“For which you can thank Alseida,” he retorted angrily.
The oread cut her hand through the air, demanding his silence with such authority that he felt a chill. Her stature seemed larger, her coloring shifting to a light golden hue. She stepped toward him, soft golden rays of light bursting from her as she took on her true form. Towering over the nymphs behind her, the appearance of the goddess was now difficult to mistake. She was no mere oread. Dark curls reformed into a tight knot bound at the back of her crown as luminous green eyes fixed on him. With each step as she approached, her bound and shortened chiton fluttered around her knees.
Silvas clutched Diana closer to him, his body hunching protectively over hers. The gods were unpredictable at best. If she lashed out against him, he would not be injured, but he worried about Diana being caught in the middle of it. Raising his eyes, he met the angry gaze of the goddess of the hunt. She made a disgusted sound of impatience as the nymphs behind her giggled.
“I have no interest in harming your bride, Selvans. It wouldn’t serve my purposes. It is my hope that your bond to her will return you to your purpose. The forest requires life to thrive and flourish, to bring health to not only the divine realms but the woods of the human realm as well. This is your duty as the king of the Eternal Forest, Selvans,” she snapped, her words vibrating through the cave. “You must resume your authority and full responsibilities.”
He lowered his eyes, frustration stirring deep within him and an unsettling fear. He recalled what he had been when he had thrown aside his sword and abandoned his place among the gods. He had been so near a monster himself; he couldn’t risk exposing his mate to that.
“I cannot be that male,” he growled out, burying his nose in Diana’s neck as he breathed in her comforting scent. “I will not risk harming her.”
The goddess cocked her head and then crouched down at his side until they were nearly eye to eye. She reached forward and flicked one of the golden ornaments hanging from his antlers so that it swung.
“Look here at the god of the woods, wearing the jewels of a mere king granted by an admiring court,” she scoffed.
His lips tightened at the observation.
“My uxorem has claimed them,” he growled. “I feel no shame wearing them if they are hers.”
The goddess snorted and glanced down at Diana, a soft smile on her lips. Lifting one hand, she skimmed it over his uxorem’s hair.
“My namesake,” she said, “she would have made a fine oread.” Her eyes lifted and met his. “She is stronger than she appears, Selvans. She was designed by the Fates to be yours. Do you think that she, of all beings, wouldn’t be able to handle the darkness within you? Lifetime after lifetime, she has waited for you, and you never sought her out, confining yourself in your misery in the palace that you turned into a fortress against the world, even as you protectively confine your sister beneath your palace floors.”
A more urgent tone filled her voice. “Change comes, Selvans, and with it incredible danger. You need to hurry home and reclaim the Eternal Forest. Bring life back to it before it is lost to his hunger.”
“You speak of Cacus.”
She inclined her head silently.
He leaned forward, his brow furrowing. “If it is so important, why don’t the gods become involved?”
“The gods are involved,” she informed him coldly. “The Tainted Ones arise once more—you know this. Do not think that we are not all forced into the battle of the turning of the cosmos. The Fates have set Cacus as your responsibility. Secure your forest, Selvans, and bring life back to it.” Her arrows rattled in her quiver as she stood again, looming over him. “Now I must return to my own hunt.”
She glanced once more at Diana as his mate sighed, shifting against his chest with the first signs of waking. The goddess backed away, returning to the form of the lithe gray nymph as she stood once more beside the fire.
Diana stirred, her eyelids fluttering before her eyes, deepest green, looked up at him in confusion. She grimaced as she touched where he had bitten her, the wound already healed and the lingering marks fading.
“What the hell happened?” she asked, her voice hoarse