As my mind continues to spiral, thoughts of the human realm surface. All of those helpless people, the children, and we’re all that stand in the way of their suffering and demise.
Hope. We need some hope.
“So what do we do?” I ask, coming to a stop in front of them. My legs still bouncing as the stress continues to assault me from the inside.
“We fight.” Freya squeezes her hands into fists. “It’s all we can do.”
“Obviously, but I meant right now. Shouldn’t we warn everyone?”
“That we’re going into war alone?” Odr asks, raising a brow. “Absolutely not.”
Something about this feels wrong. We should be transparent about this, shouldn’t we?
But if they decide not to fight, they’re all dead anyway…
The smell of cedar and rain washes over me, and I inhale as Lachlan appears beside me.
“Is everything okay?” The warmth of his body next to mine soothes the anxiety that slithers under the bombshell that has leveled our entire future.
Freya and Odr look at me. I’m frozen for a moment, the options laid out before me. I turn to Lachlan, and my hands tremble. There’s only one right thing to do.
“They’re all gone.”
I hear sharp sighs of disapproval.
My hair slides across my face in the breeze as I turn to them. “I don’t know how you do things in your kingdom,but in mine, I put things up for a vote.”
Lachlan’s hand finds mine. “Who is gone?”
I swallow past the burning in my throat. “It’s not just Odin that has vanished. It’s Badb, Morrigan, Danu, and Tyr.”
Lachlan reels back, his brow lowering as he frowns. “It’s worse than we thought.”
“Way worse.” My words are barely more than a whisper. “We have to tell the others.”
“There’s more.” Freya’s voice cuts through my plotting.
“More?” Lachlan spits, spinning to her. My hand tugs against his as I pull him to a stop, keeping him close to me.
“The prophecy?” I ask.
Odr looks at Freya as she speaks. “It is—about you.” She looks at him. “You were right. We should tell her.” Her attention shifts back to me. “You are the queen of the prophecy.”
“What prophecy?” Lachlan’s attention jumps between me and Freya.
“The one on the table. That says ‘aqueen of two worlds shall rise up and lead.’ But that’s all it says.”
Freya stands, her wings appearing. The iridescent white feathers are more magnificent in the sunlight than when I first saw them in the throne room. “That’s not completely true. Long ago, it was whispered that the war would begin and end with the arrival of thetrue queen.” Her gaze sweeps along me from head to toe. “And that yes, she would be of two worlds, but that her fate would determine the survival of ours.”
Well, that part is new.
“What fate?” I whisper.
“We don’t know.”
Lachlan’s voice lowers, “Ye dinna ken?”
“The sorceress who prophesied it died before finishing. We only know that a queen would be born of two people. The onlytwo peoples that could ally together to keep evil from sweeping across the universe. I believe those were the very answers your parents were searching for before they got pregnant with you.”
