“Why are you cooking yourself in the sun? Redheads burn easily in Gaia’s plane of existence.”

Elenora rolled over on her beach towel and stared up at the giant woman casting a tall shadow over her. “I cast a spell that keeps sunburn from happening. It lasts nearly a whole day, but I only come out here in the early mornings. I sneak out when Damien sleeps in. It gives me a chance to be alone.”

“Well, cast a spell for me this morning. I need a comfortable place to sit—one where sand won’t find its way into places it doesn’t belong.”

“As you wish, Goddess,” Elenora answered with a barely hidden grin.

Elenora climbed to her feet, pulled a compact wand from her snug bikini top, and waved it in the ocean-scented air. She chanted in the delightfully rhythmic language of magic. Moments later, a shaded cabana appeared complete with lawn chairs and ice-cold drinks. She watched with great curiosity as a subdued Morgana walked under the cabana’s protection and sunk down into the first chair. The woman stretched out her nine-foot-tall glowing body and slumped in the chair until her shiny, golden toga draped the ground.

Tucking her wand back into her top, Elenora reached down to the towel she’d been lying on and retrieved her swimsuit cover-up. Only after she was a bit more presentable did she wander over to the lawn chairs herself.

“Should I kneel to greet you properly?” Elenora asked.

Morgana shook her head. “No. This is not that kind of a visit. Just pour me one of those refreshing drinks you conjured up.”

Lifting one eyebrow at the far less haughty and strangely pleasant tone the goddess was using with her, Elenora wandered to the other chair and sat. She took her time pouring drinks for both of them. She lifted the two glasses and handed one to Morgana the Red. “What shall we drink to today?”

Morgana took the drink from Elenora’s hand. “Let’s drink to honesty. I came to ask you a question.”

“As you wish,” Elenora said, taking a nervous sip. “I will answer as honestly as I can. I always do.”

“Do you hate me, Elenora?”

Elenora laughed and received a glare for it. At least that much seemed normal. “Would it matter to you if I did? I’ve hated you plenty over the three hundred years we’ve known each other and you never seemed to mind before.”

Snorting, Morgana lifted her drink to her mouth and sipped. “Which means the answer is yes—you do hate me. I suppose I knew that already. This drink is very good, by the way.”

“Thank you,” Elenora said lightly. “And I didn’t really answer your question. I was being flippant. You are my goddess and I serve you willingly. Love and hate don’t enter into my thinking.”

“Ah, yes. You see yourself in my everlasting service,” Morgana repeated wryly. She leaned back in the chair and looked out at the ocean. “Gaia’s world is very beautiful, isn’t it? The ocean may well be one of her most outstanding achievements. Magicals like you are her second greatest. The rest of us though—all the gods and goddesses other than her—we’re nothing more than caretakers of her creations. We forget that sometimes. The Great Mother is the real artist of this world.”

Elenora shook her head. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me, Morgana. I honor and respect you. You’ve always taken good care of me. Yes, we’ve had our differences, but I cannot say you have not blessed me over and over again. You’ve taken care of those I’ve asked you to as well. Isn’t that all I have a right to expect in exchange for my service to you?”

Her goddess went on talking as if she hadn’t heard the explanation. Elenora’s confusion—and concern—doubled as she listened.

“The problem is that gods and goddesses see too much, Elenora. I try not to be more unkind than is necessary with my interventions, but toughness just comes with being a deity. Did you know that in the time of the Ancient Ones I was a magical like you?”

“Are you saying you weren’t always a goddess?”

“No, but we’re talking thousands of years ago, not a few decades,” Morgana said dryly.

“How did you become who you are?”

“Like the father of Zenos and many others with the same fate who have come after us, I was one of the first chosen to ascend. It was only after I made my choice not to go with the rest of the chosen to the in-between that I realized I would be involved with Gaia’s creatures all the time if I stayed in my grove and this close to her plane of existence. That choice has been more of a trial than I could ever explain to you, but it’s been a good life as well.”

“Wow,” Elenora blurted out before she could stop herself. “You knew the father of Zenos. That’s hard to imagine.”

Morgana rolled her eyes. “Is that all you heard of my revelation? I was around long before that particular Ancient was.”

Elenora shrugged. “Sorry, but my dragon side still vexes me. What was his father like?”

Morgana sighed. “He was like all dragons and you’re missing the bigger picture here, Elenora.”

“If you say so…” Elenora sipped her drink and wish she’d put some rum in it. Morgana wasn’t making any sense and the goddess had mostly ruined her quiet morning watching the sunrise.

Morgana leaned forward in her chair and pulled her clothing from the sand. “This is not easy for me, Elenora, but it must be done to aid your progression. I wish your view of your service to me to end in its current form. From this day forward, you are completely free to decline any request I make of you. And when you pass on from Gaia’s realm, your soul may choose its own eternal resting place among whatever creatures you wish. Just know that if you wish to come to my grove for your afterlife, you will always have a place there.”

Elenora felt her forehead wrinkle. “Now I’m confused more than ever. Are you completely severing our relationship?”

“No, Elenora. I am merely changing it for the good of us both—well, the whole world actually. I was trying to remain humble.”

Elenora chewed her lip in thought. “Goddess Morgana, you saved my life when I was a child and gave me a life I would never have had without you. You will never be able to release me from the devotion and gratitude I feel towards you. You’ve been…” she stopped, looking for the right word. “You’ve been my caretaker as I have been caretaker to all magicals in Gaia’s realm. Serving you is the reason I still breathe.”

“No, it’s not,” Morgana said firmly, setting down her drink. “You were meant for much more than serving me and I’ve kept you from that part of your fate for my own selfish reasons. I have a new witch protectress who relishes the work you used to do. I had other plans for you myself, Elenora, but I don’t have the right to coerce you into doing my bidding anymore. The only favor I expect you to complete after today is to help Leelu as you promised. When she is free of her mother’s curse, so are you.”

“Of course I will help free the fairy from her curse. I gave you my word,” Elenora said.

Morgana nodded. “I know. That is why I now give you mine. Make your own decisions. Live your own life. I wish you to think more kindly of our connection to each other.” She pushed herself upright in the chair. “Now I need to get back. I left a sated Bennu sleeping in my bed. I don’t want him to know I snuck out to see you.”

“Why?” Elenora demanded, before quietly admitting that she’d done the same leaving Damien.

Morgana stood and looked around. “Because Emeritus said I should leave you alone and let you find your own way, but in the end, I couldn’t. I wanted to tell you in person that you were now free to do whatever you needed to do. Go with my blessing and use all the gifts I have given you over the years. My last piece of advice is that you make peace with the dragon within you as soon as you can. You can’t live happily with so much unresolved. You’ve let over ten years pass already. Stop running and face your inner beast.”

“Why must I accept the beast, Morgana? I lived for over three hundred years without it. Most days I even forget I have a dragon in me—at least outside of my bed.”

Morgana rolled her eyes at the droll joke. “You must accept your inner dragon because it’s the right thing to do. The creature is part of you, Elenora, no matter how it got there. For once in your life, stop being stubborn. Promise me you’ll accept your dragon. You need it and it needs you.”

Elenora lowered her head to look at the sand while she considered what her goddess was asking of her, but when she raised her gaze again, Morgana was already gone. She had no idea if she’d ever see her goddess again. It had sounded like she wouldn’t. What had she done to make Morgana want to put so much distance between them?

When a wave of intense sadness washed over her, she sent the cabana away and transported back to her bedroom. Removing her clothing, she slid back into bed and curled herself around her dragon lover’s big warm human body. He pulled her under one of his massive arms and held tight. Allowing Damien’s physical possession of her was the closest she could come today to doing what Morgana had asked.