To heal a Rogue

BONNIE

Her eyebrows lifted. ”You don’t have that one?”

I shook my head.

Fia glanced around the room until her eyes settled on the hairbrush resting on the dresser.

She reached toward it.

But she was never even close to reach or even touch it.

I watched in awe as a faint, translucent bubble formed around the brush instead, shimmering softly before lifting it from the dresser and suspending it in midair.

My mouth fell open. ”Wow.”

Fia grinned.

The bubble dissolved, and the hairbrush dropped neatly back onto the dresser with a soft click.

”If you’re creative with it, you can even use it to fly.” She gestured toward the brush. ”It works well for defense too.”

I stared at the spot where she had used what she just called the gift of small miracles and chuckled. Meeting her was indeed necessary.

I could ask about anything... Most things and she would have answes for me.

Then I hesitated.

There was something I needed to ask her. Something that had been sitting at the back of my mind since that night.

”Do you have one that glows red?”

The question came out quieter than I’d intended.

Something about Fia made me think she’d understand. If anyone could explain what had happened to that cruel Beta, to the sentinels, to my mother’s body, it would be someone who understood this power from the inside.

Fia’s expression brightened.

”I do.”

She called it forward.

Red bloomed across her hands and the sight of it slammed me straight back into that cell.

The room turned crimson at the edges. The walls, the floor, the bodies, all of it swallowed by that same terrible red until everyone inside was simply gone aside me.

I scrambled backward as though she’d struck me.

Fia released the power immediately.

”I’m sorry.” Her hands dropped into her lap. ”Did I frighten you?”

I forced myself to breathe.

”I just haven’t had the fondest memories with that particular power. But I am curious... What exactly does it do?”

”There are seasons in a mortal life.” Fia looked down at her hands. ”It’s the same for us. A time to heal, and a time to destroy.”

Her fingers curled slightly.

”The red doesn’t just injure whatever it touches. It disintegrates it completely.”

”I used it once,” The words caught in my throat. ”On my mother.”

Fia’s breath caught. ”Goddess... I’m so sorry.”

”Well... she wasn’t exactly alive when I used it.” I swallowed. ”The others were. But it was an accident and it still hurts.”

For a moment, I stared at nothing.

”So I suppose they’re all dead now. Not floating somewhere in a pocket dimension, the way some secret part of me kept hoping.”I said as a shaky breath left me.

”I still wanted to bury her properly.” My gaze dropped to my hands. ”I guess her memory will have to be enough.”

Fia squeezed my hand. ”I am so sorry.”

”I’m fine,” I assured her before she could say anything more. ”I’ve had plenty of time to grieve.”

It wasn’t entirely true, but it was close enough.

”It’s just hard.” I rubbed my thumb over her knuckles. ”I believe everyone has a purpose. I just don’t think I know mine. I do not think I will ever know mine.”

The words came easier once they’d started.

”I’ve begged the goddess for an answer more times than I can count. I’ve prayed until I had nothing left to say, and all I’ve ever gotten back is silence.”

”You’ve never had a divine encounter?” Fia queried.

I shook my head, a small laugh escaping me at the absurdity of the question.

Then I caught her expression. She wasn’t joking.

”Goddess. You have?”

”Twice.”

I stared at her.

”Well, that settles it, then.” I gave a humorless little smile. ”She really doesn’t give a damn about me.”

”Lady Selene?”

”Yes, Lady Selene.”

”That isn’t true.” Fia’s voice was gentle but firm. ”Perhaps it simply isn’t time yet.”

”I wish I believed that.” My smile disappeared. ”But I’m past hoping for it.”

Fia studied me for a moment. She clearly didn’t believe me, but, mercifully, she didn’t argue.

”Is there no fix for these dream attacks?”

She took my hand fully between both of hers.

”I can try something.” Her thumbs moved slowly over my knuckles. ”I also have the gift of foresight. Sometimes I get glimpses of what’s ahead.”

My skin prickled.

Willow’s throat flashed through my mind, the memory of my invisible grip around it so sudden that I almost pulled away.

Now that Fia had showedme, was that me using the gift of small miracles? On the witch to end her life?

I had to ask... ”Are those futures set in stone?”

A soft laugh escaped Fia. ”No. I once saw my mate die.”

My breath caught.

”But thankfully, it never happened. So I know that it can be prevented.”

I relaxed slightly.

Fia then closed her eyes.

The silence stretched.

I filled it the only way I knew how, with small talk, because now that I finally had someone sitting in front of me who understood what I was, I couldn’t seem to stop talking.

”I know a little about you,” I murmured.

”What’s that?” she asked, her eyes still closed.

”Your story was fairly well known.”

”Which part? That I stole my late sister’s intended?” She said as one eye cracked open.

”That was cleared up. Wasn’t it?”

”Eventually.” Fia said. ”But lies tend to stick around longer than the truth.”

Her mouth twitched.

”Well... I did not buy the lie. My question is a bit more simple. Or at least I hope it is. It’s still unusual for an Omega to end up an Alpha’s bride.” I hesitated. ”Was love enough? Against everything political stacked against it?”

Fia opened her eyes fully.

”Love wasn’t there at the beginning.” She told me.

That surprised me.

”He half believed the lie my step mother and half sister solf for a while. He even hated me for it.”

She looked down at our joined hands.

”But time changed things. So did the truth. And eventually, the bond softened him.”

Her gaze lifted to mine.

”If this is about Lysander, you have nothing to worry about.”

I blinked.

”He’s absolutely mad about you.” She assured me.

Heat touched my cheeks.

”Love isn’t always enough on its own, I know,” she continued. ”But trust me, he will be. And I’ve seen it.”

”Seen what?”

”His future.”

The certainty in her voice made my chest tighten.

”The two of you have what I know, in my heart, will be a beautiful story. Whatever your past looked like, don’t let it keep you from building something new with someone the goddess clearly meant for you.”

I nodded, though something had lodged tightly in my throat. ”Thank you.”

”It is no problem at all. Now let me try my foresight shenanigans again.”

I gave her my hand once more and Fia closed her eyes.

She drew in a slow breath, held it, then released it.

When her eyes opened again, something troubled had settled across her face.

”I can’t touch anything.”

My brow furrowed. ”What does that mean?”

”You feel like my daughter.” She swallowed. ”I can’t get a read on her future either. It’s the same with you.”

A slow breath escaped me as I dropped my head down in disappiontment. ”I hate that I had hope for a second there.”

Fia’s hand rose to my face. Her fingers curled gently beneath my chin, tilting it upward.

”Hope is good,” she said.

I gasped.

Her eyes had changed.

The warm brown I’d been looking into only a moment ago was gone, replaced by a brilliant silver that seemed almost to glow from within. And it was not reflected light. It looked and felt like something deeper. Something that looked as though it had been burning behind her eyes all along, waiting for the right moment to break through.

I scrambled backward, putting as much distance between us as the room allowed.

”Who the fuck are you?”

Fia’s face remained the same, but something about her presence had shifted completely.

”It’s me.” Her voice was still hers, but it wasn’t only hers anymore.

Two voices seemed to occupy the same sound, one carrying Fia’s familiar warmth while something older moved beneath it, deep and distant and impossibly calm.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

”The one you’ve reached out to so many times.”

I stared at those silver eyes and it was like it just clicked.

The prayers I’d whispered when no one was listening. The questions I’d thrown into the dark. Every desperate plea for an answer that had been met with nothing but silence.

My mouth went dry. ”Lady Selene.”