bChapter /bb78 /b

C

Magic coils around my fingertips, ck–gold and pulsing like a second heartbeat. The air before me hums bas /bI reach out, the weave of reality trembling beneath my touch. Behind me, the others wait in taut silence. Layah sits at my heels, tail flickingzily, but her eyes gleam with something ancient and electric.

“Focus ion /iiMchi/ii,/i” she says softly. i“/iiYou /iiknow /iihis /isignature now. iLet /iit guide you.b” /b

I nod. I do know it, storm–forged, sharp, steady. The anchor I need. I reach for that thread and let my power crack open the portal.

The portal shimmers into existence with a low whine, edges flickering like lightning caught in ink.

“You sure about this?” Xavier asks.

“No,” I say. “But I’m going anyway.” And with that, I step through…straight into a veryrge, very opulent bathroom. Steam curls in the air. There’s music ying faintly from a speaker tucked into the corner. And in the center of it all stands Mchi. Dripping wet. Wearing only towel. We all freeze. He freezes. There’s a tense beat as water drips from his hair onto the marble floor.

“I swear Levi said ten more minutes,” he mutters, looking skyward like he’s questioning every life decision that brought him to this moment.

Noah coughs beside meb, /bclearly trying not tough. Haiden doesn’t even bother; his shoulders shake, his hand mped over his mouth.

Layah, naturallyb, /blooks regal and unbothered as ever. i“/iiNice /iitiles/ibi,/i/b” shements.

“I am going to throw Levi back into a portal next time he visits,” Mchi growls, grabbing a second towel and wrapping it around his shoulders as he storms toward the door. b“/bCome on. Since you’re here, you may bas /bwell meet her. Just try not to traumatize anyone else on the way out.”

We follow him out, meb, /bfour matesb, /bmy hellhound, all trailing calmly from a steaming bathroom like this is the most natural thing in the world. Waiting just outside the bathroom are Arztec and Julius.

Arztec gives bus /ba single raised eyebrow. “Really?b” /b

Julius smirks. “Was this a dramatic entrance or just a bad sense of direction?”

“She opened the portal,” Mchi snaps, gesturing to me.

“She’s still new to thisb,/bb” /bI mutter.

“Clearly,” Arztec bdeadpans/b!

I roll my beyes /bbas /bwe fall into step with them.

The castle is an ancient, elemental ce carved into the mountain itself. Veins of amber glow faintly in the walls, pulsing with steady, grounded magicb. /bEverything smells of bstone/bb, /bfire, and old power. bMassive /bwindows frame jagged mountain peaks outside, and thick rugs bear the sigils of long–forgotten houses, Magic hangs in the air like mistb, /bancient and humming. We walk in near silence, the tension mounting with each step. At the end of the hall, two obsidian doors wait, nked by twin wolf statues, one carved bof /bbsilver/b, the other of iron. Mchi stops in front of them.

“She’s inside,” he says quietly. “Elira…mum”

My throat tightensb. /b

“She knows you’reing,” Julius addsb, /bunusually gentle.

Layah brushes against my leg. “iReady/ii?/i”

“No,b” /bI whisper. “But I’m going anyway.”

I step forward. The doors swing open without a sound. Warm golden light spills out, washing over me like sunlight after a storm. The room beyond is nothing like I expected, not bregal /bor cold or carved from stone like the rest of the castle. It’s a sanctuary. Vines creep up bthe /bwalls, blooming with flowers that glow faintly, petals shifting from silver to violet. A wide firece burns low in the corner, firelight dancing over shelves filled with ancient scrolls, weathered tomes, and jars of dried herbs. The scent is rich and heady,vender, smoke, wild honey, and something olderb… /bband /bin the center of it ball /bsits a woman. She rises as I step in. She is taller than I imagined, wrapped in soft midnight robes that shimmer like oil on water. Her hair is ck with streaks of gold. Her eyes, when they meet mine, steal the breath from my chest, mirror

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reflections of my ownb, /bbut older, stormier, worn by time and bloss/bb. /b

“Mum,b” /bI breathe.

bA /blong silence stretches between us. Then she steps forward, bslowly/bb, /blike I’m a creature that might bolt. Like she’s afraid I’ll vanish.

b“/bYou look just like I imagined,b” /bshe says, voice soft, cracking at the edges. “But you feel like so much more.b” /b

I don’t know what to bsay/b. I didn’t expect the grief in her eyes. The raw ache in every line of her face.

“I thought maybe you’d died. That you didn’t want meb./bb” /bI whisper more to myself.

bHer /bbreath catches, and she closes the space between us. She stops inches away, trembling.

“I wanted you,” she saysb, /bvoice trembling now, too. “I wanted you every day. But the witches took you before bI /bcould hold you. I screamed your name before I even knew what it was. I begged the gods, the old ones, the monsters, anyone, just to see you againb./bb” /b

She reaches up, slowly, carefully. b“/bMay bI/bb?/bb” /b

My nod is barely a breath, but it’s enough. Her hand touches my cheek, and I swear the bond between us weeps. Her thumb brushes beneath my eye. She stares like she’s trying to memorize the face she never got to raise.

“I didn’t know who iI /iwas for a long time,” I murmur. “They cloaked me. Hid me from myselfb. /bI grew up thinking I was broken. Wrong. Dangerousb. /b

Alone.”

“You were powerful,” she says. “And they feared that. They wanted to use that.”

“They did use me,” bI /bsay. “He made me a spell. They’re going to try to tear down the world and rebuild it for themselvesb, /busing meb./bb” /b

She nods, tears slipping down her cheeks now. “I know… I should have burned it all down to find you. I didn’t. I was a coward.”

“No,i” /ibI /bsay. “You were hurting. That’s not cowardice.”

She smilesb, /bshaky, small, but breal/bb. /b“You are bso /bmuch more than I dreamed. You’re ethereal.”

Layah huffs from her ce at the door. i“/iiShe /iigets /iithat /ifrom me.”

Iugh, just ba /blittle, broken at the edges and Mum does too. “bI /bbsee /byou got a rare gift.” She looks over Layah, already making the connection between bus/bb. /b

I don’t know who moves first. Maybe we both do. But suddenly we’re there, in each other’s arms, and I’m not a goddess or a weapon or a bspell/b…I’m a daughter and bshe’s /bnot a queen or a legend or a memoryb, /bshe’s a mother…my mother. For a long, long moment, we just hold each other. She presses her lips to my temple. “I love you, I never stoppedb./bb” /b

“I know,” I whisperb. /b

And in the soft warmth of that room, with the fire glowing and my mates outside and bLayah /bstanding with me, the ache of all those lost years begins to knit itself into something bnew/b, not whole but healing,

This work, Goddess of the Underworld

by Sheridan Hartinb, /bis an exclusive intellectual property legally contracted with NovelSnack. Any reproduction, distribution, or upload outside NovelFlow, AnyStories, NovGo, and Readink is unauthorized and constitutes copyright infringement

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