Page 98 of The Endless One

Like a spiderweb had trapped her, she didn’t want to leave the sunlit haven she had built for herself. Jessamine could feel him tugging on her. Elric was trying desperately to help her into the living realm, but she wasn’t budging. She stayed right next to her tree. And then a fear zinged through her body. What if she couldn’t go back? What if she was stuck here? Alone? With only Elric to visit her, and she would just forever be the goddess who had to watch other people living while she remained here.

“Remember your body,” Elric’s voice murmured in her ear. “Remember what it was like to feel the ground beneath your feet, the flex of your thighs, the sensation of your stomach and your lungs breathing in air. Feel your heartbeat against your palms and the wind at the nape of your neck. You can do this, my love. All you have to do is try.”

Jessamine did what he said. She remembered the body she had lived in for such a long time, and then she was free.

Blinking her eyes open, she was back. Back in her kingdom. Back with the sights of all the people she loved, all the people she had sacrificed so much for, right in front of her.

He’d brought her to the streets right in front of the castle. The streets that she remembered only as abandoned. It felt like just yesterday she had stood here, staring up at a castle that had long been forgotten. The vacant cobblestones had been cracked and dust covered, as though no one had walked over them in months. All the plants had been overgrown, spilling out between the stones in skeletal remains of what had once been thriving topiary and beautiful art.

Now there was life again. Sure, there was a lot of work to do. There was still moss in between the cobblestones, but it was emerald green and alive. The bushes still desperately needed to be trimmed, but there were flowers blooming on them.

So many people were walking around her. No more silent streets and alleyways that were filled with shadows and the whispers of people who had long been gone. No, now there were people everywhere. Men, women, and children, all of them wearing brightly colored clothing. Wearing determined expressions on their faces, they were all rebuilding this city in the way that only those who had grown up here could. She had known Inverholm was resilient, but she was seeing it now with her own eyes.

They were still helping each other. So many of them all working together even though the districts had never gotten along all that well.

Groping for Elric’s arm, she grabbed onto him to hold herself up. “Elric, it’s so beautiful.”

“And that is all because of you.”

“Because of us.” She stared up at him, another depth of her love unlocking. “None of this would have been possible without you.”

His expression softened. Elric wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the castle. “We’ll go see how they’ve fixed the city in a bit, nightmare. But I think you should see your coven. It’s been a long time, after all. They’ve all been dying to see you again.”

Her coven.

How strange it was to think that. “If we’re dual gods, does that mean it’s our coven?”

“In a way,” he said as he meandered them up the path that led to the castle. “They can choose which one of us they prefer, of course. There are quite a few ways to worship a god. Most of them are bloody and cruel, but others are kind and soft. Like you. I think we’ll start to see the coven turning to dark and light the longer we give them to figure it out.”

“Neither way to worship is wrong, though,” she added.

“Of course not. They can worship however they see fit. Light and dark are not bad things. One needs the other to exist.” He gave her shoulder a little squeeze, moving them until she could actually see the castle. “Now, take a look at what they’ve done to your home.”

She feasted her eyes on the new castle, and her heart soared. There was so much to look at that it was hard to really see all of what had happened.

The towers were so colorful now. Banners hung from each window, each in the pretty sapphire color of her family. As if they wanted everyone to know that the castle was taken over by the rightful ruling house. Even though Jessamine wasn’t there. They had still wanted everyone to know that she had returned, and that there were no Orenda nobles in the castle.

Her mother would have been so proud.

The gardens were blooming far out of season. They were brightly colored, full of flowers that definitely shouldn’t have been blooming at the moment, but there they were. Blooming, bright, vivid, stunning. The air was full of crackling magic as birds soared overhead.

Then she realized those birds were carrying small scrolls. Messages as they darted through the air toward different districts.

“Elissa?” she asked, pointing up at the birds.

“She’s gotten quite proficient at that, yes. Who knew a cosmic witch would ignore the stars entirely and focus on birds?” He snorted. “Witches never cease to amaze me, though. I shouldn’t be surprised a few of them step out of the normal life and onto a path that they forge on their own.”

She hurried up the final steps to the front doors of the castle and threw them open. Beyond those doors were even more changes. Her entire home had been filled with magic. Crystal scrying globes were dotted here and there, skulls decorated much of the ceiling, and there was an air of magic in here, too. She could almost smell the brimstone-and-fire scent as she walked down the hall.

A navy-blue carpet cushioned her feet. Candles hung on the walls, but when she looked, she realized they weren’t actually hanging. They were hovering. At her glance, one of the candles floated over her as though it would guide her where she wanted to go.

“Magic,” she whispered.

Elric grinned. “Everywhere you look.”

Some missing puzzle piece settled in her chest as she realized this was how her kingdom should have always been. There was no reason for them to have chased the witches away, burning them and killing them, all because some people didn’t have the same magic that they had. Instead, they should have been using them to help. Using witches to make their lives easier.

A woven basket rolled past her, filled to the brim with what looked like clothing. And then… yes, she realized it was going down the stairs, deeper into the castle, where she knew there were washing stations.