a head of dark hair and a Coven’s V Mark of the Hierophant.
Past-Riah jumped straight up in the air and then dropped, slamming his sword into the ground. The earth exploded right out from under me. That silver magic swept over me, throwing me into the air. Dirt and rubble wrapped around me as I flew back. It took me a few seconds but I got my wings flapping and my free-fall slowed.
As I flew back, Past-Malachi dropped to one knee and threw his arms wide. Black mist shot out in every direction. Demons dropped dead the second it hit them, some even dropped from the sky. I tried to watch, to see what Riah and Malachi had been up to, but the force of the explosion had me flying backwards.
The world blurred.
“SAFFIE! Tunnel — I can’t— open!"
Rainbow mist coiled around me like a glove. I slowly lowered to the ground just as that same dark-haired man with the V Mark knelt down in front of a little girl with bright blonde hair. We were somewhere different. The war raged in the distance in the open field, but this was somewhere…else. Walls made of stone lined what was probably a once active village.
“Henry, I don’t —”
“It has to be this way, Millie Anne.” He hooked a stardust quartz pendant around the little girl’s neck that held a glowing blue crescent moon within. He smiled. “Keep this safe with you always, okay Chloe?”
She nodded, her blonde curls bouncing. “Yes, Father—”
“Lancaster. Now,” Past-Riah barked from suddenly right behind them. His eyes dark and haunted looking, his face now streaked with grime. “You must send them now.”
“Just give me a moment,” Henry said with a sigh, still kneeling in front of his daughter.
“You don’t have a moment,” an unfamiliar voice yelled. And then the Past-Emperor walked up from behind me with a horse and wooden carriage. “The plan will not work if Lilith catches them here—”
“I know the plan. It is my plan, Edward.” Henry barked. “I am your Coven Leader.”
“And I am the reason it is working,” Edward growled. “You have sixty seconds. Zachariah and I will clear your path.”
“Good luck, Millie Anne and Chloe. We shall see you on the other side of this,” Past-Riah nodded once. Then he turned to Henry. “Let them go now, Lancaster, before Lilith finds them.”
“Thank you, Zachariah. Yours and Malachi’s help was most crucial.” They shook hands, then Henry sighed and pulled the little girl and woman into his arms.
What is happening? That was Henry Lancaster VI, Coven Leader and Hierophant during the war with Lilith…and the Emperor. Wait a second. Edward Proctor. PROCTOR. This is MY ancestor. I gasped and looked to Edward and my eyes widened. He looked like my mother. She had the same black hair, silver eyes, and tanned skin.
Wait…he’s with Riah?
Riah’s…helping them? I don’t understand. Your help was most crucial…Riah was on THEIR side of the war? The Coven’s side? No, it can’t be. The Seelies fought alongside Lilith and the Unseelies. Everyone knew this. There was documentation of Prince Thorne and Princess Sage being there – what is happening? What am I seeing?
Was he helping The Coven all this time?
Could he have been telling me the truth this whole time?
My heart fluttered as a hope I didn’t dare hold on to flared in my chest. I needed to think. To process what I’d just seen. I needed to talk to someone about it.
But then Past-Riah and Edward Proctor headed toward me, walking in front of the carriage. I cursed and scrambled back so they wouldn’t see me and my back slammed into something hard.
I frowned and spun – and gasped.
Riah stood right behind me.
The real Riah. The current Riah. My Riah.
No, stop that. He’s not yours.
He looked down at me with those big golden eyes in his matching golden armor, the same armor Past-Riah was wearing. He sighed – and then he was back in that black hoodie and black jeans combo I loved so much. The outfit he’d been wearing when he’d been a student in Salem.
I jumped back…and just stared.
My thoughts were a mess, a whirlwind of chaos. I didn’t know what to think. What to believe. But I knew now something else was at play here. The Hierophant and the Emperor had trusted him, clearly been friends with him…that meant something. I wasn’t foolish enough to not know that.
Riah smiled sadly. “I told you I could explain. I am not who you think I am, though