Though I'd already accepted my role as the leader of the valley, the villages were still voting, and everything was in flux. I felt like I was living my last days in my old life, before one I really couldn't imagine began.

We packed our belongings at the Sacred School and prepared to leave this part of our life in the past. Piercey would keep the apartment available for when visited or if we ever needed refuge, but it would no longer be our home.

We were collecting our weapons from the various training rooms when Piercey sent the message over the neural connection.

Elias, Jax, and Ashton were back.

Nash and I met them in our apartment, along with Piercey, Wren, and Leif.

Elias stood up from the couch when we entered. Jax and Ash already waited by the door.

"You're safe?" I asked.

"We're safe," Elias said. "Our guild is in upheaval still, but the rest of the kingdom is fine. The king kept control."

"Lote's network ran deep." Jax leaned a hand against the wall. "We had some hard battles and there will be more to come. It's been a chance for the guilds to talk, though."

"You'll push them to unite." I nodded at Ashton. "You can do this."

"We can," she said. "We're not giving up until there's peace."

"But is there some kind of stability? You really are safe?"

"Yes." Elias nodded. "We're fine."

"Well," Ashton said. "Elias needs our help. The king isn't happy with some of the decisions he's made."

"They don't need to worry about that, Ash."

"Can we do anything?" Nash asked.

"No." Elias lifted his hands. "Really. I'll be fine. These are my mistakes to deal with. It looks like the king and my guild will be willing to give me another chance considering the circumstances with my parents and Lote's corruption."

He stepped closer to me, his voice quiet and sincere.

"I owe you an apology, Max. I'm sorry." Elias lowered his eyes. "I was floundering and I'd lost Ashton. Instead of doing the work to repair with her, I stole you away from your world. I'm the reason our problems collided and all this happened."

I wanted to tell him he didn't need to apologize and I understood, to ease the pain I saw in him. But I was angry too and I resented that he'd lied to me. "I'll forgive you. Just stop with the hiding and lying."

"I'm done with it. I learned my lesson."

I sighed and grabbed his hand for a moment. "Take care of yourself, Elias."

"You too. And congratulations. Piercey told us you had a beautiful ceremony."

Thinking about the past week made it impossible not to smile. "Thanks."

"Where's the apology for old Leif?" He fell onto the couch and kicked his legs up. "I pulled a muscle in my shoulder because of this ordeal."

"Shut up, Leif." I rolled my eyes at him.

"I was promised beer, too. Where's that?"

I looked over at Piercey. "You promised him beer?"

"I did." Jax nodded his head toward a table beneath the window that held two jugs of beer I hadn't noticed. "We can't stay for too long, but I thought we all needed a good drink after what we went through."

Nash grinned and moved for the table. "Hell yes, we do."

An hour later, everyone had drained the last drop of beer. We sat on the ground and on the couch together, comparing stories of childhood, and trying to figure out what Leif was doing in the other world.

"How has no one seen me?" he asked. "Am I dead?"

"Maybe." Jax hooked his elbows on the ground, leaning back. "Wren is a great warrior over there, though. I wish I could remember her name. I've seen her in a few battles."

"This is ridiculous," Leif said. "What is that lazy asshole doing? He should have made a name for himself."

Nash and Jax belted out the same exact laugh at the same exact time.

"Don't do that," Piercey said. "That's creepy."

The two identical men stared at each other now. "Yeah," Nash said.

"It'll never be normal," I said. "You just have to accept it."

We continued talking until Elias left to use the restroom, and I leaned over to punch Ashton's leg.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"Making me wait so long." I glared at Jax. "I should hit you too."

He gave the same lopsided grin as Nash and for one dizzying moment my mind couldn't process which one was my husband and which one was the man from another world.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Ash sheepishly looked at Jax and my heart erupted with all the longing I knew so well that she felt.

"I fucking knew it," I said. "You're already back together."

"Quiet," Ash said. "Elias doesn't need to know yet."

"He probably knows."

"Max," Ash chastised.

It was making me way too self-aware to have so much exposure to another version of myself.

"You know," Jax said. "While we're all here and on the subject." He pointed between Nash and myself. "Have you ever threatened to kill each other?"

"No," I shouted.

"Yes," Nash said, with a look of incredulity. "You don't remember? You smeared berries in my eyes after we had to leave Leif and Wren behind. Attacked me. There were plenty of threats thrown out around that time."

I pursed my lips, remembering clearly. "Well, that doesn't count. That was before I really knew you."

He snorted. "Wow."

"You were my enemy and I didn't know if I could trust you! You needed to be warned that I would slaughter you if you threatened my people. It's a kindness, really. If you didn't know, crossed me, and had to learn the hard way, wouldn't it be worse?"

Nash hung his arm around me and cocked his head to the side. "I didn't say it wasn't merciful of you to make me aware of your propensity for slaughter, only that you did, in fact, threaten to kill me."

"Fine," I conceded.

When Elias returned, Wren turned her attention to him. "You've traveled to the other two worlds, right?"

"I have, just not as much as this world. In one there's no one with power and in the other half the people have it. That's the worst world. It's in ruins."

"Wow." Wren chewed on her nail. "That's terrible."

"This world caught my interest because it had been reset twice before. Actually, I've given this some thought and I want to amend my position that your previous lives were erased entirely. Max can't travel to them and access them like her past, however, I believe that the quantum power from those lives has impacted this one."

Piercey looked captivated by what Elias had said. "Do you think that's why Max is able to tap into that incredible power?"

"Partially, yeah. She's had experiences no one else has had, especially with Dr. Henderson. But if she's somehow connecting with her past lives, it would explain where that immense well of energy comes from."

I touched my stomach, feeling the warmth of my power buried deep inside me. Could that really be? "Then maybe there's a way to recover those lives. We might have learned things in them that we haven't here."

Piercey looked nervous. "It's toying with that line again. We don't know enough about that man."

Ashton scooted to the edge of her seat. "I think I saw him in my world."

The news shot through my chest like a blast of energy. "What?"

"Yes, it was a glimpse, but I think I saw him. I think he wanted us to know he really can travel the worlds."

That silenced everyone for several seconds. I drew my knees up and leaned against them.

I had to figure out everything I could about that man and get strong enough to beat him if the time ever came. He'd killed some of the most powerful people I'd ever met with a flick.

"I want to learn to travel worlds," I said. "We need to be able to contact each other. The gods are fine with us having some contact."

"Okay." Elias placed his empty cup on the ground. "I'll come back when I have time and try teaching you. We should return home though."

"Be careful," Nash said. "You have a difficult battle ahead of you."

"Same for you all," Ashton said. "We'll ensure that no one trespasses into your world again."

If they did, that stranger might just kill them.

We said our goodbyes to these pieces of ourselves from another world.

One day, I hoped that everything would be set right for all of us.

----------------------------------------

The first month of our kingdom came and passed in what felt like only days.

People had traveled from all over the entire valley to join together for the three day ceremony celebrating the birth of our kingdom and my formal acceptance of Prophet of the Valley. Despite a prolonged debate about changing the title, in the end the people had made the decision for us, because they had lived their entire lives having a Prophet, and there was no stopping them from calling me the Prophet Eclipse.

Before traveling to the mirror of our world, I hadn't thought I was strong enough to lead the Valley. Learning how to let the valley stand on its own while I traveled to Elias's world had been one of the hardest battles I'd ever fought. I wasn't close, yet, to really knowing how to do that. I wouldn't give up though. I'd fight and fight until we had raised up enough warriors, leaders, and protectors to take on any threat. So that when I was gone, the valley could flourish without me.

Wasn't that the true job of a leader? To one day be able to walk away and watch from a distance as the thing you had raised became better than you could make it?

I wanted to learn how to do that.

After running away from the Sacred School as a teenager, I somehow had still become a Prophet.

None of it felt real as I looked down upon the largest crowd I'd ever seen.

Nash stood at my side, honoring his promise to fight every battle beside me. This might have been my hardest one yet.

Marcus, the commander who had been the most likely of everyone else to become ruler of the Valley, spoke to our people in a voice assisted by power. I needed to know him better before I decided to trust him, but the role he had played so far had been pivotal, bringing the political power and charisma to my advisory team that I required.

"We will remake the name Prophet and teach all of Skia Hellig how to run a kingdom." Marcus swooped his arm over the crowd while they cheered. "Our Prophet Eclipse freed us from the brutal hand of Eskel and shed her own blood in countless battles to protect our families and our children from all those who want to harm us. It is our turn to honor her and thank her for her sacrifice. Let all of Skia Hellig hear our cries. We stand together. We stand with Eclipse."

The roar of the crowd erupted like a wild beast, their stomping and clapping making the earth tremble. Nash grabbed my hand and thrust it in the air. The people screamed again.

I belonged on the battlefield with my comrades, living in each swing of my sword, and each arrow I shot. That wasn't what my people needed from me anymore, though. They needed someone to rally around and to lead them through the growing pains of a kingdom that rose from the ashes of a dark and brutal reign.

I wanted to be another person for them, someone born to rule, who had always yearned to have the power to guide, and lead, and govern. That wasn't my story, though. I was a Prophet–in-training turned demon-in-hiding who refused to allow anyone in any world to hurt my people. So I would become the ruler my people needed me to be. I would defend them as a war-time Prophet and carve out safety and security from a Skia Hellig that yearned for blood. And in the greatest twist of irony, I would have the support I needed to also live my life, to be Nash's wife and Elsie's Ma.

With Nash raising my fist before my people and Marcus leading the crowd to roar Eclipse, it felt like the inevitable culmination of a long journey and the beginning of the rest of my life. And yet, I sensed strongly that there was more for me than this. That one day I would live in a moment like this once again, but feel I had been born for it.

I figured some of the greatest rulers were born to lead and that others were brave enough to step into a battle that they were uniquely equipped for.

I would become the Prophet Eclipse, but I wouldn't stop there.

Marcus stepped to the side so I could speak to my people and I imagined that they expected to hear a speech as powerful and viscous as would be befitting the renowned Eclipse.

The people I loved and all I wanted for them and myself flooded my chest. I walked to the center of the stage, my gaze sweeping over the people who were placing their lives in my hands.

I knew what I most needed to say to them.

"This is our valley." My power swept my voice over the field. "And in our valley, we fight without surrender to seize the lives we want to live."