Page 35 of Desolation
“Yes … and you have a dark Fae living in the Earth realm. They have likely been biding their time with their powers bound, as yours have been.” I open my mouth but she shakes her head before I can speak. “I cannot help you with their identity, my child. It may change the events of the future. You must travel that journey on your own.”
“Well, thanks for that,” I snark, “Lots of help.”
My brain is racing a thousand miles a minute and none of this makes sense. I huff and fall into a cross-legged position into the now receding water. Still needing a bit more dramatic, I throw my back onto the sand, staring at the sky.
None of this makes sense. Nothing. Why is this place so familiar to me?
Wait … my back doesn’t hurt. Is it because it’s a dream?
Before I can weigh the importance of asking, Gaia says, “Your back has been healing and stitching itself back together as you come into your powers and absorb the beginning of your magic. You are transitioning into your Fae form. This is what your realm looks like. I brought you into one of your memories buried in your soul from a previous life. I wanted you to see the beauty you will have to fight for.”
“Hmm. Okay, the thing that doesn’t add up to me, is that the Earth realm has been going to shit the past few decades or so, if you haven’t noticed. Why aren’t you keeping the balance?”
“When you, my chosen one, died in your previous life, the magic on your land died with you, throwing your realm into disarray. In your absence, I have had to try to keep your realm from collapsing under the dark Fae rule, while keeping the earth realm in balance. I can only do so much with the power I have,” she explains, without any resentment or pride.Are Goddesses supposed to be this humble?
“This is why I have my chosen ones to protect their individual realms. This is why I need you, Lana.” She lowers herself to the ground as she kneels next to my sprawled body, her hands folded in her lap. “You will awaken soon, Lana. There is one more thing you must know. Please heed my warning.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, okay. Hit me with it.”
“This is the only rebirth you will get. If you fail in this life and the dark Fae prevail, you will not get another opportunity. Your realm will face the worst destruction, more so than anything that has occurred in the Earth realm that you have seen. It will be lost forever. Until you are ready to return to your realm, you must train every moment of every day to prepare. When you are able to cross over, then, andonlythen, will your memories and full powers return to you.”
“Why were my memories taken from me?”
She shakes her head gently, the flowers of her hair swishing in the movement. “That is for another time. You do not need to face the sorrows of your past yet, when you are healing from the sorrows of the present.” Hesitantly, she raises her hand, stopping in her movements before caressing my hair in a soothing motion. I close my eyes at the sensation, feeling the love that Beth gave me, the love I think I remember from my birth mother. “It is time to wake up, Lana. Call upon me in your sleep and I will try to reach you.”
Though I am still unsure how real this is, I feel the undeniable urge to stay with her, knowing she would keep me safe.
“Wait, Gaia—”
My sentence is cut off as my vision fades. A warm hand caresses my cheek in a parting touch.
Good luck, my child.
Chapter Eight
Hale
As soon as the group reaches the inn and we receive our keys, we divide the group into the three rooms accordingly. The guys can’t quite reconcile the Lana they know with the Lana that lashed out at them in her grief, uncaring of their own emotional states, so they’re unsure how to act around her.
To give them time to process their own feelings about the whole screwed-up situation, I stay with Lana in the first room, while Zedd and Ash take the second room and, of course, the twins stick together in the third.
Though Lana undeniably had a special relationship with Beth, we all loved her. She was the only, loving, caring parental figure in all of our lives. We know Lana has the distant memory of her birth mother and can likely guess they had a loving relationship. But me and the guys?
Beth was theonlysource of maternal love for us. For Lana to disrespect not only our feelings regarding her death, but also our relationship with her—I shake my head at the thought. Her grief doesn’t give her the right to do what she did.
She has a lot of apologizing to do to them—especially, to Ash. That was such a low blow, something I never could have expected from her.
Even though she didn’t say anything specifically to me—or likely,becauseshe didn’t say anything aimed at me—I feel the need to set her straight for hurting the others. I’m the only one with enough rationality to deal with her when she wakes up.
I love this woman with every fiber of my being. She’s my reason for living. But the guys are my brothers and I’m not letting her trample all over them.
The way she passed out has me worried. Zedd said it was probably the shock wearing off or the exhaustion of the day catching up. Since he’s the smart one, I’ll go with his theory for now.
I carry Lana over to the bed and deposit her onto the worn-out comforter. I pull off her black converse, speckled with blood and caked with dirt.
I’m almost grateful for the silence, the snark-free environment and the ability to take care of her without her arguing that she’s an equal.A strong independent woman who needs no man as she always says.
Sometimes, I just want to pamper her so she doesn’t have to do everything alone. I hope one day she can see that—and that I live to see that, because good heavens, it’s unlikely.
