I screamed inside as I heard my own voice. An all-consuming anger filled me—the feeling of being utterly used by the goddess—of having my power and control taken away. I wanted to lash out and make her suffer, but I’d never once been able to beat Theht with anger. She was more intimately familiar with pain and anger than I would ever hope to be. Instead, I forced my mind to stay calm, to hold onto the last remaining beacon of hope I had. My death would bring her end.
I felt my hands form fists, and I knew I had controlled my own movements. She fought against me, but as I kept my mind calm, her power over me began to slip away.
“Kull,” I called, controlling my own voice for once. “I’m still here!”
His hands gripped the sword tighter. “Is it you?”
“Yes! Listen to me. You must kill her now. Now! Please, destroy her while you can.”
“I can’t.”
“You have to. It’s the only way she’ll die. If you don’t, she’ll take our world. She’ll kill you and everyone in it.”
“Olive, I won’t do it.”
The rain picked up, a driving torrent that railed against us. A flash of lightning illumined his face—the strong set of his jaw, those haunting blue eyes. I would miss him so much—I didn’t even have the words to describe the pain.
Theht warred against me, trying to tear my power away, but my calmness kept her from taking control. I still couldn’t move my body, but as long as I could speak to him, I wouldn’t stop. She was not going to win this.
“Kull,” I cried out. “You know what you have to do. This is the only way to kill her for good.”
Rain streaked down his face. “I can’t,” he repeated, with less conviction this time.
“Yes, you can. Do it for me, Kull. Do it because you love me.”
“How can you ask such a thing of me?”
More Regaymor escaped. The world shook as fire exploded behind me.
“Kull, please! She’s killing me anyway. She’ll never let me live. She won’t let anyone live. Please!”
He took another step forward. Tears misted his eyes, combining with the rain. He drove the sword into my body. The blade hit with such force I actually felt my breath leave in a painful gasp. After that, the air didn’t return. Although I tried to breathe in, I couldn’t.
Theht raged inside me, screaming with a force so loud and overpowering, I stumbled back and fell into the rift. Clouds of orange smoke fogged my vision. The goddess flayed inside, screaming, clawing, but she wouldn’t survive. Her time was over.
It’s finished, I told her.
No!
Yes, your time has ended. The prophecy has been fulfilled. You can be no more. You die with me.
Her screams grew quiet as the rift absorbed my body. I floated weightlessly, feeling as if I’d left my body. But as Theht’s voice disappeared, blissful silence filled my head. Slowly, I realized I could still feel my fingers, and then my toes.
Around me, only whiteness surrounded me, and I wasn’t sure where I’d gone. Was I still in the rift?
My magic gathered in my chest, growing stronger until I felt it move toward the ring I wore. The gemstones glowed white, warming me, calming and soothing as the magic wrapped me in its cocoon.
One thought drove me forward.
Close the rift.
Looking below me, I felt my body rising. I realized that I was still in the rift, but I floated up, over the battlefield. Two forms swooped down out of the sky and onto the field. I recognized both Silvestra and the sky king. With the asteroid now destroyed, my stepfather’s powers must have returned.
The two dragons circled the field and then swooped down, landing near where Heidel and Maveryck fought. They clashed with the Regaymor, driving them back into the rift. Kull knelt on the ground, his sword laid out in front of him, his head bowed. He looked like a man broken beyond repair. My heart shattered. I reached for him, but couldn’t move any closer.
Close the rift. It is time. This time, it was Lucretian’s voice who spoke to me.
My hands rose. Pure magic streamed from my ring and through my fingertips as I let the power flow into the rift.
A portal opened. The Regaymor were pulled inside as it grew wider, sucking them back into the world they’d come from. Their unnatural wails sounded far below me, and they too disappeared.
I tried to move out of the opening, but it sucked me inside. A white glow encircled my wrists and ankles, then pulled me deeper into the gateway. A mist of white fog obscured my vision, and the field, the dragons, the warriors, and Kull all disappeared behind the curtain.
My ears popped with the change in gravity. The rift collapsed as the portal interacted with its magic. The power crushed me, and I felt as if the pressure would kill me unless I did something to stop it.
Tears blurred my eyes as the weight increased. My thoughts grew frantic as I reached out and blasted my magic into the gateway, attempting to seal it shut with pure magic. The dazzling light glittered before me in an array of rainbow-filtered colors. As the portal closed, the fissure in the ground began to shrink. The pressure decreased as the rift closed, sealing it. But I knew it could never be opened again, so I manipulated the pure magic into it, closing it permanently and destroying the portal around me.
My fingernails dug deep into my skin as I fisted my hands. Anguish tore through me. I knew this was the only way to keep the world safe, but the price I paid would be a sacrifice I would always regret.
Beneath me, the ground boomed as the two ridges of earth slammed together. As the rift disappeared, the gateway also collapsed, sending me back to my own reality. A brisk wind made the
