“My crystal! Mina! It’s from my mother!” Black dots fill my vision. Where is it? Where did I put it? What is wrong with me?
“A vólkin crystal?” Mina asks.
What.
She takes the crystal out of my gown’s pocket and shows me. Goddesses, it was there. I sigh in relief, but I’m breathless when I thank her.
What is going on with me? Since when am I so unorganized? I have nevernotknown where my belongings are, never lost a thing in my life. Except for my mother.
Mina puts the crystal in my hand, and I ask, “Why did you call it a vólkin crystal?”
She sounds perplexed when she says, “That’s what it is, Your Majesty. Only vólkins carry such crystals. They’re born from energy, from the bond vólkins share with the soul and their mates.”
I blink, looking down at the crystal in my hand. “But this crystal was my mother’s.”
Mina’s ears twitch. “Your mother had this? That’s... unusual. Only a vólkin would carry such a thing. Perhaps she??—”
“She wasn’t vólkin,” I interrupt, shaking my head. “She was human. She was... my mother.” My voice lowers, and I tighten my grip on the crystal, feeling its cool surface.
“Of course she wasn’t vólkin,” Mina says, her calm tone so matter-of-fact that I almost missed what she just said.
“Mina.”
“There are no vólkin females. Well, no natural vólkin females. Except Elder Aïna.” She says it so casually, her tail swishing lazily behind her, as though she hasn’t just upended everything I thought I knew. To her, it’s a simple truth. To me, it’s as if she’s pulled the ground out from under my feet.
And yet... why am I so surprised? Since my mother’s death, nothing in my life has made sense. I’m in a vólkin’s house—a vólkin who calls me his mate—when a few months ago I was throwing knives at vólkin training dummies in the barracks. I’m speaking to Mina, a vólkin female, who is telling me there are no vólkin females. I witnessed Arnold being shredded, and instead of falling apart, I’m standing here clutching a crystal I thought belonged to my mother, eating strawberries fetched by a creature I was raised to fear, who insists I’m the leader of a prophecy.
No, nothing makes sense anymore.
“I think y??—”
Knock. Knock.
Oh, for the love of the goddesses! I snap my head toward the door, my irritation bubbling over as I call out, “Yes?”
The door opens, revealing one of the guards—and behind him...
A dozen nýmphí. At least.
Before I can process the sight, they stream into the room, their movements fluid and graceful, like they’re gliding rather than walking. They bow deeply in unison, their bodies glowing in the soft light of the crystals.
“We wish you a good morning, Ethereal Leader,” they say in melodic voices that send a shiver down my spine. The harmony of their greeting feels otherworldly, both beautiful and haunting, like a song.
Nothing. Nothing makes any sense.
And that is how I find myself in the stream, the warm water flowing around me as Mina gently rubs fragrant oils into my arm. The nýmphí have taken over the house entirely. Two of them crouch near the edge of the stream, inspecting my mother’s crystal with curious eyes.
The others move, flitting in and out of the house, returning each time with something new—bundles of herbs, strands of woven flowers, or glowing stones that pulse in their hands. Every time they enter, they bow briefly before me, their fluid movements so synchronized it feels like I’m witnessing a dance.
Mina hums as she works. “They’re quite eager, aren’t they?” she says, her voice amused. Her tail flicks as she glances at the nýmphí holding the crystal. “The nýmphí rarely visit this part of the village, they’re usually in the forest around Ávera, but now that you’ve arrived...”
I glance at the nýmphí. “They came just to see me?”
Mina chuckles, dipping her paws into the container the nýmphí brought to gather more oil. “Of course. You are the ethereal leader, after all. To them, you are practically a goddess.”
“A goddess,” I repeat, the words tasting strange on my tongue. “I’m just... me.”
Naked me in front of Mina and all the nýmphí.
