Maghelena steps back, extending her hand. “When we meet again, child. Just remember, I am always close. When you need guidance, pray. I am always listening.”
I grin. “I will.”
I never believed she was gone. Other Fae have lost faith in her, but I always sensed her presence, and it seems I was right.
Always trust your gut.
Light bursts from the goddess’s hand, and flowers and vines twine around me and Ivy. I hold her closer, pressing my head to hers as I kiss her lips. “It’s okay, Ivy. We’re returning home. Just hold on.”
The light vanishes with another bright flash, and when I open my eyes again, I find myself back in the cold north.
A shudder rushes through me. Everything seems so dull in comparison, even with my heightened Fae eyes.
I’m just sad that Ivy never got to see Maghelena’s glade, but it doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that she’s alive. Her wounds have finally healed, and she may as well be sleeping.
Carefully, I run my claw down her cheek, rousing her gently. “Ivy?”
She stirs, fluttering her lids, and time ceases to a standstill when I finally spy those luminous starburst eyes.
I don’t remember them shining so brightly before.
As a matter of fact, she’s dripping with magic. It shines from her skin, giving her hair a flawless glow, and she almost looks Fae.
I guess as an ambassador of the human race, it’s only fair that she should be compensated in some way. Especially after she selflessly put my life before hers without a second thought.
A smile curves her sweet, rosebud lips, and my heart thumps back to life.
“I love you too, Tegwyn.”
Tears gather in my eyes, and I send a silent prayer to Maghelena.“Thank you.”
Ivy reaches up, stroking her finger along my cheek, and I’m too overcome with happiness, too overwhelmed by her gentle touch to take much notice of the new threat.
It hovers in my peripheral vision, a black, ominous shadow in the shape of death, and before I have a chance to react, Ivy springs into action.
She brings up the handle of a fine blade, one that was hidden amidst the undergrowth, then plunges it deep into the she-wolf’s heart.
Wait. The she-wolf?
No, that can’t be right. I saw the bitch die; I killed her with my own arrow.
But the shock soon wears off once I spy the way Ivy fights. The human dances circles around the lupine, and I’ve never seen her move so fast.
She has all the liquid grace of a Fae, but the constitution of a human. That steel would weaken any faerie, yet she wields it like a seasoned fighter.
The she-wolf drops to the ground as Ivy lops off its head, and it turns out that she wasn’t fighting the she-wolf after all, but a bugbear.
The same one that came prowling around the mountain a few weeks prior, coincidentally.
The creature evaporates into dust, disappearing with a swirl on the wind, but I don’t take my eyes off Ivy.
The starburst of her eyes glows like fire as she lowers the blade, and there are no words.
She really isn’t the same girl anymore, and once again, I thank Maghelena for her gift.
Ivy is not only alive, but she moves and fights like a Fae, and I wonder what other gifts the goddess bestowed her with.
Perhaps she can wield magic.
