PARTI
Chapter One
Asteria
The world ceased to exist.
Everything around me seemed to fade away as I crumbled inside myself.
My life had exploded in rather spectacular fashion. The very core of my being—the thing I should have been able to rely on above all, was hiding a secret so vast that I had no idea how I had managed to remain ignorant until now.
Only… I hadn’t, had I?
I’d known it was there all along. I just had never recognized,couldn’t have begun to guess, what it was I was truly feeling.
I wasn’t human.
I wasFae.
Everything was a lie.
Everything.
I couldn’t begin to focus on Calix’s declaration. I couldfeelthe truth of it in my bones, in mysoul, where the two of us had been connected from the moment I was born. The gods gifting each of us a soulmark to show the world we belonged together. One I knew had to be somewhere on my body now.
The horrible irony of the pain I experienced trying to stay away from him, of him trying to keep his distance from me—all to be loyalto me…
I couldn’t deal with any of it right now.
Not when my entire being had been altered. Not when magic now sparked at my fingertips. Not when my body felt alien and strange, but somehow, morerightthan it ever had before.
That feeling I struggled with all my life, like my skin was too tight for my body,well, it had finally proven true, hadn’t it? My Fae nature and its accompanying magic had been locked away behind a magical cage. Suppressing everything I truly was beneath it.
Ensuring I grew up human. As a slave.
How? How did thishappen?
And why? This couldn’t have happened on its own. Someonedidthis to me. Forcing me to grow up a slave, when I could have grown up free. The harsh truth of that felt like it ripped me open anew. Only now, my soul felt torn open instead of my neck.
“Asteria.” Calix’s whisper struck me like a bell. My very soul that was currently bleeding out onto the floor… it belonged to him too. He could surely feel the mess I’d become through the bond connecting our mated souls.
I forced my eyes up into those purple orbs I’d been dying to see since Cyrus had torn me from his side. But now… now, I was left adrift.
Lost.
Nothing made sense anymore.
“I—” Was all I could choke out. My heart was beating like the pounding of dragon wings cutting through the skies. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.
“Asteria.” I felt an arm slide across my shoulders, comforting and warm. “You need to calm down. I know this is overwhelming, but just breathe, okay? Follow me. In. Out.” Eryx motioned with his hand as he breathed, and I followed his example. My breathing steadied with each inhale and exhale.
As I calmed, I closed my eyes and let my head drop. Unable to stop the sobs that were ripped out of me against my will. Calix grabbed my hand and squeezed, while Eryx kept his arm around my shoulders.
“It’s going to be okay. I promise, my réalta. I know this is frightening, but we’re going to be okay,” Calix soothed as he caught my eyes, and I desperately tried to get my tears under control.
This was so embarrassing. I never cried. Only after Calix had freed me had I allowed myself that particular weakness. But now, I was a hiccupping mess.
“Fae feel things more intensely than humans do,” Calix informed me quietly, his face lined with the agony of powerlessness. “I’m not sure what was done to you, but it may have suppressed some of that as well. It’s all hitting you now, and you’re struggling to control it. Fae spend many of our younger years adjusting to our emotions and learning to control them. Trust me, you wouldn’t have wanted to see a young me in a rage. Don’t be embarrassed. It’s just us here.”
