“I’m the God of Money as much as you are the God of Witty Jokes,” Tyche snarked. He slapped a stolen granola bar in a wrapper into the palm of Shey’s hand and then reluctantly gave one to Adrian and Haru as they continued to walk through the woods, putting more distance between themselves and the dead. “If we’re going to do introductions, you could at least begin with the two people who saved our asses.”
Okay, maybe there was something to like about the wiry man with the messy auburn hair.
“I’m Adrian Westergren, royal guard for the Talos family,” Adrian introduced.
Tyche looked at him anew; his green eyes widened. “Erya. That’s a long distance to travel for that one?” He hitched his thumb over his shoulder at Shey.
“Shey’s an old friend. Plus, his mom asked for our help,” Adrian teased, causing Tyche to snort-laugh.
“I am Omari Haru of Clan Omari from the Isle of Stone. My grandfather is Omari Nori, head of Clan Omari,” Haru stated in a proud, firm voice.
Tyche flashed him a small, tense smile and even offered a slight bow of his head in respect, but he didn’t say a damn word to the dragon. Adrian needed to question Haru later about this old bad blood between dragons and gods, because just being in Haru’s presence had the god freaking out. Scared gods seemed like a terrible thing.
Seconds ticked by, but Tyche said nothing until Shey tapped him on the shoulder. “And?”
Tyche groaned and tossed a disgruntled glare at Shey. “I don’t want to say. You’re going to be disappointed, or you’re going to blow it out of proportion and then be disappointed.Also, I’ve never told anyone before. It’s weird trying to find the right words.”
“But Yesuntei knew, right?” Shey murmured, and Tyche nodded. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.
“Yesuntei?” Adrian murmured.
“A goddess, I believe. They captured her and held her in the same cellblock as us. She died from wounds inflicted during an interrogation session,” Shey explained in a low voice. “She was a friend of Tyche’s.”
“That was the woman we found in the cell opposite where you were kept,” Haru said, his tone low and respectful.
Both Tyche and Shey swung around to stare at them. “You went to the facility?” Shey demanded.
“It looks like we missed you by less than an hour. We saw glimpses of your escape through recovered security video, but we couldn’t come find you until you finished with your storm tantrum.” Adrian reached over and poked Shey in the shoulder.
Tyche snatched a leaf off a tree branch as he walked by it and shredded it, turning the tips of his fingers green. “Yesuntei was a goddess, and she deserved better than she got. She never intentionally hurt anyone. She was helpful in more ways than people gave her credit for, and she was always kind. Kept to herself.”
“You see, that’s what I don’t get.You’re gods.” Adrian held out his hands toward Tyche as if they held all the powers of the world. “You’ve got all this magic. How could they have captured you in the first place? And if they did catch you, how could they hold you?”
The look Tyche shot Adrian was nasty, and Adrian thought about moving to hide behind Haru. He’d hit a very sore spot for the god, and he was about to pay the price.
“See! This is why I don’t want to tell you. When you think of gods and goddesses, you think of big, flashy magic. Kaes with his giant, city-swallowing storms. Caris with great conflagrations that devour entire forests. Tula wiping out all life. Nyx can manipulateall of time, for fuck’s sake. Time!” Tyche stomped into the center of a meadow where a bright circle of sunlight bathed the green field. The minor god plopped down in the middle of it and tipped his face up, seeming to soak it in as if being in the sun was enough to wash away his rage.
They approached him and sat in the soft grass along the edge of the sunlight. A couple of minutes ticked by before he resumed speaking in a more normal tone.
“When your world is ending, you cry to Tula to save your children’s lives. You pray to Kaes to send rain to nourish your dying crops. But on a day-to-day basis, you all murmur a hundred little pleas to us lesser gods. The minor, forgotten gods. Please make my art not suck. That’s Bo. Please, help me get revenge on my cheating ex. That’s Xiar. Please, no more nightmares. I want only sweet dreams.”
“Yesuntei.” The name was a haunted whisper tripping from Shey’s lips. Adrian’s eyes widened, and his gaze snapped from Tyche to Shey. Had they really looked down on the Goddess of Dreams?
“And Cirina,” Tyche corrected in a murmur. “They are twins. A paired set. Cirina is the Goddess of Dreams. Yesuntei is—was the Goddess of Nightmares.”
Shey shook his head. “But she was so sweet. So gentle. I can’t believe that she’d?—”
“Be the source of something that is so frightening. Because nightmares hold some of our greatest and most powerful truths. These are the things that we run from, failings we struggle to face in ourselves. But if you’re strong and smart enough to face those things presented in your nightmares, think of howmuch stronger you can become.” Tyche paused and shuddered. “Dreams—and by extension Teitei’s sister, Cirina—are far more frightening. There’s no truth to be found in dreams. Only fantasies and lies that allow us to escape from painful reality. If you could live in the most wonderful dream, would you ever choose to leave?”
They fell silent, but that didn’t mean a thousand questions weren’t buzzing through Adrian’s head. If the Goddess of Nightmares was dead in an illegal prison facility, where the fuck was the Goddess of Dreams? Should they all be shitting their pants and praying to the God of Family Harmony that the two sisters didn’t like each other because no one wanted another angry goddess on a rampage? They’d survived that with Zyros, and the world was still recovering.
“Yes.” Tyche sighed, his thin shoulders slumped under his filthy shirt. “Please, Tyche, give me good luck so I land this new job. Give me good luck so that I win the lottery. Give me good luck so this cute guy likes me.”
“Wow, I…Wow!” Shey exclaimed, staring at Tyche with his mouth hanging open. “That explains so much. You gave me good luck as we escaped. My aim was never that perfect. There were times we just missed being caught, and I’d think, damn that was lucky.”
“Okay, that is pretty cool,” Adrian agreed. “I could go for infinite good luck.”
That earned him another dark and threatening look from the God of Luck. Really. He needed to keep his mouth shut, or he was going to end up with a lifetime of very bad luck.
