But the message had come too late for Nik to see it, and her heart ached with every beat that he had left believing he was unwanted and unloved and unwelcome.
No matter what his history or which demons trailed him, she wanted him to have a home.
Lorenya pulled at the sources of the sand around her idly, making tiny castles with her shifting. None of her children were old enough for magic yet, but every day more of the women and older children found or increased their power.
Nik had begun all of that, and she wished more than anything that he had stayed to see it.
His nightmares had been filled with darkness, that much was clear. But his daydreams were nothing but sweetness and innocence, like the child she still saw in his eyes from time to time.
Sometimes, like tonight, the wind called to her with just the same tone that Nik used, a mix of high laughter and low calm.
Lorenya sighed and flattened her castle.
Her name whistled on the breeze again, and she hunched her shoulders against the cold of both winter and loneliness.
“Lorenya!”
She tilted her head. That was just uncanny. Sweeping the beach and squinting into the darkness, she saw a slim figure walking toward her. She rose, dusting cold sand from her dress, and began to walk toward it, uncertain.
Then she began to run as realization dawned.
“Nik!” she cried, laughing as he met her and hugged her tight, nearly sweeping her toes right off the sand. “By the Magi, Nik, where have you been? We have so much to tell you. And how did you get here?” she asked, puzzled. No boats had come in today.
She knew because she watched every day.
“I have much to tell you, too,” Nik said, his grin teasing another laugh from her. Oh, how she had missed her friend. “But first, I want to show you something. Stand back,” he warned.
Lorenya looked at him dubiously but moved back a few steps.
“More.” He laughed, and it was such a welcome sound. “More than that.”
“Nik,” she protested, but then her jaw dropped as Nik’s slender body grew and stretched and darkened until he stood before her, no longer a man, but a creature larger than Matron Behrenna’s house in the village.
She didn’t even have a name for this creature.
“Nik? What... what is this?”
He turned a circle for her, preening in the moonlight. Scales the size of a dinner plate glistened like sun on water, the color a dusky purple fading to pale lavender at the tips of his wings.
Wings! Oh, Magi, what was this?
Lorenya’s knees failed her, and she sat right down on her bottom in the sand.
A great rumbling shook the creature before her, and its mouth hung open, a pink tongue lolling out between sharp teeth. It looked for all the magic in the world like the creature was grinning at her.
Then it began to shrink and fade, and pants and a tunic wrapped Nik’s pale skin as he formed again before her.
She just stared at him, speechless.
“Like I said, I have much to tell you,” he said, reaching to help her up to her feet. He pulled her in close for another hug, “Thank you for believing in me. I’ve found a lot of darkness in my time away, but I’ve found even more light.”
He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, and she buried her face in his chest, tears leaking onto his thin shirt.
“Magi, Nik, I’m soaking you. Let’s go home, and I’ll build a fire to warm us up.”
He laughed indulgently. “I can breathe fire now.”
Lorenya felt her cheeks flush, but she smiled. “Well, I don’t even know what that thing is.”
“Draken,” he answered. “I’d love to tell you a story. I might need an extra bed, though, if you can spare it.”
“Sy?” she cried, scanning the beach behind him.
Nik shook his head, a hint of sadness entering his eyes. “No. Sy’s still at StarsHelm. Another bit of the story. But this is Shuri,” he said, and when Lorenya looked behind him again, she saw a petite girl with hair nearly to her knees walking toward them, her gait slow and her expression shy.
“Shuri and I have come to protect you and everyone on Weshen Isle,” Nik said, growing serious. His arm tightened around her shoulders.
“Protect us from what?” Lorenya asked, his haunted look frightening her.
But he only tilted his head back to stare at the moon and stars above. “The world has grown much more dangerous since we last spoke.”
SY AND COREN HAD BARELY exited the forest and turned to the outer farmland of StarsHelm city when a huge shape separated itself from the trees to the north.
“Kinmare!” Penna cried, breaking away from Coren to run at the Draken. She craned her neck back to stare into its eyes, nodding. Coren marveled at how the girl was barely past the Draken’s claws, yet she seemed wholly comfortable around the creature.
They caught up to her, and Kinmare stepped deeper into the shade of the forest.
“He’s been waiting for us,” Penna explained. “Nik and Shuri found all the boats and soldiers, and now they’ve gone on to Weshen Isle to tell the women about the shadow-things. They have to stay there a while to help build the barrier.”
Coren glanced at Sy and saw his face fall. He recovered quickly, tucking away his disappointment.
“But we must be very careful,” Penna continued, her voice deepening beyond her age. She tilted her head at Kinmare, then recited, “One enemy is exchanged for another, now that Shadow has the Heart of Sulit. It will rise and become flesh, and raise its army to cover the world, smothering the FatherSun, the Sulit Mother, and the Mirror Magi.”
“Flesh?” Coren asked, at the same time that Sy said,
“Smothering?”
Kinmare nodded, and Penna translated again, “Shadow can appear as anything now. It seeks to destroy the old gods, and it will use every darkness in every person to extinguish enough of their light.”
“How can we defeat it?” Sy asked, and Coren turned to Kinmare, hopeful.
But the Draken shook its massive head as Penna continued, “Shadow cannot be defeated, only balanced. Shadow is the tilt between light and dark. The knowing, and yet the not knowing. Fear, or the feeling that something is there that you will never see until it is upon you.”
Coren shuddered at the idea. “What will we do?” she whispered, more to herself than to Kinmare. Fighting Brujok with their vines of thorn was one thing. Fighting fear itself, as it manifested before you, was entirely different. How did you train to fight an enemy that could change into anything?
“Choose light,” Sy answered. She nodded, her exhausted mind grateful for the easy answer, even if she had to resist telling herself there were no easy answers.
They would choose light and find the balance. Somehow. The details would come.
“Thank you, Kinmare,” she said.
Penna did her best to hug the Draken, and even Kosh stepped close enough to smooth his hand over the creature’s snout. Kinmare nodded at Sy and Coren and spread his wings, vanishing into the chilly morning sky within seconds.
As they walked over the charred remains of the maze to the palace, Sy leaned in and whispered to Coren. He described his anxiety over Shadow’s warning about his family and his fears for Resh.
Coren felt her cheeks heat. She was ashamed that she’d mostly forgotten Shadow’s parting comment in the whirl of what had happened to her own family. There had been so many things going on, and nearly everything had been crowded out by her worry for Penna and Kosh.
Her heart constricted as she pondered the idea that Resh might be changed by what she’d asked. She had her reasons, and he’d always understood them before. But it seemed obvious to her now that she couldn’t continue to ask him to wait or stay back when danger was near.
Requesting that he stay at StarsHelm may have kept him safe from Brujok and Mara, but it had been selfish.
They neared the palace, and a familiar pair of guards greeted them, their station much farthe
r out from the palace than before. She smiled - Harben and Cusslen had been busy fortifying, then. She was glad for the extra protection, though she dreaded telling them it would be all for little since their enemy had changed so much.
“All is well here, Your Majesty,” one of the guards said, and she nodded.
“Please send someone to find Generals Cusslen and Harben, as well as the upper court. I’d like to meet with them all tonight. We have much to discuss,” she commanded. As the man turned smartly and jogged into the palace, she smiled. “That was easier this time.”
Sy grinned. “Why don’t you go on ahead to your rooms, Vespa-girl?” he teased. “I can manage to get your brother and sister safely inside at this point.”
She glanced at them with concern, but they were barely paying attention, arguing about Kinmare again.
“Are you sure?” she asked, uncertain. She really wanted to check on Resh.
He nodded, and she bent to kiss the twins. Spreading her wings, she lifted into the air and circled the palace, looking for her own balcony window.
An autumn wind fluttered the sheer curtains, showing her the window was open despite the chill air.
Was Resh waiting for her? He’d told her he would move into her rooms while she was gone.
Coren scraped to a rough landing on the balcony, shifting her wings away. She wanted to be just Coren when she saw him again. Not the Vespa. Not the Queen. She patted the satchel at her back that held the Kitsuun blades.
“Resh?” she called. “Are you in here?”
Would he be there?
Would he be different, like Sy feared?
Rustling came from the bed, and a dark figure pushed away the blankets. Why was he in bed in the middle of the afternoon? She hoped he wasn’t sick.
“Coren,” he cried, stumbling forward on stiff legs.
She laughed in relief at the sound of his voice, running across the chilled stone floor toward him. He caught her with both arms, squeezing her to him. Her travel-weary body melted into his sleepy heat, his hands tight on her waist.
“I missed you so much,” she said, rushing the words out before she could scare herself out of saying them.
He murmured something of the same, and then his lips found hers, greedy and consuming. She gave in to the heady sensation, and they toppled onto the bed. He scooted himself back, and she crawled to meet him, crushing her body to his.
“I should never have made you wait here,” she murmured, dropping kisses along his jaw. He moaned softly and nipped at her neck, harder than he ever had before. The twinge startled her, but she fell into the sensation, their bodies twining together.
He tasted faintly of lemondrine liquor, and his eyes were heavy-lidded. Was it with drink or desire?
She pulled back just a bit, catching her breath. “Are you well?”
“I am now,” he growled, nuzzling into her. His grip was fierce on her hips.
She laughed to push away the sensation that something was indeed a little off. “I just wondered why you were in bed.”
“Oh, I was reading this morning. Must have dozed off.”
The words were innocent enough, and she told herself she was just suspicious because of Sy’s fears. They’d missed each other, but they were together again.
“I have something for you,” she said against his lips.
He laughed, the sound low and sultry against her chest. “I’ve been waiting patiently for it, too.”
“No, something you’ve wanted even longer,” she teased, feeling brazen under his attention. She swung the pack around and opened it. Watching in excitement for his reaction, she slowly withdrew the twin Kitsuun blades.
“Coren... how?” he whispered, his breathing stuttering. He pounced on the blades, his eyes glinting with something she’d never seen before as he examined every inch of the weapons.
Yes, he was still here, and he was still hers.
But there was something undeniably different about Resh now. He held the blades up to the afternoon sunlight, their light streaking back and blinding her.
“This changes everything,” he said, his grin spreading wide and wicked - her favorite expression. But he wasn’t looking at her as he knelt up in the bed.
Instead, he gazed at his own reflection in the mirror of the blades, and Coren could see just the glimpse of a handsome distortion grinning back.
Her heart thumped in unease, but she silenced her fear. It was just a leftover sensation from all the horror she’d seen. Resh looked back at her, blinking as though he’d nearly forgotten she was there.
“Oh, I have missed you, little Weshen witch,” he murmured. She knelt up, and he leaned in to capture her lips with a kiss. She slid her hands around his waist beneath his loose shirt and pulled their bodies close. She waited for him to cup her cheek or tangle his fingers in her hair, but the blades stayed secure in his grip as he deepened the kiss.
HEY, READER. HILARY here.
I hope you’re enjoying the magical world of the SoulShifter series as much as I am. There are so many stories to be told in this epic journey of light, dark, and the powers of love and magic. In the fourth and final book, Fall of Fearless and Forever, you’ll see just how dark the world can get. Join Coren and her friends as they fly with Draken, master new weapons, and visit uncharted lands as they seek to balance Shadow’s influence in their lives.
Check it out here now!
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Starbright: The Complete Series
Acknowledgements
IF YOU’RE STILL HERE by this point, then you are a true reader, and I want to thank YOU!
I love to write, and you love to read, so let’s be friends! Seriously.
It’s hard to write the middle books. Things aren’t as shiny and new, and the end is still so far away. But there are a ton of people who helped wrangle this dreaded “sophomore” tome into production, and I’m so grateful for my team.
My ever-supportive parents and my beautiful family and friends still win the favorite fans of all time award. They give me motivation, an ear to talk off, and babysitting to follow this dream of storytelling, and all of those things are priceless.
I hope my children look back at our busy “summers off” and remember my lessons that if you have a dream worth following, you work when you can. I’m sorry I didn’t swim much with you, but in my defense, that water was cold!
David, thank you for allowing me to support our local Panera at least once a week this summer. And as for the surprise new coffee maker? That’s why I married you.
If you’re looking for a great develop
mental editor, I wholly suggest Mary Rosenblum of New Writers Interface. Unless she’s reading my next story, and then you can’t have her! Gold, I tell you.
Likewise goes immeasurable gratitude to my favorite beta reader slash legal advisor, Cecily. She has a few other titles, but those are also a secret.
Can I say Deranged Doctor Design covers are amazing? You saw it. You bought it. Amazing, right? I’m looking forward to sharing many more of their covers with you. If you have the ebook version of this story, please check out the hardback and paperback for more gorgeous design work from DDD and Eight Little Pages. This series has such a rockstar wardrobe.
I can’t possibly name all the fantastic people I’ve met and worked with on social media and my wonderful Stargazer Reading Group. Special shoutouts to the AAYAA and For Love or Money groups. Y’all are amazing, and worth everything a girl has in this life.
Should I say something cheesy again? Of course. I’m a Libra – silly and sentimental, all in balance.
Keep your sights in the stars, and stay out of the shadows. You’ve been welcomed and warned.
- Hilary
About the Author
HILARY USED TO BE SUCH a practical girl. Then she let the stories out, and claimed the titles of stargazer, daydreamer, and believer in all things magical.
Fairy tales, myths from all cultures, and the wonderful “what if” are the foundation of her stories. Villains, heroes, and sidekicks clamor for equal attention. Happily-ever-afters, too (of course), but be warned that the road will twist and turn and seem to dead-end before the magic of a sweet romance leads back into the sunlight.
When she’s not writing, Hilary teaches Creative Writing, Literature, and College Writing, drinks too much coffee, and reads as much as her eyes can handle. She plays superheroes and dress up games and reads books in bed with her independent, willful children, and plays at homesteading and world traveling with her soulmate of a husband. She tends to ignore laundry and dirty dishes.
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