Page 110

Was it regret?

“There’s only one other place I can think of that might… mean something to her.”

“And where’s that?” I asked, sliding Nik’s sword back into its scabbard.

“Osiris’s old chambers.”

I had been on my way back towards the hidden doorway, but her words halted me in my tracks. I turned back towards her, my arms limp at my sides. My chest was heavy.

“The room where you were born.”

Tess let out a humorless laugh. “Of course… that makes the most sense. The room where you were prophesized to kill her. She wouldn’t want it any other way. She would want that to be the room in which she killed you.”

Annelise nodded, her lips pressed together in a thin line.

They were right.

It was almost… poetic. But I knew Donika hadn’t chosen it for that reason. She wanted to take me out of this world in the exact place I was brought into it. Such an event would generate amassiveamount of power. Power she could harness.

It was always about power with Donika.

No amount of power wouldeverbe enough for her. She would first steal my magic, and then the magic my death generated.

Alastir raised a brow at Annelise. “The Mother prophesizedherdeath, not Diana’s.”

Annelise nodded. “We have to trust that the Mother showed you the truth.”

Alastir cleared his throat. “She has never shown me a falsehood, though she may not be the most forthcoming. She never shows me what Iwant, only what Ineed. In this, I am certain. The Mother has shown me that Diana will restore peace to Istmere.”

“But at what cost?” Annelise asked.

Alastir swallowed hard. “The Mother did not show me the outcome. I do not know if Diana’s life is the sacrifice that is required.”

His words had me reeling back. “What do you mean?”

“My visions are not clear,” he explained. “I do not know how the outcome will be reached, only that itwillbe. You will restore peace… but will it be because you kill Donika this day? I simply do not know.”

Annelise opened her mouth to speak, but I moved back towards the opened stone chamber, interrupting her. “It’s too late to go back now. Whatever happens, happens. We face Donika today and restore peace to Istmere one way or another. Whatever the outcome may be.”

Puck and Tess joined me as we waited for the others.

Annelise’s expression was sad as she joined us, sealing the door shut once more. We had no way of knowing what was about to happen, only what the Mother had shown Alastir. There was no point in dwelling on it now. Our forces were out on the battlefieldat this moment, risking their lives fighting Donika’s army and her demonic monsters to save this realm.

Today, we would end her rule of tyranny.

The mood was somber as we made our way to Osiris’s old chambers, hoping we would strike luck at the third location. If Donika wasn’t there… I wasn’t sure where we would search for her next.

But there was a piece of me, deep down in my gut, that knew she would be there… waiting for us.

We descended the same set of stairs one at a time, rocks falling to the landing and disintegrating the structure even further. A few more passes and that particular passageway would be entirely unusable.

We passed through a long hallway and rounded a corner to the right before coming to a stop. There was no antechamber here, only a small piece of wood wedged into the stone. My hand found the wound on my stomach and I pressed against it, reaching down the bond to feel Nik.

I could feel him faintly, hear the distant sounds of metal clashing. Shades screaming.

There was a fire somewhere in his periphery, the rain that spit down around them was not enough to extinguish it.

He wasfighting.