Page 3

But this human felt it all on her own. The spell brought it out in her, but the emotion itself was all of her own making.

How could a weak mortal human create the feeling that came from magic of the Divine? It wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. It made humans an abomination and their existence in our world a crime that had to be stopped.

“…even if we need to resort to murder,” the words from the Watchers’ vow echoed in my mind.

Not everyone could see the threat that humans represented to the purity of our Joy. But several of us did, including the Master Guardian.

Shortly after the temple received the order from the queen to open the portal to the human realm, Master Arter raised concerns about the dangers he foresaw with the humans arriving to our world.

For as long as they remained in the kingdom, our Source of Joy risked being diluted with theirs.

If that happened, what if the ancient magic of our Joy, collected over many millennia exclusively from the fae of the Above, weakened or even disappeared completely?

Despair gripped my heart at the prospect of such a disaster. The Source of Joy was literally the only happiness we had. It seemed so fragile in the face of any threat.

We couldn’t disobey the queen’s order and stop the humans’ arrival, but we could find a way to cleanse the kingdom of them now.

Master Guardian Arter had always been like a father to me. He had looked after me since I was a child. I felt no hesitation in my heart when asked to join the group he called the Watchers. Along with Master Arter, Oria, and three others, I vowed to keep our Joy safe in the face of this new danger.

With a long sigh, the Joy Vessel opened her eyes. She stared at the ceiling, ignoring everyone present, but her expression was no longer vacant. She didn’t look broken or indifferent anymore. Instead, she appeared to be focused on something inside her.

The smile on her lips lingered, but it was no longer a timid one. Her expression shone with new confidence, as if she knew something that none of us did.

Master Arter placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “It’s over, Sweet One.”

She slowly turned her head toward him.

“Do not touch me.” Her voice was low and firm, packed with enough strength to make the Master Guardian jerk his hand away as if he’d touched a hot iron.

“I’m afraid you will need help getting off the altar,” he cautioned her.

She sat up slowly, dropping her legs down. Her arms shook as she tried to support herself with them.

The harness fitting might’ve strengthened her spirit, but it also took a toll on her body. She tested her legs by trying to stand up on her own. Her knees wobbled, and she gripped on to the altar for support.

“Can I get a hand, please?” She held out her hand.

But no one moved, looking stunned in disbelief that she survived the fitting. Even the Joy Vessel Keepers, whose job was to take care of her, just stared at her as if expecting her to either grow a pair of horns now or to drop dead in convulsions.

I stepped forward with my arm outstretched. “May I help?”

She gave me a brief glance, then took my hand. “Thanks.”

Even with my support, her knees buckled. She was too weak to stand on her own. Leaning against me, she almost slid down my body to the floor, leaving me no choice but to lift her in my arms.

“I’ve got you,” I said softly. “Sorry, but I have to touch you for this.”

She snapped her gaze to mine. Then, a corner of her mouth lifted in a grin with a spark of humor in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

“It’d be hard to hold me without touching, I imagine. Fine, I forgive you this time,” she quipped.

She threw an arm around my neck, then thought better of it and placed both her hands in her lap instead.

I headed to the door, unsure what to do with her or even where to take her, but her body fit in my arms perfectly. She seemed to relax against my chest a little, making me wish she stayed exactly where she was, just like that. But Sefri appeared in my path.

“I’ll take the Joy Vessel back to the sarai , Joy Guardian. You’re needed here.” She reached for the woman in my arms, and I reluctantly relinquished her.

My unwillingness to part from her shocked me. The moment she’d left my arms, I missed the warm weight of her body pressed to my chest, and I couldn’t figure out why letting her go caused such displeasure.

I tried to remember the last time I was this close to anyone.

Probably when I gave a goodbye hug to my mother, not knowing that I would never see her again…

I winced, not wishing to remember that. Everything that happened to me before the Master Guardian accepted me as a donation to the temple was just a patchwork of distant feelings and shreds of memories that never al igned into a clear picture, probably because I never made an effort to sort through them all.

But the feelings were dark, and the memories seemed gloomy, and I just didn’t care to remember.

“When can I walk on my own?” the Joy Vessel asked, looking more tense than ever in Sefri’s arms.

“In a few hours, Sweet One,” Sefri cooed. “Let’s get you to the sarai where you can rest and have a long, relaxing bath while you share your pleasure with us. You did so well during the fitting. Now that you have your harness, I’m sure you’ll become the jewel of the queen’s sarai .”

When they left, another woman was brought in for the next fitting. We had twenty-four harnesses to fit tonight. It’d be a long, exhausting night, but the Royal Council wished to have all Joy Vessels ready for joy harvesting as soon as possible.

Master Arter leaned to my ear while passing me by on his way to the other side of the altar. “Come with me after the midnight break, Kurai. We have an opportunity to end it all. And you have a chance to become a true hero in the name of the Joy.”