Ellie POV


    The fighting didn''t sound the way I expected it to anymore.


    It wasn''t louder. If anything, it felt sharper-every sh of steel too distinct, every scream cutting through the air with awful rity. As if the world had narrowed, funneling everything down to this one ce, this one


    moment.


    Me.


    The wards around the staircase were still standing, but they were trembling now. I could feel it through the magic like strain in a muscle pushed too far, too long. Cracks spiderwebbed through the golden light, ring and dimming unevenly as they absorbed blow after blow.


    Below, voices shouted-orders barked, warnings screamed. The sound of Nn''s voice reached me once, rough with fury andmand, and the relief that surged through me was so intense it nearly brought me to my knees.


    He''s here.


    Alive. Fighting.


    I could feel the bond re when I realized it, responding with an intensity that grounded me enough to bring me back to reality.


    I pressed my palm to the ward, grounding myself in the sensation of it. The goddess''s power thrummed beneath my skin, steady but restless, like a storm contained only by will.


    I could still feel my mother.


    She stood just to my left now, her presence more defined than before. Not fully


    solid, not entirely here-but close enough that I could sense the shape of her, the way she tilted her head as she watched the chaos unfold below us.


    Her expression wasn''t fear.


    It was grief.


    "Mom," I whispered, my throat tight. "What''s going to happen?"


    She didn''t answer.


    I thought of ric''s words. He had told me once that my visions couldn''t guarantee


    an oue. That they warned me of what could be, but gave me a chance to change things.


    It didn''t feel like I had a choice.


    I had the warning that danger wasing, but it had stille to this.


    I hadn''t been able to stop it.


    But maybe that wasn''t what he meant. Maybe the choice wasn''t about what would happen, wasn''t about being able to avert a disaster.


    Maybe it was about how I reacted to it. Was there still a chance to make a different choice now?


    Her gaze was fixed past me, past the staircase, past even the battle itself-focused on something I couldn''t see.


    A future, maybe.


    Or an ending. One that I had failed to prevent.


    The air shifted.


    I felt it before I saw it-a wrongness sliding through the wards like a de seeking a seam. The goddess stirred inside me, power surging in warning, and I spun just as a shadow detached itself from the chaos below.


    Felicity.


    She was moving differently now. No longer wild or erratic, but deliberate-her remaining strength coiling inward, focused entirely on one thing.


    Me.


    She vaulted the banister with impossible speed,nding hard halfway up the stairs. The wards red violently where she struck them, golden light exploding outward as she tore at them with w and fang.


    Painnced through my skull as the bacsh rippled through the magic.


    "No!" I gasped, bracing myself. "Stop!"


    She looked up at me and smiled.


    It was the most horrifying thing I''d ever seen. It was wrong. Her lips were spread so wide that all of her teeth were showing and her eyes were wide and crazed. It made my skin prickle with goosebumps.


    Blood streaked her face. Her body was twisted between forms again, bones shifting beneath skin in sharp, unnatural jerks. She pressed against the wards again and was shoved back several feet, but it didn''t slow her.


    One of her eyes was already clouding over, but the other burned with singr purpose.


    "You''re right there," she rasped. "I can feel you.”


    Then all at once, the wards buckled.


    The goddess''s power surged instinctively, rushing to reinforce them-but this time, something else rose with it.


    My mother stepped forward.


    The moment she did, the world seemed to hold its breath.


    Her presence expanded, no longer just warmth at my side but a quiet, radiant force


    that cut through the violence like moonlight through smoke. The goddess didn''t retreat-but she stilled, vast power settling into something almost reverent.


    I stared at my mother in stunned disbelief.


    She was clearer now. Still silvery, still not fully flesh-but her face was unmistakable. The same gentle strength


    I remembered from childhood. The same eyes that had looked at me with


    unwavering love, even when the world


    was cruel.


    Felicity faltered.


    Just for a second.


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    Cede is a passionate storyteller known for her bold romantic and spicy novels that keep readers hooked from the very first chapter. With a ir for crafting emotionally intense plots and unforgettable characters, she blends love, desire, and drama into every story she writes. Cede''s storytelling style is immersive and addictive—perfect for fans of heated romances and heart-pounding twists.