“My mother literally came to you and told you that I was coming. She appeared to you?”
“I am your mother’s faithful servant,” Branwyn said quietly. “Your mother knows this. She trusts me. I have proven my loyalty to her in every way. I only hope to prove it to you, as well, princess.”
“You don’t need to call me princess,” I told her wryly. “Empusa will do.”
She met my gaze. “Wonderful. Empusa, it is.”
My feet fell on the wet velvet of the wild grass and I realized with a start that I had lost my shoes along the way. Probably while I was dangling over the hot lava. Perfect.
Brennan read my thoughts and smiled at me. “It’s alright, Emmie. I’ll carry you wherever you need to go.” I rolled my eyes and laughed.
“I’m good,” I assured him. “I can conjure shoes.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “That you can. I had forgotten.”
We approached the other women who had stilled their movements in order to watch our approach. They were all calm and interested. I could see that they had been expecting me, as well. As I stepped inside the perimeter of their camp, they each dropped to their knees, their heads bowed.
My breath caught in my throat at the show of reverence.
“I told you that you and your mother are respected here,” Branwyn murmured. “They won’t get up until you give them permission.”
“Please, get up,” I stammered quickly. “There is no need to kneel to me. My mother is a powerful goddess of the moon. I am just her daughter, no more and no less. Only that. There is no reason to revere me.”
“You are too modest, princess,” Branwyn observed. “Surely you are aware of your own value. But you heard her, ladies,” she turned to the others. “The moon princess has said to rise. You can resume your duties. We’ll meet in the Meadow of Peace later this afternoon to meditate.”
The women resumed their laundry duties while Branwyn continued leading us away from the common area to a small but well-built hut.
It was made from wood and rock and was solid and strong. It stood in the middle of the others, larger and away from the perimeter. The perimeter was clearly marked with a boundary of stones. I recalled that the druids believed that there was protective magic within circles. And I was not one to determine who had more valid or powerful magic. Magic, as a whole, was a very fluid thing. Even mortals could channel it if they concentrated enough.
“While you are here, you will occupy my home,” she told us as she ducked her head slightly to enter the doorway. We followed and once inside, we could easily stand to our full heights.
The hut was simple, but clean. There was a largish bed in the center of the room covered in animal pelts. A fireplace adorned the back wall, simple and stone, with a roaring blaze inside. Cookware hung on hooks beside it.
“We cannot take your home from you,” I told her quietly. “There must be somewhere else we can sleep.”
“We have no extra homes,” she said in amusement. “We are a simple people. We only take what we need and we only use what we must. We do not waste. I am honored for you to use my home. I will share with someone else.”
She showed us a few things inside of the hut and pulled a buckskin over the single window before turning back to us.
Pulling a silver ring off of her finger, she handed it to me. The silver knotted ring glistened mutely in the dark.
“Promise me, Empusa, that you will wear this. It’s enchanted with protection. Never walk outside of our circle without it. Do I have your word?”
Her face was serious, her voice solemn. It would not hurt me to wear it, so I opened my fingers and allowed it to fall into my palm.
“Of course. Thank you.”
She nodded and turned to leave. “I’ll send someone for you when it is time to eat. You should rest.”
With that, she was gone.
Brennan and I were left staring at each other in the dim light of the hut. He reached out to me and almost without thinking, I collapsed against his chest. His heart thudded against my ear, its strength a throbbing cadence. I memorized the rhythm, tracing the outline of his collarbone with my fingers.
“We should rest,” he reminded me gently, staring down with his amazing golden eyes. His father, Apollo, was known throughout the world as being beautiful and charming. Brennan had inherited the best of those traits, which was a little funny since he had never actually met his father. He had been raised by mortals.
My fingers made their way to the cleft in his chin and I rose on my tiptoes to kiss his lips.
“I didn’t get the chance to thank you for saving me from the lava,” I told him, my gaze frozen on his. He smiled, his perfect lips stretching over a white smile.
“Anytime,” he answered confidently. “Anytime, anyplace, moon princess.”
“Ugh,” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t you start.” Twisting out of his arms, I padded across the dirt floor to the bed. Brennan followed closely on my heels.
“What?” he raised a golden eyebrow. “You don’t enjoy adulation?”
I cringed even at the word. “I don’t deserve adulation,” I replied quietly. “Nothing about me is deserving of that kind of respect. My mother, yes. Me? I’ve never been given the chance to earn it. I’ve spent my entire life, my entire existence, running from my own curse.”
Brennan inhaled sharply, pulling my chin up with his index finger. “I don’t ever want to hear that you are not worthy or undeserving of something again,” he cautioned me. “Your curse is what it is. You didn’t ask for it and it isn’t your fault. We will search the earth from top to bottom to find a way to reverse it. If we can’t find an answer on the earth, we’ll search elsewhere. I promise you, by all that is holy, we’ll figure it out.”
I nodded tiredly. I knew he wanted to believe that.
“I believe that because it is true,” he told me firmly. “Now, hop into that bed. We’re going to rest.”
“Yes, sir,” I answered with a weak smile. Pulling the skins back, I did as he said. He climbed in beside me, pulling me into his arms. It was my favorite place to be.