AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He’s going to get Kali,” Fauna answered with a knowing smirk I could hear in her voice, not bothering to move.
“No, I’m going to save Adora.”
I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
Chapter12
Adora
Darkness enveloped me.
Dreams swirled in my mind, painting pictures that felt like distant memories, each with a red filter distorting the images.
Lifetimes. Childhoods. Births. Deaths. Rebirths.
Visions of pasts being raised by the priestesses. No affection or reassurance. No guidance on right and wrong. Only retaliation. Reminders of my worthiness and what I wasowedby this world.
Preening when Arcadians gave me what I wanted.
Reverence. Adoration. Worship.
All the while, anger and an all-consuming rage bubbled beneath the surface of my existence, and my self-serving guardians greedily stoked the flames. I watched countless rebirths that led me to indescribable powers.Destructivepowers. The priestesses urged me to claim my revenge. To show my strength and punish those who refused me ... those who refusedthem.
In the background, a familiar face always watched from the shadows. A tormented soul wallowing in the anguish my actions caused him. Crying out for his people. Sometimes crying out for ... me.
Pan.
My consciousness whispered his name in my mind. A tender touch grazed my psyche. I felt ... desire. Regret. Longing.
Lifetimes together. Fighting. Fucking. Embracing. Damning.
Each ended the same. My final vision in each life was his face. His eyes, always filled with the torturous burden of killing me when he failed to change the course that had been set. The overwhelming sorrow he felt when he’d lose me not only to myself, but to the priestesses. My teachers. My guardians. My groomers. Emotion leaked from his eyes when he’d whisper his final goodbyes. His apologies. His failures. His promise that he’d never stop trying to save me.
A flutter in my chest pressed against a cage of bone.
A thousand lifetimes flashed before my eyes, and it was always the same story. Rage, destruction, and murder. My death. My rebirth.
But one more story lingered, its uniqueness burning brighter than any other as the veil of red lifted. My tiny hand holding my sister’s while we played in the creek by our cabin as little girls. Her smiling face, the light sparkling in her icy blue eyes when she looked at me. Fighting together side by side to protect each other. My sister’s wolf nudging me with her snout, helping me stand when I’d been knocked down. My mom and stepmom holding me, stroking my hair, offering comfort and security. Twenty-five years with my family, and it wasn’t enough. It never would be. I was encouraged, supported, beautifully flawed, and, above all, loved beyond measure.
An incredible ache consumed me, and my body jolted as though I’d been shocked.
I grabbed the sides of the basin and pulled myself up, breaking the surface and gasping for air.
My eyes shot open, and the ceiling came into view.
“I remember,” I choked out.
Turning my head, the three priestesses became my focus. The last thing I had heard before they’d suspended me above the tub and sliced open my throat was the chanting. The room was now silent.
“Rise, Kali, and take back this realm from the wicked,” Gold entreated, raising her arms.
I stood, blood streaking down my body in rivulets, returning to the tub that was filled with blood, a sacrificial basin that held a piece of me from every lifetime.
A torrent of emotion raged inside me.
I had one objective.
As I stepped over the rim, a form appeared at the top of the stairs, short sword in hand. His wide eyes met mine, and despair slammed into me. We stared at each other for a moment, and his dejection turned into confusion.
