That claim was a punch through my silent chest. It was so… gentle. I’d never been claimed so gently, never known what being someone’schildfelt like.
It did nothing for me now.
“Was it worth it?” I asked. “All you did to the realm I was born in?”
“Yes,” she answered without hesitation. “My kind have always believed there is a time for and order to everything. I always rebelled against that idea, but now I see. Now I see, Rainyte.”
“That your demise was inevitable.”
“Our lives connect to so much more than we could ever fathom. I am at peace with my end.”
“So even the villains find solace despite all the suffering they caused?”
“Not all. Your father will never be free of his torment.”
“Then why are you?”
“Because of you,” she said, stepping closer and reaching a hand to my face. “I might not have had the time with you I wanted, but I created you, and you lived for great things. You captured something I never could. A love so true it riles jealousy in gods. How could I not feel fulfilled by that?”
I didn’t know what to say. Her explanation was contrary to all I’d learned from my father. He had wanted the prize and glory, and he used me to get it for him.
“She’s gone,” I said miserably. “Astraea is gone from me.”
“She’s waiting,” Mother amended.
She reached for my hand, taking the vial of Dusk’s blood.
“I’ll take it from here. Your time isn’t finished in your realm. You have so much more to give and to feel.”
“Mother,” I breathed. This time the word came from the child she lost.
“I was wrong,” she said. “You are the dark she needs to find passion. For she has always been the light you have needed for guidance.”
She wrapped her arms around me. This embrace was unlike any other I’dfelt before, and I didn’t really know how to return it. Until she started to fade away; her form became more opaque. I wouldn’t ever get this chance again, and so I hugged her back. My mother, from the realm I was born in, who’d come to make sure I could stay in the realm I chose.
Then she was gone.
I was alone holding the true ending of Marvellas, and her new beginning.
The Spirit of Souls and Goddess of the Stars. Mortal mother of the gold-eyed children.…
Now she was the Primordial of Dusk across all realms and ages.
54Astraea
I’d soared through nights so clear they felt like endless oceans of stars, but this was different. Here, I stood motionless, the brilliance of midnight wrapping around me in perfect stillness. It was as if I’d been placed in the heart of a vast, shimmering snow globe, each star a delicate fleck of light suspended in the dark, turning the world into something quiet and magical.
My hand reached out, so weightless, like water carried me. I could feel the vastness stretching out on all sides, yet I was cocooned, held in a moment that felt impossibly pure. The air was crisp, every breath tasting of cold and wonder, while the silence settled like snow around me.
“Oh, Astraea.”
I whirled, my breath caught, but my heart… I had no beat in my chest in this place.
“Cassia?” I said in denial. She wasn’t the only face to shock me. “Calix?”
My dear lost friends smiled. Cassia’s was a kind so personal to her delicate face, one I never thought I’d see again, and my eyes welled with tears. I didn’t know where I was, and though I was overjoyed to be reunited with Cassia in my death, Nyte was absent and that began to split my soul.
We were supposed to stay together.
