Page 101 of Power Shift
“Rhona,” I breathed through the blood pouring from my mouth. The Chimera stood off to the side, eyes crimson red as she poured magic into me.
Hundreds of wolves streamed through the Keep grounds, their coordinated howls piercing the air.
Cliona reached for the necklace, poised to tear it from my throat. I lurched back, remembering Neit’s words. With trembling fingers, I opened the catch, tipping the seed into my hand.
It pulsed with warmth, with life, and called to me more than any magic I’d ever known.
“I’m glad you came to your senses,” my mother said. She bent down and flicked her hand. “Give it to me.”
Power cracked through the air, the skies splitting open. An enormous stag flew from the tear, shifting into the fae king an instant before he hit the ground.
Cliona’s face whitened. She turned to me. “Give me the seed,” she hissed.
When I didn’t react, she lunged, fast as a snake.
I panicked. Not my finest moment.
And popped the world seed into my mouth like it was a Tic Tac and swallowed the world ending magic down.
Chapter
Thirty
Moira choked. “Oh Evie,” she breathed. “No.”
Ash gasped in horror.
My mother went chalk white, her fury erased by her surprise. She reared back and fell flat on her ass. “Youstupidchild.”
Cernunnos’ eyebrows lifted. “That’s one way to do it, I suppose.”
For a moment, nothing happened, and all I could feel was relief. Maybe I could treat myself like a puppy and wait to shit it out, then pretend none of this ever happened.
But, alas, my luck was not to hold.
A flash of intense white light set the world aflame. Every single neuron in my body was set ablaze. My muscles ached as my DNA rewrote itself, all the channels of power inside my veins expanding, magic flooding my veins. Floromancer, goddess, Chimera, bits and pieces of my mother and father, and I knew the truth in my blood.
Cernunnoswasmy father, and the forest lived in my cells.
Something long blocked dislodged, sending a fiery blaze of staggering power through me, and my muscles began to stretch and elongate.
A scream tore from my throat, my body bending in impossible ways as the seed changed my very essence. I tried to open my eyes, but I was blind, everything cast in deep gray shadow.
When the shift came, all I knew was power and horrified screams for a long moment until I locked on the two people I wanted dead more than anything.
A red haze over my vision disoriented me. Everything living glowed a soft white, but there—two people glowing white and red.
I stumbled, not used to my cloven feet, but it didn’t take me long to figure things out. A horrified Rhona gaped before she turned and hauled ass toward the forest. Unrelenting burning in my chest screamed for release, and I answered the call, sending a streaming blaze of angry crimson fire at her back.
Rhona’s pained scream echoed through Caelan’s land for the seconds it took for her body to catch fire and disappear in a hail of ash. My eyes swept the property.
Moira and Ash stood there, staring upward, an identical expression on their faces I couldn’t decipher. Caelan was locked in battle with the other Lord but holding his own.
I would not interfere. Donovan was not mine to kill.
But the other Chimera… Where was he?
My roar shook the buildings. I tested the membranous wings on my back, flapping once, twice, until I crookedly lifted off.
