12. SOPHIE
Sophie woke to a soft hum of mana that brushed against hers. The ends of her hairs stood up. Someone was at the front door of her villa. She could feel it.
With Fae grace, she slipped out of her bed and snuck over to the small fireplace across from her bed to wield the fire poker. Bits of ash fell delicately across the marble floor as she paced across the room. As she made it through her bedroom door, Sophie wound the fire poker back in the air, ready to strike the intruder that dared hover just outside.
On silent feet, she advanced to her front door and swung it open with lightning speed.
In front of her stood Acheron and in his giant hands was a crochet draekin – its pink-and-purple body lay in his left hand while its tail lay in his right. He stood there with his jaw open like a koi fish. Sophie craned her neck as she surveyed him, and she would do it all again just to see his silly stunned face.
Sophie pulled her fire poker higher, pointing it at him. “What are you doing?” She looked to the crochet draekin that lay in his hands then back to his face.
Acheron straightened himself and cleared his throat. “I . . . you . . .” His majestic angel wings fluttered behind him nervously.
Sophie pulled down her threatening fire poker and twirled it nonchalantly in her hands. She watched as Acheron’s bare chest tensed, holding his breath. He was wearing the same uniform loin cloth she saw the other angels wear.
Sophie tried not to smile. The large handsome angel was undeniably nervous. “Do you normally go around destroying people’s gifts?” Sophie nodded pointedly at the crochet draekin that had its tail ripped apart. She crossed her arms and leaned against her front door.
“Here.” He shoved the crochet draekin into Sophie’s hands and quickly turned around. “I found it that way.” Acheron’s wings flared out with a whoosh, creating a wall between them. He cleared his throat. “You have a visitor in the courtyard. I suggest you get dressed for this one.” His voice was all commanding again though Sophie heard a hint of a smug smile. Just a small one.
Without another word, Acheron shot up into the air with a thunderous thrust of his wings.
“Wait, who’s the visitor?!” she screamed after him. She let out a groan of annoyance just as the smallest of breezes caressed her skin—
She looked down at herself.
Are you fucking kidding me?!
Sophie had been far too preoccupied to realise that was she was basically naked. With all but a see-through polka dot bra and matching thong. The angel wasn’t undeniably nervous, he was undeniably uncomfortable. And given the way she was toying with the fire poker like she had a point to prove, she was a complete numpty! Sophie could have died right then and there from sheer embarrassment, but clearly the gods had other plans for her.
Quickly slamming the front door behind her, Sophie sprinted to her room, threw the fire poker and crochet draekin across the room and flopped onto her bed face first. She let out a groan that stirred her long-dead ancestors. Rolling onto her back with exasperation, Sophie mocked in a high-pitched annoying voice, “I suggest you get dressed for this one.” It sounded nothing like Acheron.
But as seconds rolled by, her annoyance gave way to a toiling unease that unsettled all her insides. She had a visitor . . . who could it be?
Clothes, check. I’m off to a good start.
After triple checking that she’d dressed herself appropriately, Sophie made her way to her separated courtyard where Acheron had mentioned her visitor was waiting for her.
On a stone bench sat a woman with long silver hair. Her skin glowed a faint gold and a small breeze picked up through the courtyard that filled Sophie’s nose with the scent of fresh strawberries. Sophie’s throat choked and her feet lost their ability to move. Tears prickled her eyes.
It couldn’t be. Here? In the Godlands?
With her piercing golden eyes, the woman turned to face Sophie. It was Danna, her mother.
The sight of those familiar, warm golden eyes sent the waterworks on full blast. Sophie ran across the courtyard with all her Fae speed and grace to embrace her mother. This hug. Right here. She’d wanted this hug for so long.
Danna laughed through her own tears and hugged Sophie right back. They stayed like that for a few moments before Sophie pulled back. “I can’t tell if I want to throttle you or if I should keep hugging you.” Sophie sniffed and pulled her mother into another embrace. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you too, Sophie. More than you can imagine.” Danna wiped her tears away with the pads of her fingers. She cleared her throat and pulled Sophie down to sit with her on the stone bench. “I am so sorry, Sophie. More than you can imagine. There’s so much to tell you, I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Let’s start with promising to never hold back secrets, no matter how difficult they are to navigate. We’re family. We’ve only got each other.” Sophie held her mother’s hand between hers.
“Agreed.” Danna softly smiled and cleared her throat again.
“I can’t believe you’re here in the Godlands!” Sophie laughed, though it fell flat when Danna’s face dropped imperceptibly.
“Well . . .”
There was something about that downward tone that had all remnants of Sophie’s smile fading. “Well?”
“Have you heard of the goddess of all lands?” Danna pressed her lips together.
Did Sophie know the goddess of all lands? What sort of question was that? Of course she did. Sophie had spent nights pouring over every page of the thick leather-bound mythology books her mother gifted her. She spent days out in the sun, nose deep in their vivid stories, until the pages creased and the pictures faded from the oils of her curious fingers. “Of course, she blesses lands with flowers, fruits, harvests across all the realms . . .” Each word Sophie spoke grew more soft, suspicious.
“Yes, that’s right! I’m happy to see those mythology books I gave you were put to good use.” Danna’s laugh was all nervous as she explained something that left Sophie’s worldview askew.
Those books, her mother told her, failed to mention that the goddess of all lands had fallen in love with a Fae. They failed to mention that despite her family’s wishes and ridicule from other gods, the goddess chose herself. “In the eyes of the gods, Fae were lesser beings, made by the gods themselves, though it never mattered to the goddess. She never saw a difference.” At this point her voice softened, a thread of warmth filling the spaces between words. “Together they had a daughter.”
Sophie’s heart began to thunder.
“And like all children of gods and goddesses upon the age of five, half or full-blooded, her daughter was presented to the Fates. They bestowed upon her a gift. She would be the demigoddess of Faery. ‘Blessed’, she was, to save a dying kingdom. ‘Destined’ she was, to wield an unruly amount of power.” Danna looked up at Sophie, golden eyes brimming with tears. “But what is a blessing in the eyes of the Fates is oft times a curse – a heavy burden.” Gone was all the warmth. What filled the breaths between Danna’s words was a quiet warning that stirred Sophie’s unease.
A pregnant pause filled the courtyard.
The words turned over and over in her head.
Insects hushed and stilled.
The air itself stiffened and crackled with suspense.
“I should have told you. Whether you understood or not, I should have told you . . .” Danna’s hands were startling cold compared to the blood and adrenalin that coursed through Sophie. “. . . I’m the goddess of all lands.”
Sophie let those words sink in.
She then laughed nervously, the sound caught between a scoff and a strangled cry.
Silence.
A rug had been pulled out from underneath her.
I’m the goddess of all lands.
Sophie’s world did a backflip and all the theories she’d ruminated over in her head fell to the wayside. She had theories that her mother was Fae which explained away Sophie’s heritage, but this?
Her hands began to shake despite Danna’s firm hold.
“This was the very villa I used to live in.” Danna’s eyes were searching Sophie’s, prying for some sort of validation or a response that Sophie couldn’t give. So she pushed on. “When you disappeared from the face of the earth for several days, I knew I needed help that was far beyond my capabilities, Sophie. So I came back. A friend of mine helped me track you down and ever to my surprise . . . here you were.”
Sophie stared at her mother. She tried to speak but her words were slippery. She couldn’t grab a hold. “So– but– wait . . . but I’m your daughter.”
“Which makes you a demigoddess.” Danna grimaced.
The air around them stilled.
Sophie’s face dropped into a deadpan. “Okay, it was nice seeing you too, Mum.” She got up from where she sat. “Full of jokes as always! Ha.”
Danna quickly grabbed Sophie’s hand before she could move any farther. She shook her head. “Honey, I know. I should have told you the truth from the start. That’s on me.”
Sophie looked to the warm hands that held her and soothed her throughout her childhood. The warm hands now encased in a golden glittery film. She followed that glow all the way to her mother’s golden eyes. Her silver hair. Features, so painfully otherworldly.
Danna’s eyes shone, etched with a plea.
“It’s true then. You’re the goddess of all lands?” Sophie watched her mother’s face closely.
Danna nodded.
Oh. My. God.
Sophie’s eyes were impossibly wide as all blood drained from her face. A small dying squeak escaped her lips as the reality of her being came into full view. That’s when the pacing started. “So . . . So I’m a demigoddess destined to save a dying kingdom?!” Sophie surveyed her arms, legs and body. She didn’t feel like a demigoddess.
“The Fates blessed you with the destiny to save Faery . . .”
“Faery?! What does that even mean! That can’t be right!” She wasn’t a demigoddess. No way in the several realms of the universe! She’d JUST found out that she was Fae and now she was something else entirely?!
Danna rocked back on her feet. “Your real father—”
“Is Fae!” Sophie threw her hands in the air. Step. Step. Turn.
“How did you—”
Sophie pointed to her delicately pointed ears. “Well these were a dead giveaway.” Sophie paused. “And I bumped into Uncle Alston and Aunt Alfre on the way here too.” Step. Step. Turn.
Danna let out a whimper and placed her hands on her chest. “Are they well?” Her face washed over with a hopeful sadness.
That whimper made Sophie stop. She nodded. “They’re alive and well. At least I hope they are . . . I kind of sent the entire Faery realm into a tizzy.” Sending the entire Faery realm into a tizzy was the biggest understatement of the year. Sophie had unleashed the wrath of Queen Calliea and damned the entire realm to hell since denying her and Kaine’s fate. Sophie’s stomach dropped and dread rooted itself deep within her soul at the thought. She found it hard to form the words. To tell her mother what had happened, but maybe she could . . . “A lot of things happened to me in Faery, Mum. A lot. You’re welcome to see my memories. If you want to, that is.” Sophie had nothing to hide. Ever since she landed in Faery all she wanted to do was show her mother. She wanted to tell her mother all that had happened, everything including Kaine, as much as she knew it would hurt her reliving the past.
Sophie moved closer to her mother and lifted her hand to her own forehead.
“Are you sure?” Danna asked tenderly.
“Certain.” Sophie closed her eyes. A faint golden glow washed through her eyelids and then she felt it. Instead of a shadowy presence, like she did with Zala, Sophie felt a golden glow roaming through her head. The memories of her time in Faery unfolded before her. Travelling through the tunnels with Ellie, Zala and Cam. Fighting the Dakin spiders. Being trapped in the dungeons with Kaine. Learning how to use mana. Turning Fae. Kaine’s rescue and Kaine’s deterioration. The golden presence flinched at the sight of Cam’s lifeless body. Then it retreated, filled with sadness, from out of Sophie’s mind.
Sophie opened her eyes. Tears already filled them.
Danna’s eyes were scrunched with worry, tears spilled freely from them, and her throat bobbed with heavy emotion. The flowers and plants in the courtyard wilted as Danna brushed the tears away from her face. She grabbed Sophie’s hands softly and glanced at the ghosts of bruises that used to lay there.
“I should have been there for you. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t. And I know that sorry in this instance won’t be good enough, but I’m hoping that you’ll allow me to make it up to you, Sophie. No one deserves that kind of heartache.” Danna pulled her daughter into a tight hug.
“I’m fine, Mum. Really. I’m fine.” Sophie wasn’t fine but at least she felt better than she had since she first arrived in the Godlands. It seemed like everyone in her life had the ability to lie. To omit the truth. Her trust had been razed on all fronts. The real question here was, could she find it in her heart to forgive? Could she find it in her heart to trust again? Sophie wasn’t so sure, and that made her feel all sorts of uncomfortable. “So . . .” Sophie cleared her throat. “Care to explain how we ended up here?” She chuckled softly through tears.
Smooth.
Danna paused, squeezed her daughter’s shoulders, and said, “Better yet, I’ll show you.”