“And the new vessel?”
Its mighty shoulders heaved, causing me to fall off my precarious perch. My downy, white wings flashed open as I beat them heavily to regain my balance.
Is finally ready.
Oh, that was momentous news indeed. Soaring high on my wings, I glanced over Its shoulder into the looking glass of worlds. Excitedly studying the many exotic faces within, looking for the one that would bear the mark of the vessel.
I looked into the worlds of waters, the worlds of fire, ash, stones, skies, colors, magic, mundane... but could not spot the telltale spark of a carrier.
I frowned.
“Where is it?” I asked in confusion, still trying to suss out who it might be next.
I did not envy that creature the burden of its new life. And as often as I could, I would make certain to keep watch over it. To nourish it as I was unable to nourish Galeta.
Wondering why The Creator had still not answered, I glanced over my shoulder at It. Twin flames hypnotized me, and in their depths I read the great sorrow.
The vessel is ready—it simply doesn’t know it yet. And until it does, you will not find it. But trust in me, my dear girl, that all is as it should be.
I shuddered, clasped my hands to my breasts, and moaned at the obvious sadness in Its tone. “Is it wrong that I feel terrible for the poor creature?”
That gentle caress of breeze whispered across my cheek, and a tear slipped from the corner of my eye, crashing through the mirror of worlds. There was a mighty roar, the birth of a new river. Though I did not know in which world. I’m sure it didn’t matter.
My sadness was a crushing, bruising thing inside my chest. I’d seen the sorrow of Galeta’s fate, and it crushed me to think that another innocent would soon bear the terrible knowledge and burden of such.
Understand, my little golden one, I would never force this burden upon the vessel. As I did with Galeta, so I do with it. The choice is the vessel’s alone. But if it takes this burden from her, then know this—as I trothed myself to her, so I would to it. I also have learned a thing or two since then. The burden would be vastly different this time.
“How?” That last bit of news lit a tiny spark within me. Perhaps things wouldn’t be so dire this time. Perhaps this new vessel might yet survive and thrive.
I felt Its smile as It said, You will know all in time, my harpy. Your only task is to go amongst creation and learn.
Clasping my fingers tightly, I asked, “Learn? Learn what? I know them. I watch them all day long.”
Ah yes, it is one thing to watch from on high. But quite another to be down there and move amongst them as a peer. You are kind and sweet—
I beamed at Its compliments.
But you are young yet and know far less than you might imagine. I want you to watch the queens and their mates. Study them. Learn them. Understand what it is to be... human.
“Why? My place is here with you. Isn’t it?”
It laughed, a sound that warmed me to my toes. I could never imagine a time or a moment when I would not be with It. I loved my Creator. Surely, It knew that.
Of course, I do, my child.
“Then why do I suddenly feel as if you are asking me to leave you?”
Never.
Wind brushed beneath my chin, calming me instantly.
But it is not enough simply to see—you must also understand what they feel. The love. The pain. The hurt. The hope. That is what will ultimately grow you, my sweet one. That is how you shall finally mature. Now, will you go and whisper my commands into their ears?
It was right, of course. It was always right. I felt the press of my powers grow within me. When The Creator beckoned, I answered. It was that simple. It’d tasked me with the whispering of schemes, and so I would do as I’d been bade.
I was a messenger. I would always be a messenger. The need to do my duty beat powerfully within my chest. My nails dug into my palms, and I wanted to turn, to rush into the fray of things and unburden myself, deliver the message to the Goddesses. But something held me fast.
A terrible feeling that I might not like what lay ahead of me.
My lips turned down, and sadness weighted down my bones. Something told me that I would not like this journey. And yet Galeta had borne this curse for far too long. Too much longer, and she’d die.
And no one would mourn her.
No one would ever know the great sacrifice she’d made on their behalf. And that darkness that rested inside her soul... it would be let loose. Freed into the worlds. Destroying all she’d sacrificed her life for.
But could I truly take that seed from her and plant it into another? Knowing the devastation it would wreak on the vessel’s soul? I wasn’t sure I could.
Have faith, my harpy. And know that this new vessel, if it chooses to accept the burden, will do so with eyes wide open. You would do nothing that it would not allow.
I trembled a little. The very last thing in the worlds I wanted to do was hurt another, but if the vessel agreed, then perhaps I’d suffer no regret from any of this after all.
I looked into Its eyes and saw nothing but love staring back at me.
Chapter 4: We’re Going To Do What?
Calypso
The past
“The Blue? Really?” I looked at the list of players Dite had handed me and shook my head. “After what she’s done to just about everyone in Kingdom? I think not.”
Dite, ethereally beautiful as ever and dressed in a gown of sheerest white that dazzled in the darkness of my caves, nodded. “Yes, Caly. She’s got to be part of these games.”
I turned to my lover, Hades. The man of my heart. I’d made my bubble butt howl with pleasure this morning. I bit my bottom lip as his eyes flashed with fire all their own. We’d need to harvest our next batch of carrots sooner rather than later—we’d gone through last year’s crop already.
Even after all these years together, he was the only one for me. Dressed in his customary black suit-and-tie combo, he made crypt keeper look good.
His dark eyes scanned the parchment in my hands. But his own hands had wrapped around my waist, dragging me closer into his side.
I trembled at the heat that always simmered between us. That combustible mix of love, lust, and raw power. My waters churned.
Dite snorted. She might claim to find Hades and I disgustingly touchy feely, but as the Goddess of Love, I secretly knew she adored it.
Finally, Hades shrugged, looking to both Dites and me. “The match-ups make sense. Though I’m no fan of the Blue fae, I hold no animosity toward her either.”
I sniffed. I hated the little cretin and couldn’t understand why Dites was so insistent. But she was, and one thing I’d learned through the years with my BFF was that there were very few things Dite would ever give me pushback on.
That she did so now revealed the depth of just how important this was to her. Though I wasn’t sure why or how.
“Six pairs, Caly. It’s how it’s got to be,” Dite insisted.
I lifted a brow, shaking my head as I thrust the sheet back at her so that I could return my attention to harvesting glowworms.
They only mated once a year but made good stock for Linx’s stews. I secretly thought she didn’t want them so much for the taste as for how pretty they made the soups. But that was neither here nor there. What my hippocampus wanted, my hippocampus got.
Lifting a bucket, I plucked another furry little ball of neon-green fluff from out of the cave wall. It landed in the half-filled bucket with a plop.
“And you agree with this, Hades?”
I felt his nod behind me. “I do.”
I sighed. “Well, then whatever. I guess I don’t have a choice in the matter here. But just know this—that fairy steps one foot out of line, and I will personally cut her balls off.”
Hades chuckled. “My dear Caly—”
I rolled my eyes, plucking up ten more worms. “I know she doesn’t actually have balls, bubble butt. But you catch
my drift.”
Aphrodite squealed, rushing to drop a kiss on my cheek. Why my friend was acting as if I’d handed her the keys to Atlantis, I wouldn’t know. But, for some reason, she was ecstatic. “Fine. Fine. You do whatever you need to do, Cals. There is only one thing. And don’t get mad, because I know you and I know how you get.”
Spine stiffening, I rotated slowly on the balls of my feet. Glaring at my best friend as the waters between us turned ice cold.
Dite shivered. And Hades stepped in close to me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he dropped his head onto my shoulder. His touch brought me not only warmth, but also comfort. Easing deeper into the strong cage of his arms, I felt my muscles slowly loosen and relax.
The waters immediately turned less hostile.
“Cals, that’s not actually listening,” Dite snapped, rubbing her arms forcefully to get her blood flow back.
“Well, what do you expect, Love? You know you should never start a sentence that way with me. I do not care for surprises, and considering that you’ve asked me not to get upset after I just looked at the list—a list including my granddaughter—I can only assume she’s somehow to be a part of this charade. Am I correct in this assumption?”
I lifted a peaked brow. My tentacle hair undulated in the heavy currents with a flicker of displeasure.
Crossing her lovely eyes, she stuck her tongue out at me. “You’re annoying. Hades, did you not sex her up enough last night?”
“I satisfied my woman plenty,” he rumbled, and I shivered, because, oh, he had.
“What are we, two now? Get to the point, Dites. Talking of The Blue gives me migraines. Please, just put me out of my misery already.”
“Fine.” She held up her hands. “Fine. The thing of it is, I feel each queen should have a chance to work with a familiar.”
“A familiar? Or her familiar? Like the Piper with those damnable rats of hers?” I shuddered thinking of those red, beady eyes.
“Exactly.” Dite shrugged. “Although perhaps with a minor tweak.”
My lips thinned. I was certain I wasn’t going to like where this was going.
She looked at me as though expecting me to say something. But I kept silent. Dite shifted on her heels, flicking a glance at Hades.
If she was looking for an ally, she was barking up the wrong tree. Hades, at the end of the day, would always have my back. His arms squeezed tighter around me, proving my words correct.
“We need to swap familiars,” she rushed out. “It’s the only way to truly keep this fair.”
Confused as to why she’d made such a big deal out of this, I said, “Okay?”
Nibbling on the corner of her bottom lip, she pressed on. “As in, Galeta will be needing Fable’s mirror.”
I glowered, and the waters that had calmed just seconds ago now rolled and pitched.
“Bloody hell, Cals. Stop it.” Dite pursed her lips, glaring hotly at me. She might be a Goddess, but I was an elemental with powers far exceeding her own.
“Why?”
I would protect what was mine at any and all costs. I did not trust Galeta. I did not know her all that well, to be sure, but I’d heard enough about The Blue’s duplicity and spite to make me wary of her. Not to mention my spies had spoken to me of Galeta’s presence lately hovering around Fable’s castle.
My granddaughter was recently wed to some stupid legger—which was too bad because the entire point of these games had been to find Fable her happily ever after, until I’d heard of her nuptials. Which none of us had been invited to. Yes, I was a little salty about that bit there. Now some Wicked Witch of the West something or other had taken up our sixth spot. Sounded dreadfully pompous to me, that title, but what did I know?
I’d not spoken with Fable in forever, and I desperately missed her, but I did not wish to intrude on her honeymoon. However, I was a grandmother and couldn’t butt out completely. I’d set my spies within the tributaries surrounding their estate.
It was how I knew The Blue was meddling.
“I had a dream,” Dite confessed softly.
Immediately, my waters ceased moving. “A dream? That’s what this is, isn’t it? You dreamt that Blue must be part of our tournament. Dite.” I gently laid a hand against my dearest friend’s shoulder, speaking gently. “It was just a dream.”
When Aphrodite looked at me next, I couldn’t help but shake at the depth of pain in her eyes.
“Caly, you don’t know. You didn’t see it. But as a Goddess, you know as well as I that sometimes our dreams are portents of things to come.”
Blinking slowly, shocked by the depth of my friend’s emotions, I studied her. Aphrodite was considered by many to be flighty and silly. A goddess consumed by nothing but sex and romance. But Aphrodite was far more than that. She was brilliant, empathetic, and the best friend anyone—be they god or mortal—could ever boast of having.
Yes, my moods were as mercurial and temperamental as the seas I called home, but my friend loved me all the more for them. Aphrodite had always understood me, and I loved her dearly for that.
Dites was family too. Not by blood but by choice. Which sometimes meant far more.
“I believe you,” I whispered.
“You’re not mad?” she asked, sounding slightly surprised and making me feel just a little ashamed for my earlier behavior.
“No, Dites, I’m not mad. I believe you. You are right—we are Goddesses. I know the truth of visions and how the Fates move through us with them. I will never question you again on this decision. You have my blessing to do whatever you need to do concerning The Blue.”
Her smile was brilliant and made my heart ache just a little bit.
“I am sorry, Dites. Truly. Please know that I love you dearly and think of you as a sister. I apologize for my—”
Resting her hand upon my shoulder, Aphrodite squeezed gently. “It is forgotten already, my friend. Now, I shall go and finish making preparations. Have you and Hades finished building the arena?”
I nodded, and Hades hugged me tight. As though sensing I needed it. I did. Though I couldn’t put a finger on it, I felt a sudden disquieting emotion. One that seldom manifested within me.
I did not trust Blue. I did not like Blue. But now that Dite had told me what she had, I felt as though I’d just heard the whisperings of Fate decree that it was so. That all we did now was far greater than merely a simple love match.
There was a vastness. Something... great. Mighty.
But as quickly as the emotion had come over me, it vanished. Leaving me reeling and perplexed.
“Hades, you fixed Mirror for Fable, correct?” Dites asked, pulling me from my strange thoughts.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Good. Then I would ask you to tweak it for these games, with her permission, of course.”
“What would you have me do?” He sat up straight, and I could feel his body tense. Knowing my lover as I did, I knew that he was sensing the same disquiet I was.
“I’ll tell you later. I must hurry with this. Time is of the essence today.” With those words, she vanished in a shower of sparkling pink.
I turned to Hades. He looked at me.
“You feel it, don’t you?” I asked a moment later, more serious than I’d ever been before with him in my life.
Now was not the time for games or sexual innuendos.
“The shifting of Fate?” he said deeply, and I shivered, rushing into his arms and dropping the basket full of glowworms to the cave floor, scattering them like marbles.
But I didn’t care. I needed the strength of his arms around me.
“Something is going to happen,” I whispered into his lapel, clutching him tight.
“I know, my angel. I feel it too.”
Those words brought me no comfort at all.
Chapter 5: Abra Cadabra
Galeta
Present Day
I had the blood.
The stupid little girl had fallen right into my trap. It’d been
so ridiculously easy to get Fable to believe I was truly her friend. Her fairy godmother. What a damned fool. As I tipped the green glass vial full of Brunhilda’s cursed blood before my eyes, my insides raged with adrenaline and excitement.
The end was finally near. Gods above, after all the lifetimes of searching, I’d done it. My lips twitched, and heat burned behind my eyes.
My wings flapped unsteadily behind me. Button—my golden beast of a massive dragon—nudged me with his snout hard enough to cause me to stumble.
I smacked his nostrils hard, shoving a ball of power behind it. His eyes widened, and fire curled from out of the edges of his snout at the sting of my touch.
“Do not think to stop me!” I snarled at him.
Button and I had had this discussion far too many times to count, and I was over being talked down to about it.
Intelligent, golden eyes thinned, and the rumbles of his displeasure echoed through the high ceiling of my cave built of ice and snow. Long, colorless stalactites of hoarfrost hung like giant fangs from above. Beneath my hovering feet were razor beds of rime sharp enough to skewer anyone who might be foolish enough to follow me inside.
Button, being a fire dragon, was impervious to my ice. I loved nothing and no one. But for reasons I could not quite fathom, the damnable beast seemed to care for me. I’d found his egg last year, and curiosity and the desire to control a beast of such power was what made me take him with me and guard him until he’d hatched.
“Why are you so bloody insistent on doing this, Galeta?” Button’s voice was a terrible rumble that shoved at my flesh with prickles of heat and power.
Curling my fingers around the glass vial, I shook my head. “You keep away from me, you mangy mongrel. Do not think to stop me. I’ve worked over ten lifetimes for this. My plans have finally come to fruition. I will not be stopped!”
Shaking his massive head as a rush of arctic wind howled through the large opening of the cave, he glowered. He was angry with me.
But my heart was too fixed and too cold to care.
“You’ve ruined her!” he snapped back, blasting jets of flame so close to my hovering wings, they tingled.