Despite their strange responses to me, I rushed toward him, and an ear-splitting grin stretched my lips.
When I reached him, Kole continued to look at me with wonder. Amazement.Awe.
“Primelle.” Kole reverently cupped my cheek, then he also fell to his knees. “Goddess. Princess. My mate. My love. I also bow to you.”
It was then that I became aware of the starlight refracting off my skin and the sheer power of my magic reverberating through me. Immense magic radiated all around me, and I gazed in wonder at the starlight that bathed my skin.
But as each second passed, the starlight grew closer and closer to my skin, and then on my next blink, it sucked back inside me and disappeared.
The goddess’s words again careened to the forefront of my thoughts.Descendent of Starsill. Goddess of Minds. Keeper of the Stars.
I still didn’t know what all of that meant, nor had I fully grasped what she’d claimed about Starsill, but something told me the words she’d hinted at were the key to explaining what I was and why my magic was so potent.
Shrugging that off, I knew now wasn’t the time to contemplate my origins. Instead, a laugh of joy erupted from me, and I kneeled to face my mate and clasp his hands.
Shining blue eyes filled with startling wonder met mine, especially when he saw that my skin had returned to the way it’d always been.
I squeezed him tightly. “I’m still Primelle, still the same fairy, or rathervampire, you’ve always known, my love, but I thinkit worked. Nuleef answered my call, and she said she was going to Diredan, which means that Diredan should keep his promise. With any luck, by the end of the day, you’ll be saved.”
I couldn’t wait a second longerto mistphase back to Silventine Wood. I’d barely registered that the bargain mark had disappeared from my skin since the priestess had kept true to her word as I called out a quick note of thanks, and then Kole and I were vanishing in a blast of mistphasing power.
We rematerialized at Diredan’s crater in Silventine Wood, to the heart of where the god eternally slumbered, and no sooner had we arrived than both of us staggered back.
Goddess Nuleef,in the flesh, and Diredan, a ghostly spirit, stood together atop his black grave.
They held each other, their immense power barreling out of them, and Kole and I hastily retreated.
We didn’t stop until we were well away from the gods, who appeared too enraptured with one another to pay us any notice.
Crouched behind a broad tree, Kole and I glued our backs to it.
“Oh. My. Gods,” I whispered. It was the only thing I could utter, and an entirely inappropriate giggle wanted to spill out of me due to my unintended pun.
Kole squeezed my hand, and along our bond, his shock and amusement careened toward me. “Is life always going to be this surprising with you, Princess?”
His teasing tone made me want to giggle more.
To stop it, I slapped a hand over my face, but the incredibility of what was occurring behind us hit me all over again.
It’d beenthousandsof seasons since a god or goddess had walked our realm, perhaps even longer. No one truly knew, but unless Kole and I had accidentally brushed against one of the spimenal tree’s leaves on the Lochen island and all of this was a pleasant hallucination, then Goddess Nuleef, in the flesh, had actually transported herself here.
“That’s Nuleef?” he whispered.
I nodded. “She said she was coming here. I guess I didn’t realize how quickly she could do that.”
“Should we leave?” he asked, his forehead furrowing.
I understood his concern. It was obviously an incredibly intimate and private moment between the gods, but no sooner had he asked that when a rumble shifted the soil beneath our feet.
Vibrating dirt and plants came to life as immense magic poured from all around. My eyes widened to saucers as Nuleef and Diredan walked around the tree to appear before us. But while the goddess still had enough power to retain her flesh-like exterior, Diredan didn’t.
Kole and I tilted our chins upward. Speechless, all I could do was stare. Like Nuleef, Diredan’s form was incredibly tall. However, unlike the Goddess of Luck, dark energy surrounded him, and pitch-black eyes peered at us out of his ghostly form.
Too terrified to move, I froze.
“You asked for a wish to be granted earlier, former fairy, now vampire of Mistvale Kingdom. Is it still the wish you seek?” The god’s deep voice rumbled all around me.
I couldn’t reply. Couldn’t speak. Immense power radiated from the two of them, so much so that it robbed my breath.
