The force knocked Marie-Fey to the ground and when she opened her eyes again, the chamber was gone.

Everything of her world was gone.

She lay in the middle of a starfield and the silence was absolute.

No one was there. She was completely alone.

Until the stars started to fall around her. They drifted from the sky, from all directions, gathering together, coiling around each other until they started to form the shape of a tall male.

The form stepped forwards as he came into being, bright and brilliant and featureless, the outlines of his hair and clothes drifting in a non-existent wind as he held a hand out towards her.

Maire-Fey stared at the outstretched gesture, then looked up at where the eyes would be. He withdrew his hand at her hesitation and bowed low to her.

"Thank you," he said softly.

"Are you him?" Marie-Fey said, his voice thin. "Are you the little god who gave a mortal immortal power because he lost a star?"

"Yes," the god replied, guilt clear in his voice. "I was young and be they gods or mortals, children make mistakes."

"Yes, you certainly made a mistake," Marie=Fey muttered, her voice dark and bitter. "Where are we? What has happened?"

"You succeeded in striking Zahir."

"Is he dead for good?"

"Yes."

"What about the others?"

"The spirits of those who protected you have been destroyed. There is nothing left to recover. Their deities of death shall handle them, is their souls can be found. Your brother and Gharam are alive. Zaydan and Maanah are not."

"Fix it!" Marie-Fey shouted, her voice ringing out around them, reflected back by the stars. "Bring them back! They shouldn't have died! Maanah should not have died! Zaydan shouldn't have died! This was your fault! This was because of gods and mortals paid the price! Fix! It!"

"I can give you one."

Marie-Fey gaped at him. "Excuse me?"

"I can give you one of them. I cannot return both."

"WHY?!"

"One is still connected to Zahir. To bring back Zaydan without Zahir, it is possible, but it will diminish me for a time. I cannot bring back both Zaydan and Maanah together. I am not strong enough yet. I am still a young god."

"How can you give me the power over their lives? That isn't fair! How can I put one live above another?"

"The world of enchantment is rarely fair, for mortals or deities. Both is beyond me."

"Then bring me a god greater than you!" Marie-Fey snarled, shoving to her feet, feeling weak and unsteady but fixing her blazing, icy eyes on him.

The god just remained silent however and Marie-Fey closed her eyes because she knew who she was going to bring back.

"Maanah. Return Maanah to us."

"Oh? The kingdom you live in will be I chaos without someone to lead it. Zaydan is of greater importance than Maanah in this world. Would it not be wiser to bring back—"

"They are equally important, are individuals!" Marie-Fey snarled, daring his continue that thought. "How dare you suggest otherwise. Maanah should never have been caught in this hell! She should not have died! She was innocent in all of this. How can I condemn her? Zaydan should be returned to us, but he has lived many lives. Maanah has barely started. If you force my hand, I choose her... besides, someone is waiting for her to come home, I cannot separate them when I promised to protect what they have."

The god drew back and nodded.

"Very well, Maanah it is."

He looked to the right, then lifted a hand and a single star fell from above, landing in his palm and he held it out to Marie-Fey.

She eyed it for a moment, then carefully took it. it was warm to the touch and it felt like she was just holding air, but as she pulled her hand towards her, the star moved with the motion. She looked at the god, brow raised.

"Shoot it across the sky and make your wish," he said simply. "But do not wish for anything outside what we discussed. The wish will not come true."

"Shoot?"

Even as she said the word, her bow appeared in her free hand, an arrow between her fingers. She jumped, then looked at the items, before pressing the arrowhead against the star.

When she drew her hand away, the star stayed in place. Hooking the arrow against the string, she drew back, aiming high into the air, and released, watching the star streak away, flying across the sky as she sent her wish along with it.

The shooting star exploded against the night, the starfield blowing apart and Marie-Fey shoot watching the lights diminish as the god turned and started to walk away.

And then he froze.

Marie-Fey glanced his way, but his attention was turned upwards, then to the right, looking around like he was trying to find something.

"What?" she asked.

"Deities are coming," he said, shock in his tone.

"God? Which gods?"

He didn't answer her though and the stars began to return, pouring back towards them, falling into new places and shapes, forming high thrones that towered above them, circling them.

Marie-Fey stared at the thrones – there were dozens forming around them – then blinked as something passed her eye. She looked around and saw a rose petal drift past. That one was followed by others that drifted up towards one of the thrones, spiralling as a shape in golden light appeared. A woman's form, as large as a mountain, with hair that rolled out around her and a gown that drifted in a breeze Marie-Fey couldn't feel, she settled into her throne, looking down at them.

"Mother," the young god said, faint panic in his voice.

"Dear," the goddess said, "The issue is yet to be resolved."

"But I fixed the problem!" he shouted, "the fake god is dead! He doesn't have my power anymore. He cannot come back."

"Maybe so, but there are centuries of chaos left in his wake, and we must decide how to handle this."

"But—"

"Southern Wind, you have such an energetic generation," a new voice rang out and everyone looked to another throne as another goddess appeared, just as large as the Southern Wind, her skin like an olive hue under moonlight, dark eyes and hair studded with stars as she placed her bow and arrow aside, looking down at Marie-Fey.

"Selene," The Southern Wind said coolly, "I did not expect you."

"Be grateful Aphrodite could be persuaded not to attend," Selene replied.

"Perish the thought," The Southern Wind muttered.

"Can we never be allowed warnings of when we're going to be pulled from our daily lives?"

This voice belonged to a young man, no larger than Marie-Fey or the little star god, who appeared stood on the arm of the throne of Selene, arms folded, skin a golden brown and deep brunette hair mussed from sleep.

"Ajax," Selene chided calmly. "You're in the presence of other gods."

Ajax sighed dramatically.

"Selene, I didn't not think you would take on a mortal," The Southern Wind said, amusement in her tone.

"I suppose you could say I was inspired by the likes of you and Gleti."

"Hah, how mature of you to admit such a thing," came another voice, laughing as third towering goddess appeared. Her skin was almost as dark as the night, hair in a thousand tiny plaits hanging down her back, a globe, like a moon, hanging from the end of each, while stars patterned along her forehead in intricate dots and dashes.

At her arm, tiny like Ajax, sat a young woman, dressed in a robe of brilliant yellow and bare feet. Her afro hair was held back from her face by a length of dark cloth as she sat cross-legged at the edge of the chair arm, dark eyes trained on Ajax.

"One of your counterparts," Selene said to Ajax.

"Noxolo," the young woman said by way of introduction, "When did you come into contract with a god?"

"Six months ago," Ajax said, "Yourself?"

"Two years."

"And you have yet to realise just how annoying being the eye, mouth and hands of a god can be," snapped Beldon's voice as he fell out of the sky and landed neatly on the arm of The Southern Wind's throne, straightening his army coat and glaring up at his goddess. "Didn't we literally just attend a Council of Gods last week?"

"Yeah, but I thought this one might be of some interest to you," The Southern Wind said and nodded to the floor below.

Beldon looked down and his glare vanished into shock.

"Marie!" he cried and threw himself over the edge of the throne, plummeting through the air and yet landing without weight, running towards her.

She let out a cry of relief as a familiar face and he wrapped her in a hug.

"What happened? Why are you here?" he gasped, gaping at her.

"It's... such a long story," she said, closing her eyes.

Beldon shot the star god a glare. "What are you done now?"

"Hah, you don't see me in how long and that's the first thing you say to me?" the god sneered back.

"Beldon, what is happening?' Marie-Fey said, dragging her brother's attention back to him.

"It's a meeting of pantheons," Beldon said, drawing her away, towards the hem of The Southern Wind's gown. As he spoke, a new god arrived, ribbons of mist around his deep purple kimono like a shawl, long black hair tied at the top of his head. "That one is Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, another god of the moon. That one is Gleti, a goddess of moon and stars. Then Selene, goddess of the moon. This new one, arriving now, that's Chandra, a god of the moon. The one beside him is Rihini, a goddess of stars and his favoured consort. The twenty-six constellations around her are her sisters, the Nakshatra. And that's Elatha, another god of the moon. And there's Mama Quilla. Oh, and there, that rabbit figure, that's Tu'er Ye – I didn't expect to see him here, he must be representing Chang'e. Ah, here, this is Al-Qaum – a god of war and night. And that's Al-Uzza. And that one is—"

The list went on and on as more gods and goddesses filtered in but Marie-Fey lost track. She was too tired and overwhelmed.

"But why," she finally interrupted. "Why are they all here. Do we have to wait for all of their... whatever you are to them to arrive?'

"No," Beldon said, "No, in this collection of deities, only The Southern Wind, Gleti and Selene have mortals in their courts. There are other mortals with other gods, but we won't be seeing them. This is a collection of gods whose domains are the night skies. Except The Southern Wind, her domain is harder to define. I assume she is attending because her son – who is a god of the stars – is... in trouble?"

"With everything I went through just now, yes, I should say so," Marie-Fey growled.

"What did happen?"

"Shall we begin?" The Southern Wind called, Beldon turning to her, along with the eyes of all the other gods.

"I feel this meeting is unneeded," announced the rabbit, Tu'er Ye. "The blame lies with your pantheon as the original creators of this mess."

"Our Lady Southern Wind has already informed us all that the goal of this meeting is not to place blame," Gleti said, frowning disapprovingly.

The Southern Wind bowed her head. "As Our Lady Gleti says, we are not placing blame in this meeting. The original blame was the mishandling of young gods when making deals with clever mortals."

Her son visibly grimaced but she ignored him.

"However," she continued, "The fake god – named Zahir in this lifetime – manipulated and wreaked havoc in each and every one of our domains, and none of us took steps to end the problem. We left the issues of gods to mortals. Understandably, the deities of women and girls are not happy with the actions of those who command the night."

There was a noticeable shuffling of discomfort amongst the gods, low voices and mutterings – it was all very human, quite frankly. No one wanting to admit to a wrongdoing.

"But we are here to discuss other matters," continued the goddess Beldon had pointed out as Al-Uzza. "The kingdom Zahir finally perished in is powerful within the world and Zahir played a role in that continued success. Currently, the world has been paused, but we must decide how to rebalance the power lost less it causes the fall of a kingdom. To lose one kingdom will cause disruption across the world."

"The question is what shall be done?" asked Rihini. "The first thought to come to mind is the situate a new mortal within the role Zahir had. The position should have gone to the younger brother, Zaydan, but Zahir killed him prior to his own death."

"Would not the mortal Marie-Fey, here, not make sense?" Gleti asked, raising an eyebrow, "Afterall, she was the wife of Zahir and the one who did what we, as gods, did not. She rid the world of a menace. She should be rewarded. Why not give her the state?"

"She will face greater challenges in such a position," the god, Al-Qaum, warned. "Her kingdom does not take kindly to women in great positions of power. We would need to go further and change the entire narrative of the world."

"That is more than mortals deserve in this moment," spoke a god who's name Marie-Fey hadn't listened to.

"This does not answer who rules the fallen state to maintain balance," someone else put in.

"Who would have been next in line to Zahir and Zaydan?"

"The options are limited, that family was small and controlled."

On and on it went. Gods and goddesses speaking back and forth.

"Make your demands," Beldon muttered.

"What?" Marie-Fey asked, looking up at him.

"Make your demands of what you want," Beldon expanded, "Tell them what you want from them or they will continue to talk and decide your fate for you – whether you want it or not and expect you to behave like you've done them a favour. Trust me, for all their power, and all my admiration for them, gods can be idiots."

Even though they were speaking incredibly quietly, Beldon's voice drowned below the voices of the deities, The Southern Wind still tilted her head to glance his way – and he shot her a grin.

"I want to reset things," Marie-Fey said.

"Louder," Beldon said.

"I want you to reset the world!" Marie-Fey shouted and all eyes turned to her – looking like they had quite forgotten their human audience members – while Ajax and Noxolo looked to the gods to see how they would respond.

"What do you mean, reset?" The Southern Wind asked calmly.

"Reset the world without Zahir in it," Marie-Fey said. "Reinstate people back where they should be if he had not existed."

The gods glanced at each other. "I suppose it's one way to handle things."

"Each human has multiple paths in life they can follow," Noxolo said, looking from Marie-Fey to her goddess. "If they take one path, those other paths still exist in shadow and you, as gods, have the ability to move mortals from one path to another, correct?"

"That is correct," Mama Quilla said, her voice soft, "All humans have multiple paths they can traverse. We can, as the young mortal states, reset the cast. Lady Marie-Fey, how would you see it done?"

"But—" started another god but Mama Quilla held up a hand to stall him.

"Let us listen."

Marie-Fey glanced at Beldon and he nodded for her to take the invitation.

"Place the women of the palace in the best possible path that is available to them in their future. If staying in Zahir's palace was their best option, then try to give them something as good to give them the best chance of life. Bring Zaydan back. You can bring him back, he—" She pointed to the star god. "Gave me the choice to bring him or Maanah back. I chose Maanah but it means he can be brought back – without Zahir. Figure out how to bring him back without Zahir and he can rule the state that is now without a leader. As for Maanah, I still want her and Gharam to have their best paths in life but give them the chance to meet again. It's paramount that they are allowed to meet again and get to know each other. The same goes for Zaydan and Zaafira. They are very close friends, let them meet again. And for me, I want to go home. Wipe my marriage and the rest of it from people's memories. Let people forget this ever happened. They can forget me but send me home."

"You want people to just forget?" asked Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, leaning forwards, "You do not want them to remember what you have done for them? They owe you a debt now."

"I don't care about the debt they might owe me now," Marie-Fey said, looking up at him, "I just want the debt the gods owe me paid."

It was the fellow mortals that laughed softly at that, the gods glancing at each other at the words.

"Can you make this happen?" she asked firmly.

"They can make this happen," Beldon said, staring up at the gods and somehow still staring them down. Then he looked at her. "Everyone is going to forget what happened. Zaydan will forget you as well," he said softly, "As will Maanah and Gharam. Are you alright with that?"

Marie-Fey looked at him. "Do they have to forget me?"

Beldon looked up at The Southern Wind. "There is always a catch, you know this," she said gently.

Beldon let out an annoyed sigh. "Very well. Yes, they will forget your time together – or the contact you've had – over the last two years." He looked back up at The Southern Wind and she gave a time nod of approval. That made Beldon smile and he looked at her. "The rest of his meeting will relate to things only gods command. Ready to go home?"

"Please," Marie-Fey said.

Beldon squeezed her arm and, between her blinks, the council of gods vanished, and she found herself in her drawing room back home.

She blinked again, but the drawing room stayed in place. She looked around, feeling off kilter, and spotted a newspaper. The date was the same. She was still in the same day. But she was not thousands of miles away, back home in her family estate, dressed in a gown her memories told her she had bought two weeks before.

She took a seat, drawing in a deep breath as more memories started to flood in, forcing themselves into place beside those of what she had experienced.

As far as the world was concerned, she still wasn't married.

She had never met Zaydan.

But she had met Maanah and Gharam. In fact, she still knew them incredibly well and was privy to their relationship which had survived the reshuffling of lives. They often visited her kingdom with their own families. She knew them because their families both handled trade and were contacts of her father. They had got to know each other through family business.

She didn't know where many of the women she had ruled over were now. She didn't know where Zaafira was. Azeeza – no – Chiara had never been sold off. The little girl was still with her family... Marie-Fey would have to look into that to see that the girl was not sold off again in the future for there were many of golden cages a lady could find herself locked inside.

She stood up.

She wanted to see her family.

Rosalia would be in her final weeks of pregnancy.

Constantine... Ivy was still missing. That hadn't been changed. Why? Because it wasn't related to her? She would have to ask Beldon.

But Beldon was not in the house. He was away with the army again.

The drawing room doors opened, and she looked around as a maid curtsied.

"Miss, you have visitors."

Before she could continue, Marie-Fey spotted Gharam and Maanah over her shoulder.

"Good morning, Marie-Fey," Gharam called happily – cheery and light and at peace in the world.