Page 1 of Up from the Earth (Equinox Seasons Duet #1)
Birth Pains Are A Magic. Those Of A Rebirth At The Cauldron Even More.
E ver since I was young, perhaps even before I had been born, three things had always been true.
One, I dreamed of running, my footsteps carrying me through a vibrant green forest, across swamp and marsh, and into an archway made of stone. The bricks seamlessly blended into the edges of the woods, and all light was swallowed by the empty space beneath and between the curved arc.
Two, magic had suffused me always. I felt the beat of it in my pulse before I could put words to it. Moreover, I remembered the day that the Queen of the Shadowed Summer Sun had become what she was, leaving the ranks of our Sisters to fulfill her own destiny. She had gifted me well that day.
Kneeling before me, the woman hovered a finger over my one blue eye.
“Speak always with purpose.” She moved to the green eye. “Heed the natural cycle.”
Warmth surged through my young body, and I smiled. But when the woman’s eyes peered into me, I felt the weight of her words beneath my skin, grasping my veins with an unseen force.
“Give me your name.”
She required me to give it to her. The woman could not take it. I’d known her before…before she became Queen. She had been like me. Was I to be like her? My child's mind swirled, an understanding in my bones that I couldn’t articulate or place. The knowledge was there inside me, but I had not unlocked it yet.
Still, I couldn’t fight it.
“Cerridwen Adaire Locke.”
I looked up at her, this dark Queen, and my heart thumped against my ribs.
“Thank you, Cerridwen. I will call.” She blinked and gestured toward the house, “But now is the time for play. Go on.”
Running off, I left the ominous foreboding behind for the adults, choosing to embrace the light and laughter that was my youth. Some part of me knew I wouldn’t have it for long, compared to most, and I needed to take this time while I was here.
Three, which was very much tied to the previous truth, was that my life did not belong to me—at least not solely .
Neither in nor out. Neither young nor old. I had as yet existed as purpose balanced on the edge of a blade. My birth had been a day of joy and sorrow, my entering the world and my father leaving it. I had been born with my two-colored eyes, and each day since, my life had been centered around the precarious balance of the Equinox.
Equal night and day, the death of one season for the birth of another, and a child born of the flaring light of the dawn and the silent depths of midnight.
I was Cerridwen, daughter to my human mother and the unknown future wife of the Beast King of the World of Below.