” Elanithra whispered. “You will break, and rise, and burn the rot from this world. I will be with you.”
She pressed something into my palm. A glowing sigil, five intersecting stars wrapped in runes I couldn’t read but understood. Destiny. Strength. Sacrifice. Sight. Justice.
“Carry this into the fire,” she said. “And remember, they made their choice. Now make yours.” I gasped as a silver star etched itself under my left eye. She winked.
Then she vanished. The temple dimmed. And I stood alone, the sigil still burning faintly on my palm like it had branded me from the inside out. I exhaled, my breath fogging in the starlit cold.
“War it is,” I whispered.
And the stars answered.
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