Pure Destiny (PureDark Ones #12) - Aja James Page 0,52
Olivia’s son.”
“Perhaps that is why Wan’er took Erebu and has commanded the abduction of Benjamin,” Eveline surmised. “To somehow infuse them with the missing ingredient or ingredients.”
“I still can’t believe Wan’er has deceived us all this time,” Rain whispered. “I never could have imagined…”
Valerius enfolded her small frame in his arms from behind, quietly giving her his strength.
“I doubt her name is really Wan’er,” Eveline murmured. “She has deceived all of us. Perhaps Medusa as well.”
“But what does all of this have to do with the prophesized Light Bringer?” Inanna brought them back to where they started.
“I have one interpretation,” Cloud answered.
“There are three types of dragons. The Celestial Dragon of Destiny. The Netherworld Dragon of Dreams. And the Earthly Dragon of Truth. Depending on how you interpret the prophesy, ‘Light Bringer’ could also mean ‘Truth Bringer.’ Which can, in fact, refer to an earth-bound dragon.”
“My mind is boggling,” Aella muttered. “I’m out of my depth here. Eveline, what do you make of all this?”
The Seer and Scribe of the Pure Ones shook her head.
“I need more time. There are so many things running together in my head. The past and the possible future. I don’t have all the clues yet. Only pieces of the larger puzzle.”
“What would we do with this information even were we to find all the answers?” Ishtar asked. “The most urgent task is to recover Sophia and Benjamin.”
“And there’s another conundrum,” Aella mused. “Sophia’s inner Darkness. When we searched for her soul’s reincarnation, we were looking for Ninti, who was all Light. But since her Awakening, Sophia has this scathing Darkness within her. Where could it have come from?”
“Could it relate to the lines from the Zodiac Prophesies that you read to us before?” Tal asked.
Eveline read the lines to everyone present again. They all took a few minutes to absorb the haunting words and their import.
“Whatever their true meaning,” Cloud finally murmured, “it is clear that the fates of Sophia, Erebu and Benjamin are intertwined. Perhaps the Paladin’s as well, if he is the trigger for her Darkness.”
“Is this why Pure and Dark are cursed never to be together?” Ishtar whispered, the look in her eyes bleak.
“Have we brought this on ourselves by tempting the Fates and going against the Goddesses’ decree? That our children and their children should have the weight of the Balance on their shoulders. That they should be in such imminent danger…that they should suffer so…”
“Never, ana Ishtar,” Tal rasped, his voice low and husky with emotion. “Do not think it. Please…do not.”
A heart-wrenching look passed between the two Mates. Ishtar’s mouth quivered briefly before she firmed her lips with renewed determination. Everything they’d been through, everything Tal had suffered…it was not in vain. She beseeched him silently to forgive her moment of weakness. She would never doubt again.
“I agree one hundred percent with Tal,” Eveline stated with absolute confidence.
“As I have discovered in my research at the Cove, our Kinds were always meant to be together, not apart. Pure and Dark are two sides of the same coin. Elementals, Animal Spirits… the multitude of our different Gifts…we have them because they create Balance in the Universe. When one Kind dominated over another, oppressed others—that was the aberration. And that’s what we have to fight against now.”
“Indeed,” Aella concurred, steel in her tone.
“Our enemy is amassing unspeakable powers, with a far-reaching network of control and chaos. An army that will take all of our allied forces combined to defeat. We cannot let her grow stronger. We must recover Benji and Sophia at all cost.”
“And Erebu as well,” Ishtar added.
“Don’t forget Dalair,” Rain said. “No matter whose side he’s on now, Sophia needs him. And if he is indeed her trigger, then we cannot let him return to the enemy.”
“How’s Jade doing?” Aella suddenly asked of the healer. “Well enough to leave the Shield?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“It’s time we paid the Dark King a visit,” the Strategist said. “It’s time he chose his side. Eveline, keep searching through the archives. Let us know as soon as you find another clue. I’ll take Jade with me to the Cove to pay your male a visit. Maybe she can help talk some sense into him.”
Eveline huffed a breath of annoyance.
“Then you should take me instead. I am the Keeper of his heart, after all.”
Aella tipped her lips up in a lopsided smirk.
“Jealous, Evie dear?”
Eveline made a shooing motion.
“Go away if you’re not going to help. Tell my honey bear I said