As the roaring minotaur charged toward Brigid and Pearce, the melissa queen and her swarm stopped swirling about Brigid to surge toward the minotaur. Their strident buzzing filled the sunny meadow.

With a yelp, the minotaur lurched away and fled rather than face the deadly melissae.

As they returned to her, Brigid smiled at the melissa queen. “My thanks.”

Her buzzing softening to a purr, the melissa queen swirled around Brigid again, with the rest of the swarm close behind. The melissa queen said, :Welcome, sister.:

Brigid swallowed a giggle at the melissa queen’s buzzing thoughts tickling the inside of her skull. Despite their bond, the melissa queen’s mind felt utterly alien.

Pearce eyed the melissae swirling about Brigid, absently rubbing his healed chest. “I’ve never heard of melissae defending a human before.”

Brigid shrugged. “The Goddess bound us together, so the melissa queen considers me a sister.” She tilted her head. “Come, we must return to Oress so I can heal my mother. The Goddess said you would have a way to return quickly.”

Pearce nodded. “As long as heights do not alarm you.” He shut his eyes and furrowed his brows, clearly calling someone with his mind.

After a moment, Brigid’s hair blew back as a golden-brown roc, half the size of the Goddess’s Great Temple, landed beside them in the meadow. She grinned as the gargantuan bird nuzzled Pearce and almost knocked him over. “Heights do not alarm me.”

“Excellent. Then we shall reach Oress within five hours.” Pearce leapt atop the roc then lifted Brigid behind him. Once the melissae joined her, he cast a bubble of calm air on the roc’s back and urged the roc into the air.

Brigid and Pearce spent the flight home engrossed in conversation. As they spoke, she nestled closer and closer while burning to kiss him. She’d never met such an intriguing gentleman, and their meshed souls made him impossible to resist. Yet every hour or so, she attempted to separate their souls, but still could not manage it.

When they landed in the courtyard of the Goddess’s Great Temple, Pearce helped Brigid alight then seized her lips in a fierce kiss, despite the melissae swirling about her. Obviously he was unable to resist her too.

Brigid sighed and pulled him closer, and they lost themselves in their embrace until the Goddess’s chuckle interrupted them. Brigid forced herself to release Pearce then cast the Goddess a desperate glance. “How can I separate our souls? ‘Tis inflaming our passions.”

The Goddess shook her head with a smile. “You cannot. The first time a soul healer heals an intelligent creature from a fatal wound or ailment, their souls become bound until death.”

As Pearce gaped at the Goddess, Brigid pursed her lips. By sending her to him, the Goddess had planned their soulbond. “Why did you want me to soulbond with him rather than my mother?”

The Goddess chuckled again. “Because in addition to my season queens, I am also searching for four worthy gentlemen to embody the elements.” She turned to Pearce. “And as the eldest son of the first nature witch to perform a blood-kith ceremony with Rhiannon, you would make the ideal king of earth, representing strength and potential. If you agree to become the Earth King after living a full life, you shall remain with Brigid, my Spring Queen, for eternity.”

Flashing a grin, Pearce threaded his fingers through Brigid’s. “I would be honored to serve, my Goddess, especially to remain with Brigid.”

Brigid squeezed his hand, her heart warming. Despite their short acquaintance, her desire echoed his. He would have enthralled her even without their soulbond.

The Goddess beamed. “Then I shall marry you before you return to Brigid’s family and live out the rest of your mortal days.”

After the Goddess wed them in a simple yet intense ceremony, Brigid and Pearce rushed to her family’s house. Although the roc remained at the temple, the melissae joined them.

Brigid’s sisters gaped when Brigid, Pearce, and the melissae burst inside. And they gaped more when Brigid introduced Pearce as her husband.

But when Brigid asked after their mother, her eldest sister drooped, her voice cracking as she replied, “Mother is only lingering to say goodbye to you.”

Brigid grinned at her sisters. “She shall not need to say goodbye just yet. The Goddess granted me the power to heal her.” She swept into her mother’s chambers then cured the wasting disease wracking her mother like she had cured Pearce’s fatal wound.

When their mother revived, Brigid and her sisters clung to each other and burst into happy tears. Then Brigid exhorted her family to keep their mother’s miraculous recovery a secret, lest others learn of her new powers and seek to abuse them.

Moving into the cottage beside her family, Brigid and Pearce assumed ordinary lives as a healer and her nature witch husband—except for the melissae hive in their garden and her extraordinary powers. They lived for many, many years, and Brigid bore Pearce sixteen children. Three of their nine daughters were soul healers, while their other children were powerful nature witches. When they were near death, Brigid and Pearce returned to the Goddess and were reborn as her avatars. But their mortal legacy remains—all soul healers are their descendants, although many of their descendants are not soul healers.