Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(107)

When Mikki began to speak, Hecate raised her hand to silence her. "But simply returning is not that easy. You have also been changed by your sacrifice. As long as you stay in the mundane world, you will live a normal lifespan. But should you return to the Realm of the Rose, your blood ties you to it irrevocably. Which means you would be an immortal, reigning in the realm eternally as more than my Empousa - you would become Goddess of the Rose."

Mikki heard Hecate's words, but they were almost drowned out by the dizziness and disbelief that hummed through her mind. Did Hecate just say that she would never die? That she could become a goddess?

"But you should know that a goddess's path is not an easy one to tread, Mikado. Eternity is a daunting companion - sometimes he is glorious - sometimes he is melancholy and petulant as a spoiled child. Think carefully, Empousa. I give you a choice, but that choice is irrevocable. You may stay here, in the mundane world, and live out your mortal life's thread - at the end of which I will not desert you and will welcome you to the Elysian Fields as I did your mother and her mother before her."

"But Asterius - " she began.

"Because I regret the mistakes I made, I will grant him a boon. If you so choose, I will gift him with a mortal man's body." The goddess smiled and her eyes glittered mischievously. "I will gift him with a mortal man's body, but for you, my favorite Empousa, I give you my oath that his new form will be more pleasing to look upon than Adonis. But it is impossible, even for my powers, to change his form in the Realm of the Rose. I will have to bring him here, to live out his mortal life by your side. You will have children and grow old together and find solace in each other's arms when your lives are finished."

"Or I can return?" Mikki prompted, when it didn't seem like Hecate was going to continue.

"Yes. You may return as Goddess of the Rose - I will relinquish the realm of dreams to you eternally. But remember, in that realm I cannot change Asterius's form. He will remain eternally a beast, but with the heart and soul of a man. Make your choice, Mikado."

Mikki started to consider and then realized that she actually had no choice. She knew exactly what she had to do.

"I choose the Realm of the Rose and my beast. I don't want to live anywhere else, and I would not ask Asterius to change. I love what he is, not what others would have him pretend to be."

Hecate's smile was radiant. "Then let us return you to your realm."

Chapter Thirty-Seven

THE forest had certainly not changed. It was still dark and creepy - especially now that Mikki knew what lurked out there. Of course now she was a goddess, so the Dream Stealers would have a whole new ball game to play if they tried to trap her again. And they would - Hecate had already warned her about that. Just because she was an immortal now, it didn't mean she wasn't still fallible and able to be manipulated by darker emotions. Hecate herself had been proof of that. Mikki shivered and wrapped her purple palla around her shoulders more tightly. She'd be careful.

Weird that she didn't feel any different. Or at least not that much different. She'd felt the roses when she'd returned. Really felt them. Embarrassingly enough, they had rejoiced when she entered the realm. Although now that she knew they had real emotions and bright little spirits, she felt decidedly less ridiculous about all those years she'd talked to her bushes. Still, it was a wonderful yet odd sensation that she'd have to get used to.

The handmaidens would be really glad to see her, and Mikki was looking forward to surprising them in the morning. But not tonight. Tonight there was only one person she wanted to see - only one place she wanted to be - and that was in Asterius's arms.

Mikki could feel that he was out here somewhere, gathering the threads of reality to take to the Dream Weavers. She could have waited for him in his home. She could have called him to her bedroom in the palace. She hadn't wanted to do either. She would come to him because she loved the innocent joy he so obviously felt every time she chose him. And she wanted him to know she would keep choosing him for all of eternity.

A flicker of light drew her to the right. She followed it, and the flicker became a torch. Holding her breath, she made her way slowly and silently toward it. He was standing with his back to her, combing the limbs of the ancient tree above him. Glittering threads appeared within his hands, and he pulled and spun them into a luminous mound of magick on the forest floor.

She moved closer and then stopped when he made a low moan. He turned to the side with a sudden flinching movement, as if the thread he was weaving had caused him pain. But he didn't drop it. Instead he stared at it with an agonized expression filled with despair and longing.

Mikki looked within the thread and saw herself. She was heavy with child, which was truly a shock, but her shock shifted to joy as she watched Asterius enter the frame and pull her into his arms. He kissed her and then dropped to his knees, placing his lips gently against her swollen belly. In the dream vision, Mikki saw herself smile contentedly and reach out and stroke her finger down one of his ebony horns, just as she had done long ago.

With an anguished cry, Asterius hurled the thread away from him. "Why do you torment me?" he roared.

Mikki stepped from the shadows. "It torments you to think of me being pregnant? I think I'm the one who should be tormented. I mean, the whole horns and hooves issue in utero is a little daunting."

Asterius didn't move. He only stared at Mikki with eyes filled with hatred. "Begone apparition! I will not fall prey to your evil lies." Growling menacingly, he started moving stealthily toward her, holding his deadly claws before him like blades.