Goddess Of The Underworld (Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 134

Chapter 134

The weight of strategy still hung in the air when a knock, small, uneven, like someone using their knuckles and then forgetting halfway through, sounded at the door. It opened before anyone answered. Elliot led the charge, Macey close behind, arms full of paper and glue. Layah padded after them, dark fur catching the lamplight.

“Look!” Macey announced before she even cleared the threshold. She slapped a sheet of paper onto the table between all the coffee cups and maps. “It’s us. See? That’s you.” She jabbed a finger at a stick figure with wild yellow hair and a scribbled crown.

“That’s me?” Haiden asked, mock offense in his tone.

“Obviously,” she said, rolling her eyes like it was the dumbest question in the world.

Elliot held his own drawing close until I reached for it. Then, shyly, he let me take it. “It’s the Underworld,” he explained. “But I made the sky bigger, so you don’t get squished.”

The paper was all stars, heavy dots of crayon pressed until the wax broke. In the center, a small figure with a round belly and four taller ones around her. He didn’t say who they were, but he didn’t need to. My throat caught anyway.

“Beautiful,” I whispered.

Layah stretched, tail flicking, then tipped her head toward me. The link brushed soft against my mind. “You’ve had a hard day.”

“You were there“, I sent back. You saw it too.

“I did. And I will again. But for now…” She stepped closer, pressed her nose to my palm. Warmth slid through me like a tide rolling back in. Then her shape dissolved, folded, and she was gone, her presence settling back into my skin, back into me.

I exhaled, lighter than I had been all day.

“Hey, Mum,” Elliot said, tugging my sleeve. “Can we put these on the fridge? So you see them every time you get snacks.”

“Yes,” I said, scooping him into my lap. “Every single time.”

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Chapter 134

Noah leaned over my shoulder to study the drawings, pressing a kiss to the top of my

head. “Best art this house has ever seen.”

And just like that, the air shifted. Not war, not witches, not fear. Just crayons, glue, and little hands reminding me what we were really fighting for.

Xavier’s voice slid into my head through the bond, warm and sure. “They voted. Apparently, it’s their time with you. No objections accepted.”

Normal in all the best ways, even with tension riding under it.

91%

Xavier spread a rough map over the dining table, weighting corners with mugs. “Rota’s clean. North fence doubled, west culvert sealed until we can sweep again. Zion’s men run second watch.”

Levi laid his notebook beside it. “Envoy meeting tomorrow. They’ll expect us at dawn. I’ve marked the clearing. No distractions between now and then.”

Haiden leaned on the chair back, hair damp from a run. “Felix checks in today. Says he wants to set anchor early, let us test it before your shift.” His eyes flicked to my belly, then back up. “I told him he’s got a week’s worth of packing into a day. Man’s stubborn, but he’ll be ready.”

Noah slid a plate in front of me, toast cut just the way he knows I like it. “And we don’t let the witches set the pace. Salira thinks she can scare us with parlor tricks and borrowed wolves. We show her our line, and we hold it.”

I ate, even though my stomach was tight. Because they watched me. Because I promised my mum. Because this pup deserved more than fear. When the table cleared, we split by habit. Haiden and Noah to the border, Xavier and Levi to the wards, Elliot and Macey passed off into Mum’s capable orbit. And me? I stood a beat longer, hand on the map,

tracing the path that would bring us face to face with every storm waiting on the horizon.

Today we prepared. Tomorrow, we fought.

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