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“Hate can build an empire, but all empires fall.�� -Vorgaine”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“Aren’t gods normally off in some god space doing important things?”��

All of her [Vorgaine’s] eyes blink at once and it is revolting and oh my Her I’m going to be sick. “I breathed this world into life, Wyatt. What could be more important than living within it?”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“If it’s not about genetics, what is the bond?�� Solomon asks, stepping forward with his forehead wrinkled in thought.
“This sacred fellowship exists between two people who are one another’s perfect mirrors. A reflection of all they are, and all they hope to be. These unions allow both parties to grow to their fullest potential. It is a beautiful and sacred thing. [...] To equate them to romantic unions, or parental partnerships, would be to diminish their value. Certainly, they can become these things, but it is not inherent to what they are. […] Should a person turn from their mirror, they will never know themself for who they truly are. Should they do the unthinkable and shatter their mirror, they will be doomed to become the most warped and broken version of themself.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“There you are,�� says the single most unsettling voice I’ve ever heard. It sounds like a thousand voices speaking all at once, a chorus of all kinds of people stacked over top one another.

I turn and my stomach drops.

Standing there, in front of the door carved into the hillside, with her hundred eyes, and fiery wings, and row after row of razor-sharp teeth, is the goddess Vorgaine.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“I don’t know what the limits on a goddess’s powers are, but caller ID seems like child’s play.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“You said you know why we’re here,�� Solomon begins, dragging my attention to him and away from Emyr. He’s staring at Vorgaine with the kind of intensity that burns. “Do you hear us when we pray to you from the other side? We are told—�� He clears his throat. “We are told you cannot hear the prayers of witches.”��

“I do not hear your prayers,�� Vorgaine agrees, and Solomon’s shoulders slump. “But not because you are witches. I cannot hear you because you were stolen from me.��

“Really?�� There is something like childlike longing stuck in Solomon’s throat.

“You are my most beloved children, and you were taken form the safety of your home and carried to a world where I could not reach you. There is no anguish that compares to what I have felt for you, all this time.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“It strikes me as weird, in hindsight, that the people of Asalin would build monuments for Vorgaine, and then actively, viciously go against everything she actually stands for. But maybe it shouldn’t. If I learned anything about religion in the human world, it’s that a lot of people love the shield of a god more than they’ll ever love the god themself.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“I am Faery, and Faery is me. It is how I knew you the moment you stepped through from Lacuna. You became a part of me, as you were always meant to be. But I do not exist beyond this place, and I cannot go with you. Could I, I would have done so a thousand times over. Instead, in the morning, I will ask the citizens of Ra’Ora who is willing to stand beside you and aid in ushering in a new era. An era where the door between worlds may stand open, where my children may come and go freely, as they wish. And an era in which they are safe, wherever they are, whoever they are.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“It’s true, Faery does not have the internet. Nor cars, flying or otherwise. But our air and water are clean. Our people are nourished, body and mind. And all of my children, from the largest dragon to the smallest pixie, are protected from those that would seek to harm them. Perhaps, Wyatt, you should consider that this world is not primitive. It is your own ideas of progress that need to catch up.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“You know me as Wyatt,�� I say finally. “You know my name. What about my…my old name?"��

The goddess tilts her head to one side. “Wyatt is who you are. Perhaps you were once addressed by something else, but it was not you. I’ve no reason to know that mistake.��

She doesn’t know my deadname. I’m sitting here at a dining room table with a goddess and she doesn’t know my deadname because it doesn’t matter to her.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“You see me as a boy?��

Something like a frown presses into the corner of her mouth. “I think your ideas of gender are confusing."


“Faery doesn’t have trans people?��

“Faery is not arrogant enough to assume we know anything about our children before they’ve a chance to learn it for themselves.�� She shakes her head. “There are as many genders as there are people. And each one of them comes into the language they’d like to use for themself, in their own time.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“How do I channel Emyr’s energy? [...] Cavenia says I can feel the bond from his end, but I have to channel him to do it. How do I do that?”��

“You have already done it. [...] When you brought him back from the dead. [...] I can see the mark of his energy in your blood, Wyatt. And Emyr, Wyatt’s is anchored within you. It is clear to me that your magic nearly faded. That you were almost snuffed out—from all worlds. But Wyatt brought you back.�� She tilts her eyes toward me, all at once. “And you did that by tapping into his power.��

I remember it clearly, more than I’d like to. The feeling of Emyr’s body in my arms, dead but still warm. The darkness around us, lit up by flecks of gold.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“Do you…do you know how long I’ll have?�� Emyr asks here, and his claws dig into my thigh. I reach down and put my hand over his. I don’t pull his fingers away. “I know that resurrection magic is rarely permanent. My—my mother—��

Vorgaine reaches across the table and lays her hand across the back of Emyr’s. He stills under her touch, and tilts his head up to stare into her eyes.

“I am sorry about your mother, Emyr. That never should have happened.�� She shakes her head. “But I can tell you this. Wyatt’s energy is permanently, and inextricably, tangled with yours. For as long as one of you lives, the other cannot die.��

And just like that, with one sentence, a thousand pounds of invisible weight, sitting on my chest for the last few weeks, disappears.

Our world is on fire. Everything we’ve ever known is a lie. We could both die tomorrow.��

But Emyr isn’t going anywhere without me. I am not going to lose him.

Never again.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper

“Wyatt’s energy is permanently, and inextricably, tangled with yours. For as long as one of you lives, the other cannot die.”
― H.E. Edgmon, The Fae Keeper