Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Every tree has a shadow. Every shadow has a root.
When in trouble with your mate, avoid him like the plague by hiding inside your family vaults with the doors closed.
Despite pointing out the fact that he was also hiding things from me, things that were likely more troublesome than the deal I’d made with Donn, Hudson couldn’t reconcile that he was in the wrong too.
The problem was, once Donn demanded his first date, all would be revealed to Hudson, and if he hadn’t already revealed what he and Lucifer had done, I would remain in the dark. I would have to barter a truth for a truth before my secrets were spilled.
I unrolled a scroll and pinned it open on a table using a few priceless artifacts. My finger traced the line from my name to my mother’s, and then my grandmother’s.
Frank Shepherd, Horologist.
In place of where everyone else had their elemental power noted, he had his job, signifying he was a completely ordinary human who tinkered with clocks and watches.
My grandmother was done with her children, and yet she fell for this simple man’s charms. Unfortunately for him, that was a death sentence, as Eloise couldn’t risk the curse sucking the power from her.
How sad to walk this life alone. Perhaps that was why she was the way she was.
I twisted my lips to the side. Maybe she fell pregnant by accident?
But that didn’t fit with the precise way she moved through this world.
She selected each and every man to be the father of my aunts to avoid the curse taking hold of their power, ensuring she never fell for them, even a little. They were basically sperm donors.
Which means Eloise covered it up and eradicated him from our history. Why? Embarrassment at falling for a powerless man? Or something more profound... something that would give us a glimpse into why my father was pushing me to explore this side of my family tree?
I scribbled some notes down on a pad. I wasn’t taking anything, including this scroll, out of the vaults when our world was so unstable.
The air crackled with power, and the candles illuminating the room flickered. I narrowed my gaze on a hazy spot and let Indigo rise to the surface, ready to battle whatever was trying to push past the hefty wards guarding the Roberts’ most precious things.
The failsafe would destroy them if they succeeded in the breach, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
Wind swept through the room, and the candles lost their battle, plunging us into darkness. My wings itched against my aching spine as I went still. Someone was here, and the wards had failed in both their protection and destruction.
“I tire of waiting for you.”
My shoulders relaxed. I couldn’t avoid him forever, and I was surprised I’d gone even a few days. Donn didn’t strike me as a god with patience, or one who forgot he was owed a dating debt.
“I’ve been busy,” I replied. “Could you turn the lights back on? Holding a conversation in the dark is disconcerting.”
He chuckled, the sound warm as it curled around me.
With a flourish, the candles leaped to life, revealing the god of death.
He was exactly as I remembered, yet the sight of him still made my breath catch.
It wasn’t just the silver eyes and inky hair curling around his sharp face; it was the effect of being in the presence of a being who held eons of knowledge at their fingertips.
“What can I do for you?” I asked, proud of my unwavering voice.
“You took a little of our bargain tonight, so I have come to claim what you promised.”
I raised a brow and folded my arms while he stalked around the vault, pausing to pick up some artefacts and study them. “I haven’t forgotten. I’ve just been busy. I can’t hop out on dates every night while trying to avoid an all-out war.”
He tsked. “Don’t try to renege on our agreement, Cora. You won’t enjoy the consequences.”
The sharp tug in my blood was a cruel reminder that this pact had been sealed in an unbreakable vow.
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
He pushed his hand through a glass case as if it were made of water and plucked a priceless and dangerous dagger from a stand.
He twisted it in his palm, and the runes ignited and glowed red.
Wisps of smoke curled around his hand. That particular weapon ran at a balmy two thousand degrees, but we had no idea what other power it held besides melting whoever touched it.
“Your collection is impressive. Logi would be interested in reclaiming his dagger.”
Logi? I racked my mind, but it gave me nothing. “Who?”
Donn placed it back inside and turned to face me, his eyes boring into mine. Having his full attention was disconcerting, and I fought the urge to squirm.
“The god of fire.”
I pressed my lips together. I had enough god problems without an elemental god declaring I’d stolen his weapon. “If it belongs to him, he can have it.”
Donn tilted his head, and tendrils of shadows billowed around the vault, closing in around me. “Learn to negotiate, Cora. When you have something valuable, don’t throw it away without first bartering for your wants.”
“Is that what I am? A barter for your wants?”
His smile was cruel, dangerous, and oh so seductive. I feared I might have been at risk of falling at his knees if I hadn’t already given my heart to a beast. “No, you are not a want.”
He closed the distance between us, and I tilted my head back to stare at him. “Then what am I?”
“A fascination, a prize, a puzzle.”
“Those all sound like wants to me,” I whispered.
He reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Wrong. You are a need.”
I huffed a shaky laugh. “You? A god? Need me? How so?”
His lips twitched. “Now, that would be revealing, wouldn’t it?”
I narrowed my eyes. I was missing something.
He stepped back to give me space to breathe and glanced over the family tree spread out before me. “Seeking answers in your bloodline?”
“We are all products of our ancestors.”
“Not true. Sometimes, cosmic forces intervene. You are living proof of that.”
My gaze dropped to the floor as I tried to make sense of his words. What I would give to be able to pick apart his brain and siphon the knowledge from it.
He tapped the bronze statue of a woman without legs holding down the right corner and ran his hand over the marble figure of two angels caught in flight while kissing. “Are you trying to flirt?” he drawled.
My face heated at the cupid’s kiss and fertility statues. “I wasn’t expecting company, so I just used what was handy.”
“Bringing us back around to the debt you owe.”
“We agreed you would remove your power from Eloise, not force it upon me.”
His finger skimmed his bottom lip, his gaze flicking over my legs, currently on show given I’d snuck out here in my sleep shorts and tank top. “I offered, and you accepted.”
I couldn’t deny it. I tilted my chin in the air. “You failed to negotiate terms.”
I was treading a delicate and dangerous line. At any moment, this god could decide he was done with games and squash me much like the humans he viewed as insects. But for some unknown reason, he had plans for me to be by his side, and that put me in a position of power.
“The date, Cora.”
“I’m busy avoiding the apocalypse. I can’t just run off to the movies or the aquarium every day.”
“Then pick a day of the week, because until I have your company, I will continue to leak my power to your grandmother.”
“You feed it to her even now?”
He pursed his lips. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“It is the deal I made. I would strengthen her if she were weakened.”
I blinked. Ugh, the severing. I needed him not to fix what we had broken. “Friday.”
It was Monday, right? My brows drew together. Or was it Tuesday?
“Tonight, then. I shall come for you at eight. Wear something fit for the queen you are.” He vanished.
Wait, that couldn’t be right. The solstice was on a... Thursday this year. I groaned and banged my head against the family tree.
“You seem perturbed, granddaughter.”
I froze. Wasn’t one god enough for one day?
“Are you in my head?” I whispered.
“Not today. I thought you would benefit from an in-person visit.”
I dragged in a breath, found my balls, and lifted my head to stare at God. What did one say to the architect of the world?
“Hi.” Good start, Cora.
He offered a kind, warm, all-knowing smile. Was it my imagination, or did he appear to be older than the last time we met? Perhaps he was tired. I would relate to that.
“Hello.” He dragged a stool from the edge of the room and took a perch opposite me, offering his hand. I placed mine in his. Peace curled around my soul and settled my racing heart. He nodded at the fertility statue. “Nothing more precious than children.”
I shook my head. “I can’t even think about babies right now. The world is on the brink of war. It would be selfish to bring a child into that.”
“It’s a heavy burden you bear,” he said.
“No more than others fighting for survival.”
He tsked. “You disparage yourself so quickly. It is in your blood to do so. Fall upon the sword, so to speak.”
Not sure any Roberts woman has fallen on a sword, and my father didn’t understand the term self-deprecating.
His eyes crinkled at the corners. “Maybe you are right, but your father is more torn than he shows.”
“You heard that?”
“I hear all.”
“That must be exhausting. Do you have a good therapist?”
He snorted. “I do believe I’m going to enjoy getting to know you, Cora.”
His eyes swam with the stars of the universe before settling back to blue. “Does getting to know me involve some wise words for dealing with gods who have a claim on your time and blood?”
God booped me on the nose with his free hand. “You are my granddaughter. No one has a claim on your blood, not even a forgotten god.”
I frowned. “But the pact.”
He swept his gaze around the room. “You have all the answers you seek at your fingertips.”
“A god trumps an archangel,” I pointed out.
“Agreed.”
“I don’t understand.”
“How is your mate?” he asked. “Have you forgiven him yet?”
Did God just change the topic? Why? “I’m working on it.”
He nodded. “Good people often make bad decisions for good reasons. Don’t underestimate the value of strong ties to people you love. It is what will save you in the end.”
“Or lead you to your doom.”
“Only if you pick the wrong person.”
“I wasn’t aware I had any choice.”
“You always have a choice. Just know that yours impacts the future of the world you fight and bleed for.”
“Which is the right one?”
“Depends on your goal.”
“Any hints?”
“You know I can’t interfere.”
Every word was making me more confused. He patted my hand and stood. With a flick of his hand and a wink, a gust of wind moved through the vault and he disappeared.
A book fell from a shelf at the back, and I rose from my stool and strode across the vault. The deep red, ancient leather-bound cover etched in gold thread shimmered faintly as I approached. There was no title, just a faint symbol of a tree with its roots on fire impressed into the hide.
I crouched, and the pages turned, not by my hand, but by some unseen will. They stopped at the center, where a family tree sprawled across parchment so delicate it looked like pressed ash. Names were elegantly scrawled in an ancient language, with faint halos drawn around the descendants.
I reached out, my fingertip hovering above the page, but the ink pulsed, and a whisper curled around my mind like smoke. The past echoed and then stretched like it was waking from a long slumber.
I pulled back, my breath fogging in the suddenly chilly air. At the bottom of the page, a name emerged beneath the ink, like something exhaled from the paper itself. I didn’t know the language, but I knew the feeling it carried.
Ancient. Female. Buried.
On the final name at the very bottom, wings unfurled before my eyes.
I closed the book, but the symbol on the cover burned brighter than before, its roots still smoldering.
“What did you leave me to find, Grandfather?” And what did you bury in my blood?