Chapter Thirty-Five
Calroy and I returned to the village before dawn broke, slipping back into our own cottages. Jina, Minha, and Fraya were sitting up talking among themselves when I entered and stopped by the doorframe.
Three pairs of eyes landed on me at once.
“Where did you go?” Jina’s smile was already forming before she’d finished the question.
“For a walk,” I said.
“A walk.” Minha’s gaze moved over my windswept hair and the wrinkled tunic. Her mouth curved. “How was it?”
“Fine,” I said, my voice flat as I approached the beds.
“Just fine?” Fraya tilted her head.
“Very fine.” I crossed my arms. “Are we done?”
Jina covered her mouth with both hands, shoulders shaking. Minha fell back onto her cot. Fraya looked at the ceiling, humming.
“Get some sleep,” I said. “We leave at first light.”
“Yes, goddess,” Minha said, still laughing.
I pulled the blanket over my head and smiled, my face pressed into the pillow where no one could see me. Despite what lay ahead, I held on to this moment—just a woman, not a goddess in love with a man who had searched the world to find her.
Sleep did not come and morning came too soon. We filed out and met The Priestess in front of her cottage. Calroy, Rowhan, and Palto were already there, waiting at the edge of the path, the three of them standing apart from each other.
Calroy caught my eye and winked, that knowing smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
My face flushed. I looked away before anyone noticed.
Too late. Minha was already watching me, smirking.
The Priestess stood with hands folded, expression unreadable as always. She looked at each of us in turn, then settled her colorless eyes back on Minha.
“You were born fighting. That is a gift. Know the difference between courage and recklessness.”
Minha said nothing, but her jaw worked, and she gave a single nod.
The Priestess moved to Fraya. “You have spent your whole life standing between others and harm.” Her voice softened just slightly. “Continue that path. For the world needs someone like you. But also know that you are not required to bleed for everyone.”
Fraya’s chin lifted, her eyes glistening.
The Priestess smiled at Jina. She was quiet for a long moment, studying her the way she had studied me when we first arrived.
“The sea knows your name,” she said, “even if you don’t yet know why.” She reached out and pressed two fingers briefly to Jina’s sternum, just above her heart. “When the water calls you, don’t be afraid to answer.”
Jina blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“You will.” The Priestess stepped back. “Soon.”
She strode to Rowhan. He straightened under her gaze, discomfort crossing his face—a god unused to being read.
“You know what you did. The fact that you cannot undo it will either destroy you or drive you forward. The gods cannot afford your guilt on the field. Put that aside and do what must be done.”
Rowhan said nothing and dipped his head.
The Priestess approached Palto. “You defied everything to send Calroy and Yeri back. That took more courage than any weapon ever forged. Now finish what you started. That is all anyone can ask of you.”
Palto placed a fist to his heart.
She moved to Calroy. He stiffened just enough I noticed, embracing what words of wisdom would lay upon her.
“Your memory has carried you well.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, then let go.
“That kind of discipline is rare, even in gods. But discipline without trust is just another cage.” Her gaze moved briefly to me, then back to him.
“Let her carry it with you now. You don’t have to hold it alone anymore. ”
Last, The Priestess came to me, both hands on my shoulders. “You have spent all your life being Star. Don’t abandon her in becoming Yeri. The goddess is formidable. But the girl who survived is the one the queen should fear. That girl never broke. Remember that.”
I swallowed, tears welling in my eyes.
“Your power will return when you need it most. Not a moment before. Not a moment after.” Her voice was steady and certain. “Don’t chase it. Trust it. It has never left you. It has only been waiting for you to remember who you are.”
Her pale eyes moved briefly to Calroy, then back to me.
“The queen destroyed the gods by dividing them. She could not break what was bound together. Don’t let her find a way to divide you now. Your love is not your weakness. It is your strength. Your power.”
Then she reached out and pressed her hand briefly to my chest, just above my heart. “You already know everything you need to know. It lives here. It always has.”
She stepped back and looked at us, her pale eyes moving from face to face one last time.
“The queen has held power for far too long.” The breeze moved through the path, the wind chimes catching it softly behind the Priestess.
“You will be outnumbered. There will be a moment when everything in you says it is over. That you’ve lost too much and there is nothing left to give.
” She let the words take root. “That is the moment you give more. That is the moment you remember what you are fighting for—not for a throne, not for power, but for each other.”
Silence settled over Pandrano.
Then she stepped aside, a permission to leave.
We filed out one by one, horses waiting at the edge of the path, the village still quiet around us, the wind chimes the only sound.
I glanced over my shoulder. The Priestess stood, remaining in the same spot, one hand raised in farewell.
Then the tall grass closed around us, and Pandrano folded behind us like it had never been there at all.
The ride took half a day.
Calroy pulled our horse to a stop when we reached the tree line, where Selene waited.
She stood with the same effortless grace I remembered from the tavern—golden hair pulled back, a sword strapped at her hip. Though more like a soldier than the woman who’d greeted children with open arms, nevertheless she was stunning.
I waited for the old jealousy to rise. For the image that had haunted me—her hands on Calroy’s chest, his mouth against her skin, the sounds I’d never been able to unhear.
It didn’t come.
What I felt instead was something closer to gratitude. The past belonged to a version of Calroy who hadn’t yet found what he was looking for—me. I knew now what that searching had cost him. Selene had been there for him when I couldn’t be, and for that alone, I was grateful.
Selene didn’t stand alone. Behind her stood an army, perhaps a couple of thousand strong.
Winged people, dark wings half-unfurled, each one had escaped the queen’s culling.
They stood in loose clusters, talking to comrades around them, and examining each other’s swords.
The sight of them stopped my breath short.
Every tunic had been cut and sewn to fit around their wings, the fabric slit clean down the back, exactly like Calroy’s.
Scattered among the winged people were men and women in the colors of kingdoms I recognized from the map.
The ice kingdom, Varen, in blue. The desert kingdom, Solara, in red.
Auris, second richest to Caelum, in yellow.
Thornwood, in green. Even a few from Jeju, in brown.
Nobody from Eldenmoor, the old Seelie territory, ruled by the Seelie queen’s brother.
These rebel fighters did not come with their kingdoms. They came of their own free will to help the winged people get their homes back.
Their cause filled my heart with joy. From Ranis’s actions at the barn, I’d thought there were good people—you just had to be lucky enough to find them—but in this moment, we’d come upon thousands.
“Wow,” Jina gasped on her mount. Ranis had taught her to ride during their time together, and now she handled the horse on her own. “I’ve never seen so many wings in one place, or so many different colored uniforms. I wish Ranis were here to see this.”
So did I. He’d left for Varen to bring an army of his own. I wondered if he’d already told his father everything, or if he was still finding the words. Either way, I hoped he’d return to us whole as a prince ready to fight, even if his father would not aid us.
“I could stare at their chest… I mean wings all day.” Minha snickered, waggling her eyebrows, adjusting her grip on the reins.
She handled her own horse now too. As for me, I’d rather stay on Theron’s stallion with him.
“What lovely chests… I mean wings.” Fraya snorted, reining her horse alongside Minha’s.
I knew those two would get along.
“I never thought I’d see this many people willing to stand against the Seelie queen.” Fraya’s voice dropped lower. “My father always said no one fights queens and wins.”
Her father was a coward, who beat his wife, and didn’t understand the power of unity, of people refusing to stay afraid.
“They’re ready,” Selene said, coming to stand beside Calroy.
“Stay here and out of sight,” Calroy told our friends as they dismounted, though his eyes lingered longest on the two gods. “I don’t want the queen hearing about your return before we’re ready for her to know.”
Rowhan and Palto nodded, staying on their horses.
Selene placed a hand on my shoulder. “They’ve been waiting for you too.”
“For me?”
“For both of you.” Her eyes moved between Calroy and me.
“There are more of them than I’d excepted.” Calroy scanned the mass, taking in the count.
“Word travels even in hiding.” Hellena’s wings folded tighter against her back. “When the boarox bowed to Star, people took notice. When the queen’s soldiers at the mountain didn’t return, people spread the truth.” She looked back at the gathered army. “They knew the lost gods had returned.”
Calroy helped me off the horse, then flapped his wings and lifted us both into the air, high enough for the whole assembly to see us.
His eyes moved across every face, every wing, every blade, and expression softened with gratitude. Not the god of the sky alone, cold and untouchable. Not the pirate captain hiding behind a smirk. Both, together, for the first time—a man who had been waiting a long time for this moment.