He smiled, but she stared into his eyes, refusing to spare a glance at the lush curve of his mouth. “So, you finally figured it out.”
“I’m sorry?” She faltered, stumbling back. But he made no move to catch her. “What are you talking about?”
Reaching out, he curled one finger beneath her chin, tilting her face up to him. Then he was bending down, lowering his mouth to hers. Alarm fired through her, and terror kept her frozen in place, unable to break free from the power he held over her.
But the god of death didn’t kiss her.
Instead, his lips barely grazed her cheek and the velvet of his words whispered past her ear. “High Queen…I told you some time ago that if you were ever in want ofanything, all you had to do wasask.”
“Sun and sky,” she breathed, her body growing cold as he moved away from her.
Goddess above, she’d been such a fool.
When he first brought her to the Ether, before he’d sent her off to find Rowan waiting for her in the library, those were the exact words he’d said to her.
“If you’re in want of anything, you need only ask.”
Her heart thundered, and her palms grew damp. All this time. All this time she could’ve gone back, she could have returned home that same hour if she chose. If she’dasked. But she’d been so caught up in trying to find a way back on her own, so damned distracted by thinking her only way out of the Ether was to make a deal with him, that she hadn’t truly listened, she hadn't understood the words he’d spoken to her. Even Danua had told her she knew how to return home to Faeven. The goddess told her she mustask,she had to ask Aed herself.
Again, she stumbled backward. “Oh, gods.”
He bowed. “At your service, my lady.”
Maeve gaped at him. “I…”
Aed offered his hand, his smile softening, and she accepted.
At once, darkness and shadows engulfed her. They swirled around her, a whirlwind of force. Her blood rushed, coursing through her, as her magic roared to life inside of her. Creation bloomed, the embodiment of her soul. Fire and smoke, the gift from her mother, the life of Autumn, renewed her. Owned her. Remembered her. It was as though the well inside of her, once drained and empty, now overflowed with renewed vivacity.
She was the quintessence of a demigoddess.
Her heart, her soul, shone brighter than the dawn.
Seconds bled into minutes until the darkness receded and she stood in a room with Aed directly across from her.The furnishings brought her a sense of familiarity. She’d been here before. This was a place where she was safe. A place where she was loved.
This world responded to her. Flowers bloomed, rivers flowed, and the sparkling rays of morning sunlight cut through a film of gray, dousing the land in the warmth of its beauty. A murmured heartbeat, once nearly extinct, rushed back to life. Through the open doors leading out to a balcony came a warm breeze to welcome her, and with it, the scent of the sea.
“Good luck, Your Grace.” The god of death stepped closer, gently cupping her cheek. “And remember, courage of the heart is often more reliable than clarity of the mind.”
Within the next breath, he was gone.
And Maeve was alone.
Until the sound of heavy footfalls set her nerves on edge. Someone was coming.
“I’m safe,” she whispered out loud. “I’m home.”
Maeve held her breath and the door to the room burst open. A male stood before her, his features as hard as stone. But his eyes, those eyes, knew her. His hair was longer now, at least, she thought it was, but his face was one she’d committed to her memory, even though his name escaped her.
His chest heaved, and Maeve tensed, waiting for him to speak.
He swallowed and then, “Little bird?”
The pet name pierced her soul, and she rushed into the arms of the male who was a stranger in name, but whose face held a piece of her heart.
“Thank the gods,” he murmured, locking his arms around her tight. “You’re back. Sun and sky, you’re actually back.”
Maeve tried to blink away the threat of tears, but it was a useless endeavor. They fell anyway.
