“Cyrus believes we have caused the loss of his magic, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.” Earendel smiled sadly. “We cannot alter the fundamental rules of the universe, not without dire consequences. But Cruach’s own anger, his desire to kill us and take over, has infected Cyrus as well. Fueling him toward even more hate and chaos.”
“Nox,” I swore, running a hand through my hair, before cringing and looking to the patron god of Night with an apologetic look. His amused smile made me feel better, at least.
“Wait, you said if the balance sways too fareitherway?” Asteria asked, stepping forward slightly, her head tilted to the side. “What does that mean? I thought we only had to worry about it moving toward chaos?”
“Balance is just a harmonious in-between,” Asteria explained, her starlight eyes swirling in a hypnotic manner. “In between chaos and order.”
“What’s wrong with order?” I asked, confused. Wasn’t that what the balance offered?
“Should you ever experience pure order, with no chaos, you would see quickly why it’s not something we want,” Nox spoke, and I turned my head to face him again, our eyes meeting in a clash I felt reverberate down to my bones.
I was only shaken out of the stupor it left me in when Asteria asked, “Okay, so we kill Cyrus, save the balance, and stop Cruach?”
The gods tittered around us, and I had to remind myself not to bristle in defense of my mate. These were the damn gods themselves, not a courtier I could put in their place.
“You expect such a task to be easy?” Arawn drawled, a narrow bone index finger tapping on the arm of his throne. “Prophecies are not things to trifle with, girl. And ones like yours are not given unless the circumstances will be dire indeed.”
Asteria bristled, her eyes narrowing on the god of death the moment he called her girl. I put a hand on her shoulder, steadying her, reminding her we couldn’t win that fight.
She slumped back against me, and I hated to see the fight leaving her. As much as we couldn’t direct it toward these particular beings, I did love to see her when her blood ran hot.
“Your guardians will continue to watch over you and help us keep an eye on you in your realm.” The goddess Asteria said with a bright smile that made starlight expand out behind her.
“Our guardians?” I asked, head cocked to the side.
“Well,Asteria’sguardians,” she corrected, looking at my mate. I did the same and watched her eyes widen in shock.
“Luna and Zhu?” she asked in a gasp. I wasn’t sure who she was referring to at first, until I remembered that she’d called the dragon who was in our shared dream space Luna.
“Yes. But that’s enough about that for now,” Earendel insisted, despite Asteria looking like she was about to argue with him. Clearly, there were facts they didn’t want us to know. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. It was ingrained in me to follow the gods without question, but if important information was being kept from us…
“You must cement the bond quickly upon your return. There will not be much time before you are needed to take the battle to Cyrus,” Erebus insisted, looking between us like he could will us to follow his direction.
“But before you can return, Asteria, please remove your necklace,” Earendel asked, the white light of his eyes intensifying for a moment, though his voice remained kind.
Asteria’s hand flew up to her neck, where the necklace from her mother, depicting our soulmark, resided. Since she stopped hiding it from me, which thinking back was utterly adorable of her, she rarely took it off.
“My necklace?” she asked, hesitantly. “Why?”
Nox, I hoped the gods forgave us for all the questions we asked. My father would have punished me severely if he saw the pushback I’d given the gods today.
“We will return it, Asteria.” The goddess of the stars reassured her with a twinkling smile. One of the women who’d been sitting in the first row of seats before the celestial gods’ thrones stepped forward, waiting for Asteria to remove her necklace. Her bright pink hair and eyes were striking, as was her barely-there dress. I averted my eyes as she walked forward, not wanting to accidentally see anything I shouldn’t.
The dress was made of a flowing fabric, cut with two dangerously high slits up to her thighs that left a lot of leg bare. While the top half was bunched at the shoulders, a string of pearls laying across them and dangling down her arms. The fabric panels of the top went straight down, covering her breasts but leaving an extremely deep V that showcased even more bare skin.
Wait…
The power pulsing off her read as divine. Not one of the beings from our realm, but a member of the lesser pantheons, then. There was a hierarchy of the different pantheons, with our gods on top, of course. The gods the Elves prayed to came next, followed by the Dryads, and then the Pixies. The power of the gods lessened as they went, and judging by the power I could feel off this one, it had to be one of the goddesses the Elves prayed to.
I could only imagine Azurill’s face if I told him I had met one of his gods. As the High King of Gemaria, we’d met many times over the years at different functions, forging a friendship between kings that extended into a lucrative trading partnership. Now, we remained in constant communication regarding the balance and how the situation may affect our entire world. I was due to send him an update—overduereally. Asteria was nothing if not distracting. I’d have to make a note of that for when we returned.
I hoped we wouldn’t have to call for aid, but I was leaving the option open. I’d have to let Asteria know what to do, just in case. One could never be too careful when it came to battle plans and backups. That was one of the first things Titan had taught me about planning a battle. Always have a backup, because no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
I watched Asteria hand her necklace over, nervous and twitchy about letting it go. The Elven goddess smiled kindly at her, laying a hand over her forearm. The faintest flicker of power licked over her, and Asteria calmed immediately, smiling back.
The goddess handed the necklace to Earendel, and he, Erebus, Asteria, Nox, and Hyperion all stepped off their thrones to gather around his outstretched hand. I had to squint my eyes as their power flared. It was obvious their true power was too much for even Fae eyes to take in wholly. They were toning things down for our benefit, surely.
Strands of white light and golden sunbeams, liquid darkness, and black shadow, all accented by twinkling silver starlight, surrounded the necklace, sinking into it and lifting it into the air. Their lips moved, but I couldn’t make out a word of what they were saying.
