Page 14 of Wild Ivy
I hatethat this is the only way, but it is. We fucked with fate, and now it’s biting us on the arse. “It’s the only way,” I mutter, feeling the wrath of Bram and Torin burning into my soul. But they know I’m right.
Bram snarls, grabbing my shirt and slamming me against a tree. “Don’t you fucking dare suggest that again. We’re not sending her back.”
I push him off, glaring. “You think I want to? But we don’t have a choice. We fucked up. Fuck knows, bringing me back from the dead, probably also messed with shit. We have to set things right.”
“There has to be another way,” Torin insists, his voice tight with desperation.
Ivy steps between us, her eyes blazing with determination. “Stop it. This is my decision to make, not yours.”
“The hell it is,” Bram growls. “We didn’t go through all that just to lose you again.”
She turns to him, cupping his face. “I know. But we can’t be selfish here. The fate of everything is at stake.”
I watch the conflict play across Bram’s features. He knows she’s right, but accepting it is another matter entirely.
Ivy looks at each of us. “I love you all. But I have to do this. It’s the only way to fix what we’ve done.”
Torin makes a choked sound. “There has to be another option. We can’t just give up.”
“It’s not giving up,” she says softly. “It’s doing what’s necessary.”
I clench my fists, hating this but knowing it’s true. “How do we even do it? Send you back, I mean.”
She takes a deep breath. “That is the tricky part. It happened when I was fighting Life’s minions. The ritual is neither here nor there. I’m not entirely sure how we go back to the point in time where I scattered without causing even more damage.”
“Then we don’t do it,” Torin states, feet planted, arms over his chest. He has taken on the role of badass vampire mage, and he will smite anyone who looks at him wrong now. I know that look. He won’t let this happen.
Ivy sighs. “Torin, we don’t have a choice. The longer we wait, the worse things will get.”
“She’s right,” I say, hating every word. “We need to figure this out fast.”
Bram runs a hand through his hair, his eyes wild. “Fuck. There has to be some way to do this without losing you again.”
Ivy’s expression softens as she looks at him. “I wish there was. But we all know deep down this is what has to happen.”
“No,” Torin growls. “I refuse to accept that. We’ll find another way.”
I shake my head. “We don’t have time for denial. We need to focus on how to send her back safely.”
“Safely?” Bram scoffs. “There’s nothing safe about being torn apart across realities, and it’s not even about sending Ivy back to the thousand realms. It’s about the point in time that ithappened. You are all missing the entire point of this. It isn’t the action, it’s the time. The fucking time.”
“Yeah, the fucking time we messed with,” Ivy argues.
Torin chimes in, and I retreat as they fight amongst themselves. Bram has a very good point. It isn’t about just randomly tearing Ivy apart, it’s the time.
“How did you do it?”
“Hmm?” I look up at the voice and see Morrigan standing behind a tree, staring at me. “Do what?”
“Take the power of your ancestors?”
“It wasn’t intentional.”
She giggles. “These things never are.” She lifts her chin to indicate the three still fighting. “They can’t see me, in case you were wondering.”
“Great, so it looks like I’m talking to myself.”
She shrugs. “Think, warlock. This isn’t about destroying Death, which is exactly what you will do if you tear that girl apart to scatter her.”
