“Can you feel it?”
I started at the female voice and turned my head to see a tall woman with silvery blonde hair standing beside me. She wore a long, white dress adorned with a belt of eyranth, and warmth radiated from her. I didn’t know how or where, but every cell in my body told me I’d met her before.
She smiled fondly. “Can you feel the power, Jesse?”
“Yes,” I replied softly, unable to look away from her ageless gray eyes.
She nodded, pleased. “Good.”
“Why is that good?” I asked when she didn’t say more. “Can’t everyone feel it?”
“Not the way you can.” She reached up and touched the stone hidden in my hair, sending a small jolt of energy through me. It didn’t hurt, but it left me breathless and filled with the certainty that my companion was no ordinary faerie.
“Who are you speaking to?” demanded a male voice.
I turned to see one of the Seelie guards a few feet away. He regarded me with leery eyes and one hand on his sword hilt. Looking past him, I found three more sets of eyes on me. Why were they looking at me like that?
And then it hit me. I was the only one in the room who could see the woman.
“I asked who you were talking to,” the faerie said.
“Myself,” I blurted, shaken. “I do that sometimes.”
His hard, assessing gaze swept over me and lingered on my hair. Unless he’d been stuck on this island for two months, he had to know who I was. The downward turn of his mouth told me what he thought of the newest Unseelie faerie.
“Excuse me.” I moved around him and headed for the stairs without checking to see if the woman was still there. I practically ran up the stairs, passed through the outer room, and kept going until I emerged into the fading daylight.
Gus was where I’d left him and appeared to be sleeping. His eyes opened, and he watched me lazily as I hurried toward him. He didn’t appear to be in a rush to go anywhere, leaving me to wonder how the hell I would get home. Even if he did pick me up and carry me away from the island, he could take me anywhere, and I had no way to tell him where I needed to go.
I took a deep breath. Those guards had to have gotten here somehow. I’d go ask them how to get back to Unseelie. The two from Seelie might not help, but I was not above using Lukas’s name to get assistance from the Unseelie guards.
I spun and nearly ran into the strange woman from the temple. I backed up several steps, once again filled with the certainty I’d met her before. But that was crazy, especially if my suspicion about her identity was right.
“Are…you Aedhna?” I asked.
“I am. It is wonderful to see you, Jesse.” She smiled, and it banished the trepidation I’d felt only seconds ago.
I stared at her. This was the Fae goddess, the one who had created Faerie and everything in it. I was in the presence of a deity, and all I could think to say was, “Have we met?”
She laughed softly and closed the distance between us to cup my chin in her hand. Images and snatches of conversation filled my mind, whirling and fitting together to form forgotten memories. I saw my body on the ground surrounded by fog, and Lukas and the others were using their power to save me. I remembered pain, but it was muted, and the goddess was there beside me, helping me through the worst of it.
Aedhna let go of my chin to gently wipe away the tears coursing down my face. “You have been so brave and strong. Because of you, the ke’tain is back where it belongs.”
“But I was too late. The barrier is weak, and the storms aren’t going away.” Hope blossomed in my chest. “Are you going to fix it? Is that why you’re here?”
She smiled again, but there was a touch of sadness in it. “It can be healed but not by my hand.”
“Unseelie and Seelie are going to meet to work on a solution,” I said, giddy from her assurance that the barrier could be healed.
“I am pleased to see them coming together, but I fear they have been estranged from each other too long to succeed in this.”
My heart sank because she was right. I didn’t know much about King Oseron, but from what I’d heard, he was dedicated to fixing the barrier. Queen Anwyn was a different story. She had caused all of this, and knowing what I did about her, I couldn’t see her doing anything for the good of others.
“You’re the goddess. Can’t you make them get along and work together?” I asked.
“When I created this realm and all within it, I gave them free will to live as they choose without my interference,” Aedhna explained. “The last faeries to see me were the Asrai who guarded my temple thousands of years ago.”
A gust of wind blew my hair into my face, and I brushed it away irritably. “You came to me.”
“You were human, and though you are now Fae, you belong to both worlds. You wear the stone I gifted you, and you have proven yourself to be brave and worthy of my blessing and the job I chose you for.”
Her praise filled me with warmth. “I’d do it again to keep my family and friends safe.”
She laid a hand on my shoulder. “That is why I know you will succeed in what I ask of you now.”
“What?” I asked slowly.
“To be my hands. I am going to give you the knowledge to heal my world.”
“Me?” I took a step back, and her hand fell away. “I’ve been a faerie for a few months. Wouldn’t it be better to ask someone stronger – like one of the royals?”
“This task requires more than physical strength. You will see that when the time comes. I would not choose you for it if I did not believe in you.”
I took a few breaths to gather myself. My head spun, and I felt a little queasy, but I managed to speak. “You didn’t bring me here to do it now?”
“The time is not yet right. I will come to you when you need to begin. For your protection, you will be unable to speak of this to anyone.”
I shook my head. “Who would believe it?”
She smiled again. “I will see you soon, Jesse.”
She disappeared. I spun in a full circle, but I was alone, except for Gus.
Gus stood and flapped his wings as if preparing for flight. He fixed his molten gaze on me, and when I didn’t move, he let out an impatient growl I knew all too well. The only problem was that it was the same sound he used to make when he wanted his dinner. I thought about his sharp little teeth devouring the raw chicken I’d fed him at home, and I tried not to imagine what his dragon-size fangs could do to me.
Aedhna would not have left me with him if she thought he’d hurt me. Right? At least, that’s what I told myself as I gathered my nerve and walked over to him.
When I was a few feet from him, he stretched out his powerful wings and lifted into the air. I should have been prepared, but I gasped when one of his clawed feet shot out to pick me up and tuck me against his belly. And then we were off.
I dozed off less than thirty minutes into our flight over the ocean. I woke to find that night had fallen, and we were nearing land. Ahead of us was a wide valley ringed by a mountain and tall, glassy, black cliffs.
Lights moved below us as we flew over the valley, and I realized they were torches held by faeries riding tarrans. Was it a search party out looking for me?
I called to them, but my shouts were drowned out by the wind and the flap of drakkan wings. Was Lukas out there with Conlan, Faris, and the others? They must be worried sick, not knowing if I was dead or alive.