I want to know why she ran from me in the Middle and what possessed her to come to this realm and hear a fae queen’s bargain. I want to know where she comes from and how she found herself outside the human realm. I want to know her favorite food, her favorite color, her favorite flower.
Anything. Everything. I want to know it all.
I know I haven’t earned it, may never earn it, but at least now I know her name.
Seren.
Star.
Her name meansstar.
In some human language from some realm I can barely fathom, my fierce, beautiful mate is a star to light up the bleak, dreary night my life has become.
Even if she wants nothing to do with me.
“Am I wrong?” I can’t help but cajole her, and she lets out a little breath through her nose.
She doesn’t deny it right away, and I let myself indulge the smile tugging at the corner of my lips, let it widen into a smirk.
Goddess, but I like this witch.
I like her spirit. I like her sass.
Even though it scares the life out of me to imagine her going toe to toe with the rest of the hunters pursuing the fae queen’s prize, I can’t help but respect her audacity.
The same audacity I had, once upon a time, until life dealt me the mess I’m still trying to untangle.
Seren lays her hand on the Veil’s stone arch. It flickers through a range of colors before settling on green. The human realm.
“An interesting choice,” I observe. “You think the fae queen stashed her heart somewhere in—”
“Nope,” she says, planting one finger in the middle of my chest.
I feel it all the way through my leather armor. Just like I still feel an electric tingle on my wingtip from where I brushed it against her shoulder earlier.
An indulgence. One I haven’t earned, but couldn’t resist.
“We. Are. Not. Working. Together.” She punctuates each word with a jab to my armor, then places both of hands on her hips.
“For now.”
With one last exasperated sigh, she steps into the Veil.
The pull to follow is immediate and violent, like a metal hook dug in just behind my sternum, commanding me to go after her.
But I don’t heed that command as the Veil flickers from green back to white. I don’t make any desperate attempts to follow her.
No, I simply let out a sigh that’s every bit as exasperated as hers and survey my surroundings. Most of the other hunters aregone, either through the Veil themselves or off into the wilds of Faerie. Neither seems like a great option, but standing here like an idiot isn’t likely to get me any closer to the bounty or to Seren.
Never mind that I only truly care about one of those things.
So, with nothing else to do for now in this realm, I lay my hand on the stone of the Veil. It flickers to red, and I step through, mind already whirring with ideas about who I can talk to, who in my realm might know more about Faerie and this terrible monarch.
When I step out on the other side, I’m surprised to find I can still sense Seren in my chest like a second heartbeat.
She’s in another realm entirely, but I can still feel her.
Whatever magick the Goddess has seen fit to use to bind us together, it sits like an anchor just beneath my heart and pulls me onward.
