Chapter 425 - 425: The final goodbye...

Lyla

The silver light around Nanny was growing brighter by the second, and I could feel the air itself beginning to vibrate with the power she was calling forth. This was really happening. The woman who had raised me, who had been my anchor through every storm, was about to sacrifice herself to save us all.

"Mom," I whispered, reaching toward her with trembling hands.

She turned to me, and for a moment the terrible light dimmed enough that I could see her face clearly. Her eyes were filled with love and peace, the same expression she'd worn when she used to tuck me into bed as a child and tell me stories.

"My darling girl," she said softly, "Come here."

I moved toward her, and she pulled me into her arms the way she had countless times throughout my life. She smelled like lavender and home, and I buried my face in her shoulder as tears poured down my cheeks.

"I'm so proud of you," she murmured against my hair. "So proud of the woman you've become, the mother you're going to be. Your dad would be proud, too."

"Please don't leave me," I sobbed, clinging to her like the frightened child I suddenly felt like again. "I don't know how to do this without you."

"Yes, you do," Nanny said firmly, pulling back to look into my eyes. "You've always been stronger than you realised, Lyla. You defeated Xander, a feat none of the Moonsingers before you could achieve. You've survived everything life has thrown at you."

She reached up to touch the necklace at her throat. It was the pendant that she'd come with as a child and the only indication of her parentage.

Gently, she lifted it over her head and placed it around my neck.

"This is for you now," she said. "And for your daughters after you. The legacy continues, my sweet girl. You must always be happy."

"Mom, I love you so much," I whispered, the words felt inadequate for everything she meant to me.

"And I love you," she replied, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "More than all the stars in the sky. You gave me purpose, Lyla. You gave my life meaning. Raising you has been the greatest privilege of my existence."

"We need to move!" Kyren's voice cut through our goodbye with urgent necessity. "The spell won't hold them back much longer!"

me gently but firmly toward Kyren. "Go and live the

"I can't—"

said with absolute conviction. "You will. For your children.

as Miriam moved to the centre of the stone circle. The light around her was becoming blinding now, and I could feel the energy building to a crescendo that would either save

voice ringing through the clearing, "Let the bonds be broken, let the darkness fade, let love triumph over

she nodded once at Kyren before closing her eyes and extending her arms

my blood, by my choice, by my love for those who will live on," she said. "I sever what was wrongly joined. I break what should never have been bound. I offer myself as the

exploded into

Delia and her siblings. I heard screaming,

simultaneously. I saw Delia's face contort in rage and horror as she realised what was happening. I saw her siblings trying to flee, their forms beginning to dissolve as the white light reached them. I saw the assembled crowd

destruction, her

brighter and brighter until I couldn't see anything at

Darkness.

***

filtering through the curtains. My hand was clutched around something cool and smooth – a pendant on

Thank the Moon,

to see Clarissa sitting in a chair beside my bed, pouring tea from

to sit up, my head spinning slightly

setting down the teapot and moving to help me. "You've been sleeping for almost eighteen hours. You, Ramsey, Circe and Kyren returned from the human world yesterday evening, and you were completely exhausted. Ramsey said you'd been through

in the Blue Ridge pack house. Everything looked exactly as it always had – the same furniture, the same photographs, the same sense of safety

to piece together my fragmented memories. "Everything feels like a dream. Or a

It was beautiful and old, but I had no memory

a puzzled expression. "I've never seen that before. Maybe Ramsey gave it to

when I looked at it, as

edge of the bed and took my hand, her expression gentle but concerned. "Ramsey told me some of what happened. About the

flooding back – the ritual, the fighting, the desperate escape. But there were gaps, moments that felt

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255