‘Goddess Melinda ofNature.’ She straightened, frowning more as her face turned downward to meet my gaze. ‘You don’t have to bow, since you are already so low.’
‘What the f–’
‘None of that! In my palace, we have decorum and class.’ She released a deep breath. ‘You’re a princess. Have they not taught you manners?’
Snappy Goddess with a stick up her ass—just my luck. ‘Each near-miss with death kind of burned them out of me.’
‘Death.’ She all but spat. ‘It has that detrimental effect on people. Their paths cross with ours, though it’s not usually very pleasant.’
I felt lost. ‘I have no idea what you mean.’
Her glare turned into something softer. ‘Neither should you. As I said, conversing with your kind isn’t something I often do.’
‘So why are you?’
‘Because fate has plans for you that I need fulfilled. Yet you keep trying to die. Is there something wrong with you? Blessed ones aren’t usually this troubled. Surely you must be doing something wrong.’
Spreading on the floor like a sea star, her claims circled in my mind until I questioned my sanity, ‘What are you even talking about?’
‘What part did you not understand?’ Melinda asked, sighing and rubbing her temples as if I were too stupid for her liking.
I probably was, but she didn’t have to be ostentatious about it. ‘So, you are the Goddess of Nature?’
‘No,’ she said sternly. ‘I am a Goddess of Nature.’
‘Right,’ I clicked my tongue. ‘Everybody knows there are multiple.’
Another sigh left her, followed by a hand on her hip. ‘Obviously…’
Nobody knew. It wasn’t mentioned in any of the books I’d read about the Gods.
‘Did you portal me here?’ I asked, hoping she would be able to get me back home.
‘I did. You were about to die prematurely,’ she said quickly, her tone sharp with reprimand.
‘I’ve had near-misses before, and you never snatched me away then,’ I accused begrudgingly.
The woman closed the distance and stood above me, her silver pumps softly tapping against the floor. ‘I have better things to do than rescue you out of every single oppression. Besides, I can only act if particular conditions are met.’
I met her glare. ‘What are they?’
‘You have some nerve questioning a Goddess. Some might smite you.’
‘Well, didn’t you say you needed me?’ I doubled down. ‘So what are they and how am I blessed?’
‘Not just blessed. Blessed by me. There’s a difference,’ Melinda claimed before kneeling beside me. ‘I’m fed up with talking like this. Why aren’t you standing up?’
Running her bejewelled hand over my forehead, soon the soft glow surrounding her palm spread over my body and caressed every injury. It rushed through my chest, where they cracked my ribs, to my broken wrist and dislocated ankles and damaged thighs and knees, before focusing on the deep gash on my back.
The pain didn’t disappear entirely, but I felt flames respond to my call. The more she filled me with her light, the more they grew, answering my pleadings. A tear rushed down my cheek when my beloved fire rushed to my palm when I willed it. With each burst of her power, it twitched excitedly.
I thought it was gone. That they had taken everything I had.
She stopped abruptly, hovering her hand over my chest, snatching it away and trying again in a different position. Ihad no idea what she tried to do, but her repeated failures frustrated her beyond measure. It made me keep quiet.
‘Blessed, your cruelty knows no bounds. You’re forcing me to fraternise with death—I can’t untangle this web of chaos on my own.’
What? ‘I don’t understand.’
