AURORA
“No, absolutely not,” Mars said, hurrying after me, back toward the camp we’d set up outside of Hella and Nyx’s kingdom. “I’m not letting you drain yourself of energy. The last time this happened while I was with you, you almost fucking died.”
“I’m aware,” I said, thinking back to the cave when I had depleted all my energy and the hounds took Mars away from me. I had thought long and hard about how we would be able to survive down here, and this was the only option.
If I could summon not only the harpies, but also the wolves that had once been hounds that I saved only a few days ago, then we might have a chance. It might be easier to control the hounds working with Hella and Nyx and get them on our side.
There wasn’t another way.
We were at Hella’s doorstep. We were hours away from the greatest battle of our lives. We either stepped up now and gave it one last final push with all these gods on our side or we caved into the darkness and never saw our daughter again.
And I vowed to see her in real life one time.
Just one fucking time.
“Then, why do you insist on putting yourself in danger over and over again?!” Mars exclaimed, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. “If you die down here, you will never be able to go back to the Sanguine Wilds.”
“What?” I asked, face suddenly paling. “Not even if we kill Hella?”
Mars shook his head. “No.”
“So, then …” I paused, heart pounding. “You won’t be able to come home?”
“I don’t know,” he whispered. “It works differently with me and Ares. Nothing like us has ever happened before, so I’m not sure what will happen. I might be able to return since I passed in the world above. Not here.”
“Does everyone who dies here stay here, no matter what?”
Mars ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, Aurora. All that matters is you conserving your energy. You need to be strong. I’m going to get you back to the Sanguine Wilds, no matter if I can go or not.”
“No,” I growled at my own mate. “What matters is, we end this war. Or else … this all will be for nothing. All the deaths down here, all the people we left in the world above, Marcel sacrificing his life for Charolette …”
“What do you mean?” Mars interrupted. “Marcel is here?”
“Marcel …” I started, eyes widening slightly.
Mars didn’t know about how sick his sister had become after he died. He didn’t know that she had been days away from death right before we left, but Marcel must’ve successfully switched lives with her.
“What happened to him?”
“He’s down in the underworld,” I said, taking his hands in mine. “Charolette became extremely sick. Her chemo wasn’t working. The doctors gave up on her, and she gave up on herself. She was about to start hospice right before we left, but we found out that Marcel could …” I swallowed hard, feeling so much shame and guilt for keeping it a secret from Charolette. “We found out that Marcel could exchange his life to keep her alive.”
Mars’s lips parted, disbelief washing over his face. “He sacrificed his life for her.”
“For his mate,” I whispered. “Like you did for me. I refuse to let you both have died for nothing. We need to kill Hella for good this time, so things can go back to normal. We need to get us all out of here. We deserve to be happy for once.”
After a few long moments of staring at me, Mars nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I asked, brows furrowed.
“Okay,” he confirmed.
Once I knew he was on board, I walked over to Acesca and knelt by her side to start summoning the harpies and the wolves that I’d saved. “Don’t listen to Mars or any of the other gods. Only stop me when you know my body can take no more. I trust you and your health abilities.”
When she nodded, I sat back against a tree and closed my eyes, ready to summon as many friendly hounds and harpies as I could. I didn’t know how I would do it, but I vowed to figure out a way. Tonight would be the end of this war. For good.