“I forgive you,” I whispered. “I forgivemyself.”
My mirror disappeared, a genuine smile upon her face, but the world did not go dark as it had before. The space lit up, brilliant again with starlight. This time, it was joined with the golden glow of the sun and the silver gleam of the moon.
The three Goddesses, in all their celestial glory, floated before me.
They were all perfectly unique and yet utterly similar. An air of power rippled through and around each of them, black and brown and gold hair rustling on an unseen breeze. Their skin tones varied from deepest brown to lightest beige. The Goddesses' only commonality was their striking eyes.
Each of the Celestials had disparate eyes, like my own and like Ayla’s. Lunanya’s were the most similar to mine, one charcoal gray and the other palest silver. Soliana looked on from eyes of gold andbrown. Stellány lingered between them, the evidence of both the moon and sun mothers within her gold and silver gaze.
“Welcome, Daughter of the Moon.” The words came from Lunanya, the Moon Goddess herself, but they were echoed by Soliana and Stellány, the Sun and Star Goddesses. “You were chosen before your birth for the rare honor of celestial mágik, for we saw the potential your spirit carried. You have proven today that you desire to use your gifts for the betterment of yourself and your world. Today, we have deemed you worthy of the moon mágik you were gifted, and so much more.” Lunanya’s voice was like a song, and her words were so sweet.
“Thank you, Goddesses,” I said, head bowed and eyes wet with unspent tears. “Thank you for seeing in me what I did not see in myself. Thank you for this gift.”
Mágik rushed through me, far stronger than it had before. Silver bands of power rippled and twisted around my body like it had at the spring tenfold.
“Use it well, Seren, Daughter of the Moon. We will be with you.” Lunanya smiled, a more beautiful sight than any I had ever seen.
Each of the Goddesses moved closer, pressing a kiss to my brow in turn before blinking into nothing.
I felt the absence of them like a hollow in my gut, but when I reached deep inside, to the well of mágik within me, I knew Lunanya had spoken the truth.
They were with me, and their mágik lit my path.
I turned to see Ayla standing behind me. My cousin had tear stains on her face. Her eyes were swollen and red rimmed, but she smiled, and I knew we had both been successful. We had both chosen to risk our mágik because we trusted each other, and we trusted ourselves.
I thanked the Goddesses that the risk had paid off.
My mouth slanted in an answering grin.
Darkness rolled in, soft as a quilt this time. It washed over me as the stars and all their wonder faded like a receding tide.
Chapter fifty-five
Harkin
Coming back to consciousness was like taking a gasping breath, head cresting the surface, finally free of the drowning abyss. I coughed and sputtered as if my lungs had been filled with something life ending. I dragged in unsteady breaths, willing my weary eyes to focus.
The world had grown lighter, the heavy presence of night in the Sárkhona Draum washed away by the pale light of dawn.
I rose on unsteady legs, letting out a pained breath as my wounds ached. My tunic was stuck to my ribs, sticky with half-dried blood, and it tugged at the skin painfully.
But nothing could keep me from Seren.
She was no longer suspended in midair as I had last seen her. She lay at the base of the Drakány statue. Her face tilted toward the sky, eyes closed, fingers in the grass below her.
Seren looked so much like she had on the very first day I had seen her, back in Ordelés. Before I had known who she was, when I had admired her from a distance and thought her to be extraordinarily beautiful.
I fell to my knees beside her and brushed my fingers across her cheeks, but she did not stir. My eyes roved over her from head to toe.I waited to see the steady rise and fall of breath in her chest, but it did not come.
Seren was not breathing.
Panic gripped my throat, squeezing until it felt raw and painfully tight.
“Ren,” I croaked, trying to tamp down the anxiety roiling in my gut. “Seren?”
I heard the sounds of our friends waking behind me, but I did not turn.
My eyes briefly flickered to Ayla, but like Seren, she remained unmoving.
