This was a part of the story I hadn’t specifically told Shadow before, and I wasn’t at all surprised when he leapt to his feet, his fatigue gone as flames whipped out in stormy arches.

“Mera.” He growled, his voice far deeper than normal. “What happened with Torin?”

I waved off his fire, even though I secretly wanted to bathe in it. “Nothing happened; I already told you that. Even without all of my memories, I knew he was a piece of shit. I spent most of my time avoiding him until eventually I had to slam him in the nuts to really drive the point home.” I smiled sweetly. “Even nuts as petite as his felt it.”

Shadow’s dark expression remained. “Remind me to kill that entire fucking pack when we get a spare minute.”

I tilted my head. “You say the sweetest things.”

He grumbled, retaking his seat, and before I could open my mouth again, he reached out and hauled me from my cushion onto his lap. The words died on my lips as I tilted my head back to meet his gaze.

“Mine,” he said softly.

Dammit, who knew I was such a hussy for that one possessive word? Because I was fairly certain my panties could swim out of here. When I finally managed to tear my gaze from his, I found Simone grinning like a maniac at me, with Sam slack-jawed as she shook her head.

I shrugged, shooting them both a small smile. Apparently, we were not hiding this relationship, which had the possessive shifter side of me unimaginably happy.

Of course, a desert god had to go and pop my blissful bubble. “What are we going to do about Dannie?” Reece asked, crossing his arms to showcase how huge his biceps were. He was dressed in his usual tan-and-brown fatigues, suitable for war if the occasion occurred. His dark hair was closely shaved to his head, with even less length than Shadow’s, and if it weren’t for the deep blue of his eyes, he’d basically be Shadow’s twin. In my opinion, those two were the closest of the six, even if all of them were close to Shadow in different ways.

“We have to kill her,” Lucien said, his voice rougher than I’d ever heard. I wasn’t sure if it was this situation or Simone who had this effect on him, but he was clearly bothered. “No one can be that powerful and remain unchecked. The balance she’s so desperate to keep… well, she’s the one throwing it off.”

Len nodded, also uncharacteristically somber. The silver-fae had not taken the loss of the sunburst stone well, especially since his prediction of it falling into the wrong hands had come to fruition. “In her quest to continue to bring balance,” he said softly, “she’ll only bring destruction. My family’s stone is not inherently evil, as some stones tend to be, but it was filled with a millennium of power. Too much for any to handle. There’s no telling how that has changed them both.”

“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.