Eliana POV
It was so quiet in the forest tonight, that even the winds seemed to be waiting to see what my next move would be. I was standing in the centre of the fortified court which Alexander had assisted in designing, the moonlight above coming through the safety-wreaths lightly. Already my fingers were shaking, and I had tried to smooth a curl off my cheek.
“I don’t know if I’m ready,” I whispered to no one.
But then, I felt it. The shift in the air. A subtle pulse like heartbeats echoing through leaves. And then—her presence.
Selana appeared in a swirl of silver mist, her form taking shape like moonlight condensed into a woman’s body. Cloaked in lunar light, with eyes like mirrors to another world, she looked at me as though she had always known me.
“You are,” she said softly. “Y
