Vera's POV

Six months had passed since that fateful night Selene died, and I was born. The safe house Darius had forwarded me to was my personal training area, where other slaves of the light taught me how to harness the power flowing within me. Now I stood on the edge of what was home before, looking over the pack lands I'd grown to know.

Crescent Pack looked no different from a distance, but my enhanced senses detected subtle variations. A stench of terror clung to the colony like a mist. Pack members moved about with restless energy, glancing nervous looks over their shoulders as if anticipating attack. Something had changed in this colony, and not for the best.

I had my nomad healer's pack slung over my shoulder and headed down the slope. My appearance was changed enough that even wolves that had known me well would take some time to recognise me. My hair was longer and darker now, my face shape had shifted in the change, and I moved differently as well. Where Selene had been quiet and innocent, Vera was cautious and vigilant.

Border guards stopped me at the border of the pack. Two young wolves I recognised, but who did not recognise me, their hands on swords.

"Speak your business," the taller snarled.

"I'm a travelling healer," I said, my voice steady. "I heard your pack was having some health problems. Figured I could help."

It was not entirely a lie. During training, I had heard whispers from other domains of bizarre sickness spreading among members of Crescent Pack. Wolves vanishing into inexplicable comas, others breaking out into violence. The attacks were akin to what Darius had told me of shadow realm manipulation.

"We don't need outside help," the second guard said, but I could sense doubt in his eyes.

I let a tiny slice of truth-forcing power into my words. "Your pack healer is overwhelmed, isn't she? Too many patients, too many questions with no answers. I could be of use."

The guards glanced at one another. My power worked quietly, suggesting the possibility rather than forcing it. They wanted to think that help was available.

"Wait here," the tall one said. "I will go inquire of the Beta."

My heart constricted at Kane's name, but I kept my tone even. "Of course."

I stretched out my senses to the pack community and waited. The familiar energy signatures were all there – Corwin's strong Alpha presence, the elderly council members, the families I'd known since childhood. But underlying it all was something else interwoven, something that caused my skin to prickle. Dark energy that had a flavour of hunger and chill.

The guard returned with permission to travel, but he would not let me go by myself. Crossing the settlement, I could see how many of the pack's members were ill. Pale faces, dark rings under their eyes, a general look of tiredness that spoke of sleepless nights and round-the-clock worry.

"Something's been going on here," I told the guard quietly.

"Odd things. Folks are getting ill for nothing. Others are violent, like they're no longer themselves."

He scanned the area nervously. "Some people say that it's a curse. Retribution for what happened to our old Luna."

The irony wasn't wasted on me. The pack believed they were being punished for killing an innocent woman, when in fact it was the man who'd set her up.

"Your old Luna?"

"Murdered the prince six months ago. Alpha had her done away with." The guard's voice was tinged with regret.

"But since then, nothing has been right. Makes you wonder if maybe she was innocent after all."

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from responding. Kane's version of events was being questioned by people, and that could be my advantage. But I needed to be careful and not reveal too much too quickly.

The guard brought me to the pack infirmary, which was a plain wooden structure that had been expanded since I'd last visited. The old pack healer within was thin and grey-haired, with loose hair coiffed around a face furrowed into concern.

"Another healer?" she asked when she saw me. "Bless the goddess, I'm drowning in these cases."

"I'm Vera," I said, holding out my hand. "I cure unusual diseases."

"MARGARET," she said, reaching for my hand with gratitude. "And bizarre is not quite the term to apply to what we're treating."

She walked me through the medical ward, presenting me to patient after patient with unexplainable symptoms. Some were comatose so far down they would never respond. Others fought at restraints, rolling their eyes with unnatural rage. A few endlessly muttered in tongues that sounded non-human.

"When did it start?" I inquired, even though I already knew.

"Perhaps three months ago. Started with one or two cases only, but it's spreading." Margaret slapped her hands on her apron, leaving stripes of exhaustion. "I've tried everything – herbs, potions, old remedies. Nothing works."

Three months ago would have been approximately the time that Kane had started to accelerate his agenda. The timetable coincidentally matched what Darius had told me concerning shadow realm interference.

"Any other unusual occurrences? Unusual deaths, people acting out of character?"

Margaret's face fell. "The former Luna's execution was intended to mark the start of it all. And then the case of Prince Marcus's murder was reopened last month."

My heart froze. "Reopened?"

"Alpha Corwin found discrepancies in the proof. Started questioning whether his wife was really guilty." Margaret had a low voice. "Beta Kane tried to discourage the investigation, but the Alpha wouldn't give up."

I hadn't been looking for this news. Corwin was starting to doubt Kane's story. That would be useful, but it also meant things were riskier. Kane would be desperate to cover his tracks.

"What did the Alpha find?"

"I don't know all of it, but rumour has it, some of the witnesses recanted. They said they'd been coerced into lying." Margaret glanced around nervously. "Folks are afraid to discuss it openly. The Beta's been. Short-tempered lately. Quick to anger."

The rest of the day was taken up with examining patients and recording. The symptoms were all symptoms of shadow realm contamination – the comas, the flashbacks, the strange speech, all fitting what I'd learned during training. Kane was testing these people as laboratory rats, probably to open a wider doorway between worlds.

When night came, Margaret invited me to remain in the healers' quarters. I agreed, realising that I had to be inside the pack's defences to take in information effectively.

That night, I slipped out of the medical compound and cut through the dark settlement. My super senses guided me to where I'd felt the dark energy coming from previously. It led me to a building I'd never seen before – a stone structure that oozed evil as a fire gives off heat.

I circled the building carefully, noting the guards posted at regular intervals. Whatever was inside, Kane wasn't taking any chances with security. But I needed to know what he was hiding.

I used the shadow-walking techniques I'd learned back at the safe house, merging with the shadows and slipping by the first guard. The skill still felt uncharacteristic, as if becoming momentarily insubstantial, but it worked.

Inside, I found something that froze blood in my veins. The middle room had been converted into a kind of ritual chamber, with rings carved into the stone floor and filled with black liquid that stank of death. Candles made from what seemed to be human fat illuminated the walls with unhealthy light and were covered in symbols that throbbed to look upon directly.

But the middle room's cage made my breath catch.

Three pack members I had known were held in iron bars, but they were no longer themselves. Their eyes glowed with silver light, and dark things slithered beneath their skin as if alive. They'd been possessed by shadow world beings, been used as hosts for things that did not belong in our world.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" a voice I recognised said behind me.

I glanced back to find Kane standing in the doorway, his blue eyes aglow with victory. He was thinner, paler than I remembered – dark veins visible on his skin. The corruption was changing him, too.

"The transformation process is almost complete," he continued, stepping into the room. "I shall be able to transform populations as opposed to individuals soon."

I kept my face blank, but my heart was racing. "I'm just a travelling healer. I don't have the foggiest idea what you're talking about."

Kane laughed once more, the sound like breaking glass. "Did you really think I wouldn't recognise you, Selene? Or would you like me to address you as Vera these days?"

My blood turned icy. He knew me.

"The ritual changed your appearance, but not the signature of your soul. I've been waiting for you since the old crone set you free." Kane moved closer, and I could feel the craziness in his eyes building. "My new friends taught me how to pierce magical appearances."

"Your friends?"

"Bodies as strong and smart as your little brain could not comprehend them. They've shown me the truth – our world is weak, vulnerable, ready to be devoured by something larger." Kane motioned towards the possessed pack members. "These three are just the beginning. Soon, all the wolves in the territory will belong to the shadow world."

"Like you?"

"I'll be their general here. Commanding armies of turned wolves, their power extending over all the packs." Kane's smile was absolute insanity. "And you, lovely Selene, will be my first willing convert."

"I'll never be your servant."

"Won't you?" Kane held out a small crystal that hummed with dark energy. "This contains the concentrated power of shadow realm energy. One touch, and you'll know the loveliness of surrender."

He stepped up to me, the crystal glinting more brightly in his hand. I drew back, but there was nowhere to run. The crazed pack members trapped in the cage were straining through the bars, trying to grab me with claw-fingered hands.

"Don't fight it, Selene. Let the darkness take you. Let it show you how wonderful it feels to worry less about right and wrong."

The crystal was inches from my cheek when the building doors blew open. Corwin stormed in, surrounded by a band of his devoted warriors, his expression twisted with fury and betrayal.

"Back away from her, Kane!" he thundered.

Kane spun around, a flash of actual surprise crossing his face. "Alpha. How did you-"

"I pursued the stench of corruption." Corwin's eyes swept the ritual room, the pack members who were demon-possessed, the black glyphs scribbled on the walls. "Goddess save us, what did you do?"

"What needed doing?" Kane snarled. "What you were too weak to do yourself."

"Weak?" Corwin's words dropped to a killing whisper. "You murdered my brother. You used my wife. You've poisoned our pack with shadow realm rubbish. And you call me weak?"

Kane stood over him, the crystal held tight in his hand, its black light rising to wildly shining brilliance. "I say you're obsolete."

He flung the crystal at Corwin's feet, and it broke, releasing a cloud of unadulterated shadow which spread itself on the floor like living smoke.

"Run!" I shouted, but too late.

The shadow-smoke engulfed Corwin first, its fingers clamping about his ankles like hungry tentacles. His eyes grew wide with horror as darkness slithered up his body, hunting for his heart.

Vera's POV

The smoke-darker wrapped around Corwin's legs like chains of life, and I watched my former husband's face contort with pain as the darkness crawled up his body. Not a moment's hesitation, and I leapt forward and grasped his arm, imbuing him with my priestess energy.

Silver flames danced off my fingers, consuming the black tendrils before they had a chance to surround his heart. Corwin recoiled, choking, as Kane berated me with rage and amazement.

"Impossible," Kane growled. "Shadow world magic cannot be countered by"

"By power of the moon goddess?" I decided, unleashing my real potential for the first time since I'd come back. Silver fire burned on my fingertips, fiery enough to make the demon-possessed pack members in the cage scream and cover their eyes. "You've lost the ancient ways, Kane. Lost that light will overcome darkness."

Kane's men approached us, but Corwin's men held their own already. The room of ritual was reduced to chaos when wolves fought each other while shadow-smoke swept the air like toxic fog.

"Fall back!" Corwin commanded his men. "Get out!"

But Kane was not finished yet. He drew out another crystal, bigger and pulsing with malevolent power. "If I cannot recreate you, I shall destroy you all!"

He waved the crystal back and forth through the air, cursing under his breath in a language that stung my ears. The air between us began to fray, revealing to us glimpses of another place beyond. A place of interminable darkness where hungry things waited to consume our essence.

"He's opening an open portal," I cried out, recalling the ceremony from training. "If that portal sustains, creatures of the shadow world will flow through in thousands."

Corwin slapped his hand onto my shoulder, his grey eyes beseeching. "Stop it."

"Maybe. But I'll have a little time."

"You'll get it." Corwin turned to his soldiers. "Form a perimeter! Nothing gets through to her!"

Outside, his warriors were grouped in a shield wall, and I knelt on the blood-soaked floor with my hands braced against the stone. The ground of the building thrummed with black magic, but beneath the corruption, I sensed the untainted earth of home. The wild magic that had lain here for centuries before Kane started to interfere.

I stretched further, calling on the power that Thalia had granted me. Silver light flowed through the stone, seeking out Kane's ritual circle anchor points. If I could destroy them, the portal would be obliterated.

But Kane noticed what I was doing. "Kill her!" he shouted to his men. "Kill her now!"

Three of Kane's men charged through Corwin's line, swords raised to slay me. I couldn't fight back and risk disrupting the ritual, couldn't hold them off and keep the rest at bay.

And then Corwin appeared, striding with the silent killing precision of a prime Alpha. His sword took down the first attacker before he had time to blink. The second warrior's sword scraped innocently against Corwin's armour as my ex-husband plunged a dagger into his heart. The third took just a fraction of a second longer than it was worth, and Corwin moved in to catch him by the throat and spin his neck in one smooth motion.

"Keep going," Corwin told me, bending over me like a guardian angel. "I won't let them touch you."

Now the portal was opening, and dark flashings of the shadow world beyond. Something was moving there – things that were torment to look at directly, things of unvarnished hunger and cruelty. Some had already begun fighting their way through, their outlines assuming shape in our world.

My silver light flooded over the ritual circle, but Kane's magic fought back with ferocity. Black energy lashed back at me in powerful sweeps, trying to break my focus. Blood ran down my nose as magical backlash tore through my head.

"It's not working," I gasped. "The anchor points are too heavily defended."

"Then to the root," Corwin growled. He looked past the wild melee to where Kane muttered near the widening portal, its energy increasing by the second. "We bring him down together."

"You can't reach him. The shadow magic will-

"Not if you protect me." My eyes locked with Corwin's, and for an instant, I saw again the man I had loved so many years before. "I trust you, Vera. Whatever you are or whatever you call yourself, I trust you absolutely."

He still did not understand that I was Selene. Even watching my powers, fighting with me, he thought that I was a mysterious healer who had come to help his pack. The irony was almost too awful to bear.

"Then together," I said, standing and taking his offered hand.

We burst into the room battle-worn, silver fire erupting all around us in a sheath of defence. Kane's followers tried to keep us back, but my strength flared them off like dawn mist. Pack members had in the cage spread along the bars with knife-fingered hands, but Corwin's sword repelled them.

Kane saw us coming and placed his portal magic in our path. A wave of purified shadow struck my silver shield, trying to tear it off. The power sent me off kilter, but I kept the shielding in place.

"Your power is great," Kane shouted, his normally abnormally warped voice as he spun more of the shadow plane. "But you're still only a single priestess against powers you can't even start to comprehend."

"She is not alone," snarled Corwin, advancing on Kane with supernatural haste.

Kane escaped the Alpha's blow only by rolling out of its path towards the portal. The movement left him dizzy from staying alert through the ritual, and the portal between worlds began to destabilise wildly.

"Fool!" Kane spat. "If the unstable portal blows when it does, it'll turn half the forest to ash!"

"Then you should have thought of that before trying to destroy our world," Corwin snapped, coming forward.

But Kane was right that there was risk. I felt the magical energies building for a blast that would flatten everything for miles in both directions. The gateway was too unstable to be closed properly, too hazardous to remain open.

There was only one solution, and to lose it would be to lose all that I had won in the previous six months.

"Corwin, hide!" I shouted.

I did not have time to wait for his response. Gathering all the strength that Thalia had given me, I launched headlong into the unstable portal. Silver light met shadow magic in a shock that wracked the very fabric of the universe.

The explosion was unthinkably terrific. Every molecule in my body seemed to be torn asunder and reorganised in the wrong location. I was in a state beyond existence where the rules no longer applied, where up was irrelevant and down was irrelevant, and time both moved on and went backwards simultaneously.

But somehow, I held it together. My resolve was the pivot that kept the gateway ajar until it closed harmlessly. The gateway between worlds crashed shut in blinding blaze, taking most of the energy I had accumulated along with it.

I landed on rock terrain, my raw-magic flesh cracking with backlash. Every breath had the flavour of shattered glass in my mouth, and I had blood on my tongue. But we survived. The portal was closed. Kane's ritual had failed.

"Vera!" Corwin fell beside me, his hands inches from my battered form. "You're going to be all right. Don't die on me."

I tried to speak but could only croak out a weak hack. Closing the portal had drained most of my powers that were augmented powers. I was still superhumanly powerful compared to an ordinary human, but the god-level strength that I had briefly accessed no longer existed at my command.

"Where's Kane?" I managed to whisper.

Corwin's expression darkened. "Lost. Vanished when the portal collapsed. Likely escaped to regroup with what remains of his forces."

I winced to sit up, ignoring the pain that sprinted through my body. The ritual room was in ruins around us. The bane pack members in the cell lay over, the shadow creatures appearing to be banished when their anchor died. Corwin's soldiers were attending to the wounded while they cleared the building for other threats.

"We have to get you to the healers," Corwin said, starting to lift me.

"Wait." I held on to his arm. "There is something you need to know. Something about the death of your wife. About what really happened that night."

Corwin froze. "What are you talking about?"

"Spiked it. The whole – the poison, the clues, the witnesses. Spiked it to simulate that she killed Marcus." I had to push the words through the pain. "Selene was innocent."

For a moment, Corwin's face was completely blank. And then anger and mourning wrestled across his face as he realised the full weight of my words.

"How do you know this?"

"Because I've spent months reaching the real murderer. Because I've overheard people believe the truth when they did not know I was listening." I regarded him directly. "Your wife died for nothing."

Corwin's hands were shaking. "She's dead. I killed her. I sentenced to death an innocent woman because I was deceived by a traitor's lies."

"She's." I started to attempt to tell him the truth, to attempt to make him understand what I was. Words stuck in my throat as I beheld the raw devastation in his eyes. This was a man who had six months' worth of guilt from murdering his beautiful wife. Learning she was alive but a whole different woman might just be enough to destroy the last shreds of sanity.

"I apologise," I said to him instead. "I'm so sorry you found out like this."

Corwin stood up, his countenance locked in a mask of cold determination. "Kane will pay for this. I don't care if I have to pursue him to the ends of the earth. He will pay for what he has done."

"Corwin-"

"No." His voice was cold as winter air. "He killed everything that I cared about. He made me a killer. He poisoned my pack and attempted to open doors to demons." Corwin's grey eyes flamed with the anger of a true Alpha. "When I get my hands on him, death will be too kind for him."

I remained quiet and observed as my former husband walked away, his shoulders squared in determination and pain. I wanted to scream at him, to tell him what I was. But what would it do? Selene had walked in on all the important things. Vera was an entirely different individual.

And Vera needed to head into work.

I pushed myself up, groaning on the edges of my remaining strength. I was weaker, but not powerless. I could still discern truth from deception, could still pry honesty out of someone. It would have to be enough.

Because Kane was still somewhere out there, trying to decide what he was going to do next. The portal could be shut, but he had proven that he could open others. And the next time, he might not make the same mistakes.

I was limping towards the chamber door when I heard it – a sound that caused me to shudder in my own blood. Slow, rhythmic clapping coming from the darkness at the back of the room.

"Immersive," a voice I recognised said. "I have to say, I didn't think you'd ever manage."

A form stepped out of the blackness, gaunt and tall with eyes that shone like silver in the shadowy light. Darius smiled at me with teeth that were too sharp, but now something else about him. Something that called my last remnant of power in from automatic revulsion.

"You," I gasped.

"Me," he told me amiably. "Though I suppose I owe you one. Your little display of bravery just gave me what I needed."

"What are you speaking of?"

Darius lifted his hand, and I saw something that made my heart freeze. Spirals of silver magic coiled around his fingers – my magic, the energy I'd relinquished in closing the gateway.

"Did you really believe closing one little door would stop what's coming?" Darius bellowed with laughter, a laughter that shook the temple like ringing bells. "You've just given me so much priestess power I can open a portal even you can't close."

I stared at him in growing horror as the realisation dawned. "You're not a good guy. You're collaborating with Kane."

"Working for him? Oh, my darling Vera." Darius smiled wider as he showed rows of needle-point fangs. "I am his master."