Nikhail was studying a painting of a handsome fae coupledressed as though they’d come from the Rose Empire when footsteps came from the second level.
“Ryker?” a soft, feminine voice called out. The sound of her approach grew louder. “I saw your car in the driveway, and I—oh.”
The lovely voice caught on an inhale, and something about the sound tugged on Nikhail’s insides. His feet were turning, spinning him around before he’d even registered that he was moving.
His eyes swept up the stairs, unaware that in a moment, his entire life was about to change. And then, he saw her.
His breath caught in his throat, and his fingers spasmed at his sides.
Nothing would ever be the same again. He had not known beauty before this moment, nor had he been in the presence of anyone so utterly captivating.
He’d heard that the fae gods had remained behind on the Obsidian Coast during the Great Migration, but the stories had clearly been mistaken, because a goddess stood before him.
She was frozen in place, her brown eyes wide as she stared at him.
Perhaps he should’ve moved or fallen in supplication at her feet, but he was as frozen as the stone dragons outside. His heart had stopped beating. His brain short-circuited. His lungs forgot how to draw breath.
Everything, including time itself, came to a standstill. His world stopped turning on its axis, recentering itself withheras the center of his universe.
When his heart resumed beating, it did so for her. When his brain started thinking once more, each thought was about her. When his lungs drew air, they brought him oxygen so he could serve her.
Everythingwas for her.
Every breath, every thought, every beat of his heart.
Long, luscious brown hair was pulled back in a silky high ponytail. A bright pink scrunchie matched her crop top. Black workout leggings hugged slender legs.
The goddess was beautiful, there was no doubt about it, but it was her face that caught his attention.
Exquisite brown orbs were studying him as much as he was studying her. Powerful tempests and barely contained, simmering power shone in her stormy gaze, threatening to change his world forever.
There was no peace there, but who needed peace anyway? Nikhail had always thought that the biggest winds were the most powerful, and the strongest storms were the most stunning.
And this woman…
Fucking gods.
To say that she was pretty would’ve been a disservice to the word itself. Fields of wildflowers were pretty. The paintings adorning the walls of Waterborn House were pretty. Sunsets were pretty.
But her?
This goddess wasn’t pretty. She wasn’t something as trivial as a flower or a painting or a sunset. She was the first whisper of a cool breeze on a hot summer’s day, a burst of color in a dark night, a candle in a lightless room.
Had he been breathing before? That no longer mattered. If he’d been thinking about something prior to her arrival, he no longer cared about it. He barely remembered his own name, let alone the reason he was here.
Nikhail had heard stories about things like this happening to fae before the Great Migration. Connections that formedseemingly out of nowhere, drawing two or more fae together. To be honest, he’d always thought the stories were just fairy tales. Fables concocted by lovers to make sense of the lust they felt the moment they laid eyes on each other.
But now…
Now Nikhail was starting to believe that those stories had some truth behind them. He’d never felt a pull like this, never felt so drawn to anyone in his life.
His feet were moving him towards the goddess. She was still standing in the middle of the stairs, gripping the railing with her manicured hand.
“Who are you?” she asked softly.
Gods above, her voice. It rang through the space, and he paused, one foot on the steps. If the goddess’s eyes were filled with power, her voice was a stormy siren’s call, beckoning him forward. He wanted to hear it every minute of every day for the rest of his life.
He pressed his palm against his chest. “I’m Nikhail Galebringer,” he replied, surprised that his voice still worked in her presence. “And you are…”