AllFreeNovel
Share Us
PROLOGUE
The Dark Mother was what Hel called me after I was banished to The Underworld.
I refused to lay beneath my husband and remain in the garden…so here I was, forced into darkness and fire, plummeting through realms and sinking down into the depth of the sea…only I did not once feel fear.
I felt freedom, unrestraint…clarity.
The soft, curvy human body I once inhabited; felt lighter yet stronger…
Cold, black floor pressed against my cheek, and once I had enough strength to open my eyes, it was not pain and despair I was met with.
“Another fallen angel.” Hel gave a heavy sigh. “One would think I would be used to this by now. Stand up and drink, fair one.”
Pushing myself off the cold floor, I turned toward the voice and sat up, curling and uncurling my fingers and toes. I blinked a few times as the figure before me became clearer, towering over me like the apple trees in the garden I once called home. Two black and white snakes curled into coils beside me, and I smiled, stroking one’s scales and feeling great comfort.
“Am I dead?” I asked the shadowed figure.
She laughed, chilling and sweet. “No, but you will feed on lust, and if you do not have it, you will wither away.”
I nodded, looking down at my hands, and they seemed to blur, like fog. I waved them around and watched in awe as I floated in and out of solid form, red light glowing through my skin.
“You must rest now, gather your strength. You are nothing short of a Goddess, Dark Mother, and stories will be told of your contempt and resistance. Women will praise the Dark Mother. Just remember, even if they fear you, you will still thrive.”
Contempt? Resistance?
I was strength embodied; I did not bow to anyone. Why was it called resistance and not curiosity to see outside of the Garden?
I would rest, and I would gain strength.
I was a Goddess now, her words permeating inside my soul.
I needed to find a way to be worshipped…there must be someone who could fill that role.
It was then that I bargained with Hel, for another chance somewhere else.
I couldn’t deny the empty feeling inside my chest, the crushing feeling of rejection and ridicule. I ached to be loved and needed, but I refused to submit to another. It was the price I paid for choosing such insolence.
My only choice was given to me by her and her alone:
The mortal world, the Welsh lands that held magic.
It was only there that I would be able to retain a new beginning.
And so, she birthed me through the green moss and tall trees, not quite a demon but also not a God. I would start over in a time that was not kind to women; but I would show them exactly what it meant to be divinely feminine.
CHARLES
1730 FRANCE
The long, arduous carriage ride from Wales to London made my body ache and my mind race.
Charity had fallen asleep in my lap, and I stroked her hair, promising myself I would never let her out of my sight for even just a moment.
I’d never felt so possessive over anyone or anything in all my life.
“Well done, my boy. You did just as I asked…you found the one I needed. As a reward, you can keep your plaything…although we may need her later.”
Domenico had been like a father to me, and while I was relieved I’d once again reside inside the walls of the musty, yet wealthy Castle Delesepps, I was worried that the world I once knew had changed forever.
