Annora’s face split into a wide smile. “Took you long enough.” She ran over to her friend and threw her arms around her neck, embracing her tightly.
“Me? I’ve been here for hours,” Evelina teased, hugging her back.
“Aldric might’ve tried to get Lyria to help if you had taken any longer,” Annora said with a final squeeze.
Evelina grinned, knowing good and well they wouldn’t have placed their bonding ceremony in the hands of Evelina’s sister.
“So, how long have you two known you were soulbonded?” Evelina asked, looking between the two of them. Finding a mate wasn’t considered a rarity, but the bonding ceremony was. Oftentimes, a fae would find their mate, but they wouldn’t choose one another. Even worse, one might choose the other, who wouldn’t want to go through with it.
When a soul was discovered to be connected to another, it didn’t make someonebelongto the other. It had to be chosen and accepted by both parties, a mutual agreement to bind one’s soul.
“I think we were the last to know,” Aldric said with a laugh. “It seemed those around us caught on far sooner than we did.”
He wasn’t wrong. They were different when they were around each other, brighter.
“Well then, we better not waste any more time.” Evelina gestured to the path to the Celestial Temple.
Annora grabbed Aldric’s hand, and the pair clung to each other as they made their way to Eurydice’s temple.
Against her own will, Evelina’s mind wandered back to Daimon. To where he was sleeping and what he was doing. If he had never left, he would’ve been right alongside them, joining to watch the ceremony. There was a chance, even, thattheycould’ve been bonded.
She shook her head, shaking the useless what-ifs from hermind. Hedidleave. If they had been meant to be, he would’ve stayed.
It didn’t matter anymore what they could have been. All that mattered, tonight, was that at least someone in her life could find their happy ending.
Eleven
Evelina
A small tunnelran along the insides of the temple. It was mostly empty save for the spiders that spun their webs. Like much of the glade, it’d been here since long before Evelina—even before her mother and her mother’s mother.
No one knew who built Eurydice’s temple all those years ago. Perhaps it was the moon goddess herself. That was partly the reason the tunnels were a mystery, for the only key to opening it was the blood of a Manor.
The front entrance would be far easier to go through, but that would increase the chance of them being seen—and caught. Evelina led Annora and Aldric to a back gate, one that was often abandoned and unused.
Evelina had seen the obscenely ornate building more times than she could count, the height of it imposing in the forest. She glanced up, her eyes running along the triangular tip of the temple. The walls of it were grooved and covered in ivy, tiny white flowers blooming from the green stems.
Priestesses milled about as they always did, sprinkling freshly picked lily petals onto the ground—the flower of the moon goddess. They ensured the tributes were always prepared properly, stoking the burning herbs from the Nox andprodding at the coals the Aegis burned on a never-ending flame, resting atop the pillars that sat on either side of the entrance. They also kept the natural springs of water clear so it would reflect the temple on its surface—the Undine gift. Last, they tended to the flowers the Woodland brought to be placed in the gardens.
Evelina slipped past the priestesses, smiling and saying her blessings to Eurydice. They nodded to her, their eyes shimmering with a knowing only the priestesses could possess. While they were loyal to the crown, they honored Eurydice’s blessing above all else, and a soulbond was the most precious of blessings the moon goddess could give.
Still, they needed to be careful until the ceremony was complete. The Woodland queen had a sixth sense for what was happening in her realm, and she wouldn’t look kindly upon their covert ceremony.
At a stone door carved into a small alcove on the back half of the temple, Evelina stopped, turning around to face Annora and Aldric as they trailed behind her.
“Are you sure about this?” Evelina asked, her first show of hesitation.
Aldric wrapped an arm around Annora’s waist, tugging her in close and giving her a kiss on the top of her head. Evelina’s heart squeezed in her chest at how well he cared for her friend. Aldric might not have been considered a match for Annora, but no one could be her equal in the way he could.
But still… To be wrong about this was to prevent them from ever finding their true soulbonded. They only had one chance, and they had to be certain.
“There’s no one else I would rather do this with,” Annora reassured her, tears shining in her eyes. Aldric gave her a grateful smile.
Evelina turned back to the door and took a steadying breath. Trailing roots had overgrown across the stone, encasing the entrance so tightly it was hard to make out whereit was. But Evelina could feel it in her bones, her blood that sang out to the ancient magic of the temple.
She pulled out the small blade she brought with her, running it along her palm until blood rose to the surface. With a steady reach, she wiggled her hand through the thick roots until her palm was flat against the cool stone. The wound from her blade stung as it met the door, but she could feel magic coursing through her already.
It was different than when she helped with the bonding ceremonies. It was as if the magic here was slower, a rusty hinge that needed a tug before it would open.
