The cold stone floor of Niobe's spell room had become my altar of grief. I sat there crying.
Kolton and I were mates. I'd finally found him. After years of dreaming, of praying and now he was slipping through my fingers. The universe, in its twisted cruelty, was taking him from me.
''Why did the Goddess do this to us?'' I asked, ''Why would she give us our mate only for him to die? Why would she put us in a position to have to give him up? Is it a test to see if we'd choose ourselves or perform our duty.''
''Stop weeping, Jay,'' Willow snarled inside my skull. Her voice was sharp, a whip of necessary ice. ''We need to get this over with. So pull yourself together. We can break after.''
My breath hitched on a sob. Now, with the truth proven, I had to ensure Kolton lived even if I couldn
