Chapter 10
THANE
T hane kept hold of Katana as he brought them both to stand. First gossip from the servants and now this. If he didn’t have duties and powerful people that wanted him dead, he’d simply go take Phantom out for a long ride and not return for weeks.
His mother, Queen Orlandia, had come back from their manor in Brightheart a few weeks after Valeen and Hel had left to Ryvengaard.
She had many questions, and he had answered them as best as he could.
His mother accepted that Hel was the Black Mage and Layala had left with him without so much as a flinch.
He’d once suspected she knew Tenebris had made a deal with Hel long ago in regard to Valeen, but that confirmed it.
She’d known all along and was only too happy they had left.
Maybe she never liked Layala because she was looking out for him, maybe she knew it wouldn’t end well when the Black Mage returned.
And he hadn’t heard the end of her complaints for the last two days.
Sure, she was overjoyed that Thane, Piper, and Leif had returned so soon, but not that Valeen or Hel or the dragons were here.
Although Varlett hadn’t made an appearance since they returned.
As much as he hated her, it would be better for her to remain close so they could keep an eye on her.
“I wouldn’t call the goddess of day a trollop, Mother.”
Orlandia took a half step back, face pinched in a sour expression. “The what?”
“You heard.”
Her cheeks puffed as a slow breath parted her lips.
“I swear you’re only doing this to get back at me.
All this talk of gods and portals to other realms…
is it to punish me for not telling you the truth about your father’s deal with you know who?
I don’t understand why”—she looked around and lowered her voice—“ he is back here. How are we supposed to keep this all under wraps?”
“Hel is my cousin and that’s all anyone knows. I kept it under wraps fine while you were in Brightheart.”
“Your cousin.” She pressed her lips together and her already rouged cheeks reddened.
“I carried you in my womb. I birthed you. I held you in my arms and watched you grow and yet you want to have me believe you are the god of war? I know you are special and always have been, but that Layala is a goddess reborn and this maiden you have hanging all over you is… It’s too much, dear. It’s?—”
“I don’t know how else to explain it,” he snapped. Rehashing this same conversation and her acting like he had lost his rationality was getting old. Thane held out his arm to Katana. She wrapped her hands around his elbow, and they started for the door. “I have to go north.”
His mother followed them out into the corridor, and she caught up to his other side. “For what?”
“I have to meet with the dragons to secure an alliance. War is coming, Mother.”
“We have been at war for hundreds of years. How is this any different? We should plan a party or a dance to appease the Maker.”
Doing a dance to please the Maker who had never once shown any sign of help for the elves seemed silly now. The creator of this world abandoned it long ago and the All Mother had only taken the magic from the elves.
Katana walked silently, her warm fingers curled against his skin, but she pressed her lips together trying not to laugh.
“No parties. No unnecessary people in this castle. Do you understand?”
“Fine,” she huffed. “Are you sleeping with this girl now? What are we to say about Layala, er Valeen, then? You called off the engagement only to have her return with someone else…”
“No, I’m not sleeping with her. Katana is Valeen’s sister, and a friend.
” And despite a few flirtations and how devastatingly beautiful she was, that’s how it would stay.
He would not get attached to another goddess with a vengeful husband and have his life shattered all over again when she chose the other male.
Orlandia scoffed. “Her sister . Maker Above, have you lost your good sense? This girl cannot stay here, and neither can the other two.”
“I am not a girl . That would imply I am barely more than a child.” Katana smiled at Orlandia.
“I may not look it, but I am much older than you. I was created before time existed. And you should ask Valeen what she wants said about her. I would not incur the goddess of night’s wrath, Queen Mother, or it may be the last thing you ever do. ”
“Mother, please,” Thane said softly, and took her hand. “Just try to be nice for once. Nice to Valeen, nice to Katana, to all the people I care for. I know this is strange but it’s necessary. It’s not always about you. It’s for me.”
The corners of her mouth turned down and she let out a sigh. “I am doing what’s best for you. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”
“I’m fine.”
“You weren’t fine.”
“I am now.”
“Alright.” She threw up her hands. “I love you and want what’s best for you, that’s all. I will stay out of your business.”
He smiled at her. As much as she was a pain in his ass, he loved her. “Thank you.”
Katana emerged from her room in a royal-blue dress with gold links across her shoulders and a belt at her waist to match.
The color complemented her bright hair and warm skin.
The neckline cut into a “V”, revealing a demure yet enticing amount of cleavage that made his mind wander to days before when he untied her dress to get the spider.
He clenched his jaw and tugged at the collar of his top.
Was it hot in here today? “I like that color on you, er, what I mean is you look… nice.” She was stunning in anything she wore, from short silk nightgowns to something as lavish as this, but he wouldn’t allow himself to think anything beyond that.
She was beautiful, but there were a lot of females he found beautiful.
She flashed a smile. “Thank you. Perhaps I will not be presumed a trollop now.”
“I’m sorry about her. My mother can be difficult and is very territorial.”
“I gathered. I take it she does not care for my sister much.”
He tilted his head slightly. “They’ve always clashed. Especially after she almost killed my sister Talon with a throwing star to the neck.”
Katana blinked a few times. “She… what?”
“It’s a long story.” One he didn’t want to rehash.
“Alright,” Katana said slowly. “I take it she had a reason?”
“In her mind it was justifiable.”
“But not in yours?”
“I don’t know. It was a move to save her aunt. Valeen has many shades of gray. I see things more in black and white. Right and wrong.” To be a gentleman, he offered his arm, and they slipped through the halls on their way to Valeen.
“She did not used to be that way. It hurts my heart.”
“Sometimes life changes you.” He lifted a shoulder. “I don’t blame her after… everything.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “I wish I could have been there for her.”
“And she wishes she could have been there for you that night.”
Katana looked up at him sorrowfully. “I know.”
“I have a question that I need to know for security purposes,” Thane said.
“This has something to do with me?”
“It does. If Atlanta discovers the portals are open and somehow finds out you’re here, will he come to Palenor, and what do you want us to do about it if he does?”
Her lips pressed firmly together, and her grip tightened on his arm. “He will come. As far as what you should do about it… I do not want any of you in harm’s way. I will speak to him.”
“Can I ask why you don’t want to go see him? I can only guess you didn’t love him even if he was your husband.”
“I did love him.” She gulped. “And he loved many.”
Thane nodded. The sorrowful change around her eyes flared an angry heat in his cheeks. It was typical for a god to have several lovers. They lived long lives, and among many it was competition to produce as many heirs and powerful offspring as possible.
“I want to start a new life. Katana—Atlanta’s first wife—is not who I will be anymore.”
“You felt like an extension of him even as a primordial goddess?”
“In many ways, yes. Nothing we had together ever truly felt like mine. It was his. Even my palace was modeled after the sea… not the sun. My own bed chambers were the only thing I had complete control over.”
What an asshole. “You had separate palaces?”
Typically, it was the females who took charge of the decor. Even here Thane’s mother, Orlandia, oversaw that. He might agree to the overall feel or theme, but she did the rest unless there was something specific he wanted done.
“I was not about to watch him parade around with a different female day and night, sometimes several. I raised my children in my home, not in the shared female house. That was one thing I would not budge on.”
He had the goddess of day as his wife, and it wasn’t enough? “The more I hear, the more I think he shouldn’t be a welcome guest. Did you not want to divorce him?” It wasn’t common but it was done in Runevale.
The silence was filled with her shoes tapping lightly on the stone as they descended the stairs. “I did ask for one once. He did not like that.”
“It doesn’t really matter if he liked it, does it?”
There was strange energy coming off her. Almost like she was…afraid. “To keep it simple, divorcing someone powerful like Atlanta when he said ‘no’ seemed impossible. There was not much I could do about it at the time. And should Atlanta want to come here, I doubt anyone would be able to stop him.”
She underestimated what he, Hel, and Valeen were capable of. No more needed to be said for him to decide that Atlanta was indeed a threat. Katana was one of them now. And if they had to fight a battle against her former husband, they would. “So, you don’t want to see him?”
“Ideally, he does not find out I am alive.”