Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(49)

“Wait,” I said quickly. “How are you not all still affected by Dannie’s memory spell?”

I’d only just clued into the fact that they’d all been in the realm when we’d been spelled, and therefore, should not be here now.

We were all under her influence. I wasn’t the only one who jumped when Galleli spoke in our minds. But Shadow freed us from this burden when he restored the pathways.

I stared at Galleli of the Honor Meadow, and he looked exactly as I’d seen him the first time. Huge gold wings tucked behind his back, simple black pants, and no shirt. The only difference was his hair. It used to be longer, hanging down his back in intricate braids. Today, it was shaggy across his forehead, with only a little length on the sides and top. It made him look younger and maybe a little less intimidating. Had they all coordinated new haircuts or was this an extra from Dannie, when she’d been messing with our minds?

It was kind of cute.

“Wait, if everyone’s memories have been restored,” I said with a new thought, “then where are Angel and Midnight?” I reached through the bond for them both, getting a flutter and static electricity in return.

Shadow ran his hands across my arms, his touch soothing. “We’ll figure out where they are,” he told me. “Neither is easy to kill, and that must mean they’re out there, unable to return for some reason.”

That didn’t sit right with me. What in the worlds could be strong enough to stop either of them from returning to the library? I had a bad feeling that this was still to do with Dannie, and I wasn’t sure we were ready to take her on yet.

For my bonded friends, though, I’d be there in a heartbeat.





27





The food showed up soon after, and even with everything on the platter being my favorite—speaking love without the words was apparently Shadow’s specialty—I couldn’t enjoy it like I normally would.

None of us enjoyed it; instead, we were a sober bunch of beings as we attempted to concoct a plan to beat an unstable goddess.

“Would the physical stone be gone now?” Sam asked after we’d thrown questions around for an hour or so. “Absorbed into her energy completely?”

Len shook his head. “Absolutely no chance. It’ll have settled inside, finding and forming its own base within Dannie’s energy, but it’s still whole and complete.”

“Could we cut it from her?” I asked. “Like… open heart surgery, but the god version.”

The fae took a beat to consider this because clearly that very “human” way of thinking had not been forefront in his mind. “I guess, hypothetically speaking, if we could capture Dannie and subdue her energy long enough to pierce her skin… Yeah, probably not.”

I glared at him. “Not helpful. There must be a way to remove the stone. How do you bond them to your family? Or is it to a single fae? I’m assuming not in the same manner Dannie used.”

“Absolutely not,” he said in a hard voice. “It’s forbidden to take one into your energy as she did. It more often than not ends in death through an overload of power. If any try it and succeed, the family come together to kill them.”

“Why aren’t they coming together to kill Dannie then?” I pressed quickly, wondering if we’d overlooked a powerful ally in this war.

Len shook his head. “Fae deal with Faerie business. The stone is now the Shadow Realm’s problem, and in that regard, they’ll have nothing to do with it.”

“It’s everyone’s damn problem,” I replied with a huff. It was the end of the worlds. Plural.

Shadow’s chest swelled against my back. “Forget the Fae,” he said harshly, “they’re too caught in their own politics. We’ll be the ones to deal with this. The ones to kill her to save the worlds. Let’s focus on building up our power base so that we have a chance at containing her in a cage of energy… a prison. If we’re strong enough, we can bind it to her and then it will drain her power so we can remove the stone.”

“Remove it as Mera suggested?” This was from Alistair, who leaned back all calm and collected, oozing serenity despite the current topic of conversation. His blue green curls were shorter as well, in the friendship-bro haircut thing they had going on.

“If the cage siphons enough of her power,” Shadow said gruffly. “Then yes, we can physically remove the stone. We’ll have to act swiftly with no hesitation.”

“I can give us some extra protections,” Len said, rising to his feet. “My family is in possession of the largest collection of elotran stones, which will protect minds from any manipulations. If Dannie tries to remove memories or plant false ones again, these stones would counter her magic.”

Right, fuck. That was good thinking on his behalf, and it was fitting that the fae would unknowingly be helping us anyway.

“Thank you,” Shadow said, looking between his friends. “There are no greater warriors I’d want at my back.”

“All for one and one for all, right?” Len said with a wink. “And on that note, I’m off to gather the stones, and whatever other power I think might help.”

The others got to their feet as well, a few of them dropping a kiss on my cheek—ignoring the beast’s rumbles when they did so. Lucien even chuckled as he slapped a friendly hand on Shadow’s shoulder before he joined the others in heading toward their respective doorways. “We’ll meet back here in two days,” Reece called, as swirls of dust and the scent of an electrical storm rose up around him. “Bring every weapon in your arsenal.”