Chapter 34 #2
It took a moment for Soren’s mind to catch up. She grasped for Vane’s hand as she realized the truth, and he squeezed tightly, steadying her.
“Nell,” she whispered, eyes wide. “That was me?”
The gods all looked at her steadily, Juno nodding.
“There is one final problem,” the goddess of fate said, lips pressing together. “Kronos has always known you had the power to displace him.”
A pit dropped in Soren’s belly. He had known… Of course he had. It was why he had beaten her into submission so many times.
“Fear was enough to keep you chained,” Cion had said to her mere hours ago.
She had always held the power to fight back against Kronos, but he had taught her, again and again, that in the wake of his power, she had none.
“What is the price?” Vane asked, an edge to his tone.
Nyx looked around. “We should discuss this somewhere else.”
Neither he nor Soren moved, though, waiting for this final piece of the puzzle.
None of the gods spoke at first, not until Vulcan sighed and said, “Oh, just tell them. If you didn’t want them to know, you never should have mentioned it in the first place.
And my son will find a way to kill us all if he finds out after the fact. ”
Soren knew the moment Vulcan finished speaking, and from the way Thessa let out another shrill cry, she knew too.
Thanatos looked past Nyx, straight into his daughter’s eyes. “Death always finds a way.”
Vane retreated a step, pulling Soren with him, but she held firm, holding him next to her as she said the harsh truth aloud.
“Kronos tied his soul to mine, didn’t he? I can die by his hand and come back a thousand times, a thousand lifetimes, a mere nuisance to him. But the second I destroy his soul, mine will be gone too.”
Vane was shaking his head. He stepped in front of her, blocking out the gods and cupping her cheeks with trembling hands. “Soren, please. We can still walk away.”
A single tear ran down her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
His forehead bowed to hers, his voice hushed as he spoke quickly. “You promised me. Together. I will not walk away from you, not ever. But please, please don’t leave me behind again, my love. I will walk into the dark of oblivion with you without fear, but I cannot remain without you.”
She kissed him softly and whispered against his lips, “Together.”
All of us, Thessa agreed.
Heles’ voice was final. Into the dark.
“Are you two done?” Vulcan called out dryly behind them. “We should go, lest we draw attention before it is time—”
Vane was out of her arms and at Vulcan’s throat with a wicked, gleaming dagger before she could even blink.
“We are not your fucking sacrificial pets,” he snarled at his father.
Vulcan was relaxed, his hands still casually in his pockets, even as blood dripped from his throat. “None of us would prefer it this way.”
Vane pulled the dagger back swiftly, shoving it into his hip holster. “Well, I would prefer it if you shut your mouth, but you seem incapable.”
Juno looked mildly amused, and Thanatos rolled his eyes at the display, but Nyx stepped forward to Soren finally, holding out her hands, marked palms up.
Soren looked down at the mark she would be placing on Kronos’ brow, at the mark that would end her too, and placed her hands atop it.
For a moment, mother and daughter remained like that, not holding or even looking at each other; just touching, just barely.
It was all Soren would give her.
She stepped back, and Nyx lowered her hands. “We need to go. There is a place we can keep you both safe until midnight.”
“Why midnight?” Soren asked, her throat thick with fear.
Juno replied, looping her arm with Soren’s. “It is when Kronos is at his weakest and you at your strongest. Why do you think he killed you last time at sunrise?”
Soren opened her mouth, but the reply died in her throat as a shimmering portal opened in front of her and Juno tugged her through it. Vane shouted her name, but they had already disappeared by the time he reached for her.
When they reappeared, they were in a vaguely familiar sitting room.
This was her mother’s house, it had to be.
She had a faded memory of shattering a vase here, long ago.
She had fallen asleep more times than she could count on the stiff couch near the window, which was currently shielded by a dark drape.
Nyx came through the portal next, Thanatos always at her side. Vulcan and Vane pushed through last, and as soon as they hit the floor, the portal closed, and Vane swiftly punched Vulcan square in the face.
Soren froze, waiting for the fire god’s anger to finally emerge, but he only laughed wetly and said, “Friends, would you spare me a moment with my son? Alone.”
Vane’s hands were ablaze, strands of faint ether in his eyes as he looked down at his father, covered in blood and sprawled on the gleaming, dark wood floor.
“Fine,” he snarled. “Let’s talk.” Soren met his eyes, and he gave a short nod, warning the other gods, “Touch her and—”
“You’ll set the house ablaze?” Juno mused. “Dismember us? We know, and we do not plan on harming her where she was born.”
“I’ll be fine,” Soren assured him. “Find me after.”
He still had flames in hand, but he replied, “I will. I love you.”
Her throat tightened; she knew just why he was making sure to tell her. Each time now had the potential to be the last.
“I love you,” she said softly before turning and following Juno and her parents into the other room.
Nyx led them past the second, more casual sitting room and down a long hallway. Streams of weak sunlight filtered in from the windows as they passed.
“He’s very intense,” Juno commented, brow raised.
Soren didn’t laugh. “He watched me die and then lived a hundred years chained under a curse Kronos created while all of you did nothing. He’s the only one who ever fought for me.”
Juno was quiet for a while, but as they reached what appeared to be an airy kitchen, she spoke, her voice a shade softer. “I understand, then—why you fell in love with him.”
Soren didn’t reply, especially not as she saw a familiar figure sitting cross-legged in one of the wide rocking chairs in the corner.
“Ana?”
Anabeth muttered, “Thank all the idiot gods,” and rose, racing for Soren and pulling her into a tight embrace.
Soren slowly wrapped her arms around her, but as Anabeth pulled away, she asked, “How are you here?”
Anabeth smiled tightly. “My mother came for me finally, my brother too. It’s amazing what kind of tricks the gods can pull when they need something from you.”
“Cion wanted to talk to you.”
Soren wasn’t sure why those were the first words out of her mouth, but as she said them, Anabeth lowered her gaze and said quietly, “I knew she would. I will offer my own explanation to her once this is over. She didn’t deserve to be lied to, but I didn’t… There were some truths I spoke to her.”
“You do love her, don’t you?”
Anabeth lifted a shoulder, her smile tight. “She is not blameless in the horrors her father inflicted upon so many, but neither are we.”
“You don’t need to apologize. We can’t always choose who we love,” Soren said. “Cion will make a good queen. You should be at her side if she still wants you to be.”
Anabeth blinked rapidly. “I hope she does. But first…” She took a deep breath. “First, we need to kill a god.”
Soren didn’t let her fear show, didn’t even let it surface enough to quicken her heartbeat. “Indeed.”
Thanatos was in the kitchen, making what smelled like cocoa, and Juno and Nyx had settled at the worn breakfast table. For the kitchen of the night goddess, the room felt oddly open and airy, though sheer curtains were closed over the windows, obscuring the world outside.
As Juno spoke in low tones to her mother, Thanatos asked, “Do you still like cream on top of your cocoa?” Soren realized the whole thing felt oddly domestic.
“Was it…always like this?” she asked Anabeth quietly.
The demi-god smiled, just barely. “It’s strange, isn’t it? They created this entire realm, and then they just play house while they plot the murder of their king.”
“Duality, dear,” Thanatos said, setting two clay mugs of cocoa in front of them on the counter. “Everyone is capable of such a thing, even gods.”
Soren eyed the cocoa warily but took a sip. It was rich, with a hint of warm, familiar spices. It tasted oddly like…
Home.
“My… The woman who raised me in Mise used to make a similar drink,” she said to Thanatos.
He nodded slowly. “She was the granddaughter of a mortal woman who was in this house many times.”
“Nyx’s spy. I know.”
Thanatos shrugged. “A friend too. She doted on you as a youngling.”
“How did you manage it? Making sure I was born to her bloodline?”
His silver eyes wandered over to Nyx. “You forget, your mother and her twin created this world. We merely followed the path they forged, and that includes Kronos.”
Soren was about to reply when Vulcan joined them, grim-faced and rubbing his crooked nose.
As soon as Nyx saw him, she stood. “What?”
Vulcan looked around the room, his gaze landing on Soren. “There’s been a complication.”
Her stomach dropped, and panic whooshed through her ears. “Where is he?”
“Gone,” Vulcan said, snapping his nose back into place with a wince.
Juno’s eyes flashed, and a tremor went through the room. “What did you tell him?” she demanded.
“He’s my son, Jun. He deserved to know there might be a way—”
“A way that just might damn us all!” she bellowed, a wave of power throwing Vulcan back against the wall.
Soren pushed off the counter and slowly walked over to Vulcan, who was straightening and dusting off his dark tunic.
“What did you tell him?” she asked in a low voice.
He briefly looked behind her to where she knew Thanatos stood then met her eyes. “Juno saw something. I believe the demi-god girl, your friend, did too—a future, one in which you and my son live.”
“Fate is fickle,” Juno hissed. “You know that, you eejja.”
“She means ‘idiot,’” Vulcan supplied. “Which I might be, yes. But perhaps, if Kronos is weakened enough, the tether he created to your soul could be snapped. It might require some convincing, but Vane has grown stronger over these years—”
Soren looked back to see Nyx rising from her seat. “One cannot bargain with Kronos! And besides, even your heir is no match for him.”
“Yes, you would know all about his bargains,” Anabeth muttered, looking down at the cooling mug of cocoa she held between her pale hands.
Nyx shut her eyes. When she opened them, they were swimming with bright ether. “Do you think I want to have my only child torn from me forever? But this is the only way. We all know that.”
“Where is he?” Soren repeated softly, turning her head back to Vulcan.
Vulcan hesitated. “I meant what I said,” he told her. “I was always watching over him, waiting for the day he would be ready.”
“You knew about us. You could have told anyone. I’m sure Kronos would have rewarded you greatly for it.”
He shook his head. “But I didn’t want power. Like you, I was only after one thing.”
“I don’t understand—”
“Love.” He let out a soft, incredulous laugh.
“Believe me, my dear, you are not the first god to fall for someone of mortal blood. My Thora was as strong as she was breakable, though. She ran with our child as soon as she realized what I really was, thinking she could protect him from the horrors and wonders of Arcadia. But sickness took her, and I was powerless to stop it. I wasn’t going to waste her sacrifice by pulling our son into a conflict he was not ready for. ”
“But I did,” she whispered.
Vulcan nodded, though he didn’t look angry. “Fate will twist our hands, even when we do not want it to.” He paused. “He went to the palace astride Heles to try and do the impossible—defeat the king. Thessilnn remains, waiting for you.”
“Thank you,” she whispered before bolting from the room.
They called after her, but only Anabeth followed, breathless by the time they emerged into the fading evening light. Thessa waited near a grove of trees, her tail whipping around her.
Took you long enough, godling. They are nearly there.
Soren glared at her. Why didn’t you call me so I could stop him?
You had to learn why first. There may be a way yet through all this foolishness.
We are all foolish in love.
As Anabeth approached, she whirled to face her. “You can’t do anything to stop me.”
“I know that,” Anabeth said, crossing her arms. “But I can’t let you go alone.”
“Ana—”
“Shut up. We’re wasting time standing here arguing, and you know it.”
Soren let out a slow breath. “Fine. But as soon as we land, you need to hide.”
Anabeth muttered something in the language Soren realized now to be the old tongue of Arcadia—the original dialect of the gods. She ignored her and mounted Thessa quickly, throwing down the ladder for Anabeth, who climbed up shakily.
The second they were both secure on the saddle, Thessa took to the air, leaving the house and the gods in it behind.