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“What does it feel like?” I asked, concentrating on the way the light pulsed against my mother’s touch.

“Like happiness. That is when I find it easiest to harness, when I’m happy.” She smiled proudly at me. “It will call to you. Flow through your veins like life itself. Always with you, always comforting you. But you must protect it, and use it for good. To use it for anything other than goodness would be a dishonor.”

She lifted her hand up, sending the light into the sky high above. Like a firefly floating away. The brightness of day greeting it happily.

I let go of my mother and clasped my hands in front of me, trying to stop their trembling. “What will happen, when the Earth meets me?”

“She will take you, and you will be at her mercy.” My mother placed her hands over mine, sending her sunshine into me. “You will not fail.”

I nodded, holding onto her words.

Allowing myself to believe them.

We were almost back to the manor when I spotted Adrian in the distance. Tending to a chicken coop of all places.

The sight made me smile.

Farmer Adrian.

I hadn’t realized I’d stopped walking until my mother spoke, “He’s visited us almost every full moon since you passed. To check in on us.”

I jolted at this.

Adrian had looked after my parents?

“Hard to believe, I know.” She laughed quietly. “The man has a gentle soul. He helped us through our darkest days after we lost you.”

“What about Leo?”

She shook her head. “The king mourned your loss in his own way. Now I wonder if he stayed away because he was keeping such a big secret from us.”

I wondered what that had been like for Leo. To know I was alive and well but having to watch as those around him struggled with the loss of me.

I couldn’t blame him, though. He’d been doing what he thought was right. Hadn’t he?

My mother patted my cheek, then stepped away. “I’m going to head inside and help with lunch. Why don’t you go help Adrian.”

“Mom—” I threw my arms around her, hugging her tightly. Her scent of rose filled my chest. “I’m so happy I was able to meet you.”

Tears fell down her face as she hugged me back. “I never stopped loving you, and I never will,” she whispered into my hair.

She wiped the tears from her face and gave me a radiant smile, turning her attention to the guard. “Come, Logan, we have bread to bake.”

“Ma’am,” he said, extending his arm to her.

I smiled as I watched them walk away, feeling light with happiness as I headed to the chicken coop. A hopeful feeling radiating inside me.

Adrian spotted me, and that wicked grin appeared. “Come to help me rake up chicken shit?”

I laughed. “I’d prefer to collect the eggs.”

“Fair enough.” He grabbed a basket hanging from the side of the coop and handed it to me. “Lift that hatch there.” He pointed at the nesting boxes. “They’ll be in there.”

I took the basket from him, careful not to let our skin touch.

Lifting the hatch, I hooked it back so I could study the eggs inside.

A mix of different colors sat in small piles on top of pine shavings, patiently waiting to be picked up—white and tan, dark brown and olive green, even a stunning shade of blue-green that reminded me of the star-bridge Leo had carried me across.