The moment the potion hit their bloodstream, time bent.
They were no longer in the caverns. They were in her.
Rhiannan's memories opened like a wound.
It started with screaming.
An infant, ripped from her mother's arms, moonlight flashing off steel as a cloaked figure vanished into the trees. Rhiannan, still swaddled in a starlit blanket, was no more than hours old. And yet, she remembered the cold. The loss. The soul deep wrongness of being taken.
Azarion clutched her hand tighter as they stood silently, helpless, watching her stolen life begin.
The scenes cut sharp and fast.
One foster mother burned her hand for crying. Another locked her in a basement with nothing but moldy bread and a piss bucket. A foster brother whispered kindness by day and climbed into her bed by night.
Sable growled, eyes glowing black as rage twisted his face. Liam openly wept, whispering "I'm so fucking sorry" over and over. Kaleb had to turn away, shaking with fury. Arwen's fists bled from how hard he clenched them.
Elisha could barely breathe.
"They hurt her," he choked. "They hurt our light."
Rhiannan....child Rhiannan....just stared at the ceiling in those memories. Never once crying. Not anymore.
Gunfire. Screams. Smoke. Blood. A desert that seared the soles of her boots and the inside of her soul.
She dragged a fallen Marine behind cover with a bullet in her thigh and a prayer in her heart. That same night, the boy she called brother stepped on a mine and exploded right in front of her.
They all felt it. The vibration in their ribs. The hopelessness.
Azarion dropped to his knees.
"She was a fucking warrior before she ever found magic."
Filtered smiles. Fake friends. Thousands of followers. No real connections. Constant exhaustion. Dancing while she wanted to die. Selling hope she didn't even believe in.
But it kept her alive.
"Because if I smiled, maybe someone else would believe it and keep going," her memory self whispered.
Nyxar sobbed silently, hand over her heart. Zeilar kissed her hair. Zaiya clenched her jaw so tight her fangs cracked.
They saw her magic bloom, saw her stumble and fight and win. But they also saw her naked, shackled, beaten, burned by fae royalty. Forced to her knees. Screamed at. Starved.
And still.....still, she never broke.
They watched each of them arrive in her life. One by one. Mate bonds snapping. Softness returning to her eyes.
But then....
The scene shifted suddenly.
Rhiannan stood at age seven, alone in the woods. A full moon overhead.
A strange man approached. Tall. All shadow. Eyes like voids.
"You're special," he cooed. "And someday, I'll come for you. You'll belong to me."
He reached out and branded her, a small mark behind her left ear, glowing with black sigils.
Rhiannan screamed and the memory cracked like glass.
She hadn't known. She'd blocked it out. Even now, her mates trembled in horror.
"That was Veltherion," Liam whispered. "He marked her as a child. For himself."
Her scream echoed through the memory realm.
The gods watched.
Not one of her mates faltered. Not one let go. They walked through every moment of pain, held her hand through every scar. When it was over, they stood in a ring of fire, each soul burned clean by her truth.
The memory realm shattered into starlight.
They gasped awake, drenched in sweat and magic and love.
The entire castle above sobbed.
Faenet exploded with:
đź’¬ "They made it."
đź’¬"She showed them everything."
đź’¬"They still chose her."
đź’¬"They are the heroes of the realms."
Rhiannan sat up slowly. Her belly glowing faintly. Her power surging.
"We go get the fucking Sceptre now."
The stench hit first, thick, wet, and rank like a thousand years of rotting flesh, excrement, and bad intentions.
Veena gagged. "What the actual fuck died in here?"
Zaiya unsheathed her blades with a growl. "Hopefully whatever we're about to kill."
They stepped into the massive webbed chamber, every surface layered in glistening sticky silk that pulsed like it was breathing. Bones, some fresh, some ancient, lined the outer walls. Skulls stared at them with hollow sockets, and the stone beneath their feet crunched with brittle remains.
"I don't like this," Barrick muttered. "Feels like someone's watching us."
"That's because I am," came the voice, raspy, crawling like insects down their spines.
A massive, gnarled form began to descend from the ceiling. Her body was half rotten, half slick with poison. Eight legs, barbed and dripping with venom. Her face was half fae, stretched grotesquely over mandibles, with milky cataract eyes that burned with malice.
"Welcome, goddess. I've been saving a special cocoon just for you."
Rhiannan narrowed her eyes. "Bitch, you've spun your last silk."
And then all hell broke loose.
The spider queen hissed, leaping down with terrifying speed. Webs shot out toward Rhiannan, but Arwen cleaved them with his enchanted blade.
"No one touches my goddess!"
Kaleb transformed mid-leap, wolf form shredding through sticky silk like it was paper. Elisha bellowed, twin dragon cocks swinging (as always), breathing pure fire and burning half the chamber to ash.
Sable laughed with glee, tail whipping and ripping through spider legs. "I hate spiders."
Liam blurred behind her, slashing her face with shadow daggers, then vanishing before she could scream.
"Sorry, love, but you're not exactly photogenic."
Azarion channeled godlight into her mandibles and melted part of her face off.
"Smile for the divine."
Veena's vines erupted from the ground, tangling her limbs. Zaiya went straight for the joints, slashing and yelling obscenities that would make demons blush.
Nyxar and Zeilar fought side by side, wings spread, a storm of fire and steel.
Barrick lobbed a rune brick into her underbelly. "Boom, bitch."
It exploded in a glorious splash of ichor.
"Fuck you and your creepy ass children!" Reyna shrieked, decapitating a smaller spider minion with her glaive while her red wolf mate gutted another and her demon mate tore through them like paper.
Torvax flung frost spears that froze chunks of the webbing, making her slip and stagger.
Rhiannan stepped forward, glowing, divine and terrible. Her eyes were pure white. Her belly radiated with power.
"You wanted a goddess? You got one."
She raised both arms, summoned the storm, and struck the spider queen with a blast of wind and lightning so powerful it shattered the cavern ceiling and echoed through the entire mountain.
The queen screeched, then exploded into glittering ash.
Silence fell.
Then, from the center of the webbed altar, light burst forth. The Sceptre, twisting gold and crystal, etched with ancient runes, rose from the earth and hovered in the air.
It pulsed once.
Then it shot through the chamber, past every stunned face…
… and landed perfectly in Rhiannan's outstretched hand.
Her eyes glowed. Her crown reappeared. The air rippled with divine energy.
"The goddess has claimed the Sceptre," whispered Sasha, her voice echoing through rune links across the realm.
Faenet exploded.
đź’¬ "SHE GOT THE FUCKING SCEPTRE!!!"
đź’¬"Spider queen WHO??"
đź’¬"That scream was orgasmic."
đź’¬"I would like to personally thank Elisha's double dick for the fire backup."