“You and three others,” she clarifies, as if that makes it easier to digest. “The four of you were chosen by me and my sisters—the moon, sun, and storm goddesses—at the time of your births. We each subtly influenced your names as well. Our precious gems, destined to shine in times of darkness.”
My heart pounds as I grapple with the hugeness of what she’s telling me.
Riven’s going to be mind blown when he finds out.
Speaking of Riven…
“We’re trying to stop the Night Court from joining the Blood Coven,” I tell Celeste. “Me and my…” I trail off, unsure how to refer to Riven, since calling him my boyfriend feels too casual. “Me and the prince of the Winter Court.”
“Oh?” Celeste raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow.
I shift uncomfortably, glance out at the gleaming city, then return my focus to the goddess. “Anyway,” I tell her, moving on. “We need to restore Riven’s father’s sanity first. The Winter King. Because before we knew the Night Court existed, we made this deal that I would help him create a potion to help his father, in exchange for him helping me make a potion to save my best friend’s life.” A lump rises in my throat when I try to imaginewhat Zoey’s going through right now, tears welling in my eyes when I realize that whenever I picture her in my mind now, all I see is the terror on her face when that night fae flew away with her. “She was kidnapped to the Night Court. She needs my help.”
“I know what it’s like to feel the weight of someone else’s survival on your shoulders,” Celeste says gently. “Your love for Zoey is fierce, but no matter how powerful you are, you and the Winter Prince cannot take on an entire fae court alone. You need more.”
“Riven told me the same thing,” I say with a frustrated huff. “He’s hoping the Winter Court’s army can help us defeat the Night Court. But for that to happen, we need his father’s sanity back. And the only way to do that is to create this potion. He has a few of the ingredients, but not all of them. He doesn’t even know what the rest of them are. That’s why we came to find you. He said you’d be able to help us.”
“The Winter Prince was correct,” she says. “The ingredients required to restore love to a hardened heart are specific, each serving a crucial purpose in healing the king’s fractured mind. However, certain ones only thrive in warmth. Which means you’ll have to go to the Summer Court to retrieve them.”
