Chapter 2Smoke-Bound Wishes

When they wished for beauty, I became uglier.

When they wished for wealth, my own divine light dimmed.

Gradually, I could no longer grant their insatiable desires, and they stopped coming. My shrine fell to ruin, and I faded with it. But now, I was just one mortal's prayer cycle away from my ascension. I waited a hundred years for someone to come, and then he appeared: Rhys, with his ten sticks of incense and his desperate wish.

And so, I became indebted to him for ten wishes. Only by fulfilling them could I be free.

I found him that first day, half-dead from poverty and despair on the side of a road. I offered him the ten sticks. "I must collect the wishes of mortals," I had explained. "For every stick you break, I will grant you one wish."

Even then, on the verge of death, he had snapped the first. "I want to be rich. I want to be a Lord, so that no one can ever look down on me again."

To fulfill his ten wishes, I had to stay by his side.

Then, on his birthday, he had looked into my eyes and, with a sincerity that felt real, snapped two sticks at once. "I wish for you to stay with me forever. I wish for us to grow old together."

A god knows nothing of love, nothing of desire. I only knew that this brought me two wishes closer to my goal. So I agreed.

For years, we lived as husband and wife in all but name. He never officially married me, but the whole world thought he would.

"Lord Rhys is just waiting until his position is secure," they would whisper. "Then he will make an honorable woman of his love."

I believed them.

But it was all a lie.

Then, he had snapped two sticks to declare his love for me. Now, he snapped two more to cast me aside for another.

I let my hand fall from his sleeve. "You have four sticks of incense left," I said, my voice hollow. "When you have used them all, I will leave you forever."

He scoffed, pulling Elena closer and shoving me aside as they left. "Just get out of here for now. Elena doesn't want to see you. As for your damned sticks, we'll deal with them some other time." He looked at Elena with an expression of utter devotion.

As they passed, Elena paused and sighed dramatically. "Rhys, my love, she must adore you so. To endure such humiliation and still refuse to leave... perhaps you should give her some small title, out of pity."

Rhys was instantly defensive. "I'll have her thrown out this instant! I swear on my life, Elena, you are the only one I will ever call my wife."

And so I was thrown out into the snow, with nothing but the clothes on my back.

Martha was cast out with me, a dismissal contract clutched in her trembling hands. I had ruined her life as well.

She used what little savings she had to get us a room at an inn. "My dear girl," she said, her voice heavy with sorrow, "you have a pure heart. Lord Rhys does not love you. Why do you cling to him?" She looked at me sadly. "It's time you opened your eyes and saw who else is out there."

She opened the window, and there, standing like a silent sentinel in the falling snow below, was Prince Kaelan.

Martha's heart ached for me; she wanted me to let go of Rhys and find a new life. But I was stubborn, my eyes fixed on the singular, burning desire for my ascension.

"I still owe him four wishes," I insisted. If I failed, I would be trapped in this mortal world forever.

My breathing was becoming shallow, my body wracked with a profound exhaustion. Granting Rhys his lordship had already shortened my lifespan. Healing the Prince had aged my mortal form to that of an eighty-year-old woman. A dull, constant pain was my new companion, and I tossed and turned in the cheap bed.

Martha, thinking I was lovesick for Rhys, could only sigh. She spoke of returning to her home village, of retiring.

I took her hand and used a flicker of my remaining power, transforming my touch into a handful of silver coins that I pressed into her palm. This was my mess to clean up.

After she left, I finally allowed myself to cough up the blood I’d been holding back. Using my power in such a weakened state was destroying me from the inside out. In the days that followed, my face grew haggard and my hair began to fall out.

Every day, I would drag myself to Rhys's estate, and every day, I would be turned away. My body grew weaker, and the slightest chill would confine me to bed for days. But I gritted my teeth, waiting. Waiting for him to break the next stick.

Finally, I saw his carriage returning, with him and Elena inside. I threw myself in its path, but it didn't slow. Not for an instant.

The impact sent me flying. I landed in a heap, blood spilling from my lips.

Rhys started to get out, but someone was faster. Prince Kaelan was there, sweeping me into his arms, calling for his attendants to stanch the bleeding.

Rhys stood over us, his face a cold mask. "It's just another one of her pathetic tricks for attention, Your Highness. Don't fall for it. She's a master of manipulation."

But Kaelan ignored him, his eyes fixed only on me. He tried to lift me, to take me away, but I struggled weakly.

Four more sticks. I can't leave yet.

Rhys sneered. "You see? She loves me so much she'd rather die at my feet than leave with you."

Kaelan gave me one last, deep look, then turned and walked away into the snow.

Pain lanced through my body. I tried to speak, but my throat was clogged with blood. With a blood-soaked hand, I grabbed the hem of Rhys's fine leather boot.

"Four... sticks left..." I rasped. "Just make your wishes and I'll..."

The world went black before I could finish.