I turned to face Star.
“I did what I thought would help you,” Star said defensively. “Viper misread my intentions. I wasn't trying to trick you. I truly believe that completing the star would have made you powerful enough to overcome the blood.”
“I understand.”
“I had to do something. You were screaming. Fighting against the blood. I wasn't sure you'd survive; not the you that we need.”
“It's okay, Star.”
“I couldn't let them break you.”
“Star, I said that I forgive you.” I laid my hand on her shoulder, and she crumpled. I caught her, the embodiment of my magic, and held her as she cried. “You and I are in this together. You are my heart. I know you acted out of concern for me. You were wrong, but you tried. Perhaps I will accept the other points of my star someday. Perhaps we will become what you hope us to be. But not today. I need time. They need time. And you need to be patient with us.”
“I'm sorry, Vervain,” she whispered. “I'm so sorry. I just want us to be as powerful as we can be.”
“I know.” I pulled her over to the men. “But we are great as we are. Unstoppable. And we have all the time in the world. Now, that being said, is there anything I can give you, Star Gods? Anything to make you happy?”
“You just did, Vervain,” Storm said in his phantom voice.
The men glanced at each other and then circled us. With a look of shock and awe on her face, Star stepped back to join the circle of men, her movements stiff as if she weren't in control of them. Moments later, Star brightened and darkened all at once. Amethyst light burst out of her, condensed into a line, and hit me in the heart. The avatar connecting with its source.
The Trinity Star in my chest came to life and with its light came an epiphany; I wasn't the ninth point, my magic was. Star was the ninth point in our nine-pointed star; I was its heart. That's where she had got it wrong. I united us, not the magic. My magic was just another point of power. Of course, it was. On the heels of that revelation came another; to make us into a unified force, all I had to do was wish it. So simple, but Star had insisted on complicating things. No more.
I wished upon a trinity star.
A line of dark starlight surged out of me and into Sea. It hit him in the chest, came straight back to me as pure white, and then blasted out to Wind. Back and forth, the sparkling cords surged until a glowing, nine-pointed star connected all of us with me in the center. Amethyst and diamond, the streams were a map of magic, clearly showing their sources. Except for the lines connecting me to Star and Viper; those were deep purple.
With the completion of our star, power rocketed through me, so much power that I couldn't even cry out. As my body trembled, the glittering lines of diamond started to darken; first to lavender and then to amethyst. The men went rigid under the gathering magic; the energy blasting along the streams, over and over, gaining darkness and power and brilliance as it went. Finally, the light came at me from every point, and my body burst with sparkling energy. My nine points fell away, flung to the floor with the shock wave, and my head arched back as my arms spread wide, and I began to lift off the floor.
The castle disappeared as a vision unfolded before me. My Dragon Armies marched across continents, earth trembling beneath clawed feet as they spread my dominion from the mountaintops to the bottom of the sea. Then we traced through the God Realm, wards crumbling beneath my light and territories falling to my dominion. Entire Pantheons bowed before me. They worshiped me, the true Goddess. They chained their fellow gods and laid them before me to be consumed in my dark light. Finally, the Gods had become the sacrifice.
And I didn't stop there. I spread my light to Faerie and took that realm too. Every kingdom, every element, every faerie submitted to me. I united them as I'd been trying to do from the beginning. I swept past their petty grudges and showed them the way to true peace. The Consciousness of Faerie and the Void had to be destroyed, but their deaths weren't wasted. Their power fueled me, and my light grew even brighter. A new banner flew from the branches of the Castle of Eight; a nine-pointed amethyst star on a black field.
The Realms would be mine and my star gods would rule beneath me. Invincible. All-powerful. True Gods. I could hear the rejoicing voices of my worshipers, smell the incense they'd burn in my temples, and taste the blood they'd leave on my altars. Three realms united beneath the Dark Star. Utopia.
I breathed in deeply as I slowly descended, my feet gently coming to rest on the floor, and opened my eyes. The Star Gods and Star were standing again, all of them staring at me with awe. Power crackled along my skin and through my hair before fading into me. Then Star burst out laughing.
“I guess sex isn't everything after all,” she announced, and the rest of us started laughing too.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Mommy,” the little voice echoed down the hallway to me.
“Brevyn?” I called back.
“Mommy.”
“Brev!” I started running but the hallway extended before me.
I ran down an unending stretch, my son waiting at the end. It seemed like eternity separated us and my heart stuttered under the possibility that I might never reach him.
“Brevyn!”
But then the hallway ended, and I came to a sudden stop. I was there; I had reached him after all. All I'd had to do was wish for
