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“Go get your homework done before I bring her back in here,” I warned and watched my teenage son running away after his mother. Santiago was still young, and he was a mama’s boy through and through. As much as he claimed to be grossed out by parental love, he loved to see Nat happy and he knew I did my best to ensure she always had a smile on her face, so he put up with my love-sick puppy shenanigans.
I locked my computer and looked up at the ceiling of the room. I guess I couldn’t put off talking to Bastet much longer.
Somehow, talking to my siblings hadn’t been as uncomfortable. Maybe it was because while my decisions had made my sibling hide from me, they hadn’t cost them the type of pain and trauma it had caused Bastet. I knew, deep down, that Nat was right. Nochethuatl’s obsession with Bastet and his actions weren’t my fault, but I had been the one to bring her into his orbit. I was the one who had him watching her so we wouldn’t lose her while I figured out who she was and if she deserved my revenge.
I knocked on her door and waited. If there was something I was learning from Violet, it was that respecting people’s boundaries after a trauma was key to how they reacted to you, and how they were able to deal with their healing. Violet had just recently graced me with one of her hugs. They were tentative now, a shadow of the warmth they used to provide, but it was a giant step for her. The trust she had placed in me with that small act spoke more of love and trust than anything else she’d ever done, and I cherished it more than she would ever know.
Bastet opened the door and I waited until she was seated on the couch before I walked in and sat on the loveseat. She was a beautiful woman and her power radiated love and grace. It wasn’t hard to see why someone like Nochehuatl had wanted to remain in her orbit.
On the outside, there wasn’t a single scar marring her skin, but appearances were deceiving. As the goddess of love and beauty, her magic didn’t allow for scars to remain. The emotional scars, however, would. I had no doubt, with the kind of depravity we witnessed at his club, that Bastet had been through hell at his hands.
“Nat said you wanted to speak with me?” I prodded after a few moments where no one spoke.
Bastet nodded, her eyes glued to the show on TV.
“I’m just waiting for a commercial.” I smiled and waited for her, watching whatever she had on TV. When the commercial came on, she muted the TV and turned to me.
“You know you can pause and record whatever you want to watch right?”
“What? How?” she asked, her eyes widening. I showed her how to work the DVR and twenty minutes later, she had fifteen shows scheduled to record.
“Just remember, you need to delete episodes as you watch them. If that percentage on the corner gets to one hundred, it means the memory is full and won’t record anything until you’ve made more room.” I pointed at the screen.
“I’d been wondering how people ever left their house with all of that to watch,” she mentioned, making me chuckle. We lapsed into silence again for a bit before she spoke again. “I don’t blame you, you know?”
I swallowed hard at her words before I could answer. “I know.”
“You’re still blaming yourself regardless, aren’t you?” she asked, and I nodded, looking away.
“He was my warrior. I should have seen some sign of who he really was underneath.”
“I wanted to know, do I have to stay here?” she asked and I looked back at her, seeing her nerves reflected on her features. She thought I would keep her here against her will? My stomach sank to the ground.
“No. No, Bastet. You’re not my prisoner. If you don’t want to stay, you can leave. I can give you money and anything you need to start over somewhere. I would just ask that you keep in touch. Tezcatlipoca is still hunting deities for their energy. We have the third shard now, but he may have other ways of draining your energy to help him push into the corporeal world.”
“You misunderstand me, Helios. I don’t want to leave your pack. I feel safe here... mostly. And I would like to help however I can to destroy Tezcatlipoca.”
“Oh...then—” I was confused.
“I was wondering if I could get a place where it was only me. There’s too much noise here. Too many walls everywhere,” she shuddered, looking around as if expecting Nochehuatl to step out of the shadows.
“I can accommodate you with whatever you need. Do you know where you want to go?”
“There’s a clearing in the woods. Enough for a small hut. I was hoping we could build a small house there, and I could live out there. I was in a room for so long, I want to be near nature, at least for a little while.” She bit her lip. “But I want to watch TV,” she finished, her cheeks tinting pink. I laughed, out of all the modern amenities she was discovering, Bastet was becoming addicted to cable TV.
“I can make both of those happen. Will you be okay to remain here for a little bit longer while we build?” When she nodded, I stood. “I’ll have Theo and Sebastian come talk to you about what you want the cabin to look like. You can show me tonight where you want to build.”
“Thank you, Helios.”
"Thank you for your trust,” I said before I exited her room.
I walked downstairs, feeling a little bit better about Bastet when I heard a crash and expletives coming from the first floor. I found Gonzalo with his youngest two, Kaia and Ellie, with my middle one, Damien, on their knees on the floor, trying to pick up Halloween decorations while Kassie stood to the side, Leonardo on her hip, and a hand on her mouth to try to stop herself from laughing.
“What happened?” I asked, walking over to help.
“Dad wanted to beat Ellie to the door and tripped on the stairs,” Kaia giggled.
I looked over at Gonzalo, who was shooting a glare at his daughter while a deep blush rose to his face.
