Nobody's Goddess (35 page)

I grinned. Ah, well. Mother was married anyway.

Jurij hesitated. “He’s not the only one having trouble adjusting to a heart that can now love freely.”

Jurij’s warm lips moved from my ear and to my brow, and he kissed me liberally.

I felt a strange sensation growing within me as Jurij pulled me tightly into his arms and moved his mouth from my brow to my cheeks and to my lips. I let my mind stop turning for just a moment, lost in crashes of pleasure I still felt in his embrace.

“Noll,” whispered Jurij as he at last tore his lips from mine, “I love you.”

For the second time in so many days, I cried. This time not from joy, but from the thought of how happy I would have been if Jurij had said that years ago. If he’d said that months ago. Weeks ago. Now I wasn’t sure it was what I wanted.

I stared into his good eye for a moment, taking in the lack of flame within it. It was still so bright compared to the poor condition of his other eye, the eyelid drooping slightly, the scar down his cheek. I realized now all too well that the lord had had the power to heal—the deeper the malady, the longer it took. But he had Jurij in his castle a short while and had done nothing to heal his light injuries, other than to stop the bleeding. My chest hurt at what it might mean, but whatever my thoughts of Ailill’s decision, I knew that all of the suffering could be traced back to me.

“I love you, too,” I said, my hand running through his hair. “But I also love my sister. And so do you.”

Jurij’s grip on my back eased slightly.

“I’m torn,” he spoke at last.

I felt a rush of relief. Even though he was no longer bound to love Elfriede, he loved her still. For I knew the heartbreak Elfriede would feel all too well if Jurij was torn from her side and thrust to her sister’s.

I kissed Jurij’s brow, and then I freed myself from his embrace. He went limp and let me tear away. My feet felt the call of the castle, the whispers of my true name on the chilling breeze that swept from the woods to the lily-covered hills surrounding my childhood home.

“Olivière … ”

And I would let my feet take me. I saw his face in the past, and he hadn’t vanished. It was confirmation of what I couldn’t believe to be true, no matter how strong I felt it. I loved him. For in my village, women and men are free to love whom they will. And that is their curse.

“Ailill … ”

Most authors will tell you it’s a long road to publication. My road was little different, but knowing that these characters are in the hands of all of you kind enough to take a chance on a new author makes me remember the journey with nothing but fondness.

Thanks to Jason Yarn, the first in the business to show such enthusiasm for my work. Thank you for taking a chance on my sometimes off-the-beaten-path story, giving me detailed feedback so I could continually make it better, and sticking with me until we found
Nobody’s Goddess
the home it was meant to have.

Thanks to Georgia McBride for providing that home at Month9Books. Your passion and vision for my story renewed my faith that this manuscript was one I had to get into readers’ hands—which I couldn’t have done without you and all of the hardworking Month9Books staff members. Thank you, Lindsay Leggett, for your editorial guidance and for suggesting my new title. Bethany Robison, your edits are so on point and your ideas so helpful; thank you for working hard to improve my book. Kerry Genova, my proofreader, thank you for your assistance and for paying close attention to details. My book has shaved off all of its rough edges and found an audience thanks to Month9Books’s support.

Thank you to my beta readers, author Melissa Giorgio and my boyfriend Cameron Sherber, also known as my best friends, my most passionate fans, and my go-to people when I need support to keep moving forward. Melissa, we’ve known each other since we were teenagers and we both wanted to be published authors for as long as I can remember. I watched you shine with
The Silver Moon Saga
and I’m so glad that
The Never Veil Series
will be out there in readers’ hands, and on my bookshelf, alongside your books. Thank you for showing me around NYC, reading a number of drafts, providing the feedback I needed to hear, and letting your inbox get cluttered with countless emails from me throughout the day.

Cameron, thank you for supporting my dreams and reading my books. (I think they’ve helped turn you into a YA fan!) You’re the best partner for bouncing ideas off of, and you make so many of my days much more fun and enriching. I love you.

Thank you, Mom, for encouraging me to pursue my passions and talents, and for first instilling in me the love of reading and writing. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to put so much into my fiction writing without your love and support. Thanks, too, to Sara for always getting excited over my writing news and sharing my love for YA fiction—I read, you “listen,” but we both love the same stories. A little sister has a best friend from the day she’s born when she has an awesome and supportive sister like you. Thank you, Anthony, for sharing Sara’s enthusiasm for my writing news and for showing a lot of interest in the book. I hope you both enjoy it!

Thank you to the rest of my friends, my extended family, and Cameron’s family and friends, who got so excited over all of my book news that I was reminded just what a big deal it is to have worked for so many years to get to this point. I’m so glad you can now finally all read it. A special thank you to long-time friends Dawn Huestis, Nancy Hunter, and Dr. Andrea Scherer and her husband Joseph SK Chang, my “gamma” readers who read a draft midway through the process to offer their insight; I really needed some fresh pairs of eyes at that point, and your suggestions helped me work out the kinks and decide what needed to be scrapped.

Thank you to all of my teachers and professors at Prairie and Carthage, particularly those who took a special interest in my writing and encouraged me to develop my writing skills and pursue the field as an adult. You made a difference in this student’s life, and countless others’.

Thank you for reading!

Amy McNulty is a freelance writer and editor from Wisconsin with an honors degree in English. She was first published in a national scholarly journal (The Concord Review) while in high school and currently spends her days alternatively writing about anime and business topics and crafting stories with dastardly villains and antiheroes set in fantastical medieval settings.

GODS OF CHAOS

WHERE THE STAIRCASE ENDS

VESSEL

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Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six