‘I’m scared. Of you. Of this. Of everything else in between,’ Sapphire admitted softly.

‘You may not trust me with most things, but please, believe me when I say the Shadow Moon holds the answers you seek.’

‘I do.’ Sapphire’s voice was low.

‘You do what?’

‘Trust you.’

‘Poor decision-making doesn’t suit a queen.’

‘For now, can I just be Sapphire? And just exist with you?’ Without waiting for a response, Sapphire slid off the log to lie on the mossy floor of the forest. Ashes joined her, the witch’s face hovering a hair’s breadth from her own.

They lay still and in silence, gazing at one another. They had seldom been this close before.

‘Tell me,’ Sapphire’s voice felt too loud for the moment, ‘whatever it is you’re thinking right now.’

‘From the moment I first saw you, I’ve wanted this. Your face … it haunted me until it almost drove me mad. Half the time, when you’d call out to me in the darkness, I believed my shadows had summoned you to save me from that madness.’ Sapphire averted her gaze, almost embarrassed by such a confession. ‘What are you thinking?’

‘I – well … Witrotean was not a place where beauty mattered. I’ve been called many things … a provider, a child, a burden but … pretty …’

Ashes chuckle cut her short.

‘When they speak of this world, the stained glass of the temples, the highest peaks of Wilhelma, the sun reflecting off the Volta Sea, do they use the word pretty? No, Sapphire. I do not find you pretty. I find you magnificent, opulent, radiant. You are living art. Such a simple word does not capture you. It does not even come close.’

Leaning forward, Ashes placed a kiss to her left cheek, then her right, then gently found her lips. And she kissed her like she meant every word she had just said. She kissed her like she believed Sapphire was a wonder of this world.

‘Do you think … one day we could meet outside the shadows? Outside this forest?’ Sapphire asked. She wasn’t sure where she had found the courage to do so, but she needed … something to hold on to.

‘When I look at you, I wish the world was different,’ Ashes muttered, looking away. ‘I wish I could say yes, but, Sapphire, you had to know when this began. You had to know …’

Ashes’ voice trailed off. Of course she had known … she had just allowed herself to hope.

Ashes swiped her thumb against Sapphire’s lips. ‘My coven believes that each soul exists in an endless cycle. That we live life after life, eternally moving forward through time. We might not have each other in this life, princess. But I’ll find you in the next one and the next, and every single one that follows, however long it takes.’