Rapture

Earth

I open my eyes, gasping. The queen smiles at me, concern smoothing out of her brow as her gaze meets mine. She's cupping the back of my head with both hands. Her fingers resting in my wet hair, stroking my scalp as she holds my face above the surface - making sure I hadn't breathed water in my trance.

My heart clenches in my chest, and releases in a cry. Tears spill from my eyes as I hug her. She wraps me in her arms, her body giving me heat in the still chill of the lake.

"I killed my parents." I confess.

The queen strokes a tear from my cheek. "You are a brave soul."

I snort a laugh inside the crying. "Am I?"

"A coward wouldn't have survived this lake. Even the guardian spirits will be purged if they bathed in it."

"What?" My eyes widen, blinking at her. "Then why not I?"

"Same reason you killed your parents. Same reason you escaped the vampires. Same reason we chose you."

I feel a stir deep in the earth beneath me, or inside of my body?

"What's the reason?" I whisper.

The queen holds my shoulders, and looks in my eyes. "You're a goddess, Elena."

"A goddess?" I ask, my lips repeating the words my mind struggles to absorb.

"Mother Earth." She says.

I feel my feet planted in the soft mud of the lake. My hands floating in the cool water. And the stone wall of denial breaking at the back of my head.

It pours like waterfall then, sweeping away the shatters of the dam. A rush of power and excitement so intense it flows like liquid in my nerves, heating up my blood, filling my hips and chest with pride.

"Come," The goddess of the moon takes my hand in hers. "The king's waiting for his turn."