The Nushtonia howled around Myanin and Shade as pages tore free from the corridor walls.
The book was dying.
Or changing.
Perhaps both.
“You are not making decisions for me,” Myanin snapped.
“No,” Gerick answered softly.“I’m taking the decision away from you.There’s a difference.”
Her face broke.
That nearly destroyed his resolve.
Gerick stepped closer to the opening.
Immediately, the magic binding the realms lashed around him like chains made from moonlight and fire.Pain ripped through his chest, sharp enough to stagger lesser males to their knees.
He remained standing.Because some pain mattered more than survival.
The Great Luna appeared beside the tear in silence.Moonlight bent around her form.Every creature in the clearing went still.Even the corruption recoiled.
“My son,” she said.
Gerick bowed his head once.
“My lady.”
The goddess looked at him with infinite grief.“You understand the choice now.”
“Yes.”
Myanin shook her head violently.“No.No, absolutely not.I forbid this entire conversation.”
Shade moved toward her instinctively, but she shoved him backward without even looking.
“I mean it!”she shouted.
Gerick’s chest ached so badly he could barely breathe.
Not because he feared death.
Because she was crying.
Great skies, he had never wanted her tears.Not once.
The Great Luna stepped closer to him.“The blessing tying your lives together preserved her path when it should have been severed.”
Gerick nodded slowly.
“But now,” the goddess continued softly, “the bond itself has become a crossroads.”
The corruption slammed violently against the tear in the realm again.
The foundations trembled beneath every realm simultaneously.
Far away, another scream.
