“Yes.” My eyes shot to his. “But I don’t understand why.”
The faintest line formed between his brows, and his eyes softened. “Because they do.”
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected to feel, but I hadn’t anticipated just how leaden my stomach became. “Why?” I challenged. “I haven’t done anything to deserve it?”
“Haven’t you?”
I gave him and incredulous look. “No.”
His full lips thinned. “You are the spark incarnate and the first human to be blessed by the Stars to become fae. Is that not enough?”
“I had nothing to do with either. I had no choice in being the spark, and I didn’t do anything to become fae. It just… happened.”
“Even if that were true, isn’t it possible to be revered for who you are, not what you’ve done?”
I cocked my head and stared at him in confusion.
“Nyleeria,” he said in the soothing tone he always did with my name. “Did you know your name is derived from a dialect of the Ancients?”
I shook my head, eyes narrowing as I wondered where he was going with this.
“Directly translated, it means sacred star—or light. And actually, Nyla translates as little star,” he added as if just realizing it himself.
My breath hitched, and I slid back from him a fraction in disbelief, but there wasn’t a flicker of humor or doubt in his eyes, only a deep, raw conviction. Damn if my earlier thoughts about the fates having a hand in naming me rang with more truth than I could’ve ever imagined—and I was at a loss if that knowledge should be comforting or terrifying.
“You’re like a long-lost love being resurrected against all odds to return to us,” he said. “So, yes, you are revered for the impossible blessing that you are.”
“You mean the spark, not me,” I said, knee-jerking from his words.
He sighed before he lifted his knees and leaned forward between them. Looking me straight in the eyes with a burning intensity that had my heart kicking up a beat, he said, “When will you understand that you are someone, not something?”
I swallowed, and despite myself, his words refortified my mortar, but not before his glittering darkness slid in through the cracks.
Chapter 15
In This Dome
Endymion walked me to the kitchens for lunch before taking his leave to do whatever it was he did in this court.
“Probably train,” I muttered to myself,feeling more than a little jealous if that was the case as I watched the perfectly tailored v-shape of his muscular back disappear behind the corner at the end of the hall.
Bitter, unfettered annoyance heated my body more than my now-flushed cheeks, and any peace I’d held moments before vanished like it never existed. I shook my hands as if I could fling the feeling away like water, not quite sure what had spurred the sudden shift. As if aroused by my mounting aggravation, my powers stirred—escalating me to fully vexed.
“Now you have something to say,” I hissed at it, fully aware I was talking aloud to the spark, or as Endymion would have me believe, myself.
Stars, was I mad at him again? What was wrong with me?
I made a mental note to visit Fenyte and ask for books on female cycles, knowing this feeling all too well—on second thought, I’d look for them myself. I wasn’t keen on seeing if his eyebrows could go anyhigher, or risk him going on a diatribe about howthe fae don’t need books on such things.Blah. Blah. Blah.
I shook my head, tasting the bitterness of my thoughts. No longer hungry, I abandoned any notion of food and made for my quarters before I reached theI shall slay anyone who looks at me wronglevel of agitation—I didn’t need to decimate another hallway of innocent flowers.
By some miracle I made it to my residence without losing it, and I swear to the gods above that the fake smiles and empty pleasantries were almost the fucken death of me.
But I made it.
Now safely behind the closed doors, my boots were uncomfortably heavy, and I needed them off—now. I cursed as I tried to unlace my boots—why did they have to be so bleeding tight? The instant they were loose enough, I kicked them off, each of them flipping over a few times before landing on opposite sides of a tall vase of flowers, their sweet sent nauseating at best.
I tried everything to calm my mounting anger, but nothing worked.
