Thessa's POV
"Stay behind me."
Erynd moves in front of me as Cadeirin's wolves fan out, circling us like prey. But I'm done hiding behind people.
I step forward, level with Erynd. Silver light radiates from my skin, brighter than the dying sun, brighter than any moon that ever hung in the sky.
"I said stay behind me," Erynd growls.
"No." My voice carries power that makes the wolves flinch. "I'm done being protected. Done being saved. If he wants me, he can try to take me himself."
Cadeirin laughs, the sound echoing off the broken ice walls. "Look at you. Glowing like a little star. Thinking you're powerful now." He shifts to human form, walking toward us with confidence. "But you're still the same frightened girl who couldn't even make a mate bond work."
"That's where you're wrong." I meet his blue eyes without fear. "I was never the problem. You were. The Moon refused to bind me to someone who murdered her three thousand years ago."
His smile falters. Just for a second. But I see it.
"You remember, don't you?" I continue, taking a step toward him now. "Deep down. In your dreams. You remember her face when you betrayed her. Remember her blood on your hands. Remember dying in agony as the power you tried to steal tore you apart."
"Shut up." His voice drops dangerously low.
"That's why you're so desperate to have me now. It's not about being Luna or power or anything else." I'm close enough to see the gold flecks in his blue eyes. "It's about finishing what you started. Proving you can succeed where your past self failed. But you can't. Because I'm not her. I'm not going to trust you. I'm not going to love you. And I'm definitely not going to let you kill me."
Cadeirin's face twists with rage. "You think you know me? You think because you absorbed some memories you understand what I want?"
"I know exactly what you want." Silver light swirls around my hands. "You want to be a god so badly you'd murder, betray, and destroy everything in your path. But here's the truth, Cadeirin: you'll never be divine. Because divinity isn't about power. It's about sacrifice. And you've never sacrificed anything in any of your lives."
He shifts faster than I can track, his massive wolf form lunging straight for my throat.
I raise my hand.
He stops mid-air. Just freezes, suspended like an invisible hand caught him.
"What—" He struggles but can't move. "What are you doing to me?"
"What I should have done at the ceremony." I curl my fingers and he drops to the ground hard, gasping. "Showing you exactly how unworthy you are."
His wolves tense, ready to attack.
"Don't." Erynd's voice cuts through the tension. "Your Alpha picked this fight. Let him finish it. Unless he's too weak to face her alone?"
Cadeirin shifts back to human, blood trickling from his nose. "You're going to regret that."
"Probably." I shrug. "But I regret nothing as much as I regret believing you were worth my tears."
He charges again, this time ready for my power. He weaves around my silver light, getting closer, closer—
And Erynd intercepts him with a brutal punch that sends him flying backward into three of his own wolves.
"That's for making her cry," Erynd says coldly.
Cadeirin wipes blood from his mouth, laughing. "The loyal guardian, fighting for his new goddess. Tell me, Frostborne, does it hurt? Knowing you failed the first one so completely? Knowing she died while you watched?"
Erynd goes very still. Too still.
"That's what I thought." Cadeirin stands, cracking his neck. "You couldn't save her then. What makes you think you can save this one now?"
"Because I'm not her," I answer for Erynd. "Because I'm choosing to fight instead of trusting the wrong wolf. And because unlike you, Erynd actually learned from his mistakes."
"Touching." Cadeirin's eyes glow with malice. "But words don't win wars. Power does. And I didn't come alone."
He gestures toward the broken entrance.
More wolves pour in. Not just his pack. Dozens. Hundreds. From different territories. Different Alphas.
And at their head walks Maren.
My sister smiles, golden eyes gleaming. "Hello again, sister. Miss me?"
My stomach drops. "You allied with Cadeirin?"
"Allied? Please." Maren laughs. "I'm using him. Just like I used you. Just like I've used everyone for three thousand years." She spreads her arms. "All these wolves? They think they're here to claim divine power. But really, they're just tools. Bodies to throw at you until you're exhausted. And when you finally collapse from using all that pretty power..." Her smile turns predatory. "I'll be right there to collect what's left."
"You'll have to get through me first," Erynd snarls.
"Oh, I was counting on that." Maren nods and three wolves break from the pack—massive, scarred, moving with coordinated precision. "Meet the Bloodsworn Brothers. Ancient warriors I've kept in my service across multiple lifetimes. They've killed gods before. They'll kill you too."
The three wolves shift into identical men—triplets with dead eyes and weapons that gleam with dark magic.
"This is your last chance," Maren says, her voice echoing with power. "Surrender your essence willingly, and I'll make your death quick. Fight, and I'll make it last for days while I slowly drain every drop of power from your screaming body."
I look at the army surrounding us. Hundreds of wolves. Three divine hunters. Maren with her collected essence. Cadeirin with his ancient hatred.
And beside me, one guardian who's already died trying to protect divine power once before.
We're outnumbered. Outmatched. Surrounded.
Any sane person would surrender.
But I'm done being sane. Done being afraid. Done being the girl who apologizes for existing.
"No," I say simply.
"No?" Maren's eyebrows rise. "You're refusing? You do realize you're going to die, right? That there's no escape? No backup? No miraculous rescue coming?"
"I know." I raise my glowing hands, feeling the full weight of divine power responding to my call. "But I'd rather die fighting as a goddess than live on my knees as a victim. So come on. All of you. Let's see which one of us the Moon really chose."
For a moment, absolute silence.
Then Maren's smile returns, cold as winter. "As you wish. Brothers—kill the guardian. I want him to watch her die, just like last time. Everyone else—take her alive if possible. Dead if necessary. But take her."
The army charges.
Erynd and I stand back to back as hundreds of wolves converge on our position.
"Any brilliant plans?" Erynd asks.
"Try not to die?"
"That's your plan?"
"I'm new at this goddess thing!" I shoot silver light at the first wave of attackers. "Give me a break!"
Despite everything, Erynd laughs. Actually laughs. "You're insane. You know that?"
"Takes one to know one!" I hit three more wolves with precision strikes. "You're the one who waited three thousand years for this!"
The Bloodsworn Brothers reach Erynd. Their fight is brutal, fast, three against one. But Erynd fights like he's been doing this for millennia—because he has. Each move is perfect. Each strike deadly.
But even he can't hold against three immortal warriors forever.
One brother's blade cuts deep into Erynd's side. He grunts, stumbling.
"Erynd!" I scream.
"I'm fine!" He blocks another strike. "Focus on—"
The second brother's sword pierces through his shoulder.
Erynd drops to one knee, blood pouring from his wounds.
"NO!" Power explodes from me in a wave that throws back every wolf within fifty feet. But the brothers stay standing, protected by their dark magic.
Maren walks calmly through the chaos, her golden eyes fixed on me. "Last chance, sister. Surrender, and I'll heal him. Let him live. Refuse, and you'll watch him die slowly. Just. Like. She. Did."
I look at Erynd bleeding on the ground. At the brothers raising their swords for killing blows. At the army regrouping for another charge.
At Maren's triumphant smile.
She thinks she's won. Thinks she's backed me into a corner with no escape.
She's wrong.
Because she forgot one thing.
I'm not just carrying the Moon's essence anymore.
I AM the Moon.
And the Moon doesn't surrender.
I close my eyes and reach deep, deeper than ever before. Not for the power inside me. For the power around me. In the ice. In the ruins. In every fragment of divine essence that ever touched this sacred ground.
"Thessa, what are you doing?" Erynd gasps.
I open my eyes and they're pure silver. No pupils. No iris. Just light.
"Winning," I say in a voice that echoes with divine authority.
The entire ruins light up like a star going supernova.
Every crystal. Every wall. Every drop of frozen water. All of it responding to my call.
The Bloodsworn Brothers scream as silver light burns through their dark magic.
Maren's smile disappears. "No. That's impossible. You can't access the ley lines. Only the original goddess could—"
"I told you." My voice shakes the ground itself. "I'm not a vessel anymore. I'm not a fragment. I'm complete."
The ruins themselves begin to move. Ice reshaping. Walls rising. The sacred ground answering to its new goddess.
And in the center of it all, I stand with Erynd beside me, his wounds already healing from the divine power flooding the chamber.
"Last chance," I tell Maren, turning her own words back on her. "Leave now. Take your army. Take Cadeirin. Take your collected fragments and go build your own power somewhere else. Or stay and face the consequences of threatening a goddess in her own temple."
Maren's face twists with hatred. "You think you've won? This is nothing. A parlor trick. Real power takes centuries to master—"
"Then I guess it's good I absorbed three thousand years of memories." I smile, and it's the goddess's smile. "Because I remember everything. Every spell. Every technique. Every secret the Moon ever knew. And she knew a lot."
I raise my hand and reality itself bends to my will.
The army of wolves? Frozen in place by threads of silver light.
The Bloodsworn Brothers? On their knees, unable to move.
Cadeirin? Pinned against the wall, gasping.
And Maren? Wrapped in chains of pure divine energy that burn through her stolen essence, making her scream.
"This is your future if you keep hunting me," I tell them all. "An eternity of failing. Of losing. Of watching me grow stronger while you stay small and desperate and afraid."
"Or," Erynd adds, standing beside me with his wounds healed and his silver eyes blazing, "you could accept that the Moon chose her. That fate has spoken. That this war you keep starting is one you'll never win."
The silence is absolute.
Then something shifts in the shadows.
The false goddess from before steps out of the darkness, slow clapping.
"Bravo," she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Truly magnificent. You've subdued an army, claimed your power, made your dramatic speech. Very impressive." She stops clapping, her expression turning deadly serious. "But you forgot something important."
"What?" I demand.
She smiles. "I'm not the only ancient god trying to return."
The ground shakes.
Not from my power.
From something beneath the ruins. Something old. Something that makes even Erynd's face go pale.
"No," he whispers. "That's impossible. We sealed him. Three thousand years ago. The Moon herself sealed him—"
"And now that she's dead and her power is scattered across a mortal girl?" The false goddess laughs. "His prison is breaking. And when he rises..." She looks at me with something almost like pity. "Well. Let's just say you're about to learn why the Moon really died. Because she didn't just fight wolves that night. She fought HIM. And even winning nearly destroyed her."
The shaking intensifies. Cracks spread across the floor.
And from deep below, something ancient and terrible starts to laugh.