Faster.

  I wanted to shout it at the captain but resisted. The last thing a boat captain would want to do was speed up as he got closer to shore, and we’d be there soon enough.

  Excitement and fear raced through me as we neared. Memories seemed to be pushing in my mind, right at the shadowy edges but powerless to break through. Unable to help myself, I reached for Lachlan’s hand and gripped it.

  When the hull scraped against the rocks of the shore, I released his hand and jumped over the side of the boat, landing hard on the beach. In my excitement, I didn’t have my usual grace, but it didn’t matter.

  I was here.

  I fell to my knees on the rocks, picking up some of the smaller pebbles in my hands. They felt familiar, as if I’d carried them with me in my pocket for a thousand years, pulling them out whenever I wanted something to distract myself.

  The salty breeze smelled like home, with undercurrents of grass and heather that made my head spin. Memories began to push to the front of my mind, forcing themselves in.

  Lachlan.

  My first life.

  My wolves.

  My fight with the shadow god.

  The thought of him made me shudder, so I focused on the others. In a flash, my mind was sent back in time. Whether the boat was still there, I had no idea. Even Lachlan was gone. It was just me, alone on this island with my memories. In my memories.

  I no longer knelt on the beach, but stood on it. A deep blue dress whipped around my legs, and the wind tore my hair back from my face. Grief ripped my heart in two.

  Lachlan.

  He was gone. I could sense that he was dead, and it felt like there was a hole in my soul. I’d last seen him two days ago, when we’d devised this plan under the moonlight. The shadow god had won. He’d taken nearly all my power, and as soon as he caught me, my death would be inevitable.

  Worse, if he took me, he’d also take my wolves. He’d already started to steal their power, weakening them nearly to the point of death. I couldn’t let him finish the job.

  Determination cut through the grief, dulling the edges.

  Lachlan and I had come up with the plan, and we’d parted two days ago to accomplish it. He’d gone to the Witches of Strathclyde, the most powerful of their kind in all of Scotland, to obtain the spell that would reincarnate us.

  I prayed it would work.

  If it didn’t, that meant the last time I’d seen him had truly been the last, and the grief of the idea nearly made me collapse. Determined to press on, I drew in a steadying breath.

  My wolves needed me. Lachlan’s sacrifice had been for a truly noble reason. Now that I’d felt his death, it was time for me to do my part.

  Tears rolled down my face as I clutched the simple stone box in my hand. I could feel the souls within, their warmth against my palms.

  My creation.

  My wolves.

  Just a day ago, they had been alive in their dire wolf forms, their lives fading because of the shadow god’s actions.

  Now, they were souls in a stone vessel, waiting to be hidden until I could save them again.

  My brother’s dark magic seemed to surround me where I stood, pushing in on the island.

  “You are forbidden from stepping on this land!” I screamed. I’d hidden it already, blocking the land from his access. All that was required was my death to seal the spell until I returned.

  But I could still feel his rage. I’d led him on a game of cat and mouse for years, starting out cocky and brave. I’d been sure I could beat him, or if not, I could evade him. I’d been wrong. Over the years, he’d stolen my magic piece by piece, using dark spells that shouldn’t exist.

  And he’d almost succeeded. I could feel the last vestiges of power fading from my soul. Within days, he’d have it all.

  Then he’d have my wolves.

  I’d never let that happen. He’d turn them mad with the curse, stealing their joy and their loyalty. It would be a fate worse than death.

  So I would die to save them.

  And because Lachlan had helped, we would come back.

  I prayed we would come back. I prayed he would come back, and my wolves as well.

  I stood on the windy hilltop in the middle of my island. At my side sat a large stone box. Ornately carved with warriors and mountains, vines and flowers, it was the size and shape of a sarcophagus, large enough to fit my body and the small vessel that contained the souls of my wolves.

  I gripped the side of the stone box tightly as tears fell from my eyes. I hated what I’d had to do to them. Hated it. But the shadow god had been stealing their life as he’d also been stealing mine. They’d been dying slowly, their magic sucked from them by that bastard that fate called my brother.

  This was the only way to save them.

  I fell to my knees and pressed my hand to the ground. My magic was weak, nearly gone, but I could still feel the moon. I used it to pull away the earth, digging a hole deep into the earth. Once it was big enough, I used my power over gravity to pick up the stone sarcophagus and deposit it in the pit.

  Fear shot though me, cold and bright.

  I didn’t want to die.

  I especially didn't want to die like this, choking to death underground. The sarcophagus would make me mortal, and when the earth closed over me and I’d sucked the last of the oxygen from my prison, my life would fade away. But that death would seal the spell that would allow me to bring my wolves back, and I’d do anything to save them.

  Carefully, I used my magic to lift the heavy stone lid of the burial vessel and prop it open against the dirt wall of the hole. With one last look at the moon, I climbed into the grave, my heart pounding so loudly that it nearly deafened me. When I reached the sarcophagus, I slipped inside. I hugged the smaller stone box to my chest as I lay down. Within, the souls of my wolves rested peacefully.

  Please work.

  I lay down and closed the sarcophagus, cutting out my beloved moonlight. Then I used the last of my power to fill dirt back over the hole.

  As the air dwindled in my dark grave, my heart thundered and my mind raced.

  Lachlan.

  All I could think of was my beloved. I prayed that his death had been swifter and kinder—that he’d felt no pain as he’d sacrificed his life for us.

  The fact that I hadn’t been there would haunt me in the cold afterlife that awaited me. For this was a far greater risk than true death. True death would have taken us to an afterlife where we might have been able to find each other, but then my wolves would have died—hundreds of them, suffering needlessly.

  The spell that Lachlan had bought with his life would bring us back, but we’d spend a millennium waiting in the darkness, apart from each other for the first time in years.

  I couldn’t bear the pain of it.

  A sob rose in my throat, and I sucked down the last of the air. Pain and panic exploded through me as I suffocated, and I—

  “Eve! Eve!” Lachlan’s panicked voice cut through my consciousnesses as strong hands shook my arms. “Wake up, Eve!”

  I gasped, opening my eyes. Suddenly, I was back on the island, kneeling on the hard stones. The boat bobbed a few hundred yards offshore, the captain waiting for us on the bow. I was no longer buried, but back in my body in the present day.

  I scrubbed the tears from my eyes, finally able to see him properly.

  Lachlan.

  Suddenly, I could remember it all. Our past. Our love. He was more familiar than ever to me, every inch of him beloved beyond reason.

  “I remember,” I gasped. “And I love you. I can’t not love you.”

  “I remember, too.” He pulled me toward him and clutched me close. I burrowed into his warmth, breathing in his scent. If I’d thought my feelings were strong before, they were nothing compared to how they were at that moment. They nearly overwhelmed me, the magic and pain of my memories giving our present a greater depth.

  “Eve,” he murmured into my hair, “I love you. I can’t believe we found our way back to each other.”

  I clutched him close, crying tears of joy. “We did. Because of you.”

  “And because of you.” He pulled back and met my gaze. “I was but a small part of the equation.”

  “Not true.” I pressed my lips to his, kissing him like it might be my last chance.

  Screw the prophecy that foretold I would die for loving him. The witches were right. I already loved him. There was no going back from that. I had as much power to stop loving him as I did to walk to the moon. What would happen would happen—I could just live in this moment. In this kiss.

  It was the most amazing kiss of my life, full of everything I’d ever felt for him and everything I felt now. Full of the pain of loss and the joy of being reunited.

  He kissed me back, and I wanted to stay like that forever, wrapped in his embrace on the island I’d once called home.

  But we couldn’t. The souls of my wolves called to me.

  I pulled away from Lachlan, and he drew in a ragged breath.

  “We need to find them,” I said.

  He nodded. “Lead the way.”

  I could feel them now, so clearly. They called to me, drawing me forward. I climbed up the beach and began to ascend the hill. Cold, fresh wind whipped my hair back from my face. It might have been summer, but we were between Scotland and Norway, far into the North Atlantic.

  Everything smelled and felt familiar as I climbed, even the dark shadow of the Maker as he hovered around the edges of my island. He’d found me. I could feel his greed and his anger spurring on the madness that stalked me. It was a connection to him that I loathed.

  “You can’t come here!” I shouted to the sky. “I saved it from you!”

  The memory of suffocating in the coffin would haunt me forever. It had been a nasty spell that had protected this island and the souls of my wolves, but it had been worth it. Nothing good came cheaply, and that spell had given me a second chance to save them.

  The moon gleamed overhead as we climbed, the stars helping to light our path. The faces of more of my wolves flashed in my mind’s eye as my memories returned. Dire wolves in their animal forms running across these hills. Wolves in their human forms, having celebrations between the small houses they’d built on this island after leaving Norway. It had been a hard life, but a good one. And if I could succeed tonight, I’d see that they were reincarnated into an even better life.

  Finally, we reached the top of the hill. I spun in a circle, taking in the barren landscape around me. There were hardly any trees on the island, but I could remember there being more, just like I could remember the houses. Though they were long gone now, their shadows remained.

  I drew in a deep breath and looked down at the ground, feeling the pull of my wolves. “They’re here.”

  “How far do we need to dig?”

  “Pretty far. But I can do it.” I’d had trouble before, trying to move the dirt away from the Govan stones. But now that I was home, I could feel my magic even more. I wasn’t as strong as I would be when I finally found my crown, but I was stronger than I had been, and I was determined.

  Damn, was I determined. After everything I’d gone through to get here—including dying—I wasn’t going to let a little dirt stand between me and what I wanted.

  “Ralph, come here.”

  My familiar appeared at my side, then clung to my leg. His magic calmed and strengthened me, and I reached deep into my soul, feeling the power pulse within me. The moon above gave me more strength, and my tie to this land made me feel more grounded.

  Slowly, I began to pull the dirt out of the ground, creating a hole that looked just like the one from my vision. Deeper and deeper, I dug into the earth, until finally, I saw it.

  The sarcophagus. The carved stone box was caked in old dirt, and it was easy to pull it from the earth.

  Lachlan walked up to it, his face pale. “This is how you died.”

  The memory made my stomach turn, but when I looked up at him, it was clear he felt much worse. Deep grooves cut through his forehead, and pain glimmered in his gaze.

  “Oh, Eve.” He cupped my face and tilted it up so that he could look into my eyes. “I wish I could have taken this death for you.”

  “It’s okay. You suffered for your part.” I kissed him, then pulled back. “Anyway, it was a long time ago, and there’s no time now for this. We need to keep moving.”

  He nodded, turning to the sarcophagus. It was clear that the idea of what I’d gone through still tortured him, but he got himself back on task with the discipline he’d always shown.

  I drew in an unsteady breath as I braced my hands against the stone lid and pushed. It was massively heavy, and Lachlan had to lend a hand. Together, we heaved the stone lid onto the ground. As it fell, I braced myself for the sight of my skeleton.

  Please don’t have any squishy bits left.

  A decayed spleen was the last thing I wanted to see right then.

  When I opened my eyes, I was grateful to see that there was nothing left of me. No corpse or clothing, just the box containing the souls of my people. Perhaps my body had disappeared when I’d been reborn. Or maybe a thousand years was enough to decay the whole thing, though I had no idea. I didn’t care.

  The most important thing was in there. The box.

  With shaking hands, I reached for the small stone container and drew it out. It was a miniature replica of the larger sarcophagus where I’d lain, and the magic that pulsed around it felt like family. Like love.

  They hadn’t been my children in a traditional sense, but I felt great responsibility toward them. I’d created them, and it was my job to see that they survived and thrived. I tried to open it, hoping I could just release the souls now.

  But the lid was stuck tight.

  “Damn it, I’m not strong enough.” I needed my crown and the last bits of my power it would give me.

  14

  Eve

  * * *

  “I need to find my crown,” I said. It had been part of the vision that had started this journey, bringing with it the knowledge that it would help return the last of my magic to me. “Then I can release the souls so they’ll be reincarnated.”

  “Where is it?”

  “A mountain.” I gripped the side of the sarcophagus tightly, fighting back the curse. Ralph appeared and pressed against my leg, his strength flowing into me. “I remember now. I was weaker in my first life because I hadn’t yet become worthy of my crown. I tried to find it at the heart of Sleeping Warrior Mountain—my mountain—but I wasn’t strong enough to reach it. Or worthy enough.” Sleeping Warrior Mountain was a range in Ayrshire that looked like the profile of a warrior lying on her back with her hands crossed over her chest.

  “What about the Maker?” Lachlan asked.

  Memories flooded back. “He had already got his crown. It made him stronger. That’s how he was strong enough to defeat me.”

  “This time, he won’t be. How do we get to the mountain?”

  “It’s close to the Witches’ Steps. They’re actually part of the range. It’s why they were able to help us. When I have my crown, I’ll be strong enough to release the souls of my wolves from the box so they can be reincarnated.”

  “You need to rest first.”

  I hated to do it, but he was right. Not only did I need to be strong enough to defeat the challenges that would face me while I tried to get to my crown, but we would also need my friends as backup. I’d tried to get the crown on my own last time, my hubris making me think I was strong enough alone.

  I wasn’t, and I probably never would be. That was the point of being the moon goddess: I wasn’t alone. I was connected to everything that the light shone upon. As a dire wolf, I was a member of a pack. It didn’t matter that my pack was made up of a bunch of magical misfits instead of wolves—I still needed them. The idea that I would try to face the most difficult challenge of my life without them was absurd.

  “All right,” I said. “Let’s go back to Guild City and update everyone. Then we’ll go after my crown and end this once and for all.”

  He nodded, clearly relieved that I’d chosen the path of reason, and pulled the last transport charm from his pocket.

  “Ready to leave?” he asked. “I’ve let the captain know we have our own way back.”

  I looked around the island, knowing that it would disappear once more when I left. Though it had the familiarity of a childhood home, it wasn’t my home. That was in Guild City. And once I reincarnated my wolves, they’d go on to live full lives elsewhere, finding their way back to their mates and original families. But they wouldn’t return here, to this nearly barren rock. They’d have to join the real world.

  But it was time. I put the little box in the bag that I stored in the ether. The Maker couldn’t access it there. “I’m ready.”

  Lachlan took my hand and gripped it tight, then threw the stone to the ground. We stepped into the silvery cloud and arrived in Guild City, and Ralph joined us a moment later. Clouds covered the moon here, but the streetlamps illuminated my guild tower, turning the roses a deep blood red.

  “I’m going to alert Glencarrough about what’s going on,” Lachlan said. “Meet you inside later.”

  I nodded, then hurried in and found Carrow, Beatrix, and Mac sitting in the living room, deep in discussion. As soon as they saw me, they hopped up.

  “Are you all right?” Mac demanded. “It’s been ages.”

  “I’m fine.” I held up the box to show them. “And do I have a story to tell you.”

  “What is that?” Carrow asked.

  “The souls of the people I told you about. The ones from my dreams.” I sat on the couch, exhausted, and began my tale.

  They joined me, faces rapt as I told the story of my first life and how I’d discovered it. At some point, Lachlan joined us, but he stayed by the wall. When I finished, there was silence for a moment.

  “So you can really bring them all back?” Mac asked.

  “That’s what’s supposed to happen.” I clutched the box. “They’ll be reborn once I get my crown and am strong enough to open the box and release their souls. I might never meet them because they’ll be different people, but maybe I will. In the end, it doesn’t matter, just as long as I can save them.”

 

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