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Too overcome with shock, I felt like I’d just been thrown into an icy lake. It wasn’t until her hand came up and cradled the back of my head in a manner so tender that my shock began to thaw.
We stayed like that for long moments. My emotion swelled, but I swallowed it back as it shifted into wounded anger.
“Where have you been?”
The female drew in a shuddering breath as she finally drew back from me. Her face puffy and red.
“Mareina… It’s not what you think.”
I shook my head in disbelief as my eyes hungrily took in the sight of my mother. The first I’d ever seen of this female.
Malekai’s large palm settled on the small of my back. The action helped to steady me as a portion of my anger dissipated from nothing more than his touch.
“Your father and I?—
A loudcrashsounded from outside as a tremor shook through the floor. Malekai and I whirled just as the flimsy wooden door burst open, splintering against the white stucco wall of the house. A male at least as broad and as tall as Malekai’s six foot eight inches filled the doorway. Four black wings, identical to my own, folded tightly against his back as he took a hesitant step closer.
I’d never seen a depiction that revealed the face of the God of Death before, but I certainly hadn’t imagined it to be this. His black robe nowhere to be seen. Dark wisps of magic curled off of his body as though restless. His formidable shoulders and chest filled a dark tunic. Long, thickly muscled legs dressed adorned by a matching pair of linen trousers.
Chiselled features slackened, and the dark olive-tan skin of his face paled with a shock that mirrored my own. Slightly upturned, hazel eyes widened at the sight of me. Cupid's bow lips parted. His black hair, cut short on the sides and longer on top, was wind-whipped.
My mother’s voice was a tremulous whisper.
“Your father and I didn’t have a choice. Giving you away was the hardest thing we’ve ever done.”
Mors closed the distance between us in a single stride and crushed me to his chest so fiercely it all but knocked the wind out of me.
“I knew you would come.”
The sound of his voice sent me reeling.Thiswas the voice that had filled my dreams. All this time…All this time…
The words from the dream echoed in my mind.
“Forget not that you are both death and eternity given form. You are never alone. Seek me, The Guardian of Life, to find your home.”
My voice came out a croaking whisper. Malekai watched us with nothing short of awe illuminating his face. For the first time in many, many years, I saw tears swelling in his eyes.
“It was you…”
“Of course it was. Who else?”
All these years, the Pharalaki weren’t stalking me… They were watching me.
“But in the dream, it called you the Guardian of Life…”
“I am the Guardian of Life… Eternal life…”
I shook my head in shock.
“I apologize for being enigmatic... We couldn’t risk my sister, Keres, finding you… We are bound to this realm. When your mother,Soteira,became pregnant - something that we didn’t even think was possible - we tried to find a way... A solution... Nor did we want you to be bound to this realm.”
Keres… The Goddess of Violence.
Unease twisted in my gut… A deity I had, thankfully, only ever read about. She was depicted as being vicious and merciless, tearing a warpath through her every step.
Soteira curled her arms around one of Mors’ large arms as she continued where he'd left off.
“We summoned Moirai, and she told us as best she could what would occur in both fates… If you stayed here with us, and if you went to Bellorum or one of the othermedí kosmoi…”
