Page 20 of Treasured

Luna was more than just my wife. More than my Bound Partner. She was my life. I needed her more than air, more than blood.

I repeated her name. Quietly at first and then louder and louder.

Nothing.

My heart raced in my chest, and panic settled deep within me.

How did this keep happening? One would think that being Tethered meant I’d never find myself in a situation where I lost my wife, but apparently not.

Gold flecks shimmered in the blackness, sparkling like shards of sunlight before disappearing.

Did I imagine them?

No. Something was different. The darkness was thicker to my right. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Someone was there.

I couldn’t see them. Why couldn’t I see them? My vision was far better than any mortal’s, but this darkness was unnatural. Like a black shroud, it made sight impossible.

“Who’s there? Who are you?” I asked, my hands clutching the side of the bed.

A raven’s caw echoed through the space.

I sat up, the sheet slipping to my waist.

Silver moonlight glowed, ripping the darkness in two. A curvy female stepped out of the shining light. She wore a black strapless silk dress that did little to hide what was underneath, her hair of the same color falling past her waist.

“You know who I am,” she said in an eternal, lilting voice.

Another call from the raven. It descended, landing on her bare shoulder.

My eyes widened, and my heart thundered. “You… this isn’t…”

“It’s real,” she replied.

Was it, though? This did not feel real. Part of me still felt strange.

The female continued, “Your wife had trouble believing me, too.”

Luna’s dream-that-wasn’t-a-dream.

Understanding clicked into place, and a frisson of fear ran through me.

“Isvana?” I croaked disbelievingly.

Admittedly, my religiosity had been lukewarm at best throughout my long life. I believed in the gods but didn’t care much for them. After Athena’s death, I retreated into a hole of darkness. What kind of gods could let someone innocent be torn apart limb by limb by “accident?” Especially someone like Athena. My first love did not deserve to die like that.

The goddess dipped her head, her black hair falling like a curtain around her face. “Very good, Prince Sebastian.”

I pinched my thigh, and pain radiated through my body. This was no dream. And yet, how could this be real? Confusion warred inside me.

Isvana looked as real as anyone else I’d ever met. She glowed with light from the unseen moon like an angel of the night, and the depths of her eyes were filled with life.

I hadn’t doubted Luna—the seed had been tangible proof of her visit with the goddess—but this was more than I had ever expected. “Where are we?” I asked, adjusting the sheet around my waist to ensure I was covered.

Isvana stepped forward, the moonlight glow of her skin brightening until it was nearly blinding. “This place has many names and serves many functions. To some, it holds the silver planes of the future.”

Fortune Elves. I’d heard them talk of the place they went to See what was to come.

The goddess continued, “I believe you know this place for another one of its facets: the Void.”

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