Chapter 23

Flora’s P.O.V

I knocked on Ezra’s door once again.

I was very much aware that it was past two in the morning and she must be tired and asleep, especially after the ceremony tonight, but I didn’t…just couldn’t wait till morning to discuss this with Ezra.

I raised my hand once more to knock on her ornate mahogany door, but before I could rasp my knuckles on the wood, the door opened to expose a tired looking Ezra in a bath robe and her hair wet. The scent of her lavender shampoo told me she had just gotten out of the shower.

“Flora?” Ezra looked at me in confusion. “What brings you here at this hour?”

“I need to talk to you…its urgent.” I told her, the weight of the book unusually heavy inside the bag.

“Of course.” Ezra moved aside to let me in and I snuck into her room, feeling much more relieved after she had shut the door behind us.

“What did you want to talk about?” Ezra asked once we were standing face to face, in front of her fireplace. The warmth of the fire made the icy grip on my heart release little by little. Or maybe it was the feeling I got of being safe whenever I was near Ezra.

Taking a deep breath, I took the book out of the bag and showed it to Ezra. Her eyes widened in horror immediately.

“Why is that book with you?” She looked at me sharply, and for an instant…it felt like the eyes of a warrior rather than a priestess. “Flora?”

“Before the rogue attacks…you once told me to let you know when I remember something…anything that belonged to my past.” I told her, watching her reaction closely. “But why didn’t you ever tell me that you had known all along? Both you and Malachi.”

Ezra sucked in a deep breath. “Flora-”

“No!” I snapped at her. “Everyone here has been lying to me from the instant I arrived! You, Malachi and God knows who else! Why, Ezra? What’s this secret that everyone is hiding from me? Why was I kept in the dark for two whole years before I remembered that Clay-the rogue Alpha and I, used to be lovers.”

Ezra’s eyes widened as she took a step towards me. “You got your memories back?”

“Ezra! That’s not-”

“How much?” She took a hold of my shoulders and shook them lightly. “How much do you remember?”

“Not much.” I told her truthfully, swallowing the lump in my throat. “I have gaps in my memories still…but I remember my childhood in ReedStone pack. I remember my parents, my older brother and…I remember Clay.”

“Then you still have a long way to go.” Ezra let go of my shoulders and turned towards the fireplace. “I’m sorry, my child. For keeping you in the dark till now and for the fact that I’ll have to continue to do so in the future. You are a very special child, Flora, because you’ve made it this far. But this road you walk is filled with thorns and you must walk alone.”

“Then tell me one thing,” I asked her. “Ever since Andre told us about the Blood Moon Ritual, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.”

Ezra gave me another stern look. “I should be asking you how you got inside the restricted section of the library, but I already know the answer to that. Curiosity isn’t always a boon, my child. And one day, it might just get you killed.”

“At least I’ll die knowing the truth.”

“The truth?” Ezra turned to face me once more. “The truth isn’t always liberating. And finding the truth isn’t always the solution.”

Before I could react or understand what was going on, Ezra had snatched the book right out of my hands and thrown it into the fireplace.

“Ezra!” I went to go after it, but she caught my hand in hers and yanked me back with a strength I wouldn’t usually associate with Ezra.

The book caught fire almost instantly and the rate at which the fire engulfed the book was phenomenal; the heat in the room no longer feeling comfortable to me.

“Why?” I looked at her in betrayal, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. Malachi and Ezra both were hiding secrets and they didn’t want me to find out what that was. No one did.

“Some secrets must never come to light.” She shook her head, letting go of my hand and massaging the spot she held with a lighter touch. “I know you feel betrayed…confused…I can only wish I could help, Flora. But I can’t.”

“Stop talking in riddles!” I jerked my hand away from her. “All you and Malachi have done ever since I arrived here were lie and manipulate and hide the truth from me! How low can the two of you go? How much longer do I have to stand this?”

I shook my head and moved away from her. “My family probably thinks I’m dead! My brother…my pack must be going crazy looking for me! I’ve lost the man I loved and now I have a mate that I feel no attachment to! My life is in shambles and all I get in return is more lies and more manipulation!”

“Those are very strong words, Flora.” Ezra’s voice was sad and it almost made me change my mind about this confrontation; but I held on. “If you cannot tell me anything else, the least you can do is tell me about the Blood Moon Ritual.”

Ezra clenched her hands at her sides, closing her eyes temporarily before looking at me with determination. “Will it make up for everything? If I told you about the book, the rituals? Will it make up for the half-truths and the secrets?”

“Not even close.” My answer was instant. “But it’s the least you can do. My gut feeling keeps telling me this is important. This…ritual, it’s connected to me and Clay and it can be the reason why my memories were lost in the first place.”

Ezra sighed and looked me straight in the eyes. “You’re not wrong…but you’re not completely correct either. For now, riddles are all I have for you, but you have to understand that I have a lot to lose as well, if I decide to help you and no matter what you think I’m capable of, know that I’m always on your side and that is one truth that even the Goddess cannot change.”

It would be so easy to believe her…to choose to believe her. But how could I do so again, after everything I had learned in the last few days? The only way out was by getting my memories back and I needed to get them back fast.

“Tell me about the rituals.” I asked her one last time. “I already saw the ones that suggested a new beginning and start of a new life or new relationship. I’m guessing the relationship part is the reason why Andre was interested in letting me know about the ritual. But there were pages torn inside the book and I want to know what they held.”

Ezra looked at the fireplace once more, watching the last of the pages turn into ash as the fires consumed them greedily. I felt at a loss, like so much information, so much knowledge had just gone to waste.

“The sun will be engulfed by darkness, and the moon drenched in blood, and then the day of longing of the Goddess comes to an end…A sacrifice of blood.” Ezra spoke almost inaudibly and if I didn’t have superior hearing, I wouldn’t have caught it either. “The blood of true lovers who have passes the tests of the Moon Goddess. They must be sacrificed to the Goddess.”

Her words had a chill run down my spine. True love’s sacrifice? Why would anyone, least of all the Goddess, want to sacrifice true lovers? And what did it even mean? The Goddess had decided upon mates for every wolf the instant they are born…that itself guaranteed true love…then what did the prophecy even mean?

“What it is for?” I asked instead, because I knew the answer to my original question would be another riddle. “Why does the Moon Goddess of all people…need a sacrifice of blood?”

“To wake up the one person the Goddess longs for…to wake up her beloved Endymion.”