Chapter 82

I balked at her as much as I could in this in-between state. She gave me a half smile and raised a shoulder.

“How do we open it?” I asked.

She frowned, ran her hand over the stone, and closed her eyes. Her lips parted as if she were connecting to something, feeling something. “It is meant to only be open one night,” she spoke softly, the usual edge in her voice vanished. But it has been opened numerous times.” She motioned between us at the invisible but very real, thick, tangy power.

“How did he do it?” I asked. “How was it supposed to be done?” I added, unsure if those questions were the same or not.

“You open it with blood,” she responded.

“Why does it always have to be blood?” I knew I sounded annoyed.

She laughed; it was deep and rich and as beautiful and warm as she was. “Blood is powerful,” she stated. “It tells the story of those who came before us; it is filled with love and loss and history.”

I swallowed. “That seems a bit elitist,” I managed.

She barked another laugh. “Ah yes, Simone,” she agreed. “It does, but it is not just through the chosen leaders that the blood is carried.” She raised a slender brow. I was not understanding. “You carry all of your pack members' blood in yours,” she explained.

I looked down at my hand numbly. It was covered in dried blood that was not my own. I don’t know what I expected to see, but I found nothing.

“When someone new joins a pack, how do they do it?” she asked me.

“With blood,” I responded. “By mixing their blood with the Alphas.”

“Each of your pack member’s blood has been mingled with the Alphas before you. You carry all of them in you. You are a vessel for your pack. It is a great weight, yes, but one that is only seen fit for a few.”

I blinked at her.

“Your blood holds not just your line, not just your pack's line, but every single person that has chosen to become a part of it.” Her hand came to my cheek, and I almost stumbled back at the shock of affection. She paused, but I settled into her touch, and her rough, slim finger brushed my cheek.

“Your blood holds the memory of your pack; you hold that. It holds every single pack member, not just your family, your line.”

I choked back on a sob, it made me feel at peace knowing even if I had forgotten some of their names that I held a piece of them.

“I don’t know if that makes it better or worse,” Nova murmured.

“Better,” I rasped out, blinking. The heaviness of this power and the weight of what I had done and what I was trying to do left no room for me to pretend; it lay me bare and open.

“Your blood sings, Simone,” she told me, her golden eyes alight. “It is the song woven from the trials and love of those who came before you. Your blood tells their tales, they live through you, it is the key,” she whispered, her own voice wavering.

I knew she had been told this before, that her ancestors had passed this down until it had reached her ears and become truth. Now she was gifting that truth wrapped in hope to me.

I could rebuild with my blood, not start a new pack under the name of Blood Moon, but rebuild and continue the same pack using the song of every one of Blood Moon's members.

She took my palm and motioned to my thigh. I frowned at the dagger strapped there and shook my head. I would not use his blood. The swirling around me seemed to recoil in the same way I did. Nova read my reaction, or maybe she felt it, too.

She used one of her razor-sharp nails to cut deep into my palm, in a spot that was not spotted with Mile’s blood, and then her own. I didn’t feel it; the power was too strong. She guided my hand to the stone, and my blood seeped in, her hand splayed next to mine.

I did not know if I was imagining it because of what she had said or if this power was too much, but the stone seemed to sing back to me.

It flickered and disappeared into the earth, maybe leaving a small entryway in its wake.

The powers that clung to me seemed to push me forward on a gust of wind until I was surrounded by a silence that was too loud. This place held memories and it intensified all the emotions I was trying to suppress.

We stood in a chamber, circular, dark, but dry. Lights flickered on, or maybe they didn’t, but I did not have the capacity to be in awe. My hands were thrumming, it itched under my skin and it led me to a well. It was alive, and a pale blue as if lights were glowing deep beneath the surface. I realized the entire place was pulsing with a blue light.

The walls around us were stone, etched with deep, jagged scars, smudged with black. I recoiled from them.

Nova frowned at the space. “That is not supposed to be there,” she said and walked to a wall, rubbing her hand across some of the darkness. She sniffed it and hissed, looking back at me. “This is fresh. He must have been trying to drain whatever is still left here.”

“How did he survive this?” I asked.

The powers swirling inside me did not want to harm me, but they were a heavy burden. They would suffocate me in a matter of days if I held them, that much I knew.

“Slowly,” she responded, her face hardened. “I can not say for certain, I do not know him and haven’t the first clue on how someone would take the power from the lands.” She turned back to study the wall, looking upon similar scribbles to what I had seen in the papers Miles had been writing on, etchings of a madman.

“But I do know enough about men and their greed,” Nova stated. She turned to me, pinning me with a curious yet assessing stare. “You could keep it, you know,” she said slowly.

I balked, taking a step back.

“It does belong to you; you could wield it. Instead of blessing your lands, your people, you could become so powerful that no one would dare try to harm you or yours again.” Her eyes hardened with a sentiment I knew too well—never to be weak and powerless again.

It was tempting, but I never truly considered it for a moment. “No,” I stated plainly.

“No?” she asked, tilting her head.

I snarled at her. “This is not mine to wield, and I am powerful enough without the force of a goddess at my hands.”

Her lips tugged up into a smile that envied the sun. “Good.” She took a deep breath through her nose, and I stood there, reeling at her small test. “Shall we?” She motioned to the pool of shallow water.

The buzzing around me, the buzzing between us, intensified as if it knew. I was sure it did. Nova’s smile dropped, and there was sadness in her beautiful, wide eyes as she touched the edge of the pool.

“I don’t know if there will be anything left in ours, I am worried it will be dry,” she said as I took a seat across from her. “I have not admitted that aloud.” She glanced up at me. “Not to anyone, even myself. I was their confidence when theirs wavered, so much so I almost believed it myself. But the doubts crept in, and…” She shrugged.

I opened my mouth as her words settled slower than they normally would. “Don’t,” she stopped me, closing her eyes. “We can speak on all my fears later. Right now, let us return this to the land.”

I closed my eyes and nodded.

That thing between us loosened and tightened.

I gripped the side of the pool and had the thought to ask what to do as if she might know. But my body was overcome. The thing itself was leaking from me, twisting deep inside and rushing out. I gave myself over to it and let myself be a vessel for it to right itself, trusting, hoping it knew how.

The stolen powers spilled and lit up the cavern, seeming to erase the blackness with dancing light. We were in our own galaxy.

The power lifted from a burden to a lightness and danced around us. Gaining speed and momentum, shedding the darkness, the wrongness.

I felt myself shed as they did.

These powers were stolen from my land, taken against their will. While they wanted to protect, they were forced to become something unrecognizable.

Me and my lands were both being made anew, releasing the burdens we could not control. Returning to where we belonged.

The stars fell into the pool, and there was only darkness. I sank to my knees, and Nova did the same. After minutes or hours there, the pool was encased in starlight, and the lights seemed to glow anew.