“Luna can take me back?”
Of course.
“It was you who brought Luna to me, wasn’t it?” I asked.
“While I’m not allowed to directly intervene, we are permitted to test mortals from time to time while in disguise. And those found worthy can be given assistance.”
What if I hadn’t stopped to help that elderly woman? I wouldn’t be able to return to Xander now. The goddess had set all this up. Every intricate step that led from one thing to the next and ended here.
“But it is up to you to direct Luna,” she said.
“How do I do that?”
Dea put her hand over her chest. “Use the bond. Even now, do you feel it connecting you to Alexandros?”
“Yes.”
“It’s eternal. No matter what happens, the two of you are bound. Soulmates. One soul split into two bodies. You will always find each other. Follow that connection back to him, if that is what you choose. But also know that you could choose to stay here.”
I knew what I would be going back to. War. Death. Pain. Destruction.
But all that paled in comparison to Xander.
“You have been worried,” the goddess said. “About what you must do in your role as savior. In taking lives.”
I nodded.
“All life is precious to me. Even those people who seem beyond redemption. But I have given my daughters the power of life and made them guardians of it. To create it, and to destroy it, if that is their choice. If that is what’s needed.”
Luna flitted over to me and I held her in my arms.
Are you ready to leave?
“Wait.” I was going back to Xander. We could have a life together, but the goddess had told me that I had to fulfill my promise to her. “Can Io run the temple in Locris?”
Maybe she would be so happy that I was back she would be willing to do it.
The goddess walked over to me. She reached out with her hands and her fingers lightly brushed my forehead. Her touch filled me with such power, such love, that it was almost more than I could bear.
“Io will take over the temple in Ilion. She does not wish to marry a man, nor does she desire children of her own. Every living thing is her child. But she cannot go to Locris for you.”
Could the goddess see my future as well? I didn’t know if I was allowed to ask.
“You will have all the children you desire. Your husband promised that it would be so. Io will fulfill her calling in her own way, as will you. You both have very different paths in front of you.”
Should I ask her about the others? About Xander’s future? How was I supposed to get the eye back? What could I do to stop Artemisia and save Ilion?
She removed her hand. “It’s not good for any mortal to know too much of what is to come. What I have shared will suffice.”
“Thank you.” It seemed an inadequate thing to say for all that she had done for me, all the love she had given me.
For all the ways that she had helped me.
“Remember who you are, Euthalia of Locris. You are my daughter.”
I hugged Luna to my chest and closed my eyes. I thought of Xander.
Then I was flying backward in that same black void with the glittering stars, the wind rushing all around me. We stayed in that place for much longer than last time, presumably because it was a much farther trip.
