The second book in THE NEVER VEIL SERIES begins immediately after the first book, NOBODY'S GODDESS, ends. As such, there are HUGE SPOILERS in this first chapter. Choose to read with caution if you haven't yet read the first book.
For the first time...
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When I thought I understood real friendship, I was a long-lost queen. When I discovered there was so much more to my life than love and hate, that those around me were just pawns in a game whose rules I'd unwittingly put in place, I discovered I was a long-forgotten goddess. But goddess or not, powerless or powerful, my feet were taking me someplace I wasn't sure I wanted to go. What did I hope to find? Did I truly believe I could hear him call me—that he'd want to call me? Yes, I did. I wanted to see him again. I wanted to hope, even if I wasn't sure I was allowed. If I deserved to. I headed down the familiar dirt path beneath the lattice of trees overhead, pausing beside the bush with a partially snapped stem that jutted outward like a broken limb. The one that pointed to the secret cavern.
Only, it's not much of a secret anymore, is it?
My feet picked themselves up. Glowing pools would never again tempt me.
I reached the black, towering fortress that had for so long shaken and screamed at the power of my glance.
For the first time in this lifetime, I stared up at it, and nothing moved. My legs, unused to such steady footing while in the sight of the lord's castle, twitched in anticipation of a fall that never came.
There was no need. My feet dragged me forward.
At the grand wooden door, I raised a fist to knock.
But I stopped. I felt like if I touched it, the entire castle might crumble. It had done so once before. Not at my touch exactly. But I couldn't shake the feeling that I was responsible for whatever destruction I'd find in this place. But that was presumptuous of me. He was strong-willed, and he wouldn't crumble at the prospect of freedom. If anything, he'd be triumphant over it.
You can't stop now. I pulled my sleeves over my wrists and propped both elbows against the door, pushing until it gave way.
The darkness inside the foyer tried to deceive me into thinking night had fallen. The stream of light that trickled from the familiar crack in the garden door called the darkness a liar.
I gripped the small iron handles, the material of my sleeves guarding the cold metal from my touch, and pulled.
My touch had come to the garden before me.
The rose bushes that surrounded the enclosed circular area were torn, ripped, trodden, and plucked. The blooms lay withered, scattered and turned to dust, their once-white petals a sickly shade of yellowish brown, smooth blooms turned coarse and wrinkled.
The fountain at the center no longer trickled with water. Its shallow pool was stagnant, piles of brown festering in mildewing green liquid. Dotted amongst the brown was pallid stone rubble. The tears of the weeping elf child statue, which belonged at the top of the fountain, had ceased at last. But the gash across its face told me the child's tears had not been staunched by joy. I wondered if Ailill had had it carved to represent the pain I'd inflicted on him as a child. And I wondered if now he could no longer bear to remind himself of what I'd done.
