Page 69 of His Blazing Witch (The Silver City #3)

Hearing their voices behind me, I step into the darkness. This time, the winds won't stop me. I light up my fire, holding it around me like a halo. I ground my feet in the ice and keep going, despite the darkness blowing on me. I feel it, this horrible mix of anger, pain, frustration. All those dark feelings keep whooshing in my ears, on my body, so violently it starts to dig little cuts into my skin. I can't even tell if it's hers or mine. It's just pain, echoing mine over and over, and I ought to fight through it.

Right now, I don't fucking care about the physical pain. I feel it, ripping my flesh and slowly pressuring every inch of my body, but I don't give a flying fuck. This hurricane can break me, she can crush me with this. She can break all of my bones and cut all of my skin open, it will never hurt as much as the pain bleeding from my bond to my mate... I feel it. Even when I can't see him, I feel Liam, his pain, and our bond getting thinner and weaker every second. I don't have time.

I force my entry in, I keep going like a madwoman. Like a mad, angry witch. She can't scare me, this darkness doesn't scare me. If anything... this just fuels my dark emotions, and makes me even stronger.

"You don't know it," her voice says, echoing around me. "You don't know the pain yet, and that darkness. How it fills you up, eats you up until there's nothing left!"

I scoff. Really? She thinks she can intimidate me with this?

"You're so wrong. I'm not scared of your darkness. I was... born from the darkness. I am a Dark Witch, even more than you are; I already went through it all."

That's right. I experienced it all, through Clarissa. Her pain, her screams, so many emotions she shouldn't have gone through. I lived all of it, through her memories, her journal, and this body. She suffered a hundred times and tried to fight. She fought depression, loneliness, and the anger from the injustice of being born with a broken body.

"You think you're the only one who lost someone?" I growl, pissed. "You think you're the only woman who’s ever suffered, who became jealous and bitter? Wake the fuck up! Everyone's got some darkness in them!"

"Oh, you think you can give me lessons on pain? You think you're better than me, perhaps? But... what happens when you actually lose your mate, Mara Jones?"

No, I can't let that happen!

I light up my fire, searching inside to find the strength, and throw some fireballs around. They disappear into the darkness, hitting nothing, apparently. Damn it...

"Oh, I feel your anger..." she whispers. "Of course, we are angry. We are sad and helpless. You're going to suffer through it too... and then, you'll know what this darkness truly is about."

I can already feel it.

The fear that crawls into my mind as I'm running out of options, and Liam is running out of time. That heavy weight in my heart, pulling me down to the point I want to fall on my knees and cry, break before it crushes me. That invisible hand that's choking me up, suppressing the words and thoughts until there's nothing left but the chaos, a bastard mix of fear and anguish. I want to cry, scream, howl. I don't want to feel this, I don't want to carry this burden, to even think that Liam might really... be gone.

I need him. I need my mate, I need his warmth, his gentle smiles, and the way he completes me perfectly. His blue-gray eyes that carry a million words, and the way his hands touch me. I love the way we are together, one and the same, he and I, and how we're different yet perfect as one. How many people get to find their perfect match? The right person for them, the one you know will hold on even if things get damaged a little, even if... you're the one that's been damaged already. Liam is my rock, the one who will hold on, be there, and support me when I need him. He's the one who makes me feel like... there's nothing we can't accomplish together. We could run to the moon and back together, and laugh like fucking teenagers getting high on our own kind of crazy.

But... Liam is going.

He's going to a place where I can't reach, where I can't follow. Somewhere I can't feel him anymore... Instead of our bond, a void is growing, huge, deep, and horrifying. That monster is sucking me in, filling my mind with despair, and that pain as if I'll never recover from it. Just... It's empty. It's fucking empty, where I felt him. I can't feel his wolf, I can't feel him. There's nothing left of him.

"Liam..." I cry, out of breath.

I close my eyes, forgetting everything else, and I try to search for him. I try to hold on to that faint, derisory hope that I'll find his light, somewhere inside, just if I look deep enough.

But there isn't one. I gasp, unable to stand anymore. He's... gone. No, no, no. I must be wrong, somehow. This must be an illusion, or I must be dreaming. I can't...

“ Nora...? ” I call out, my throat so tight I wouldn't be able to say this out loud.

“ M-Mara... I... I'm so... so sorry, Mara... I… ”

I feel it fall deep, deep inside.

It... hurts. Moon Goddess, it hurts so much. I feel the tears coming, but there's nothing worse than that huge pain in my chest. It grips me inside, it... wrecks everything. Sadness flows in, pours in, making me strangely... numb. I need to remind myself to breathe. I try to breathe, but, fuck, it... it hurts. So, so much.... I keep sobbing, my throat, head, and heart in pain. I can't hold it in. I cry like a child, like nothing else matters. I hear my loud crying resonate, my erratic breathing, the broken gasps, and my own wailing.

"See... You and I are the same..."

I wipe the tears from my face, even if more come running down it. I look around–no, I glare around.

"The same?" I repeat, so much anger built up in my voice. "...You think we're the same?"

"The loss of our mate is something only another can understand–"

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW!" I shout furiously. "Don't you fucking compare my pain to yours!"

"You're the same as I was," she whispers, almost gently. "This pain–"

"This pain is mine and mine alone! I don't give a damn about your pain, about you and your mate! Liam was my mate, and you have no idea how I feel! Don't compare me to you, don't compare my mate to yours! Liam and I had something no one else could understand!"

I light my flames, grown much larger by my fury. I spread them over my entire body, just like the havoc I feel inside.

"You know nothing!" I cry out. "You think I feel like you? There's no fucking way, Luna! My pain is mine alone! There's no fucking comparing it!"

I keep scorching my surroundings. My fire is burning bright, large, and unafraid to have everything go down in flames around us. I feel those flames all over my body, like a human torch, and I won't stop until I burn down every damn thing and have her come out. She wanted some darkness, she's going to be fed some fucking ashes!

"I felt the same anger when I understood."

She suddenly appears in front of me, and I calm down the flames that were pouring out my hands, bringing them back, close to my body. My eyes hurt from crying so much, tears still rolling down my face. The heat of my body carves long streams along my face, where those tears dry as far as they manage to roll down.

"It's not the same," I scoff, suddenly laughing nervously. "The same? For it to be the same, you would have to have known who Liam was, how much he mattered to me. He was my mate, not yours. You know nothing of Liam. The few but amazing memories we had together. The way he... smiled when he looked at me. You should have known the touch of his hands on my body, how he made every inch of my skin feel. There are no two Liams, and there aren't two Maras, either. There's only us. And I swear, you're not going to take any of that and claim it as yours."

A strange calm suddenly dominates me. Perhaps because I've let out all of my emotions, my mind is crystal clear at this very moment. I look down and quickly prepare a magic circle under our feet. She frowns, looking down, but takes another step closer to me.

"Mara, this darkness... You should know how it feels now. You and I went through the same experience... I can show you how to become more powerful than before."

"I only care about power if I can fucking blow you up," I hiss. "You were right, Luna. The darkness is alluring. It's powerful, and it's easy to give in. But you know what? It's no fucking answer."

I trigger my magic circle, and just as she realizes what's going on, I lock it, closing my fists and turning them as if I'm turning an invisible key underneath us. She gasps and stops moving. No, she can't move. She tries to fight it, grimacing, but I'm holding onto her. Now that she stole Ravena's physical envelope, she's much easier to catch and trap. And now that I am also using that Dark Magic, I don't fucking care about hurting a body that's already dead.

"Let me go!" she screams.

"Oh, I won't," I state, taking deep breaths. "You killed my mate. I don't feel the slightest bit like letting you go."

I tighten it. Like a gigantic claw around her, she makes a grimace, and I don't care. I just make it tighter and tighter, until I'm really sure she can't move, she can't escape. She probably can't breathe, either. I light the fire in my hand, leaving the other to lock that magic circle, keeping her where I want her.

Slowly, I finally step closer to her. I carry my pain and my anger with me, like huge weights I'm consciously taking in with me, swallowing it. With each breath I take, there's still this darkness, hammering me with the painful, bottomless realization that Liam is gone. It hurts, it hurts and it won't go away. Still, I keep going. I want her to see this.

As she sees me approaching, she smiles.

"You want to kill me, don't you? You want me to suffer, like I made your mate suffer and bleed."

I burn her. I didn't hesitate a moment before sending that fireball to hit her shoulder, and I don't regret it as she screams in pain, falling down on her knees and violently shaking. A bitter smile appears on my lips. I let the darkness come in, pouring its strength in me like a painless poison. That's right, I'm a Dark Witch. I won't think twice about giving back the pain she gave me... but, strangely, it doesn’t give me any kind of satisfaction. Stranger is the fact that I already knew all that. Perhaps because I've already experienced so many negative emotions, I know there is nothing that will relieve the pain in my heart. Crying, screaming, hurting to the point where I'm physically in pain won't help. So, how could hurting her instead even do me any good?

I take a deep breath instead, aware of my heart feeling like a bottomless, dark hole, and get down on one knee to her height.

"If you're still here, why would I think any of what you did relieved your pain in any way, Luna?"

Her eyes open wide in shock this time. That's right; there's nothing she can teach me about the darkness. Little Mara may have taught me the higher levels of magic, but Clarissa was the one who gifted me with the understanding of what darkness, true darkness of the heart, is really like. It has the same color as fear, the same taste as despair.

"There's something you don't understand," I say. "No matter what I do to you, it won't alleviate the pain from the loss of my mate. I can swallow all of that darkness around us, to the very last bit of it, become the Darkest Witch the world has ever known, and it won't change the truth that makes me bleed inside. And you know who taught me that in the first place? ...You did."

She makes a sour grimace, but... I don't react to it at all. Instead, I close my eyes, and take a deep breath.

I open myself up and slowly, I use my sadness, this despair that overtakes everything else in my mind, and I take all of that darkness in. Everything. I absorb the whole hurricane, as if I was drinking it, letting it pour into that bottomless pit I feel, right where my bond to Liam was before. I take in as much as I can. All that sadness, that anger, that pain... It's so raw and painful, but I am in that strange state where... none of it matters. Nothing else can hurt me anymore.

"You don't understand..." she mutters painfully. "You... you're all the same. You can't understand my pain. You've never gone through the same..."

I ignore her and, while I keep that darkness coming to me, I know what it is I truly need right now. I focus as much as I can until I can reach out to them. Like a thin, shining thread through the fog. I find their inner voices, their inner selves, and I hold on to them, like someone would ring the alarm for help.

“ Mara! ”

They jump in at the same time, both crossing that fog like lights in the darkness. I open my eyes and see them. Selena, growling between me and Luna, and Nora, running toward us.

I finally let go and, just as she comes to me, I hug Nora's white fur. I feel her quiet, cold strength coming over me.

“ I'm sorry… ” she sobs. “ Mara, I am so sorry... I really tried… ”

I can't utter a word. As if Selena and Nora's return were making Liam's death twice as real, and twice as painful. I can't stop sobbing, and I can't let go of the white fur, of Nora's gentle embrace. The darkness I've taken all inside is like a dead weight dragging me down, and Nora is making that weight fade, grounding me there. I feel her sorrow and Selena's anger, both echoing mine.

Strangely, we share several minutes like this in silence, just my crying and Nora's, and Selena's faint growling, despite the pain I feel coming from her too. I just need... those two. I need their support. They have something Luna will never be able to have: a real, genuine bond with Liam. They both knew my mate, and thus, they are the ones able to understand even just a portion of my pain. Luna will never, ever have that.

After a while, I open my eyes again, ignoring how they burn from crying so much, how my inner powers of fire and water are slowly melting inside, fueling me with something new, something dangerous. I take a deep breath, my fingers still hanging on to Nora's fur. But I have to put an end to this. I swallow, trying to get something to pass down my tight throat, and I redirect my attention to Luna.

She's mad. Her glaring eyes are fueled with anger, directed at the three of us.

"You can't run away from this..." she mutters. "This pain will haunt you forever."

"Oh, I know," I retort. "However, unlike you, I'm prepared to let it haunt me, Luna. I won't give it to anyone else like you did, and I won't ignore it."

I take another deep breath and close my fist against my chest, right where the dark hole is.

"This is what you can't understand. This darkness is not an answer. It is no beginning, neither is it the end, Luna. It will stay there, and there's no getting rid of it so easily. There is no magic that can alleviate my pain, and I don't want it to, either. I won't give it to you, I'll suffer through every stage of it. ...Because if I don't face it, it will be as if what Liam and I had was never real in the first place."

"You can't!" she yells, furious. "I can give you the power to bring him back! You've seen my powers, you've seen what true magic is like! You can have him back, Mara Jones. Your mate. You can bring Liam back!”

“ ...Mara, what is she saying? ” asks Selena.

"You know I'm telling the truth," laughs Luna. "You know I have the power to bring your mate back, Mara Jones. If I have the three powers, I have the power of life and death! I am the mightiest, most powerful witch and Luna you will ever meet. If you kill me, your only chance at bringing your mate back will go with me."

I take a deep breath and get up, stepping a bit away from Nora to ignite my fire. I have to put an end to this, now. I hold on to that bottomless pain inside, to the void in my heart. To my memories.

"No," I declare, calmer than I thought. "I already know what you are trying to do, Luna. If I give in, this curse will go on. It will go on through me, and through everyone else who will suffer that pain, again and again."

"But your mate–!"

"Liam was the most stubborn, reckless, and righteous wolf around," I shout back, "and as much as I'm dying to bring him back, I know he would give me fucking hell for that. I would have to give in to this Dark Magic and sacrifice myself. I would have to sacrifice the Mara Jones he knew, the one who stood against you. There is no way he'd ever accept me bringing him back like that, through your Dark Magic. So, the answer is a definite, painful, fucking no, Luna."

“ Mara… ”

I know.

I know how insane I must sound right now, to pass on this opportunity, but this is exactly what I exist for, and why Liam had to die. This is exactly how this wretched curse wants to play out, and this is exactly what Luna has been aiming for. The more witches experience her pain and give in, the longer this curse will go on. Who would willingly let go of their mate when given the chance to bring them back?

There's only one way to stop this curse: go through the same journey as Luna and, unlike her, have the strength to make the right choice. It's not easy. I'm crying, bleeding, and screaming inside. I want to fall down on my knees, give up, and beg her to bring Liam back. I want him back so desperately. But, in a strange paradox, Liam's memory is exactly what keeps me from giving in. I'm holding on to those memories, to who he was, what he wanted. He was protected, shielded all his life, and he saw too many people die. He believed, deeply, in doing the right thing for others. If I brought him back, it would be the worst betrayal I could give to him, and I would break what was between us. I am not going to betray and fall out of the Mara that Liam Black loved. I won't.

"You foolish little–" groans Luna, struggling against my spell.

"Yeah, all that, and you haven't seen anything yet," I growl back.

I prepare my fire in one hand, the Water Magic in the other, and prepare to fire.

“ Now? ”

"Now," I nod. "We have to force her to stop everything!"

"Stop it!" screams Luna. "I am Luna! You can't stop me! You can't–!"

“ Oh, shut up, ” growls Selena.

She starts activating her lightning magic again, and Nora prepares her ice blizzard too.

This is it. This is the last attack, the one I need to break the curse, once and for all. I won't give in to her, and I won't stop my attack, either. I am not doing this for revenge, it would be meaningless. I am doing this for Liam. For Sylviana, Nephera, Lysandra, for all the witches and werewolves who suffered because of that curse. For generations of witches and wolves who couldn't love freely, or suffered through it.

“ We're with you, Mara. ”

Strangely, Nora's words bring me a sudden feeling of calmness and confidence. As if... my pain was slightly alienated. I extend my inner self as if to touch them, feeling them right by my side. Their auras gently come to me, almost as if they could melt into mine. They are so similar, yet different. One soft, cold, and soothing, the other bright, hot, and energizing. The White and Black Lunas. The Sun and Moon of Silver City. Yet, to me, they are so familiar, so much like myself. My new family, like... my big sisters. A bond stronger than blood, stronger than our genes. Something that binds the three of us together, tighter than fate, stronger than anything physical. They are here, with me, supporting me, and I know they always will be. I start crying again silently, but this time, it's different. Those are warm tears, bittersweet tears of gratitude. ...You were right, Liam. I'm not alone.

I won't ever be alone again.

I prepare, gathering all the magic I hold. Everything, burning, boiling, and building up inside, getting bigger, as I take all I have left inside. Dark and Light Magic, fire and water, everything that's been left inside. I feel Nora and Selena doing just the same, preparing to attack with everything they have left in them. This is the last attack.

Luna can probably feel it too. She's panicking and wriggling, trying to break herself free of my magic circle. I hear bones breaking, one after the other, as she doesn't care about hurting that stolen body. Sorry, Ravena...

"You can't!" she screams. "You can't! I'm eternal! My wrath has to continue, or the werewolves will–"

"The werewolves deserve to live in peace, and the witches deserve to love whoever they want," I retort with a broken voice. "You have done enough wrong, Luna. Time to end it."

I raise my arms, ignoring her screams of anger and fear. It's an enormous mass of magic that's now above my head. Fire and water are fighting each other, making a loud crackling noise, almost burning my fingers and provoking a lot of steam around me. The fog is flying around, but I make sure to look Luna's way, and her way alone. It drains all the energy inside me, everything I had left of my magic, to the last drop. I have to use all the strength I can to even keep it contained before it explodes. I look to Nora and Selena, also ready.

They launch their attack half a second before me. A blinding light and a thunderous boom as Selena strikes first. The bolt keeps forking and crackling as she hits Luna, again and again. Nora's ice comes right after, like a violent snowstorm taking over the area. Even I can feel the ice freezing me down to my bones. I'm next.

With a massive rage, I throw my gigantic magic fire and water ball right ahead, the blast so violent and sudden, the ground trembles under our feet. The explosion blows all of us backwards, thrown across the area like paper dolls. I hear the deafening mix of lightning cracking, the fire and water explosion, and the whooshing of that ice mist.

It's over. I can feel it. The darkness from before, it's... gone. Washed away like a wave, leaving a big, empty area under it. Something nude and bare, completely new and... fresh. I shiver. Moon Goddess, is it... over?

I open my eyes, feeling sore all over.

It's the snow again. Except, this time I'm not Luna. Luna is there, just a few steps away from us. She is completely different, all of that... dark aura is gone. She looks defenseless, weak and sad. She's crouched down in the snow, shivering and crying faintly. I look to both sides, and exchange surprised glances with Selena and Nora. The two wolves are as dumbfounded as I am...

"...Luna?" I call out gently.

“ Leave me alone… ”

Oh, I didn't expect to hear her in my head. I painfully get up, each muscle in my body protesting after what I just put them through... I let out a sigh, and slowly get back on my feet, trying to ignore all the aches.

“ Mara… ”

“ It's alright. She's different now. This... is the real Luna, the Luna from before. You can feel it too, right? There's no Dark Magic left in her. She's just... herself. ”

I make my way to the white wolf. She growls a bit as a warning, but I can tell she doesn't have the strength to fight.

“ Leave me alone, ” she repeats. “ I failed... I am not the Luna you thought I was. ”

"Honestly, I didn't expect you to be real in the first place," I retort, "but here we are, somewhere in a memory, to meet you."

“ ...You don't need to meet me. ”

“ No. You needed to meet us, ” replies Nora, stepping up next to me.

I know she understood why we're here too. Selena comes after us, a bit more hesitant. The white wolf is still lying in the snow, and I realize, on our left, there's the tombstone.

“ Don't look at the grave. ”

“ Why? ”

“ Just... don't. ”

I'm not sure what can be triggered if we stare at that grave, but I wouldn't risk it. It's like... a gut feeling telling me not to. I glance around. It's the exact same scene I saw, except that there's nothing else around us. There's no sound, for starters. No wind pushing through the trees, not a bird singing, no sound of leaves rustling. Even the snow under our feet doesn't creak. It's as if everything had stopped, stuck in this precise moment in time, leaving only the four of us here.

We walk up to Luna, but she turns her head to the little wooden cabin. This Luna has... lost all of her will. She's just a bottomless pit of sadness and loneliness.

“ It's all over, ” she growls. “ You should go back. There won't be... anymore of that curse. He's really... not coming back. ”

"You can't stay here, either," I retort. "This place... you're still trapped in here, Luna."

“ I'm fine with being trapped. ”

"Why? You need to move on. There's nothing left by staying here, all alone."

“ I'm fine with being alone! ” she growls.

We all take a step back. Although she's lost her power, she's still a wolf, and all three of us are much too tired by the fight. I take a deep breath.

"This curse... it appeared in the first place because you didn't want to let go. You didn't want to... face the truth, Luna."

“ Nothing will change, ” she growls. “ Leave me be! ”

"No. Things need to change. You have to move on, Luna. Look around you. This memory... you're the one trapping yourself here. You had the power to end that curse long ago. Centuries ago, perhaps, but you chose not to. Not only that, you left the room open for more witches and werewolves to suffer just like you did."

“ Enough. You know nothing. ”

"Perhaps I don't," I retort. "You lost your mate, and the woman you even considered your only friend used you and betrayed you. She probably had her reasons and her own feelings for doing what she did, but... she shouldn't have forced you. Just like you shouldn't have forced this curse on the generations that came after you, Luna."

“ This is my anger, my pain. I'm free to do whatever I want with it! ”

“ What about your children? ”

She suddenly turns to Nora, who stepped forward.

“ Your children lived on, didn't they? They grew up fine, they had their own children and that's how your blood was passed down, for many generations, until it came to us. Your mate's, and the witch's too. Why didn't you choose to focus on your children instead, Luna? ”

“ My children were wolves. They didn't need their mother once they were grown! ”

“ Perhaps not, but you needed them, ” growls Selena. “ You needed a family, and a pack, but you chose to stay alone. ”

“ Yes, and it was my choice! ”

"You chose to bury yourself in your loneliness and anger, Luna, and it created a curse that affected everyone. The witch, and your mate... They are both long gone. There's no reason for you to stay behind."

I suddenly feel another wave of sadness and fear coming from her. She whimpers.

“ I won't forgive, ” she says. “ Don't ask me to move on. That witch took everything from me! ”

"I am not asking you to forgive!" I retort. "Luna, even if you wanted to... there's no one left to forgive except yourself."

“ ...What? ”

She stays silent this time, and finally gets on all fours, although she's growling. But we are also werewolves, and we can tell there isn't much animosity in her voice.

No, this is the growl of an animal that's afraid and trying to protect itself. Luna doesn't want us here, she isn't the one who chose to appear, raw like this. She truly wants to be left alone, but I have a feeling that if we do, nothing will truly and definitely be solved. This is necessary if we want to make sure that curse ends and doesn't come back...

"Luna, if you can't face the mistakes of the past, they will haunt you and keep you down."

“ I made no mistake! ” she growls. “ That witch was the one who used me! ”

"Really? Do you think she played around with necromancy spells out of anger or out of despair? It was necromancy, but... she didn't use Dark Magic, did she? ...She used her own life force."

I suddenly realized. We never heard how the other Luna disappeared, how the witch left. If Luna had killed her, if they had even fought, things would have been very different. However, there's... no one else here. Her mate never came back, and the witch is gone too. She's all on her own.

"Luna... I never got to see what happened after that spell was completed," I mutter.

She stops growling, glaring at me instead.

“ ...I have nothing to tell you. ”

“ Luna, you can't move on with a heavy burden on your back, ” gently whispers Nora. “ This all happened... in the past. Like Mara said, a faraway past. You need to let it go now. ”

“ That witch didn't disappear on her own, ” growls Selena, “ and we already saw your little necromancy trick. You know it was possible, at least partially, to bring your mate back. Something went wrong with that spell, which is why you didn't want Mara to see that memory. ”

I see Luna step back this time. She glances at all three of us and growls a bit again, without much conviction this time.

“ You won't understand, ” she whimpers. “ You can't understand… ”

"Luna, we are not here to judge you or blame you. But there's something you've been hiding for way, way too long, and you have to let it go, now. You can hide the truth if you want. That's completely your call. But by doing so, you will also be burying any chance for change."

“ Any chance to let go of your pain, ” adds Nora with her gentle voice.

“ ...I am Luna, ” she says. “ I made no mistake. I tried to protect my family, my mate, and I failed. That witch was responsible for everything. ”

“ For Moon Goddess' sake, ” growls Selena. “ Everyone makes damn mistakes! You're not the Moon Goddess and you're not perfect! What is wrong with you?! ”

"Selena..."

“ No, Mara, I'm growing tired of this shit! We are here extending our hands to this selfish bitch while our mates and our packs are still fighting Moon Goddess knows what out there! It's too damn late to play the innocent gentle Luna soul now, so just fucking spit it out! ”

Luna growls, furious, but... I can't say Selena is wrong. She may have said things a bit... too brutally, though. I take a deep breath and step forward, ignoring the loud growls coming from both sides.

"Luna, once you admit what truly happened, and face it... You'll be able to let go of all of this. I promise. I know it's probably... painful, and heart-wrenching enough that you would have rather held on to a centuries-old curse than to relive what happened here. But... once you learn to face the truth, no matter how painful it was, a lot of things can get better."

“ ...You can learn to forgive those who hurt you, ” gently says Nora.

“ You can also get stronger from it, ” adds Selena. “ Everyone makes mistakes. ”

"...And from those mistakes, something better can be reborn," I finish. "...Luna, please. This curse has to end now. With the truth. We have made too many sacrifices already."

“ ...Alright, ” she mutters, “ but... promise me after this, I will be free to go. For... real, this time. ”

"I promise," I say, standing back up, "but first, let Nora and Selena go, please."

“ Mara? What are you talking about? ”

"This is a time loop, just like the one I was in earlier. The concept of time is different here. If you don't get out quick enough... who knows how long we will really spend here? It might be days before we come back."

“ But– ”

"You have children," I say before they can protest. "You should go back to your mates, tell them we won. I will... stay here, and learn the truth. I'm the only one who can afford to stay."

They lower their heads, knowing exactly what I mean. My mate isn't waiting for me.