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I sat up, rolling my lovers’ bodies gently to their sides, and walked to the pool. The moon was there, shining like a reflection, though the sky was only a memory here.

“Hello, my daughter.”

“Hello, Mother.”

RADA

She looked just as she had the first time I saw her here. Dark-haired like me, with features close to mine, but eyes that were ancient and almost painful to look into. She stared at me now, measuring me. Weighing some part of me. My past? My soul?

I tried to wait for her to speak again, but after a while, I sighed. “Ten years. You held to our bargain. I guess it’s time for me to do my part.”

“Your part?” She smiled faintly.

“I did what I wanted. I traveled all over, building my apothecaries. I’ve done as much as I could in ten years.” I laughed humorlessly. “I didn’t know I’d be some immortal thing when the time was up. I guess you’re pleased with the deal you struck.”

Her smile grew. “Very pleased. You did so much with your time, and now you will have the rest of time to do even more.”

I swallowed. “How many children are you thinking? Is there a limit?”

“No. Your children will cover the world, your daughter and sons ruling in the oceans, the skies, all of the known lands and perhaps beyond. You are my greatest dream fulfilled, Rada. My hope to remake all my lines finally realized.”

I wanted to throw up, but I didn’t want her to smite me.

“Smite you?” She burst into laughter, and the sound made me weep with joy. “What good would that do, even if I had a reason to try such a thing, daughter?”

“Ah, yeah. So you’re not into smiting. That’s good to know.” Would have been better to know ten years ago. I might not have shown up for this appointment if I’d realized. I could hide from a god. I’d done it my whole life. Well, too damned late now.

“I could enjoy smiting those who deserve it. But Rada, why would I harm my favorite child? The one whose desires for her life were so exactly aligned with mine that sometimes I wondered if you had stolen into my dreams and plucked my desires from the sky. My perfect little thief.”

“Uh… what?”

“You spent these ten years doing my work. And now, a goddess yourself, you will spend eternity—” I wasn’t sure what else she said, since my ears started ringing, and the floor came up to meet me. All I knew was something soft and golden caught me.

“Daughter?” Something warm and cozy surrounded me. I woke buried in softness that eased every small hurt I’d felt, inside and out. Like I was in the center of the most wonderful nest in the world. I opened my eyes to find the Goddess in the pool had emerged and was holding me.

No. I was now in the pool?

She laughed. “You joined me. Your mates are very displeased. Such strong mates. I have a dragon lover myself.” Her eyes twinkled. “I was never so greedy to try for two.” The air around her shimmered and shook with a distant roar.

“You called me a goddess.”

That mischievous smile reappeared. “You could be, if you choose it.”

“Choose… to be a goddess? What does that mean?” She didn’t answer. “Don’t you expect me to have babies now? Start, uh, remaking the lines for eternity?” I remembered what Mirrim had said—that if She freed me from the one who watches, I would have more children than any Omega could imagine.

“If that is what you choose, daughter.”

Suddenly, the nest felt almost oppressive. “Choose? You mean… I can choose something else?”

Her eyes gleamed with sadness for a moment. “Of course. Though I could not return to this world before to protect them, I did what I could to make it so my daughters would never be forced to choose an unworthy mate. It was not enough. Of course I would allow you to choose.”

“But you said I would have children.”

“Yes, many more than you have now.” An invisible hand stroked my face. “Such beautiful children.”

“I… I have…” Suddenly, faces appeared in her eyes, flickering one after the other. Faces I knew. Children, girls, and women who I’d saved. Ones I’d stirred fertility potions for. Ones I’d stolen out from under their abusive Alphas’ noses, and stashed in my safehouses. The children from Pict were the last to flicker in her eyes.

“You will have more, if you choose to protect my lines. They will have you.” She brushed the hair from my face, like my own mother had done when I was very small.