Chapter 121
Aerilaya Thorne POV
Deep within the Moonlit Dungeons
Starborn Court, Fae Realm
B
€733
The stone walls hummed softly with old magic. Older than even me, it is pressed into every grain of this damned cell. Cold, quiet, and painfully polite like everything in this court. A gilded cage is still a cage.
I shifted against the silken bench turned bed, tossing the heavy braid of my hair over one shoulder. It shimmered, silver and black, the signature of my lineage, and the only thing I have left that reminds me I was once Aerilaya Thorne, warrior of the Starborn, First Blade of the Queen’s Elite Guard.
Not just… an imprisoned traitor. They never tortured me. That’s not the Fae way. No, they used silence. Isolation. A room with no sharp corners to break myself on, only moonlight and regret. And dreams. Dreams that feel more like prophecy.
I pressed my fingers to my temple as another vision crashed through my skull like a wave breaking across glass. There she is. My daughter. My starchild. My reason. She’s radiant now, glowing, gods help me, glowing. Silver and green and carved from divine flame. Surrounded by mates, protectors, allies. A chosen of the moon. A vessel of the earth. And still… still so vulnerable.
“You’re showing me too much,” I whispered aloud to the shadows.
The air thickened with star scented mist. Jasmine, and moonflower, and the cool bite of cosmos. She is coming. She always does when I ask… or beg.
And tonight, I am begging.
“Aerilaya,” a voice as soft as galaxies exhaled through my mind. I didn’t see her. You never see her. You feel her, like moonlight on bare skin or gravity tugging at a falling star.
“Elanithra,” I whispered, kneeling instantly, my hand over my heart. “She’s in danger, isn’t she?”
“She will always be in danger now,” the Star Goddess murmured. “But yes. There is an ambush planned. Aegis. Hollow Creed. They will descend upon the fae portal in Montana with blood and fire.”
My heart clenched. “She’s not ready for that. Not yet. Please…you have to warn her. Or reach the others. The Earth Mother, the Moonlight Sister…someone.”
A silence, vast and ancient, stretched between us before Elanithra finally answered. “The other goddesses are… trying. Their influence in the mortal realm grows stronger with every offering, every act of faith. But none of us can yet cross the veil unaided. We need a tether.”
I clenched my fists. “Use me.”
“You are trapped, my child.”
“I am still hers,” 1 growled. “Still her mother. Still a warrior of the light. I don’t care what this court has done to me. My blood sings with her name. Use me, damn it!”
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10:55 Tue, Oct 7
Chapter 121
A soft sigh rippled through the room like stars crying. “You have always been fire in starlight, Aerilaya.”
The mist curled lighter around my hands and pulsed against my skin. “Then let me burn for her.” The warmth grew. A connection
forming
“You may send her a dream. Just one. A whisper carried on the starwinds. She will feel it in her bones if her soul is listening.”
I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to the stone floor. “Then let it scream through her blood. Let it howl like a wolf with no moon. She must not go to that portal unprepared.”
The vision breaks. I’m alone again. But something shimmers in the air above me, thin threads of starlight slowly coiling toward the veil.
And I pray, please, please, let her hear me.
Elowen POV
My hands were still stained with blood. Not mine…but it didn’t matter. I scrubbed until my skin turned raw, like I could wash the weight of the dead off my soul with soap and hot water. I stood naked before the mirror, hair dripping, my breath shaking, and stared at a woman I didn’t fucking recognize.
Silver and green and blue fucking hair. Glowing marks. Goddess blessed. War bound. Savior of the goddamn world.
When the fuck did I stop being just Elowen?
“I don’t want to be this right now,” I whisper sobbed, my lips trembling as I braced my hands on the sink. “I just want one fucking night to be me. I want to dance. I want to eat, drink, and fuck until I forget there’s a war coming.”
“You are still you, little wolf,” Lyssira murmured in my mind, gentle but fierce. “But even goddesses break, and you are allowed to fall apart.”
That’s when they came in, all of my mates.
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