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Unable to sit any longer, Bryn stood up and looked down at Danu.

“Then we should leave here before they come in order to keep everyone safe from the wraiths.”

“You think the people who have ostracized you for most of your life deserve your loyalty?” Danu asked, voice calm yet raspy. “That you should sacrifice the home you’ve made here as well alongside them whether they liked it or not?”

Danu shook her head, looking out the dirty window covered in the never-ending sand of said home.

“It’s time to face your own fate. Now everything is in motion once again, and roads will need to be traveled. Paths cut for those to follow. I suggest you look into who in this town truly deserves your loyalty.”

Bryn thought back to the times she’d simply walked down the street and been hit, knocked over, spit at, pinched, or just simply called a witch in a threatening tone.

Of all the times in the past that Bryn had been vulnerable and only her friends were there to stand beside her.

It was obvious that Bryn was in need of comfort when her father died, and yet the townspeople chose to close their doors and ignore her.

Perhaps itwastime to take a good look at who was truly on her side.

“It doesn’t matter, though. You cannot leave just yet. The prophecy has an order to it, and the first stand must be made on the ground of your reawakening.” Danu looked away to Callum as she spoke.

“The prophecy? So now there is some kind of prophecy?” Bryn snorted, earning a look of censure from Danu.

“Yes, the prophecy of gods and crows was what it was referred to after you’d closed the veil.” Danu sighed, her eyes closing. “So much of you is still in there, but you keep pushing the real you down. Fear of the unknown was never an issue with you before you stood in this mortal skin. The unknown is where youthrived. With gods and crows, or so the prophecy goes.”

“Cute,” Bryn muttered.

“Hush,” Danu growled, her tone stunning Bryn into silence. “The Fomori, with their chaotic powers, were able to take over, and the earth being weak from human neglect for centuries made it all the more easy. Those wraith-like creatures, they are part of the Fomori and entered this world after pushing out the earth’s protectors. Those demons, which is exactly what they are, currently reside with your king in his castle fortress.”

“Some job we did as protectors,” Bryn grumbled as she folded her arms.

“Yes, you sacrificed yourselves to close the veil so the demons could not make it to the Otherworld. You sacrificed pieces of yourself to protect those who followed you.” Danu’s eyes narrowed in on Bryn. “The prophecy was created because King Bres will be looking for the gods who would come back from the veil to return the earth to her former glory.”

“Yes, we know. The gods being the Tuatha Dé Danann... us.” Maybe if Bryn said it enough, she’d believe it one day.

“The prophecy all begins with a god and a crow...” Danu looked at Bryn, a smirk crossing the older woman’s face that agitated Bryn. “The first of the gods to arise, ready to slay those who dare threaten the good of the world, and the last one to enter the veil.”

Bryn knew all too well who Danu was referring to since Bryn was the first to wake up after their powers were released back to them.

“That... sounds like the ravings of a mad person. I am sorry, this is...” Bryn stopped, unable to continue, her mind spinning. “Whoever said that is wrong.” They had to be. Who in their right mind would think Bryn could save the world, even with a team behind her?

“Oh, darling Bryndis, it was you. You and your prophecies. Your sight. You predicted all of this before you left us, and so we shall follow your lead.”

Oh hell.

Chapter 31

Blood.Battle.Swords.Travisdead on the sand, blood everywhere.

“Wake up,”a voice finally penetrated the fog of her dream, and Bryn shot up out of bed, the sun setting on the horizon outside her window.

Kian stood next to her bed, his eyes narrowed on her as his shadows moved around him, Cyerra watching him from the foot of her bed.

She guessed Cyerra had given up on murdering him since there wasn’t a ruckus with his entrance, and her room was as it had been before she fell asleep.

“You are quite a violent sleeper. A lover would have died tonight had someone been brave enough to slip into bed with the Morrigan. Aside from that idiot that watches you with stars in his eyes,”Kian joked, and Bryn spun on him.

“Did you watch me having sex with Declan?” she screamed, not bothering to keep her voice down in case Mallory came barreling in with a vengeance. His eyes widened in shock at her declaration before he started to laugh. Shaking his head, he pushed his hair out of his face.

“No, I was unaware the two of you took back up. You used to be married to him, when you were both the Morrigan and Dagda, and quite angry about it since he couldn’t seem to be bothered keeping his pants buckled around other women.”