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“There is more than one way to do that. You saved the demon—for some reason—with your gifts of healing. You saved all of us with your claws and your bravery. But this is my domain.”
The King of the Dead turned to face the army of ghost shifters.
“You have been wronged.” His voice boomed across the open space. “You were led to believe your journey ended here, at the whims of a mad goddess. But it does not. You have felt agony that I can only imagine. But today, that ends. Today, you are free. Your souls are free to find rest.”
Cole’s magic exploded across the arena. But it wasn’t his angry,hostile shadows that filled every inch of the space. Instead, it was a comforting darkness that complemented the night sky around us. It stretched forward, beckoning. The compassion for his fellow shifters, for the people whom I had loved.
One took a small step forward. It broke from the mass, walking, exploring, while the others hesitated. They had been deceived before.
But Cole’s magic offered only exactly what he told them. Freedom. Rest.
Peace.
The lone shifter went farther and farther until it was nothing more than a speck of light. Then it winked out, fading away into the darkness. A few more stepped forward, then the whole group as one. As if they finally sensed the truth, the possibility they had been denied. The mass of shifters took off, running as if in slow motion and then fading in the distance, their blue glow dimming until there was nothing besides the darkness of space, pierced only by the glow of the moon.
The ground around us began to shake once more.Tartarus, again?
Instead of a pit opening up, it was the edges of the arena that began to fall away. Fragments fell apart, the marble floor cracking at a distance. When it reached the collapsed columns, those too fell into the ether. It was almost peaceful to watch.
Phaidros drew closer. “The realm is falling apart. An empty realm cannot exist. My moth—the Moon Goddess sustained this place for millennia. Then she siphoned the souls of the shifters to sustain it. That was why she wanted control of the other realms. She felt she deserved a throne in a true realm, not content with the kingdom of her own making. It was unnatural. The universe is setting things back in order.”
I could feel it, as he said it. The magic of the realm was nearly gone, dwindling to nothing. Pieces slowly crumbled, falling away as though gravity just barely weighed on them.
I looked back out into the darkness. There were still stars in the distance. But they were normal stars, tiny things. Not giant bright masses made of the souls of imprisoned shifters. “Will they go to the underworld?”
Cole shook his head. “No. For them, their time in the cycle is done. They will go somewhere… beyond.”
“I wonder where that is,” I mused. I’d been raised my entire life to think that the stars were the ultimate destination.
“I pray we do not find out for a very long time.” Cole dipped his head towards mine. “Now, we go home.”
Chapter XXXV
Ihadn’t known whatwe would be walking back into, but the last thing I expected was for Hecate to inform us there was going to be a ball.
We had done the impossible—restored the balance of the realms, freed the souls of countless shifters, and kept ourselves from dying—again—and falling permanently into the pits of Tartarus.
And we weren’t alone in our celebrating. Daphne and the others had gone back to the world of the living. She gave me a fierce hug before leaving.
“I’ll still be able to see you, right?” she asked. “It won’t throw the universe into life-threatening peril for you to visit your best friend?”
“Nothing could keep me from you,” I promised. “Totally safe.”
Hecate arched a brow, no doubt ready with a thousand reasons as to why it was a bad idea, but I meant what I said. Besides, as long as I didn’t kill anyone while there—and maiming was totally fine—I’d be safe. Now that the Moon Goddess was defeated, there wasn’t a single being who could match my power.
My gaze slid to Cole, who was currently leaning against the wall, eyes firmly trained on me.Well. Maybe one.
Daphne hugged me again. “You aresotransparent.”
“Huh?”
She rolled her eyes. “I get that you want to jump your mate”—I opened my mouth to protest, but she didn’t hesitate—“but if you can tear yourself away from whatever private party the two of you have planned, the packs are going to get together for a party.”
“The packs?” I questioned.
She nodded. “Wind-Blood, the Fangs… and Moon-Ghost.”
“Is that a good idea?”
