"I joined the fight,” I continue. “But I was weak. With my soul already torn and my training half-hearted at best, I was completely out of my depth. We were losing badly. So many died because of their hunger for power, their obsession with being the only rulers."

My jaw tightens as the memories resurface.

"When Xena realized I was fighting against her, she lost it. She turned all her fury on me. It's ironic. She accused me of betraying her because I sided with Mother when she was the one who betrayed me first. In her mind, she never betrayed anyone. She simply took what she believed had always been hers."

The battlefield flashes behind my eyes and I have to pull myself back before I get lost in the memories.

"When I refused to join them, Xena stabbed me. She meant to kill me while Kaden stood by, urging her to hurry. It didn't matter that I was her sister. Or that he was my mate. They just wanted me gone.”

I fall silent for a moment, lost in the memory, until Mother's voice pulls me back to the present.

“I arrived just in time," she says quietly. “I managed to hold them off long enough to get Nyx to safety. She was gravely wounded, her soul already fractured. I knew we couldn't win the war, not then. So I made the only choice I could. I sent Nyx to Earth. I called upon the Fates and entrusted her to them, while I returned to face Xena and Kaden."

Mother's gaze turns distant.

"We couldn't defeat them together. They were too powerful. So the only option was to separate them. United, they were unstoppable, but apart, they could be contained. I asked Absalom and Hecate to distract Xena while I dealt with Kaden."

Her voice softens, heavy with regret.

"I still believed there was good in Xena. I thought Kaden had corrupted her. I hoped that if I imprisoned him, she might find her way back to us."

I look away. Mother always believed that, but I know the truth now. Xena was the darkness. She didn't fall because of Kaden; she pulled him down with her. Mother couldn't accept that she'd given birth to something so cruel, so she placed the blame where it hurt less.

"I used my power to cast the spell that imprisoned Kaden here," Mother continues, her hands curling slightly. "When Xena discovered what I'd done, she was furious and in retaliation she cast me out of the heavens and took my scepter."

Her jaw tightens.

"I'd already drained a great deal of my power imprisoning Kaden. That's the only reason Xena was able to overpower me."

"The curse?" Micah asks quietly.

Mother nods The spell was

designed to draw its power from me,

but once was cast down, I lost etwa access to much of my strength, The longed remained trapped on Earth, the weaker I became. I was never meant to walk this realm. Unlike my daughters, my spirit does not belong here and without my scepter, the strain was unbearable."

She exhales slowly.

"As my strength faded, the spell began drawing power elsewhere. It required a vast reserve, one I could no longer provide. Because it was to your land it drew energy from the land itself and from the

bound

people who lived on it."

My chest tightens as realization settles.

"And when Nyx returned," Mother continues, "the spell drew from her as well. She was bound to the pack through her mate bond with Alec, making her a perfect conduit."

That explains everything.

"I watched for as long as I could," Mother says softly. "But I knew I couldn't stay. Xena was hunting me and if she ever caught me, she wouldn't have hesitated to kill me."

Slow nods ripple through the room. At last, the pieces fall into place.

"There's still one thing I don't understand," Raven says. "Why was Sadie sent as a baby... while Lola wasn't?"

Mother smiles gently at her.

"Nyx's soul was damaged when her mate bond was violently torn apart. Sending her directly into another realm in that state could've destroyed her entirely So the Fates chose to keep her soul until the time? was right. When they foresaw that she would one day meet her second mate, they sent her back not as a goddess, but as a child. That way, as she grew, her soul could heal gradually. Her power would return slowly but safely."

Mother's voice softens.

"It's also why her memories were bound. She needed time. The pain of her past would've crushed her if she'd remembered too soon."

A strange ache settles in my chest. Funny... I always believed I was receiving Nyx's memories when they were mine all along.

I'll admit, though, having them back feels strange, but this is how things are here and there's no changing that.