moving around us, I dropped to my knees, retching onto the green grass of the same meadow. My hand lifted, wiping the bile away from my lips as I gazed at an entirely new scene.
Witches moved about, carrying herbs and cauldrons as the sun dipped behind an extensive, sprawling mountain range. In the distance, I stood with babes dancing around me. I struggled back up to my feet, turning to glare at Taren.
“You couldn’t have started with this one? Maybe worked your way up to me being the evil queen?” I snapped.
“You are both, Aria. You house the ability to become either. Which you choose will depend on you and the path you have taken to get here.”
“Which path leads to me to becoming evil? I’d like to avoid it at all costs.”
“Do you think this world needs a hero? I assure you, it doesn’t. It needs a monster, Aria. All the best heroes are villains, after all. If this world only needed a hero, King Karnavious would suffice. His intentions are pure, if not for the ill-planned path to achieve them. The Nine Realms has enough heroes who have tried to save it from destruction. You’re not the hero, little one. You’re the villain.”
“Ouch,” I grumbled irritably. “Did Knox pay you to say that by chance?” I queried before turning my attention to the future me, who laughed as she lifted a boy onto her hip.
I studied the dark hair and ocean-colored eyes that smiled up at me with love. My stomach somersaulted, and my heart clenched as the boy’s dark head leaned against my arm, placing his tiny hand over my heart. A small girl leaned against my hip, her silver hair and turquoise gaze watching the babe. I adjusted him to run my hand through her silver strands.
Taren watched me gazing at the future version of myself and exhaled. “King Karnavious is a lot of things, but not my friend, I’m afraid. Hence his reaction to my touching the woman in which he has laid claim. I can’t tell you which path to choose, Aria. That is something you have to figure out alone. Every direction you’ve taken since entering the Nine Realms has forged your path toward one of these futures. The pain you will endure. The losses you will survive. The choices you will make in the spur of the moment, or in the heat of a battle, will lead you to one of these two destinies. It is for you to decide. Now, let’s get you back so you can choose your path, shall we?”
“I don’t want to be a monster,” I whispered, shaking my head. My fingers curled into my palms as I balled my hands tightly at my sides. “Unfortunately, I think my path will lead me to the version I don’t want.”
“No one chooses to become a monster, Aria Hecate. Sometimes the world creates them because it needs one, which doesn’t make them bad or wrong. King Karnavious is wounded, and his grief and the promise he made to his wife have turned him down a very dark path. He intends to keep that promise he made to his wife, even though keeping it will destroy the only happiness he’s ever truly known.”
“He intends to use me against the witches.”
“Indeed, and he isn’t wrong. There are too many to stand against without a witch to match their power. You alone can do that. You’re needed to win his war. His war leads to one of those outcomes, which one depends on you. Can you sell your soul to the devil and dance beside him, or will you be the end of him?”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I demanded through trembling lips, but the world started spinning around us when Taren touched my arm.
“It means your paths are connected, and you were supposed to meet. How it ends is up to you, and only you, Aria Hecate. One queen will emerge, but the name she chooses to use will decide which side of the war you wage your battle. Choose well, because one ends with you buried in a nameless grave to be reborn, and the other would see you rule the world.”
Chapter Eighteen
Taren and I broke apart the instant I could manage to stand on my own. Shaking my head, I shivered as my hands lifted, warming my arms before my attention slid to Knox, the tic in his jaw hammering visibly.
I swallowed hard, sliding my eyes back to Taren,