“You have come today to ask a boon of the Goddess.” The priestess who met them at the Sacred Grove was obviously one of the extremely rare female Kindred. She was well over six feet tall with long brown hair streaked with green. Her eyes, also, were unusual—both the whites and the irises were different shades of green. The green-within-green eyes, Kat had explained in a low voice, were often a hallmark of the priestesses of the Goddess.
“Yes.” Harper bowed her head respectfully. She was dressed in nothing but a simple white robe which fell to her ankles and the grass felt cool and prickly against her bare feet. She didn’t know what to expect from this meeting in the Sacred Grove and she was trying desperately to keep her hopes in check. But she couldn’t get the young Shad’s words out of her head.
“The Goddess says it’s time,” he’d told her.
But time for what? Time to go to Shad—the older Shad—who she hoped was waiting for her in the future? Or simply time to meet her in-laws and get to know them?
Kat and Deep and Lock and all their children were wonderful—especially little Shad who could make her laugh one minute and make her heart ache fiercely the next, when she remembered his older self. But Harper couldn’t stop hoping that she would soon be with the man she loved—held in his strong arms once more as she felt the bond between them come to life again.
“The Goddess has spoken to me of you.” The priestess, who had looked so forbidding at first, got a gentler look in her green-within-green eyes. “She tells me you have suffered much and have sacrificed much and that it is time for you to have your reward.”
“And what…what is that?” Harper asked hesitantly and Kat squeezed her hand. She was there with Harper for moral support, though the rest of the family had been left outside the Sacred Grove.
“It is that which you seek,” the priestess said obliquely.
Harper felt a surge of impatience but she kept it in check. Kat had told her how maddeningly opaque the priestesses of the Sacred Grove could be.
“Thank you,” she said simply.
“Are you ready to rejoin him whom you love and are bonded to?” the priestess asked. “Have you made your peace and said your goodbyes? The Goddess is a mother too and she did not wish to grieve the heart of another mother—this is why she gave you time to make peace with those in your home.”
“I’m ready,” Harper assured her. It hadn’t been easy explaining things to her mother—she’d ended up with the idea that Harper was going off-world somewhere to be with a Kindred warrior she had fallen in love with. It was the closest Harper could come to explaining the convoluted situation without making her mom think she was crazy by bringing time-travel into the mix. But at last, her mother had thrown up her hands and given Harper her blessing.
“I can see you love this young man,” she’d said to Harper. “And I trust your judgment, honey. I didn’t raise you to be a fool.” Her eyes had grown wistful. “Are you sure you’re going to be gone for such a long time? You can’t even come back once to visit?”
Harper’s heart had ached at that.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” she’d said as gently as she could. “But I don’t think it’s going to be possible. Shad is a long, long way away from here. I wouldn’t go if I didn’t love him so much but I just…” She put a hand to her chest. “I feel like I’m dying inside without him.”
“I can see that.” There were tears in her mother’s eyes as she hugged Harper for the last time. “You be sure he treats you right. And if he doesn’t, you know you can always come back home.”
Of course, Harper knew that if this worked—if she really was somehow able to go twenty years into the future—there would be no going back, but she couldn’t tell her mother that.
“I love you, Mom,” she said, hugging her back. “And I promise I’ll see you again as soon as I can.”
With the memory of her mother’s warm hug and her last kiss on the cheek, Harper stood before the priestess now. Nothing but the ache of the empty bond and the deep, all-encompassing love she felt for Shad could have made her willing to leave her family for such a long time. She saw now that she’d had to experience the pain of his loss and process it a little in order to make this decision. But now it was made and she wanted to go—she just hoped and prayed the priestess could help her.
“I’m ready,” she said again. “Please—can you truly send me to Shad?”
“I cannot,” the priestess said. “But the Goddess can.”
Suddenly a brilliant line of light seemed to split the air right in front of Harper. It was a golden radiance so dazzling it was hard to look at, yet Harper found she couldn’t take her eyes away as it began to grow.
The line of light widened until it resembled a doorway cracked open just wide enough for Harper to step inside.
“Come daughter.” A warm, powerful, feminine voice filled the Sacred Grove. “I know you are longing to be with the male you are bonded to. Come forward and meet him once again.”
Harper’s breath seemed to be caught in her throat and she didn’t know what to say. She turned to Kat who gave her a spontaneous hug and smiled.
“Go on, doll,” she murmured in Harper’s ear. “Go be with Shad I’ll see you in twenty years or so.”
“Thank you,” Harper breathed.
She stepped through the doorway of light…
And vanished.