Page 2 of The Fate of Eternity

Serenity envelops me in it’s sweet hold, where it almost feels like I’m floating, before pain burns through my bones. My legs give out at the same time as the back of my eyelids brighten from the excruciating pain before my world falls still.

“Adrianna?” Raiden’s rasp vibrates through my chest, forcing me to pry my eyes open. It takes a few blinks before my gaze settles and I can properly take him in, but when I do, he blankets me with another sense of peace.

He reaches his hand out toward me and I nervously do the same, wiggling my outstretched fingers when my eyes settle on them.

I’m me again.

That doesn’t sound right.

I was always me.

Wolf or human or fae.

Fuck. I don’t know what I am.

My thoughts are paused as he pulls me to my feet, wrapping his arms around me and pinning me to his chest. I bask in his embrace, letting him ground me in the moment until a chest presses against my back, sending heat surging through me.

Kryll.

“What did Kenner want?” Brody asks, his voice muffled in my ears from the two men encasing me between them.

“You guys saw him and didn’t stop him?” Cassian snarls, his tone a complete contrast to the one he used with me moments ago.

“He was taking off down the opposite end of the hall. What’s going on?” Kryll asks, his chest vibrating against my back.

Cassian sighs. It’s harsh and deep, a rumble of angst amid the uncertainty that we aren’t prepared for going forward.

“I don’t know, but he made it clear that it was his plan to have Addi find her wolf and shift,” he admits, and I don’t need to look to know his face is dipped, his chin pressed against his chest as a sense of defeat takes hold of him. I can feel it along my skin, deep in my bones, and in the air around me.

I’ve always had a good read on them, for the most part, but this feels different.

“Fuck,” Raiden grimaces, pressing his lips to my temple.

“What do we do?” Brody asks, his question lingering in the space around us for a beat as I take a deep breath and step out of the warm embrace between Kryll and Raiden.

Four sets of eyes trail my movements as I run my hands over my black dress, standing tall as I stiffen my spine and try to rid the tension from my limbs. The words dance across my tongue, ready to lay claim to our path and solidify who we are and who we have always been.

As individuals and together.

Despite the unknown possibilities of our future, the clarity in our unity gives me a new-found strength that I didn’t believe could be possible. But I know it is. It has to be.

Sweeping my gaze over each of them once more, I take a deep breath.

“We do what we always do. We fight.”

2

ADRIANNA

Ican talk a big game, promising a fight, but I need a few minutes to gather myself first. I don’t have the luxury of slinking off to my room where I can hide behind the safety of my carefully built walls and allow myself to crumble beneath the weight of my emotions. Instead, I’ve got about twenty seconds to acknowledge the new layer of bullshit that surrounds me before I must compartmentalize and get on with it.

My main concern is wasting the whole twenty seconds on figuring out where the fuck to begin tackling all the obstacles we face.

Gripping the marble vanity, I stare at my reflection, noting nothing different, which finds a way to piss me off. I feel different; I should look different, too.

I sigh. The corner of my mouth tilts up as I acknowledge the fact that maybe nothing looks different because I haven’t changed at all. I’ve simply released a piece of myself that was dormant and there’s no hiding it anymore. Whether I like it or not.

“I am a fae princess.”

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