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Taking my hand, he says, “Come on… let’s walk.”
The need to pull from his grasp is as strong as the desire to step in closer, but I fall into step beside him. He doesn’t say a word, content to be in the silence with nothing but the sound of the waves and a distant seagull crying.
“Amell’s punishment has been lifted,” I say, and his head whips to the side. I see surprise and delight as well as questions. “I went to the Council and made the request.”
“How hard did they make it on you? Gods give nothing for free.”
“They unanimously denied me but I kept talking. I reminded them that he’s not only kept the Underworld in a state of peace, and thus kept other dimensions safe, but he also helped in the battle against Kymaris.”
It’s true. While Amell’s loyalties were with his dark queen, he also cared for me a great deal. In the end, he told me where the ritual was going to take place so that we could stop it, and for that reason alone his punishment should have been lifted.
“And they eventually gave in?” Maddox asks.
“No. They actually kept denying me. When I asked why, I got no real answers. I was starting to feel like there’s a subplot I was being kept out of.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me. As much as they try to present a united front, they also work very independently of one another and each have their own machinations.”
“Yeah… that’s starting to become clear.”
I recount to him the troubling meeting that I have a feeling has sealed my fate as a god.
Circe took the forefront of godsplaining to me. “Amell was given strict orders not to interfere in the conflict in Vyronas. He was playing with fire the minute he decided to answer his daughter’s summons. Teaching her shadow magic was enough to land him in hot water, but killing Ferelith’s demons took it too far and that cannot go unpunished.”
I was so frustrated. “What does it matter? Thalia defeated the sorceress and freed her people.”
“True,” Circe replied with a coy smile. “But she would have done that even if the demons had slaughtered her rescuers.”
Thalia’s husband and his forces had stormed the castle where Ferelith held the princess hostage. They were confronted by a small army of demons Ferelith had summoned with blood magic and they outnumbered the mortals three to one. There was no way they’d win.
But Amell appeared and in one powerful sweep of magic disintegrated the conjured beasts, saving Thalia’s future husband and many others.
And then it dawned on me. “You wanted Bastien Dunne to die.”
Circe smiled at me while the other gods watched with impassive faces.
“But why? What did it serve?” A dozen thoughts ran through my mind, but I was betting she wanted Thalia to marry someone else for some reason. I got no response, and it pissed me off. “So you can just twist fate and meddle in people’s lives and you don’t need our agreement?”
“Of course she said yes,” Maddox says with a mirthless laugh. “Because that’s what gods do.”
“It’s when I realized not everything needs a unanimous decision. I also realized there are no set rules, so I made my own. I told them I was lifting Amell’s banishment myself and that anyone who interfered would incur my wrath.”
Maddox is so stunned by this display of courage in the face of uncertainty, he stops and pulls his hand free.
Turning to me, his face lined with worry, he asks hesitantly, “And what did they say?”
“They said nothing. Not even Circe, who merely inclined her head at me in acknowledgment.”
Maddox’s expression deepens with concern. “She might retaliate.”
“I know.” I figured it a possibility before I made the decision regarding Amell. “But I can’t live in fear of that.”
Maddox nods as he scrubs a hand along his jaw. I can see his mind whirling with all the ways I might be in danger but he hasn’t figured out yet that I don’t give a damn about what they will do to me.
If any of the gods want to come after me because I’m not falling into line, they’re going to hurt me through others.
Veda knows I have feelings for Maddox and he’s the one who’s in danger. They won’t go after Finley because they’re in her debt for the sacrifices she made to stop Kymaris from destroying this realm.
I’m confident it will be Maddox and if Veda knows how I feel about him, the others do too.
