Chapter 121
“Our magic was locked in the square when Litha died. To use our magic, we need the entire coven and the square for a channel, but we won’t channel you. If we weaken you, we risk everything,” she whispers.
“I don’t understand,” I tell her.
“To break the curse, you choose them all or let Regan fall along with King Theron. Until then, we are powerless without something to channel. We channel from the square where Litha fell. That sacred place punished our mothers and absorbed our power. When dawn rises, they will either fall or live by your mark, but either way, the spell will be broken.”
“King Theron isn’t my mate,” I remind her.
“You’re right, but his curse is similar, and his only way for redemption is through his sons.”
“What has that got to do with you using me as a channel?” I ask.
Kelly looks away, not offering an answer. Thankfully, Dahlia, Leila’s grandmother, does. “Kelly is a seer. If she says they can’t channel you, she has a reason for it. It means Kelly has seen you’ll need your power, Priestess,” Dahlia tells me.
Dahlia’s words make my stomach twist in knots. “What did you see?” I ask curiously, and Kelly turns her head to look at me through the bars, her gaze distant as if she is looking through an invisible veil of time. Her eyes turn white, her pupils too, casting an eerie sight to witness. Her mouth opens, yet the voice that leaves her isn’t entirely her own.
“While a king’s power might lie in strength and command, a broken-hearted queen’s power thrives in the shadows of sorrow. Her heart’s agony becomes a weapon, her love’s loss a battle cry. She is the relentless night, the savage wind, a terror that neither forgives nor forgets.”
“I still don’t understand.” My brows press together, and I glance at the other witches in the cell with her. They look hollow, as if the words she speaks they already experienced.
“Mountains move, and kings may fall. A queen ascends but mourns it all. A queen without her heart’s true mate is fury, wrath, and love’s dark state.”
Instantly, I am reminded of how I rejected Regan. Still, he fights to reach me. Zeke, who fought for me, lies unconscious beside me. Finally, I stare at Lyon, who is still awake despite being drugged with mandrake root, his eyes savage as he crouches in the corner, watching my every move. Lyon’s mind hallucinates, telling him to end me, while some part of him clings to our bond to spare me.
Kelly’s voice clears my mind, pulling my attention back to her. “Your mother, a queen once scorned, altered history and cursed the kings. She cursed all of us. But you, Zirah, are her redemption, their condemnation, and our salvation. She cursed you as virtue incarnate, a priestess with the love and power of seven. However, your destiny is far more ominous. Pure and unbreakable virtues will become dark if your love is shattered.”
I feel the cold tendrils of fear grip me as I try to decipher her words and what she is keeping from me.
She doesn’t seem to hear me. Her eyes are fixed on some distant horizon. “Seven Sins she cursed them with—a father’s greed and sons’ betrayal. But you, the last female lycan born. You’re a hybrid, a child of virtue, you’re both the blessing and the curse. Your fall would be a cataclysm beyond reckoning.”
The tremors in the mountain grow stronger, the vibrations resonating through the rock floor as the guards approach, but Kelly’s voice remains steady, a haunting chant amid the chaos of my mind.
“A king’s downfall is sin. A queen’s is virtue turned dark. While a king kills, a queen with a broken heart sets the world on fire. A scorned king is a danger, but a scorned queen is an apocalypse.”
The prophecy she speaks sends a chill down my spine, and I grip the bars, my knuckles turning white, my mind reeling from the words. Kelly’s eyes finally meet mine, clear and focused but filled with sorrow I can’t fathom.
“Regret is the hardest thing to live with. Channeling your magic won’t be mine. If he falls, we all do. Your virtues are your strength, but if they break, they could become the worst of sins,” Kelly tells me while my mind wonders who it is that falls. Which of my mates did she see die? The footsteps grow nearer, voices carry in the tunnels when sudden alarms blare loudly again, and the guards fill the place.
The alarm continues to wail, the explosion and tremors signaling the approach of some unseen threat—or perhaps an opportunity. I pull my thoughts together, determined not to let fear paralyze me. “We will escape, Kelly. We will break the curse. And I will choose love, not darkness.” My cell door opens, and guards rush in. Lyon attacks instantly, but because he is injured and unhealing, he is no match for their darts or strength. Lyon’s dragged out, and my coven members scream as they are dragged from their cells.
Suddenly, Kelly yells above the chaos, her words wrapping around my mind and stealing my thoughts. “Remember, destiny is weaving, and you stand at the loom. The pattern may be set, but the threads can still be changed.”
The tension in the room grows palpable as we all prepare for whatever comes next, but the prophecy she speaks lingers in the air. It’s a warning, a challenge, a reminder that my choices could either redeem or damn us all.