Oracle: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Series (A Diana Hawthorne Supernatural Mystery Book 1), Carissa Andrews [read my book .txt] 📗

way everyone was so happy for us—thrilled we had found a way to be together, despite the odds. “You were meant to be with me forever—you weren’t meant to die. Apollo approved of our union—but Iphitheme was jealous and heartbroken. She wanted to prove to me—to all the other priestesses you were mortal, just like they were…”

“So, a priestess murdered me?”

“Yes,” I say, my mind instantly flashing back to the standing pool inside the cavern—the blood on my hands. His blood. His limp body. I relive the rushing memories from his consciousness as they departed his dying cells. His shock, desperation, and horror when he realized what was happening.

“Wow—this is…it’s a lot to take in,” he says, staring out at the mountain view in front of him.

“It really is.”

We sit in silence for a few moments, absorbing the revelations and taking in the moonlit view. I wish I could gift him some of the memories I have—some of the insights and feelings I know to be true.

“Because I lost you, I couldn’t deal. I was completely lost. It was as though my whole world was imploding because what I was experiencing—it no longer made sense. My world no longer made sense.”

Blake tilts his head, watching me from the side of his eye, but doesn’t say anything.

I continue, “I was—distraught. I enacted a powerful ritual to remove my memories—all memories of you. All traces of you that I could. The symbol in your dreams—the symbol that continued to haunt my mind and put an immense drain on my abilities—it’s Mnemosyne’s mark. I didn’t expect it to be as powerful as it was—and I certainly didn’t expect how far-reaching it was. I mean, I couldn’t get a single read on you at all—”

“Ah—this mark—that’s why you struggled with reading me.”

I nod.

“Talk about weird physics. Or metaphysics?” he shakes his head. “I meant to ask you—how is it you can read me now? Or know any of this? What happened to you in the cavern?”

“I was being pulled another direction—the entire time we were in the cave, it was as though the ritual was calling me back,” I say. “It was powerful.”

Suddenly, memories from the full moon ritual with Demetri flood my consciousness. I see the circle we cast, the Violet Flame of Transmutation, Morgan and Gabe and her map to find her final five guardians. I didn’t think it had worked for me—but I was wrong. The intentions of how we manipulated its magic to transmute and transform the energy surrounding my memories—it had worked all along. It just needed to guide me to my path so I could fulfill its purpose. Time had to run its course and free will had to play its roll.

“So, you…went hunting for something? Is that why I couldn’t find you?”

“Yes—I know I should have been focused on the girls, but when you’ve spent millennia trying to unlock your mind—and you realize you might be close—”

Overwhelmed by the intense desire to bring him current, to explain myself in a way that can’t be explained by words, I take a breath and allow the full capacity of my God-granted gifts to flow through me. These abilities—they’ve always been more than just a simple psychic ability—they’re powers in their own right and I’ve never even given them the attention they deserve.

Placing my middle two fingers alongside Blake’s temple the way Morgan did for me, I close my eyes, summoning the power to relay some of the details I’ve lived through these past few weeks. The hunt for Esther, the realization there were other girls. I show him the ritual with Demetri, Morgan, and Gabe—the Violet Flame. The insights to Mnemosyne’s symbol and the ritual of drinking from the River of Lethe. My heartache as I found him dead in the cave and the way I feel now that I know.

The memories rush through me, flooding from me into his consciousness. I show him the thread tying his soul through the ages—directly to back to Anastasios. I gift him the years of memories we shared together—our childhood. The time we spent together by the Gulf of Corinth—first as young children. Our first kiss by the water’s edge. Our moonlit wedding and the gifts granted by Apollo. Everything I feel and have felt throughout the long, lonely existence of my life.

Blake pulls back, his eyes wide, but dazzling in amazement.

He takes my outstretched hand, placing it over his heart.

“I—I don’t even know how to describe—” he begins.

“You don’t have to. I just, I needed you to see and feel what I do.”

I search his eyes, wanting to see at soul level what impact this may have had.

After a moment, he licks his lower lip and takes a deep inhalation. “That was—an experience I will never forget. Well, obviously. I mean, I had no idea—no clue something like that was possible, let alone everything you’ve been through. I mean, I was following you. I heard what you were saying about being the reincarnation of your husband and while I understand and felt something, I dunno, resonate in your words…I guess—it’s nothing like the experience of it.”

A slow smile slides across my lips. “Tell me about it.”

His eyes fall to the ground, as he clutches my hand to his body—his eyes going distant and far away. We sit in silence for a moment, taking in the moonlit sights and sounds.

“I think I hold a missing piece to your puzzle,” he whispers.

“What do you mean?”

“When you—whatever you just did knocked some things loose for me. Memories of my own. At least, I think that’s what they are.”

His eyes narrow as he stares at the rocky ground, trying to recollect.

My heart hitches and I lean forward. “Can you explain?”

“I remember you—us. I remember our connection and my side of the exchanges you sent me. But…I was never gifted immortality, Diana. Or should I say, Amara?” he says, grinning.

Hearing my birth name—or rather, his nickname for my birth name, Amarantham, pulls me up short. It’s