Page 37 of Favored By the Stars

"That's impossible," Volker interjected. "The courts have been separate for centuries. No one can wield both magics."

Van made a noncommittal noise, his eyes never leaving mine, before he said, "Tell me, Senara, have you noticed anything strange about your mark lately? Besides the obvious, I mean. Perhaps... moments when it burns like sunlight instead of moonlight?"

I froze, remembering the searing heat that had coursed through me in the temple, so different from the cool silver fire I was used to. "You've been watching me."

"Many have been watching you." Van plucked another string, the note hanging ominously in the air. "The question is whether you'll survive long enough to fulfill your destiny."

My stomach twisted at Van's words. "My destiny? I didn't ask for any of this."

"Few ever do," Van replied, his fingers resuming their dance across the lute strings. "Yet here you stand, marked by moon and sun alike. The first in generations."

The night air grew heavy around us. In the distance, thunder rumbled, though the sky remained clear and star-filled.

"We need to move," Thorn said, his voice taut with urgency. "If the temple's awakening sent ripples through the magical currents as you say, then others will have felt it too."

"Others who might not be as friendly as our musical friend here," Wyn added, her hair gleaming as she scanned the surrounding forest.

Van's melody shifted to something darker, more foreboding. "The Sun Court will be scrambling their scouts as we speak. The Moon Court has likely already dispatched their shadow walkers."

"And which court do you serve?" I asked, studying his face for any hint of deception. The first time we had met, he had claimed that he was part of neither court, but now I was more experienced in the ways of the fae and wondered if that was actually true.

His smile was enigmatic as moonlight. "I serve the music, dear Senara. The song that flows between all things." He strummed a final chord before silencing the strings with his palm. "But if you're asking where my sympathies lie... let's just say I prefer balance to dominance."

Thorn's hand hadn't left his sword hilt. "That's not an answer."

"It's the only one you'll get tonight," Van replied, standing with fluid grace. "Now, you have a choice to make. The courts will converge on this spot by dawn, each hoping to claim the Eclipse Child for their own purposes."

"I am not a thing to be claimed," I said, heat rising in my voice.

"No," Van agreed, his expression softening. "You are a bridge in a world determined to remain divided. Which makes you dangerous to those who profit from that division."

The ground trembled again beneath our feet, a subtle reminder of the power that had awakened. My Mark throbbed in response, sending pulses of alternating heat and cold through my veins.

"What do you suggest we do?" Volker asked, surprising me. The older man had been watching Van with calculating eyes.

Van's eyes glittered with something that looked like satisfaction. "There's a place not far from here, ancient, even by fae standards. The Twilight Gardens. The trees there have roots that reach far beyond fae lands."

"I've never heard of such a place," Thorn said, suspicion lacing his voice.

"You wouldn't have," Van replied, slinging his lute onto his back. "The Gardens exist in the in-between, the liminal spaces, where boundaries blur. Most people have forgotten it, and someone deliberately erased it from court histories."

I studied Van's face, searching for deceit. The moonlight cast half his features in silver, the other half in shadow. "And why would you take us there?"

"Because it hides the first artifact." He spoke the words casually, as though mentioning the weather, but they fell into our circle with the weight of stones dropped into still water.

"Artifact?" Wyn stepped forward, her scholarly curiosity visibly piqued. "What artifact?"

Van's smile widened. "The Crescent Diadem. One of three royal treasures forged before the courts split. Items of power that, when united, could..." He paused dramatically, looking directly at me. "Well, let's just say they might help an Eclipse Child fulfill her destiny without being torn apart by opposing magics."

My Mark pulsed at his words, sending alternating waves of heat and cold through my body. The sensation was becoming more frequent, more intense, like two forces battling within me.

"This sounds suspiciously convenient," Thorn growled. "We emerge from an ancient temple, and you just happen to be waiting with tales of magical artifacts that could aid Senara?"

Van shrugged. "The threads of fate are rarely neat, Thorn. Sometimes they tangle in ways that seem too perfect to be coincidence."

"Or too perfect to be trusted," Thorn countered.

Volker cleared his throat. "I've read ancient texts that mentioned royal treasures from before the schism. Items of tremendous power, supposedly lost or destroyed during the Sundering."

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