Chapter 7
How had I become the woman who fell for a god?
Just a couple of weeks ago I’d been Halieis’ worst oracle, trudging along through an odd but still somewhat uninteresting life.
Now I lay drowsy but sleepless, staring up at the ceiling, unable to stop thinking about the next time I could leap into the arms of Death.
That’s the sort of thing that shatters any plans or expectations one could have for their life. Not that I was complaining, of course.
But despite what he’d said, it was wishful thinking to believe that I could simply be his.
I belonged to rival gods, after all. Because of that, I’d have to be extremely careful with our visits.
Our relationship would be hard to hide, even knowing that he’d be invisible and could sweep us away in an instant.
I hadn’t ever heard tell of an oracle caught with a man, but we’d been threatened enough throughout our childhood to be terrified of the consequences.
And with how much I wanted to see him, I expected unavoidable risk.
Then there was the bit about Thanatos being immortal.
I didn’t know what immortality was like, but I imagined being with me would end up feeling like no time at all in the grand scheme of his existence.
Did that make us more special, or less? And how was I going to deal with aging over the years, slowly unraveling against his perfection?
Of course, I was already getting ahead of myself, and I should cut it out with the hope already.
They were just kisses, after all. Wonderful, perfect kisses that overwhelmed me with aching desire and pleasure.
Oh, no. Damn it all, I was already in this way too deep.
I already cared for him enough that prying us apart would be agony.
Dear gods, was that supposed to happen so quickly? I didn’t know.
But then again…he’d also said such sweet things to me.
“The mortals they love.” That made me shiver with longing, because he wanted me, too.
Loved me? At least, I figured what he said counted as at least half of an ‘I love you.’ Whatever that meant for a god.
In a rare moment of nostalgia, I wished I still had a mother who could tell me what to do and how to think.
I had no answer for any of these things.
All I had was the passion that told me I’d do whatever I had to, despite the risk.
At least I was clear on that much. Embrace the freedom of enduring life.
Try to have some fun before you meet Death for the last time.
This was all I could do. All of these problems would have to wait, and I would deal with them as they came along.
After some time running circles in my own mind, I did eventually manage to fall asleep.
I dreamed of him in shifting images: Thanatos lying in a bed with dark covers, Thanatos kneeling in a ruin, Thanatos standing majestically, wings unfolded, atop a high tower in the rain.
He was so damn beautiful I couldn’t help but see his face, even in sleep.
When I woke, I realized quickly that there was one more issue I’d neglected to consider in the night.
How was I to explain away the complete healing of my face?
I identified this problem immediately, since my sisters were shaking me rather rudely in my bed and gawking at me in awe.
Oh, man. Time to see how good of an actress I could be.
I gave a loud yawn and sat up, blinking sleep out of my eyes. “What’s the matter?” I asked in feigned confusion. “Did I oversleep?”
“Cyrie, your face,” Zoe said in amazement. “We came to check on you, but it’s…it looks healed.”
“What are you talking about?” I mumbled drowsily. I lifted a hand to my cheek. When I felt my perfectly healed flesh, I let my eyes go wide with surprise. “It does feel better. Does it look better? What happened?”
“It doesn’t look better. It looks untouched,” Alex claimed, her voice high in astonishment. “You don’t know how this happened? Nothing at all?”
“I…I don’t know!” I lied. “I mean, you just woke me up! What…in the world is going on?” I rubbed my cheek again, glancing at each of my bewildered sisters in turn. “I don’t feel any pain at all!”
“Oh my gods,” Zoe squealed. “It must be a divine blessing! Could it be Apollo? God of prophecy and medicine? Maybe he was offended by the treatment of his oracle!”
Oh, yeah, that was a good one. Thanks, Zoe; let’s go with that. “I…I mean it must be,” I agreed shakily. “I mean…who else would even care?” Mmmm, kisses and towers and feathers and…
“Wow,” she breathed. “It’s so incredible. Can I touch?” I let her reach out to feel my face, and she ran her hand all over my cheek, poking her fingers into my skin. A little unnecessary, but I supposed I couldn’t blame her. This was unbelievable, after all.
“What do we do?” Sophie wondered. “Do we show this to the elders?”
“Fuck, no,” I shot back hastily. “They couldn’t ever accept it as truth, since I’m sure they would never believe that anything happened in the first place. And even if they did listen, all it would do is grant them more pride, and us more nothing. No, I vote to keep it to ourselves.”
“But what about when Keeper sees it?” she asked. “What then?”
“It will probably frighten him, honestly. I mean, it’s a supernatural reproach of his actions. He’ll probably pretend like nothing happened as well. Besides…is Keeper even around again? He was gone all day yesterday.”
“Well, I heard he got back last night from wherever he was,” Sophie said. “There’s something wrong with him, though, I think,” she added in an excited whisper. “Maybe he’s got some sickness and we’ll not have to deal with him for a while!”
My insides fluttered happily at that news. Thanatos, what did you do?
“Well, that would be nice,” said Zoe. “We’ll have to dig up what happened to him, if only for the satisfaction of knowing about it.
” She shrugged. “I still think it’s a little weird to not tell anyone about this, but I suppose I do see your points.
Keeping it to ourselves could be a good choice. It was meant only for you, after all.”
“I’d say it was meant for us,” I said, shooting a sympathetic glance at Sophie. “This will put Keeper in his place for a while, but I’d really rather we not say anything outside the four of us. I would prefer to not have the whole high wing chatting about my face. Or poking it.” I shuddered.
“That’s true.” The three of them made noises and nods of agreement, and I sighed in relief as we dispersed to prepare for the day.
The hurdle overcome, I washed up and changed clothes with a smile that I found difficult to hide.
I took extra care with my appearance today, securing my white tunic neatly with a tie around my waist and decorative pins to hold the sleeves over my shoulders.
Then, I braided just the top portion of my hair so that it was held elegantly out of my face but still flowed in waves down my back.
With a touch of makeup, I was feeling perfectly ravishing: ready for the temple halls… and the evening.
Our morning began in the prayer grounds, of course, where I was a pure, beaming priestess once again.
As I entered, I took a moment as usual to mellow out and deactivate the part of my mind that loved to swear rebelliously alongside my sisters.
My smile, I figured, could stay, but I would try my best to leave any impure thoughts behind.
The morning passed uneventfully, though I was decidedly unsuccessful in stopping myself from fantasizing.
For our break, the four of us gathered for lunch together in the courtyard.
I was halfway through my bread and fish when something caught my interest in the corner of my eye.
A man was walking toward our table, looking directly at us.
He was a tall fellow, middle-aged, with a slim build and short chestnut hair.
The robes he wore were long, ornate, and tinted green; they looked eerily similar to Keeper’s.
I wondered if this man had been sent in his stead.
I was proven correct when he reached our table and addressed us.
“Afternoon, ladies,” the man said. “I’m afraid ill fate has befallen your previous overseer.
As such, I will be attending to his duties for an uncertain time.
You may call me Andrew.” He looked vaguely familiar—perhaps I had seen him around the temple grounds in the past.
My sisters and I exchanged glances, each of us sizing the man up in our minds.
What would we have to deal with here? This person would have great influence on our general state of wellness.
I knew that they were considering it, too, but I myself could glean little information from Andrew’s stony expression.
“Hello,” I said. “You know who we are, I expect.”
“Yes,” he responded evenly. He had a steady voice, void of emotion. He was hard to read, certainly, but perhaps he wouldn’t turn out to be as vicious as his predecessor.
“I am to direct your activities for the afternoon,” he continued. “However, I have yet to take stock of what is pressing enough to require you. Spend your time as you wish, and I will see you tomorrow.”
We looked at each other in confused surprise. Had we all heard the same thing? It seemed so, as Andrew was already striding away, clearly uninterested in our activity any longer. A free afternoon? This hadn’t happened since…well, I couldn’t even remember the last time.
“Damn,” said Sophie. “I hope whatever happened to Keeper is permanent.”
“But what did happen to him?” I asked excitedly. “I so want to know. Maybe we can use our free time to investigate?” I begged them with my expression and received an affirming nod from Alex.
“Well, where should we start?” she asked. “The high wing? The infirmary?”
“Infirmary first,” Sophie decided. “I mean, he must be in rough condition, so I doubt he’s gone home yet.” We all murmured in agreement.