My heart suddenly started to ache. I felt as if my soul were being tugged, pulled.
“That is your husband, calling you back to him. Begging me to let you go. He keeps saying ‘please.’”
“That doesn’t sound like Xander.”
“He has also threatened me several times if you do not return.”
“Oh. That’s definitely him,” I said, and she laughed again.
I rubbed my chest. Would I always feel this way? Would I not be happy until Xander had finished his life and joined me? Would I always long for him?
“Euthalia, did you know that I made him for you? You are the savior, and I had to create a mate who could protect you. Keep you from harm. Someone who could take your burdens as his own, wear your scars on his body. Your husband is that person. It’s why he’s goddess-blessed.”
Oh. That made my heart hurt worse. “Did you create me, too?”
“I knew that I needed a savior. Someone who could protect Ilion. So I made you in my image. To be like me. Which means you have my strengths, but it also means you have my weaknesses.”
“You have weaknesses?”
“I have things I struggle with.”
“Like what you did to Ajax,” I said.
“Yes. I also have to learn and grow, just as you do.” She turned her head slightly to the right. “Alexandros is calling me by name. He is claiming his rights as a husband to have you returned, telling me how much he loves you. The life he wants to have with you. Reminding me of your love bond. Saying that he needs you.”
The ache in my chest only got worse.
“It has been a very long time since I have felt a prayer so pure and so powerful.”
Tears fell down my cheeks. “I wish I could see him, one last time.”
The goddess studied me thoughtfully. “There is a way for you to return to him, if that is your desire. You are the savior. You can save yourself.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
My heart leapt with hope. It sounded too good to be true. “What do you mean?”
The goddess pointed at my left shoulder, and the imprint there began to warm slightly.
“You bear my mark, with all the leaf symbolizes. Fertility, hope, growth, life, abundance, peace. And, most importantly to you, rebirth.”
My pulse quickened. “How?”
“There’s still one trial of the elements left.”
“I don’t understand. You’re saying I can be alive again? I thought I had to die to save Ilion and Locris.”
Another indulgent smile from the goddess. “The prophecy did decree it to be so, yes. And my nephew is the god of prophecy, and his words must be fulfilled. But it didn’t say anything about changing the order of events or about you returning after you had died.”
There was a popping sound and then Luna appeared.
Lia!
She flapped her wings and landed on the goddess’s shoulder.
“Luna? How did you get here? And how is it she can talk to me now?”
“Your aether dragon had to grow large enough that she could speak and access her other abilities. Sleeping expedites her growth. Which wasimportant because aether dragons can portal to other places. Including moving between realms. Like this one and the one you just came from.”
