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A breath, nearly inaudible, rattled beside me. “He thought I was a threat to him. As wolf shifters, he was the Alpha. He had no choice.” The words were like a mechanical reading. As if he’d said them to himself repeatedly throughout his lifetime.
The room froze as Past appeared in front of us, taking on the face of Atlas’ distraught mother. I’d forgotten she was there at all as the horrific memory played before us.
“So young,” she said, her voice changing to mimic the woman. “You never saw her again, did you?”
He blinked, a single tear trekking down his face. I hated this. Hated it for him and for me. In some ways, I was glad to be here to see the hell I initiated for people, but I fucking hated that I was the pawn for this. Hated that I caused this misery.
“You are not the cause,” Past whispered into my ear. “You are just a tool.”
“I couldn’t go back,” Atlas murmured. “I tried. My father hired a guard and forced me to stay away. I was young and alone, and he was doing what he thought was best for me. But she never chose this. And all this time, I thought she had.”
I squeezed his trembling hand. “No one could choose to leave you. I’m sure of it.”
“Please don’t use that face,” he begged Past. “Anyone but hers.”
A wretched smile peeked through as she swirled and changed into a beautiful witch with several clear markings and hair nearly identical to mine.
“No!” Atlas gasped, dropping my hand as he fell to his knees. “Just kill me and be done with this.”
The world around us faded away. The last thing we saw was that young man walking alone into the forest beyond.
5
A frozen lake with thick fog nestled above the ice appeared around us. For several moments, Atlas still on his knees, I wondered if anything would happen at all.
“If you have any sort of mercy or power over this,” he said to me, face buried in his giant hands, “You will not take this a second further.”
“Your demands will go unanswered in this realm, Atlas Firepelt. She has less control than you do.”
He rubbed his chest in circles, likely trying to soothe the bitterness that grew with his realization. Every limb in my body grew in weight until I wished the world would crack apart and swallow me whole. The heaviness of regret sitting upon my shoulders was as familiar to me as breathing, but still, I would never grow accustomed to it.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry.”
“I can’t do this. I won’t do this.”
“You must,” Past insisted from somewhere out of view.
Four young women, bundled in long coats and hats that hung low on their heads, finally appeared. I saw that fiery red hair before I even heard their voices. Heard the moan from Atlas’ lips that wracked me with despair.
“Please,” he whispered. This time not to me, or even Past, but to the goddess herself as he stared up into the heavens, pleading with someone I knew wouldn’t answer.
“Please,” I repeated, not realizing the word sat on my lips until it was audible.
But the unanswered prayer was lost between this realm and that of the past as the girls walked directly through us, heading toward the lake.
“This is foolish.” One of them took the hat from her head. “One day, you’ll get us all killed, Laramie Forestbrook.”
“Not this day” the redhead dropped her coat to the ground and stepped naked onto the ice.
“You’re sure this is going to work?” another said, shivering as she too removed her cloak and bared herself for all the world to see.
“Gilly Forestburn said her grandmother walked naked across this lake and met the love of her life the very next night. They haven’t spent a day apart since. And if Gilly Forestbrook is a goddamn liar, then I’ll punch her right in the nose.”
Even in his despair, Atlas couldn’t help the huff of a laugh at the young woman’s conviction. He moved to his feet but, this time, did not come near me. Instead, his eyes remained glued to the naked redhead, forcing her friends to walk across a frozen lake in the dead of winter.
Envy seeped into my veins as he stared at a woman that had clearly left him broken in a way he would never recover from. Would she have changed this moment if she’d known what was to come? Would he?
As the women, trembling and turning blue, made it to nearly the halfway point, a group of young men ran into the clearing, whooping and hollering as they hoisted Atlas above their shoulders. I recognized the king’s cousin, Grey, amongst them and Torryn trailing in the back.
