Veil of Shadows (32 page)

He stood on numb legs. The feeling of her dead body still haunted his arms. He longed to reach for her. He did not. She gazed at him, the glow around her dimming.

“You do not have to stay. You can go. I saw my mother, and Malachi. They were whole, on the Astral Plane.” She looked down. “It was beautiful there.”

“It looks the same as this place.” He shrugged. “Without the corpses and the death.”

Cerridwen.s eyes met his. It should have been a shock to him, to gaze into the eyes of a Goddess, but looking at her had always had that effect on him. “Go. The Astral is your true home. I cannot ask you to stay.”

He took a shuddering breath. “You do not need to ask. I will never leave your side.”

They embraced, and she fell as easily into his arms as she had when she had not been divine. It was the same Cerridwen, the same that he had loved. He kissed her, touched her, to remind himself that this was real.

“There is so much left to do,” she said, stepping back. “So many more to save, Fae and Human.”

“You will not do it alone.” He laced his fingers with hers. “And you cannot do it all tonight. Come home,” he urged her. “Come home with me.”

She nodded and looked to the sky. “I am home,” she said, turning to the forest and squeezing his hand. “Wherever I go, I am home.”

The End