Between the Moon and Her Night (Between Life and Death #3)

Chapter 1

Aurelia

T he Selenian Sea sprayed her cool mist on my face as I gripped the wooden banister, fighting the urge to vomit—a battle I had consistently lost ever since I boarded this blasted knarr.

The ship, made from a hard wood, in a grain pattern I did not recognize, was stained an inky black. That same color was mirrored on the large, square-rigged sail that stood proudly above, catching the breath of the wind. A raven-headed prow was carved into the front, guiding us ahead. It was one of fifty ships that had been provided by the God of Death to help the children of the Old Gods escape Aurelius’s vengeance. Those who had wings flew above us, their silhouettes momentarily blocking out the sun every once in a while. The waters were violent, constantly assaulting the cargo vessel as we fled to safety—to the continent of Edenvale.

Apart from my unworthy sea legs and brewing stomach, I felt a hairsbreadth of relief the further we sailed. Despite that sliver of ease, I did not let it water down the direness of our situation. There was a good chance that Aurelius would come after us, especially once he learned that his dungeons were empty, and so were his coffers. I had used Aurelius’s own precious gold to buy the guards’ silence and compliance, thus helping the Demi Gods escape. Aurelius had destroyed my trees, so I took his treasure —he wasn’t the only one who knew how to weaponize something of great importance.

At any given moment, Aurelius’s army could emerge on the horizon, descend upon us, and try to drag us all back. But the Demi Gods would not go willingly, not when they knew what awaited them in the Immortal Realm—a spiked iron collar and a hot, ravenous pyre.

And so, they would fight.

As would I.

I would not go back to a life of slavery. Of mistreatment and abuse.

No, I knew my worth now. And no one, not a soul, would ever take that from me.

“Excuse me, Lady Light, but might I offer you something to help with your nausea?” asked a friendly female voice to my left.

White-knuckled, I held firm to the polished banister, shifting my weary, watery eyes to look at her. Brown-haired, blue-eyed, and young—not much older than eighteen, I would think. A light dusting of freckles and a pinch of blush warmed her otherwise cool complexion. She was pretty, in her own way. Some features—her nose, for one—were more pronounced than others .

She swept her hand out from underneath her tattered cloak, offering me view of what lay in her palm—a small, black vial, corked at the top. The opaque glass prevented me from seeing the contents within.

I raised a questioning brow. “What is it?” I asked, my voice as wobbly as my legs. How strange that the sea was a part of my making, and yet when placed on a boat, it made my stomach bubble like a forgotten pot left over the fire. It was just one more thing that my divinity lacked.

“It is a mixture of different ingredients, but the primary one is ginger. It will help you,” she replied with a soft smile, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly. Her long brunette hair had a gentle wave to it, falling well past her waist. “Go on, take a sip.”

Take a sip, princess, a regal, male voice demanded of me. Aurelius.

I bristled as an uneasy feeling stirred the contents of my stomach, but it wasn’t from my seasickness. It was from a memory—of Aurelius’s ichor spreading across my tongue. The way it would claim my thoughts, my mind . . . my body.

For years, that, to me, was love.

But now I know that it wasn’t. Which begged the question—what was love?

I shook my head. “I appreciate the offer, but—”

I was cut off as the boat struck a wave, and the bow was lifted into the air. When it came back down, smacking against the water, the limited remnants of my stomach rose into my esophagus. I retched over the side.

Afterwards, I looked at the young woman, sucking air like a fish out of water. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m alright for now.” I dried my mouth in the nook of my elbow, a few hundred years of propriety and manners all but forgotten.

“You don’t look alright,” she pointed out, her hand still extended in offering.

“I will be once we make land.”

“We won’t reach Edenvale for a while. Are you sure you want to suffer that long when you could simply take a small sip of what I am offering and have your symptoms cured?”

For an eighteen-year-old, she was awfully confident in her tonic-making abilities. Curiously so. I didn’t sense any type of grand divinity coming from her. If anything, she appeared more mortal than Demi God. What a peculiar girl.

“You seem rather confident,” I challenged. “Do you possess earth magic? Is that how you were able to make the ingredients for the tonic?”

“Something like that.”

I unclenched my hands from the banister, the joints in my fingers groaning in relief. Turning around, I propped my elbows against the railing, leaning on it to help relieve my quivering sea legs. I glanced at her sidelong. “You are not a Demi God, are you.” It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t ask it like one.

“I’m not.” A small pause. “No.”

“Then what exactly are you?”

“I am what you are.” She flashed her teeth in a cheeky smile.

“I am a goddess,” I pointed out, questioning if she really understood what she was implying.

“You are . . .” She nodded in agreement. “And so much more too.” She chuckled to herself, as if she knew something I did not. “ Tell me, you could light walk directly to the continent we are traveling to and save yourself from this—” She gestured at my sorry state, “—and yet, you do not. Why is that?”

I was a bit surprised by the girl—by her bluntness.

Brown brows lifted, her eyes twinkling as she said, “Well, are you going to answer?”

Creator above, she was pushy too.

I decided to bite on her question. “Because I feel a responsibility to protect those who sail on these ships. If I light walk to Edenvale, it will mean leaving them all behind. Should Aurelius show up, they might need my protection. That is why I stay and endure.”

“But they are not your people, so why should you care?”

“Do you think I’m a monster?” I retorted, shaking my head.

Was that what people thought of us gods? That we only cared about our own? Was that what Aurelius’s leadership had reduced us to? Or . . . was I the anomaly?

Regardless—

“Is not all life precious?” I asked, glancing past her to an old man whose crooked legs looked to be fairing no better than my own. He had obviously gotten more mortal blood than Demi God blood when he was being knitted together in his mother’s womb, which meant that he, too, aged like the mortals did. He dipped a mop into a wooden bucket as a child ran past him, chasing after a small ball made of twirling wind and leaves. He looked up, laughing softly as he watched the young boy play. When the child collected the ball, he turned back towards him and exclaimed victoriously, “I got it, Grandfather!” Words of encouragement fell from the elderly man’s lips before he returned to his task.

I shifted my gaze back to the girl. “Is not all life worth saving, regardless of age, sex, or belonging?”

Her smile grew, as if I had just told her the very words she had been wanting to hear. And for the briefest of moments, I was shown a small glimpse of the incredible divinity that did indeed live within her—something she had purposefully let slip through, judging by the twinkling, mischievous look in her eyes.

And it was powerful. Breathtakingly so.

“You are a goddess,” I said, equal parts surprised and astonished. “And yet, you hide it. You appear . . . mortal.”

The boat struck another violent wave, and water sloshed over the side, misting my back and my arms with the cool tears of the inconsolable sea. Was she angry that we were sailing on her, using her for our own gain? I understood that feeling all too well. Despite the cool droplets of water wetting my skin, it did little to neutralize the prickling heat radiating throughout my body from my seasickness.

“I suppose I am a bit of both.” The girl beamed, offering me the vial once more.

“How do I know it’s not poisoned?” I asked, glancing at it. In the castle, prior to Aurelius and I eating any meals, our food was always tested. Especially after the one incident with his brother—a story for another time. Yes, we were immortals, but that did not mean we couldn’t get sick by ingesting something that did not agree with our bodies.

“You don’t.” She flashed me a closed-lipped grin, her eyes squinting shut .

An odd one, indeed.

I sighed and took the bottle, popped the cork, raised it to my nose, and took a delicate sniff. I made a sour face as I quickly shoved the cork back in. “That does not smell like ginger.”

“It is as I told you before. Ginger is one of the primary ingredients, but not all of it.” She tucked her arms behind her and began to rock in place, the motion not helping with my already swaying state.

My stomach heaved. “Can you not do that?” I asked, warring with my rising bile.

She gave me a half-hearted apologetic look and stopped.

Thank the Creator.

“Well, anyway, I’ll leave that with you.” She nodded to the vial. “Whether you take it or not, the choice is yours .” Then she turned and began to walk away, the hem of her brown cloak darkened from the wet deck.

I clutched the vial as I called out to her, “Wait. I didn’t catch your name.”

“My name is Ezravaynia,” she said over her shoulder, but she did not stop walking. “But you may call me Ezra.”

Ezravaynia. That name.

“Wait!” I shouted after her, my eyes going wide. “Are you the Goddess of Free Will?”

She stopped and turned to look at me over her shoulder. “That is up to you to decide.”

And then she was gone.

Later on, when the celestial stars peppered the dark night sky, my nausea became particularly bad. Desperate for any form of relief, I popped the cork on the vial, pinched my nostrils closed, and drank some of the bitter contents down.

Surprisingly, it worked just as Ezravaynia had said it would.

It quelled my nausea instantly. My curiosity, however, not so much.

In the past, I had searched for the elusive Goddess of Free Will, but I had never been successful in finding her. So why had she shown up now, offering me aid?

And why did I feel like that wouldn’t be the last I saw of her?