Chapter 30 #2
“Ah. You haven’t had any time to process that.
I understand. But yes, nightmare. A goddess.
You’ve been given an incredible gift, and a life that will be forever changed.
There is nothing we can do to stop it now.
But I do think the more sacrifices you can take, the better for you.
Between the two of us, we have some possibility at stopping Ajax. ”
She turned away from him, her shoulders rounding in even more. “A goddess, Elric. I didn’t want to be this. I wanted my birthright, not a legion of people to worship me. What does this even mean for my future now?”
It wasn’t one on the throne. That much, he was certain.
No kingdom should ever be ruled by a goddess. It wouldn’t end well if one ruler had more power in her pinky than any other queen in the entire realm.
For him, this was an easy trade. To go from queen to goddess was the ultimate jump in positioning, but he knew she didn’t agree. She had wanted to be queen. As her mother had been, and her mother before her. Centuries of women had come before her, each one of them a queen.
“Jessamine.” He didn’t know how to help her, how to support her through this, while knowing that they could change nothing.
“Focus on the now. There will be time to fear the future, but right now, we need to know what your magic is limited by. And we need to know where you are storing your energy so that you can gather it at any point in time.”
“How do I do that?” she asked, although the words were watery.
“Mine is a pool of water that I can summon. You have seen it. I conjured that because it is where I feel safest. I used to swim often, and that has always eased my anxiety. How will you wish to get your magic?”
She swallowed hard and then turned toward him. Finally. Her arms were still wrapped around her body, but she wasn’t so far gone that she couldn’t focus.
“How do I decide?” she asked.
“A memory. One that is strong, and that always soothes you. It can even be small, but it must be a memory that calms you.”
She seemed to think for a moment before speaking.
“When I was little, my favorite moments were returning home to my mother. She would greet me in her garden every day, and we would pull a cup of water from the well that was there. It was the freshest water I’ve ever tasted.
I remember coming home thirsty almost every day because the water anywhere else never held a candle to the water there. ”
Just like that, a well was conjured between them. Stones made up the small circle, and warm wood created a roof above it, with a small bucket on a rod in the center.
She walked up to it as though in a dream. Jessamine reached for the crank on the side and sent the bucket down. It took some time to reach the water, likely because Jessamine didn’t have stores to draw from. At least, not yet.
He could almost feel the rippling energy there. It was strong, even though the sacrifice had not been that much. As she drew it up, the bucket brimmed with crystal-clear water.
Jessamine cupped it in her hands and drank. Every golden fissure along her body flared bright and strong the moment the magic touched her tongue. But then she looked at him and said, “We’re a dual god and goddess, Elric. Drink your fill.”
That wasn’t how it worked. Was it? He’d always been a god who managed his own abilities, but he would try.
Cupping the cool water in his hands felt like blasphemy. Touching another god’s magic should have made his skin crawl. Instead, his reflection looked back at him in the shimmering pool cupped in his hands, and he drank as she’d said.
The magic soothed his throat when he hadn’t even realized it was raw and ragged. It flowed through his veins, and he knew something had changed inside of him as well.
“Come,” he said, his tone eager as he reached out a wet hand for her to take. “We go to the living realm.”
Just like that, they both opened their eyes. Elric looked down at his hand on her shoulder, his fingers now dripping as though even here the water had followed them.
“The chicken,” he said. “Bring us the chicken.”
“The dead one?” Sybil asked.
But she didn’t ask any more questions when he glared at her. Instead, she rushed to get the carcass and handed it to him.
“I have always been a deathless god,” he muttered, staring down at the dead husk in his hands.
“But I have no control over death itself. I can guide people into the land of the dead. I can force a soul to remain, but only with a deal. I have never been able to deny death after it happens, and certainly not with an innocent soul.”
But even as he said the words, the chicken’s wounds were healing. He’d never been able to heal mortal wounds. Not once. But here they were, knitting before his eyes, and suddenly, the beast blinked its eyes open.
“Truly a death god now,” Jessamine whispered, and then she placed her hand over his on the chicken.
He could feel her magic traveling through the gaps between his fingers. The aged chicken then became young again. Its feathers smoothed, grew stronger and more vibrant. Within moments, it struggled in his grip and he was forced to release it into the kitchen.
The sound of its squawking was the only thing he could hear for a few moments before he suddenly burst into laughter. The two women stared at him like he had lost his mind, and maybe he had. But…
“Life and death,” he finally croaked through the tears of mirth. “Ajax has no idea how terrifying he made us.”