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“It was going to be a nice request, but then you struck first.”
I open my mouth to further press the argument, but the ground trembles beneath my feet. Octavia meets my gaze and blanches. She must sense it too.
My husband is coming.
My husband is coming, and I don’t know who he’s going to be madder at—me, or his mother. I didn’t set out to upset him. Okay, maybe that’s alittlebit of a lie. But I’m pregnant, not some liability to be locked away until the threat has passed.
The ground shakes again, and Octavia looks at me, a flash of fear in her eyes. She is the Goddess Supreme and can create life on a whim, but my husband can bring destruction and ruin. It’s why he’s always kept a tether on his power. He knows it could be catastrophic, but causing destruction is not who he is as a god.
“I want you to bring back my son. If you want any hope of defeating Posey, you’re going to need his help. You’re going to needmyhelp. Don’t say no out of spite. I can be your ally or your enemy. The choice is yours.”
Then she’s gone, leaving me to wonder just how much truth there is to her claims. My calm façade cracks, and I bury my head in my hands, choking back a sob. That’s how Essos finds me, his anger crackling in the air around him.
I lift my watery gaze to him, and after he thoroughly surveys the cavern around me for a threat, he advances on me, features softening.
“Daphne, what is it?”
The anger I expected to find isn’t there, just concern. I’m sure once we’re past the initial confirmation that I’m fine, his ire will find its way to me, but right now, my whole body is trembling.
Essos gathers me into his arms and smooths my hair until I settle down. Just having him in my breathing space calms me enough to meet his eye.
“It was your mother,” I tell him with a gasp.
Essos nods. “I know.” I stiffen in his arms and pull back to really look at him. “Her perfume. It’s always been cloying. It’s part of why I hate roses. Are you hurt?”
I shake my head, finding my strength again. “I did this.” I gesture around us at the cracks and rocks.
There’s a hint of pride in the smile Essos gives me. “What did she want?”
“Something that isnevergoing to happen.”
Essos tucks me into his side and teleports us home.
* * *
Essos getsme nestled into bed, and I feel a little like a child, but I haven’t stopped shaking. He tugs the comforter up to my chest and summons a mug of hot chocolate for me. Waffles, my cat from when I was a mortal, decides to get in on the action and curls up in my lap.
“I would appreciate an explanation,” Essos demands softly, tension stiffening his shoulders even as he sits on my side of our bed, one thumb idly rubbing my arm.
“Miranda told me that Celestina might still be alive. But I don’t think there ever was a Miranda. I think she was always your mother.”
He nods like this makes sense. “And who is Celestina?” It’s a valid question, but it makes me sink into my pillows, weighed down by all the things we haven’t been able to share.
“She’s a reporter for theSolarem Sunthat I leaked information to about how Galen was handling the Trials.”
“We hate theSolarem Sun, so I’m a touch confusedwhyyou would do that.” There is a curtness to his voice that I don’t love, and I turn in on myself. When he sees my reaction, he shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be short, but my wife and child were in dangeragainright after I almost lost you both. You’re avoiding explaining what happened because you know I’m angry about you leaving the house after we discussed you staying here.”
This jolts a different sort of response from me, and I nearly shove him off the bed. “Wedid not discuss it.Youdecided that I was going to be your pliant little queen and incubate our child while you went out and did the man’s work of defeating the woman who has been gunning for us for a truly embarrassing amount of time. You know exactly who you married, and I’m not going to change.”
It’s a far cry from the stark realization I came to earlier, that if Octavia wanted to, she could have killed our child before they breathed. If I want to ensure that this baby has a future, then I have to fight for it myself.
“What did my mother want?” Essos demands through clenched teeth, ignoring the issue at hand.
“She wants us to bring Galen back. Claims that she and Galen will both help us if we do.” The fight winks out of me when I give voice to the idea that it’s even something we could do. Finn has taken care to hide the god-killing dagger after being the one to pull it from Galen’s body. Without it, Octavia can’t bring back her favorite child. It was always a possibility that we would need Galen; that’s why the dagger containing his soul was placed somewhere safe, so we had him on ice. I just never expected the time would come so soon.
“No,” Essos says. “This is not up for negotiation.”
“He was your brother,” I point out. I don’t know why I say it. Guilt, I think, for having been the one to come between the siblings. I didn’t do anything wrong, didn’t instigate Galen’s infatuation, but he was fixated on me all the same.
