Aria’s POV
The voice answered from the heart of the altar.
I am the source.
Golden energy exploded outward. My mother collapsed. I dropped to my knees beside her, even though I knew I wasn’t really there.
“Mom!”
She looked straight at me. For one impossible second, I thought she could see me, but the light in her eyes was already fading. Blood ran from the corner of her mouth. The power recoiled, vicious and final, and took her with it.
Everything shattered.
The altar. My mother’s broken body. The golden light. All of it detonated into blackness.
I woke screaming.
“ELONA!”
I shot upright. Agony ripped through my chest like claws. My lungs seized. For several wild heartbeats, I didn’t know where I was, only that my daughter was gone and the same force that killed my mother was sti
