Surya sighed with rapture as she leaned over the balcony railing to feel the wind against her face. Her hair blew behind her wildly, like a bolt of pure golden silk. She loved to stand at the highest point of Aracelis, until she felt as if she could be blown away. A mere mortal being might have been. But she was a Goddess. Powerful, strong. She could stand alone.

Cerridwen appeared small and insignificant from where she stood, in the highest tower, almost piercing the heavens. She could see far and wide across Gwenhwyvar, and loved to study her planet. Cloaked in the blanket of night, it was simply enchanting.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around her from behind, and she murmured, leaning back into the solidness of his body. “Adora…” he whispered against her ear. “Won't you come back to bed?”

Surya laughed and pressed farther back into her lover, until his chest concaved to hold her in place. “You flatter me, Shahla. Was it that delicious?”

“Your skin is delicious Surya,” he muttered, bending his head to lightly trace her neck with his tongue. Purring at the contact, she reached behind to hold his head in place.

“Is not Cerridwen lovely, Shahla?” she commented to him a moment later, and he glanced up, dropping a kiss on top of her blonde head.

“The loveliest place I have ever seen,” he agreed. They both avoided glancing at the woods just outside the city, for they knew what dwelled there and neither wanted to think of it. Spread like a shining vista below them, the city of Cerridwen lay still in the midnight hush. Lights twinkled from a rare window; and the city was encased in a bowl of night. Surya gazed upwards at the stars, imagining she could feel their heat from where she stood.

“What do you think they are beloved?” she asked Shahla and he followed her stare, burrowing his face into the curve where her neck met her shoulder.

“Some believe they are other planets…” he told her, his voice thick with contemplation. “While others think they are the spirits of the dead.”

Surya smiled and studied the stars with rapt eyes. “Wouldn't it be lonely up there?” she inquired. “Watching the world that you came from…go on without you?”

Shahla kissed the side of her face, shrugging her shoulders slightly. “I'm not sure, my Adora. Certainly it would be lonely…but how nice…to be able to see those you left behind. It is a gift, I believe.”

She nodded, and played with his fingers, which clasped her's in a warm embrace. “You are right, Shahla.” She shivered, glancing once more at the woods and turned in his arms, tilting her head up to kiss his pale chin. “Let us go to bed.”

He grinned and leaned down, picking her up in his arms and curving her tiny body against his. “You've read my mind, Surya.”

She giggled and her fingers explored the marble-like beauty of his face. “It is not hard,” she retorted. “I believe you think of little else.”

Shahla chuckled at her teasing and carried her through the glass doors, which led to her bedroom. “When I think of the bed, you are in it,” he defended himself. “So, I do think of you as well.”

“I'm honoured, I am sure,” Surya snuggled closer into his embrace. “Where exactly am I…when you have these thoughts?”

He smiled, his eyes twinkling. “I'd be happy to show you.”

“Mmm…” was her only answer as she leaned closer to kiss him softly.

elsewhere in the palace

A girl paced. She was a Goddess. She should be a ruler. So why was she not in the highest part of Aracelis? Why did she not have a warrior lover? Samdhya cursed, throwing a glass against one purely white wall and watching it shatter. A servant standing in the corner did not wince.

Samdhya knew why she was not the Queen. Surya. It was always her. The smaller, rational part of Samdhya's brain reminded her that as the first born Goddess, as the woman with the Warrior's strength, Surya was destined to be the ruler of Gwenhwyvar. She was chosen.

Of course she loved her sister. Their relationship could be violent, tender, and volatile. It never stayed the same. Surya was loving, kind and above all, courageous. She had the soul of a fighter and the body of a Goddess, and that was why every man in Cerridwen was in love with her.

Samdhya knew they were scared of her. They loved Surya, they feared Samdhya. She wasn't sure that was fair, since she had never done a thing to instil that terror. Perhaps it was her temperament.

Throwing herself down on her bed, she stared through the wall-to-wall windows at the forest below her. At times she felt a kinship with those trees, and what lay there.

Closing her eyes, she fell into an uneasy sleep. Visions of wolves haunted her dreams…

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