I fell down, down, down, even though I felt no air brushing against my body, and nothing but darkness pressed against my closed eyes.
I grew lost. Vacant. Alone.
Oh Goddess, what have I done?
Panic began to consume me, but then a sharp jolt hit me, and the feeling of falling stopped.
Finally able to move, I opened my eyes, but nothing greeted me.
I was suspended in pitch black. Somewhere. Perhaps in the galaxy or among the stars. Or perhaps in another dimension entirely. Or maybe this was all a hallucination. I had no idea.
I lifted a hand, waving it in front of me, but I saw nothing and felt nothing too. Absolute emptiness surrounded me.
A wave of golden light appeared out of nowhere in the distance, just a speck, but it grew stronger and bolder.
Frozen in time and space, I could do nothing but watch as the golden light grew, and as it neared, I realized with shock that it encompassed a fairy. No, agoddess.
I nearly cried in joy when Goddess Nuleef appeared in front of me. She was larger than a fairy, easily three times as tall, and golden metallic hair cascaded around her shoulders. It looked identical to the lock I’d carried when I’d been hunting the Wishing Stone.
“A child of the universe has called to me,” she said in a pleasant, lilting tone that seemed to speak inside me and around me all at once. “What can I do for you, Keeper of the Stars?”
Keeper of the Stars?
I had no idea what that meant, but I replied in a shaky tone, “I... How, I mean, Goddess Nuleef, thank you. You humble me.” No sooner had the stuttering words left me than I tried to bow, tried to show her how incredibly grateful I was for her acknowledgment, but I couldn’t move.
“You need not bow, Keeper. You are allowed here at any time.”
If I could have snapped my head back, I would have. “I am?” I replied dumbly.
She smiled, a beautiful, brilliant smile that pulled at something deep inside me. Immense joy filled me at seeing her serene expression, which lulled me with its beauty and grace, and it felt as though everything I could have ever hoped for or dreamed of was about to come true.
In that same sing-song voice, she replied, “Of course, as a descendent of Starsill, it is your right.”
Starsill?Even though I knew I needed to tell her of Diredan, of his wish to see her once more, I couldn’t help but ask, “I’m sorry, Goddess Nuleef, but who is Starsill?”
Her brilliant smile faded, and sorrow filled her eyes. “She was the Goddess of Minds, Keeper of the Stars, but like my mate, she, too, faded from existence and is no more. She faded many millennia ago.”
If that was true, it would explain why I’d never heard of her, but even though I wanted to know more, my curiosity was not why I was here.
Shaking my questions off, I said, “Goddess Nuleef, the reason I’m here is because Diredan still exists. He’s why I’ve come. He requests to see you.”
She gasped. “Do not lie to me, Keeper,” she replied in a sharp tone. “I am stronger than you, and I do not take kindly to others trying to deceive me, even those of celestial blood. You dare to come here to mock me of my undying pain?”
“No! No, of course not, Goddess, I do not mock you. I swear,” I replied in a rush even though it hit me that she’d just said I had celestial blood and earlier had said I was a descendent of Starsill. “I promise to this universe and the next that I would never do such a thing. But Diredan is why I’m here. He still exists, but he’s too weak to leave my realm or call to you.” I told her as quickly as I could where her mate was located and what Diredan had requested, hoping that if I explained fast enough, I wouldn’t suffer from her wrath.
As soon as I finished, she fell silent, but her forehead furrowed in confusion. “My mate exists? But I haven’t felt him. Haven’t seen him. How is this so?”
I struggled with how to reply. The mystery of the gods and goddesses’ existence and how any of them came to be, or why they’d ever chosen to walk in the fae lands, eluded not only me but all fae. “I’m sorry, Goddess Nuleef. I do not know. All I know is that he’s asked for you to visit him where he eternally slumbers in Silventine Wood.”
“Truly?” Golden light pulsed around her, and it once again felt as though anything I’d ever desired could and would happen. “Diredan. My love. If what you say is true, Keeper, I need to go.”
In a flash of blinding light, she disappeared. In the same beat, I began rising, rising, rising. I shot upward through time and space, moving as fast as light through the galaxy as the call of the fae lands barreled through me.
In a blast of power, I jolted back into my body, and when I opened my eyes, the priestess stared at me as though she’d seen a ghost.
She immediately fell to her knees, her head dipping. “I bow to you, almighty fairy. You’ve been kissed by the gods.”
Outside the temple, disbelief zoomed toward me from Kole through our bond, and a look of utter shock covered his face.
