“Introductions are in order, I believe. You, of course, are Princess Josselyn deLure.” Josselyn raised a brow as she sipped her water. “Have we met before?”
“Not in the flesh, but we're more closely connected than you know. I've actually been searching for you ever since I felt you release Kella the other night. I lost track of you, however, until tonight, when I felt a brief flicker of your beast's energy. You were closer than I'd dared hope.”
“Why is it I feel like your answers are only creating more questions?”
“I suppose I am being rather cryptic, aren't I?”
“Just a bit,” Josselyn replied, the corners of her mouth turning up into a wry smile.
The woman grinned. “Cheeky.” Josselyn felt her smile grow wider. There was something about this woman that put her at ease, made her feel lighter.
“Well? Are you going to tell me who you are or not?” Josselyn teased, leaning back in her chair and looking at the woman inquisitively.
The woman chuckled, setting her glass on the table and leaning forward. “Oh, I'm going to tell you, don't you worry. But in order for me to explain who I am, I'll need to first tell you the story of Lunares and Luxeos, and the creation of the Shendri warriors.”
She stood up and took a loaf of bread off of a shelf near the fireplace. She sliced off several large pieces, arranging them on a plate and placing them on the table in front of Josselyn. Sitting back in her chair, she gestured for Josselyn to take some, before she continued.
“Right, then, as I was saying... Lunares and Luxeos. Would you like to hear it?”
Josselyn nodded, her mouth full of bread. Swallowing quickly, she added, “Please.”
The woman smiled. Reaching across the small table, she slid her hands around Josselyn's, wrapping her fingers around her wrists. “Or, better yet, why don't I show you?”
“Um... what? How can you... I don't...”
The woman chuckled, her thumbs pressing gently against Josselyn's pulse points. Trickles of warmth, like summer sunshine, crept up her arms and spread across her chest. “Just close your eyes dear, and let me worry about the rest.”
Her eyelids already fluttering closed, Josselyn relaxed her shoulders, giving in to the delicious warmth. “If you say so,” she whispered, even as the darkness behind her lids began to swirl with color, creating a nightscape of rocky cliffs, sandy beach, and rolling blue waves that sparkled beneath the light of a full moon. The woman's voice floated through the air, like a whisper on the soft summer breeze that blew wisps of hair across Josselyn's face.
“It all started two hundred and twenty years ago...”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Once there were two goddesses who shone their light upon Lehi. One was Luxeos, goddess of the sun, and the other was Lunares, goddess of the moon. Luxeos watched over the kingdoms by day, Lunares by night, and, between the two of them, the land was fertile, the people content, and the kingdoms at peace.
Luxeos reveled in the joys of the day, watching the people work and play and receiving their adulation in return. Lunares enjoyed the peace that settled over the kingdoms during the night, but after awhile, she began to grow lonesome. The people were too tired from the day to appreciate the gentle light of the moon.
Then, one night, Lunares saw a young man swimming by himself in the Valiant Sea. He would swim out into the depths and let the waves carry him back to shore, over and over again. When he grew tired, he'd come out and lay upon the sandy beach in the moonlight while he watched the stars.”
Josselyn watched as the man, who couldn't have been more than thirty, played in the sea, his every movement proclaiming his love for the briny water. His damp, auburn hair glistened in the light of the full moon as he walked ashore, water trailing down his bare torso as if to draw particular attention to the sculpted muscles that distinguished him as a man who labored for a living.
“Lunares was intrigued by this man, and each night she would watch for him, and each night that the moon shone bright upon the water, the man would return, swimming in the sea and stargazing on the sand. Lunares thought he was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen, and she became infatuated with him. So much so, that one night she came down from the heavens, clad in her celestial robes, and approached the man as he returned to the shore.”
The man looked up from where he lay in the sand as a woman came walking down the beach, her feet bare as they glided across the sand, peeking out from underneath her long, silky dress that appeared to have been woven from the evening sky itself, with tiny stars winking their soft light across the heavenly material. She smiled at him, her lips a deep red against her luminescent skin, framed by a halo of blue-black hair that hung down past her waist.
He scrambled to his feet, brushing sand off of his pants and running a hand through his messy hair, as he watched, awestruck, as she approached. Her lips parted in greeting, eliciting a wide grin from the man in response.
Josselyn strained to hear what they were saying, but their voices were lost in the sounds of the sea. She watched as they settled onto the sand, talking and laughing like old friends. As they sat there, side by side, the world around them seemed to speed up, the sun rising and setting several times in succession before it finally stilled once more, having sped through an entire lunar cycle to the next full moon, which shone brighter than any other moon prior.
It was under this moon that Josselyn saw the man lean the
