THANK YOU SO MUCH SodaliteSilver FOR THE AMAZING COVERS! (I'm so happy they finally match lol) And happy late birthday!!!

Btw she's got a super cool book called Selenite and I highly recommend checking it out if you like fantasy fiction :)

*****

"Damn it," I mutter under my breath, pursing my lips in annoyance.

"Your mom's going to kill us."

Only if the forest continues to burn, Azazel growls.

I raise my hand and focus on the fire tearing through the forest, blocking out everything else. I curl my fingers as the flames slowly start to die.

I wait until the red glow is completely gone before lowering my hand.

"That's great, now nothing more will burn. But what about the trees that are already charcoal?" Fara growls.

I sigh, my shoulders dropping. "I don't know," I say. Thick plumes of smoke curl into the sky, the acrid smell burns my nose and makes my eyes water. Small gray flecks fall around us but I can't tell if it's snow or ash.

"Do you see that?" Ash asks, pointing to the trees.

My eyebrows furrow. "What?"

"The smoke looks like it's moving."

He's right. In the most damaged part of the forest, the smoke looks like it's weaving through the trees.

"Come on," Fara says and before I can stop her, she's jogging down the rocks.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ash shouts after her.

"How much you wanna bet she'll die before either of us?" I ask.

He shakes his head with a heavy sigh. "I will never understand her need to go looking for danger," he says. He clicks his tongue and Zahra follows him down the rocks.

I swing the two backpacks over my shoulder and pick my way down the mountainside. The rock is covered with ice and the snow on top is so deep you can't see what's underneath.

By the time I get to the edge of wolf territory, Fara and Ash are both pale as ghosts; they stare with wide eyes at the smoke. It is flows like water through the charred trees and every few seconds there is a pulse of light inside it.

I jerk back a little when the cloud bursts with a low hiss. The smoke seems to move aside for the figure that appears in the flash of light.

The lilac-colored hair and bright violet eyes are unmistakable. "Syrra?"

She ignores me. Her gaze is distant as she pushes past me and climbs onto a boulder. She retrieves her dagger and drags it across both of her wrists. My eyes widen at the steaming pools of blood by her feet but she looks completely unfazed. The wind and snow don't seem to bother her either.

She suddenly gasps and her eyes are completely red, as though they're filled with blood. A string of foreign words leaves her mouth and I whip around just as the forest erupts with a blue glow.

"Is she doing this?" Fara asks.

"I think so," I murmur. My jaw drops a little as the ashes start to drift upward.

"Woah," Fara breathes.

I blink and the forest looks just like it did this morning, barren branches covered in snow without a single trace of the fire. It's like it never happened.

I glance back at Syrra. Her eyes look normal now but she is much paler than she was a few moments ago. She sways a little and her gaze can't seem to focus.

"Syrra are you okay?" I ask, dropping the packs.

She shakes her head so I quickly move forward to take her hands. I help her down from the boulder but she collapses almost immediately.

I quickly pick her up, one arm under her back and the other under her legs. Her hands are in her lap and I notice the cuts are still bleeding profusely. I say her name again but she doesn't respond.

I swear loudly when her body goes completely limp.

"Is she okay?" Ash asks.

I shake my head. "No we need to take her to the hospital."

*******

"Thank you."

She frowns, fiddling with the bandages around her arms. "For what?"

"Saving our asses. My mom would've killed us if she knew we set the forest on fire," I sigh.

Her lip twitches upward into a small smile. "Yeah it took a long time to fix the damage she did just before you were born so I can imagine she'd be upset to see it burn again."

"Are you okay though?" I ask.

"I'll be fine," she says. "That spell just requires a lot of blood and a lot of energy. It's as close as you can get to manipulating time so it is extremely difficult. Reversing damage on that big of an area—even more so."

"Well we really appreciate the help," Ash comments, shifting so his head rests against my shoulder.

"Hey do you want us to get Kaine for you?" Fara asks.

Syrra's smile falters. "No that's alright. I don't want to worry him," she says.

"Hey Fara can you find my mother and make sure she hasn't heard about all of this yet? If I tell her myself we probably won't get into as much trouble this time," I mutter.

"Yeah sure," she says before leaving the room.

"This time?" Ash echoes.

"I'll tell you later," I sigh then look back at Syrra. "So what happened between you and my brother?"

Her eyes widen for a moment. Then she shifts her gaze to her hands, letting out a heavy sigh. "A few days ago I reversed the fertility spell."

My eyebrows knit together. "I know my brother pretty well and I don't think he would be very bothered by that," I mutter.

She shakes her head. "He wasn't."

"Then what?"

"I've killed a lot of people and most of them didn't deserve to die. I became the Witch Queen because I like it when people are afraid of me. I told Kaine about how I became the queen and the things I did and he didn't handle it very well," she explains.

"My brother has always thought of himself as a protector. He hurts people yes but he always begs for forgiveness afterwards—even if it's someone who very clearly deserved it.

"So he's going to be bothered by what you do. That's just who he is. But if you give him time I can almost guarantee he will learn to ignore it," I tell her.

"Really?" She asks, her voice filled with hope.

I smile. "Yeah. He just needs time to figure out how to deal with it but he will find a way. He loves you and he's not going to give you up over that."

"Thank you Jaxon," she says.

"Of course. Is there anything else you want to talk about?"

"How prideful is your brother?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Uh he's actually quite humble. He doesn't always seem that way but he's not one to brag about himself or be too concerned with always being the best—on most occasions anyway. Why?"

She shrugs. "I've decided to move on with my life. Everyone I've ever gotten close to has left me because they were either afraid of me or jealous of my power even though it has been suppressed for years. But I can't do that anymore; I can't do that to Kaine. I can't keep holding onto my past so I need to stop keeping secrets from him," she admits.

"That's very brave of you," Ash tells her.

"Oh I don't know about that," she mutters with a small laugh.

"It's not always easy to open up, especially not to someone you care about," he says, glancing at me. "It's worth it though. If he really cares about you then he'll understand."

I hug him to me, kissing him gently on the temple. "You're perfect, you know that?" I whisper.

I grin when he drops his head down on my shoulder to hide his blush. "You're absolutely adorable too," I growl in a low voice.

"Shut up," he mumbles making me laugh.

I jump a little when the door suddenly swings open.

"Jaxon please tell me that it wasn't you who set the forest on fire?"

I cringe. "You have no idea how much I want to."

She sighs. "That's twice now in the last three years. This better not happen again—I doubt Syrra will be around to fix the damage next time," my mother warns with a growl.

"I'm sorry, I thought we were far enough this time but I guess not," I mutter.

"Alright you two get out of here, I need to talk to Syrra and you need to make sure Fara doesn't get herself into trouble," she says.

"Yeah got it," I say, quickly standing. I tug on Ash's hand, dragging him out the door.

"Do we actually have to watch Fara?" He whines.

I chuckle. "Let's just check on her and then we can go finish what we started this morning," I growl, placing a firm kiss on his pouting lips.

He grins. "Okay. Where do you think she is?"

I sigh. "I have no idea."

********

We step into the house and Zahra immediately races into the living room. I follow her with a frown. My lips purse in annoyance when I come to stand beside the chirping leopard, her head rubbing against my leg. "Seriously?"

"What?" Fara asks.

"We've been looking for you for hours and you've been sitting in the living room this whole time?"

She rolls her eyes. "Well I'm sorry if I'm antisocial and would rather hang out here than go mingle with the wolves," she retorts.

"Fair enough," I mutter.

"What are you doing exactly?" Ash asks, motioning to the candles she has in front of the blazing hearth.

She turns to face them again with a heavy sigh. "I'm worried about my mother."

"Who are you praying to?"

"Kilano and Zahra," she says, smiling a little as she glances down at the leopard.

"Would you like us to pray with you?" I ask but Ash is already moving to sit beside her.

She nods. "Thank you."

I kneel on the floor next to my mate. "Let's see if I can still do this," I murmur quietly.

I take a deep breath and hold my hand out. The flame from one of the candles leaps into my palm where it continues to burn.

I call upon the spirits of Kilano and Zahra. I beg you: hear my prayer.

My fingers curl and the flames suddenly gleam with a bright blue hue. I close my eyes. Bring the dragon known as Kandra back home safely to her daughter. Fara's soul is good and pure and she does not deserve the punishment of losing her mother.

The growl that echoes in my mind turns my heart to ice. Her fate is set.

Please, there must be something I can do, I plead.

Your effort is noble but in vain. Her fate is set.

My eyes snap open as the fire dies in my hand and my shoulders drop a little. I glance over to see Ash and Fara staring at me, their gazes filled with confusion.

"What was that?" Fara asks.

"As King I have a special connection to the gods, my prayers are a little different," I lie.

"Thank you," she says again.

I nod and force my lips into a smile. I struggle to my feet, pulling Ash up with me. We say goodnight to Fara and head to our room to get ready to go to sleep but I can't seem to get rid of the ice crawling through my veins.

My body still feels cold and numb under my fuzzy pajama pants and fluffy blankets piled on the bed.

Ash lays down in front of me, his brown eyes full of concern. "Jax what's wrong?" he asks.

I shake my head a little.

"Please tell me," he says in a soft voice.

I sit up a little, resting my back against the headboard. "I lied to Fara."

"About the prayer?"

I nod slowly. "I could do that long before I became King, that has nothing to do with it."

"It's Azazel right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. That doesn't answer my question though: what's wrong?" he repeats.

"They told me Kandra's fate is set."

His eyes widen a little. "Wait really?"

I nod again. "I couldn't tell Fara," I murmur.

"She finds comfort in the gods. It would be a shame for her to lose that," he says. "Besides, they said her fate was set. They didn't say she was going to die."

"Yeah true," I sigh.

"Don't lose your faith in the gods just yet, not everything they do is bad," he reminds me.

"You're right," I sigh. "After all, they gave me you."

He blushes a deep crimson, burying his face in my chest. My arms curl around him and I press my lips gently onto his temple. "You're perfect," he mumbles against my skin.

I smile, my fingers brushing the hair away from his face. "I love you baby."

"I love you too."

I let out a small yelp when Zahra suddenly leaps onto the bed and shoves her way under the blankets. She crawls onto my chest with a tiny chirp. "I think she was feeling a little left out," I chuckle.

Ash curls up against my side with an amused half-smile. His head rests in the crook of my neck and the leopard creeps forward a little to press her nose onto his cheek. "We love you too Zahra," he murmurs, petting her gently.

She chirps at him before laying down on my chest. I hug my mate to my side and fall asleep to the sound of Zahra purring.

*******

Yay for fluffy endings!

Okay so next chapter will either be Syrra or Jada and I'm going to try voting this way to make it my life simpler. Just comment below on the name of which POV you want and I'll just count comments rather than go through all of them. (Someone suggested this a while back and it sounds way easier tbh)

Syrra

Jada