Birth of a Goddess (Reincarnation of the Morrigan Book 1)

by Renée Jaggér

  This time, the snarl left my throat.

  That got the man’s attention. He whirled on me, and before I knew it, he lunged. I snarled again, the sound reverberating off the walls. I shoved him back, and to both our surprise, he stumbled against the window and brought the rod with the curtain tumbling down. It hit the floor with a clang. The boy cried out, and the woman screamed.

  I turned to the two stunned paramedics. “Hurry, get them out.” Paul’s finger was poised over his cell phone to dial the police. I stared at the abuser, eyes hard and full of fire. “Twitch and I’ll put you out like a light.”

  The man whimpered and scampered away from me to a corner of the room.

  The police arrived in the next few minutes, and I told them what had happened before he was taken away. The policeman shook his head. “It’s gotten worse since the pandemic.”

  I nodded, arms crossed. “Have you been to this building before?”

  His sigh was deep. “Too many times in the last week.”

  My expression hardened. “We need to keep people safe outside the hospitals so the ones who truly need the beds can have them.”

  The policeman nodded.

  “Something needs to be done.” With those words, I left. I wanted to return to the hospital and talk to Simon about it, but I knew his hands were as tied as mine. Just take care of the woman and the boy for now, I told myself.

  The Second Morrigan

  Moon breathed a sigh of relief as her eyes scanned the ink-filled parchment. At last, it was finished. All they had learned in their years as the Morrigan, they had recorded. “For our future,” she murmured. A flame of pride danced within her.

  She placed her elegant hands under both sides of the large leather-bound book and lifted the newly written page toward the light filling the courtyard. Once it was dry, she would close it and hide it.

  “The Book of Morrigan.” She couldn’t believe she’d done it. Of course, Sun and Stars had helped, but it had been Moon, with the Way of Seers about her, who had penned every word.

  “Three sisters, born for wars but not to begin them,” she murmured. What she had not written in their book was how they had been born. Triplets. Sun first, then Moon, then Stars, who had been barely breathing when she’d arrived and had thus developed the personality of a survivor.

  Flaunting humor and charm, holding her armor high, Moon thought as she considered her younger sister. While both her sisters had enraptured the world they walked in, she’d slipped into the background and watched from above and below. She’d made her observations and wrote them in her book. Every king and every kingdom were the same, and despite how large or small, each of them eventually fell.

  We will not fall, she told herself. The three of us stand tall.

  They had been born to a farmer and a weaver, which meant they had been born into poverty. By the age of eight, Stars could set traps and hunt deer in their woods. By the age of ten, a wolf followed her wherever she went. By age eight, Sun was adored by every person in their village. By age ten, fathers and mothers were requesting her for their sons.

  Through that time and all the time after, Moon had sat by, watching, waiting. When it had been time for them to come into their power, she had led them. “Wisdom wins the war,” her mother had once told her. She’d smiled at the words, but sadness welled within her as she remembered her dead mother. Her father, too, was buried beneath the earth. They had left that village behind, and now the riches of the earth were theirs.

  “Wisdom wins the war,” she repeated, and she closed The Book of Morrigan.

  The hidden temple had been erected centuries before but was seldom used since it had been built as a safe haven for the first Morrigan. It had been her last gift to the three after they’d received their powers and the Sundering was complete.

  High in the clouds and shrouded in golden sunlight, the temple was obscured from the view of the humans below but not from the gods.

  Sun had this rueful thought as the wide, glistening double doors swung open on silent hinges. Neit, the god of war, sauntered in, his blood-red cloak flowing behind him. His fiery red hair was wild and untamed. As wild and untamed as his vigor for bloodshed, Sun mused.

  How long it had taken him to find her and this place, she did not know.

  Neit chuckled darkly and surveyed her with a predator's eye. He circled her in her pillared temple, where tapestries woven with gold and teal thread hung. “Hiding, are we?” he asked in a coy tone.

  Sun steeled her expression and folded her arms. The Way of Kings won’t work on him, she realized, her spirits sinking. A power directed at humans would not work on the gods.

  “Playing goddess, are we?” he asked next.

  Sun broke her silence with a dramatic sigh. “The gods have taken quite some time to address us. What are you? The messenger?”

  The term, which indicated he was an inferior, drew the reaction she was looking for. The god of war’s expression turned from amusement to fury.

  Sun emitted a low and cold laugh. He was too easy. This was the god who incited war in men. This was the god who started the wars she ended.

  “At least I don’t pretend to be a god,” he seethed.

  Sun shrugged and brushed a strand of her golden hair off her shoulder. “Some of us just take whatever the hell we want.” She gave him the most dazzling smile she could muster.

  At this, Neit gave a dark laugh and folded his golden-brown arms over his corded chest. “You know,” he drawled, “after all this time, you would think we would have begun working together.”

  Sun’s amusement vanished. “Hard to do when you can’t be found on the battlefield.”

  “Oh? Like you?” He began circling her again, a predator preparing to feast.

  Sun stiffened. She had been to every battlefield. She had fought in every condition. Her body had gained scars only her glamour could hide. Could he see through it?

  “Why are you here?” she asked at last.

  “I thought you’d never ask.” Neit leaned against one of the pillars and fixed her with a smile of utter wickedness. “You and I have been circling one another for a long time. I am no messenger, but when the rest of the gods spoke about telling you to ‘stay the hell out of it,’ I volunteered in a heartbeat.” He stepped forward, his smile sending chills throughout her body. His human form was deadly and gorgeous. She didn’t want to imagine what he looked like in his divine form.

  “You see,” he continued, “we figured out there wasn’t only one of you.”

  At this, Sun smirked. “My sisters and I are quite good at what we do because we do it together. While you gods squabble among yourselves like children, we work.”

  Neit scoffed. “You care about humans.”

  Sun stiffened. We were humans once, and we will be again when the time comes.

  Neit began to stroll about the circular temple, his eyes flicking over the hanging tapestries. “Tell me, goddess, have you or your sisters ever experienced the love and admiration of a man?”

  His words punctured her. Surely, he knew of the Way of Kings. The gods had to observe her for only a moment to realize what kind of power she had as well as its limitations. Sexual or romantic love wasn’t on the top of their to-do list, though Sun knew Stars had allowed herself entanglements with choice humans.

  Neit watched these thoughts pass through Sun’s mind, and knowing she wouldn’t answer him, he smirked once more and waved a dismissive hand. “Keep your secrets to yourselves. We all need secrets once in a while.”

  Dread curled in her stomach, and her lips parted. Instantly, she wanted to kick herself for not containing her surprise. Did he know?

  His laugh was low and dark as he stalked toward her. Without realizing it, Sun stumbled back against a pillar. He braced a hand above her and leaned so close she could feel his breath on her face. “That deep, swirling darkness inside you,” he whispered. “Those shadows that keep growing and growing.” He laughed again. “That darkness even the sun can
not quell.”

  A growl rose in her throat, and she pushed him aside. “Leave,” she demanded in a cold tone.

  “I’ve seen it,” he declared. “You can’t keep it hidden for long.”

  Sun turned away from him, not able to bear his presence any longer. “When you’re ready to give it up, goddess, let us know. We’ll take the darkness from you.”

  She whirled to object, but he had vanished from her temple in the clouds.

  The battle raged around her, and all she could think was, Where the hell are they?

  Stars had begun the battle with both her sisters at her side, but now she fought alone. She lifted her sword and swung again and again. Heads separated from bodies. Limbs flew through the air as she cried out and plunged her weapon into her enemies.

  Anyone who looked at her before her sword wrenched their heart out of their body saw a woman almost six feet tall with flowing crimson hair and eyes like the deepest night. They would have seen her wolf at her heels.

  “Straight on, Morgo.” The wolf snarled and lunged as the city continued to rage.

  The high stone wall surrounding it crumbled as her army tore it apart and entered with a flood of wild cries. Those she led were hungry for blood. The stone streets were sprayed with it, and columns of smoke drifted from the thatched houses and tent-brothels. Soon enough, there would be nothing.

  The king had been marched away, both of his eyes plucked out by crows. All that was left was the city. Captivity, Stars thought. They were sending these people into captivity. Anyone who survived would serve another kingdom. But all kingdoms fall, Stars told herself.

  Ahead, the columns of smoke grew heavier. “Sun,” Stars gasped. Her sister liked lighting fires, and although Stars preferred the rush and flavor of combat, she also liked being able to track her older sister by the smoke she summoned.

  Moon, where are you?

  They had been together at dawn when the siege had broken, but Stars now lunged through the streets with their soldiers on her own. Morgo, at least, had stayed by her side. The huge black wolf slashed its ice-blue eyes across the marketplace, and his growls mixed with the screams and cries of the fleeing people.

  Stars spat blood on the street and produced a menacing smile. Run if you can, she wanted to taunt. Her mercy for these people had grown quite thin. Days ago, she had entered the city in another form—a crow, of course—and seen what they were doing.

  Altars had been built almost to the height of the city’s walls. Fires smoldered throughout the day. She’d heard the screams of children being dragged to those stacks of wood, their mothers and fathers crying aloud to their gods and slashing their skin with crooked blades. Children sacrificed to the gods.

  Fury had risen within Stars, and she hadn’t been sure if she wanted to kill a king or a god first. Kill them all, she thought. Any children that can be saved, leave them, she had instructed the army. Too bad the neighboring kingdom didn’t care about the children. They just wanted to conquer, and since the Way of Conquerors was part of Stars, it was her duty to lead them. Moon could later incite wisdom, and Sun could convince them to change their attitude toward the captive children.

  Stars stopped in the street, panting. Though her strength was greater than that of men, she had been doing this since dawn, and it was almost dusk. The sky blazed red on the horizon as if it was also dressed for battle. Soon, the moon would appear, and the dancing stars with it.

  Although the day had been invigorating, Stars was done. Ready for a hot bath and a hot supper, she thought. Tomorrow, Moon would set to work, and Stars would take a well-earned break.

  She was just beginning to think about what she wanted to eat when alarm rose within her. Fresh fear gripped her and turned her attention to the northern end of the city. The columns of smoke had become thicker. Stars could see red flames licking at the homes, shops, and marketplaces that comprised the city’s center.

  No. Sun would never let it get that far. The entire city, damned as it was, had gone up in flames.

  “Sacrificing children?” Sun had exclaimed in fury and indignation days before when Stars had returned with the report. She had seemed ready to burst, ready to melt the entire earth. Stars had nodded, her expression grave. “I’ll burn their city. I’ll burn the city down,” her sister had promised.

  Moon had laid a steadying hand on her shoulder. “Remember your true purpose. End the war.”

  “I will end it,” Sun had snapped.

  Moon had drawn back, startled.

  She’s losing it, Stars had thought but brushed it off the next second. As she stood within the blood-bathed city, it was no longer just a thought; it was the truth. Her power was consuming her. The Madness of the Morrigan was no mere fable.

  Her legs carried her through the winding streets of the city. She paid little mind to the screams still rising, the whimpers, and the wails. Crimson flashed past her. Morgo bounded beside her. In a short time, they reached the central marketplace where carts and booths had been overturned and bones crushed on the pavement. Stars paid these details little mind since the smoke was heavier here, the flames close and hot. She coughed as her lungs began to fill.

  Where are you? she pleaded, frustration rising. Sun, as bright as she was, could hide when she wanted to. She followed the fire and saw her sister standing atop the broken fortress where they had found the king earlier in the day.

  Her arms were extended, fingers curled like claws. Her long crow-feather cloak billowed behind her. Stars halted, and so did the wolf at her side. Then she heard a sound that sent a chill down her body. Morgo whimpered. Her wolf made a sound of fear.

  At my sister, she realized. Sun’s eyes flashed with fury. A smile more wicked than any Stars had ever seen lifted her sister’s lips. Tendrils of smoke curled around her fingers. They were coming from within her, she realized.

  No. She wanted to scream it, but she could not move. Panic welled within her. Her heart thundered in her chest. No, she wanted to plead. Don’t do this, not to me. She had always known her sister could bend her to her will if she wanted to, but this felt like a trap. It felt wrong.

  Dreadfully wrong, she thought.

  Stars wanted to throw up. She would heave the universe onto this city if it would stop her sister.

  Then, as if a bolt of lightning had struck her, Sun dropped her focus on the city and looked at her younger sister and the shuddering wolf. Something like fear entered her eyes, and her arms collapsed at her sides. Stars felt her sister’s hold on her weaken, and she rushed forward.

  Sun sank down, her knees crashing to the stone. She winced, teeth clenched. Stars reached her and pulled her into her arms. “It’s over, Sun. It’s over. Just be.” She wanted to cry. She wanted, for once, not to appear strong. Nevertheless, she blinked burning tears from her eyes and clutched her sister closer.

  We can’t do this together anymore, she decided. After today, we’re done.

  “What in the gods’ names were you thinking?” Moon wanted to ask, but she kept her panic hidden and revealed only concern. When Stars had brought their older sister into the Seer’s Tower, Moon had just hidden The Book of the Morrigan. The battle had raged far across a scarlet sea and war-torn lands where shepherds and farmers had once prospered.

  Moon had remained behind, planning to come after the captives had been taken. They had a more pressing matter to attend to now. My own sister, she thought. Stars guided Sun into the uppermost room of the tower, where Moon had dozens of candles lit. Depictions of the heavenly bodies were carved into the marble pillars and stone walls surrounding them.

  Stars gave Moon a long, harried look. She had never felt so defeated after a victory. “Her darkness is growing,” was all her short message, sent via a crow, had read. Moon had felt cold while reading it, dread curling in her stomach. The feeling had not left, only intensified.

  Moon looked at Stars’ steely expression and filth-ridden body. She hadn’t taken the time to bathe, let alone heal. She looked at Sun next, and
her heart sank. She slipped to her knees before her sister and took Sun’s cold hands in her warm ones. Sun’s complexion was ashen, and dark circles marred her eyes. Scratches and bruises and scars a-plenty marked her.

  “What happened?” Moon asked, turning to Stars, who was pacing the circular tower room. Stars’ arms were folded across her chest, and she strode about as if she could out-walk her thundering heart.

  Stars halted, swallowed, and spoke in a bereaved tone. “She almost burned down the city.”

  Moon’s brows furrowed, and she asked Sun in a gentle voice, “What happened?”

  Sun shuddered, glanced at Stars, and looked quickly away. “What she says is true.”

  Moon’s lips quivered. “How?”

  Sun’s voice quaked. “I-I couldn’t hold onto it. It slipped.”

  “What slipped?” Moon prodded, but she knew the answer.

  “M-my power.”

  “She won’t tell me why.” Stars began pacing once more.

  Moon tried. “Why did it slip, Sun?”

  The oldest sister was silent for a long time. She stared at the black-tiled floor, which glimmered without mercy in the candlelight. The floor was so polished she could see her haggard reflection in it. She wanted to destroy the floor. She wanted not to see herself right now. Disgust became a knot deep in her stomach.

  At last, she confessed in a voice that carried no emotion, “I was visited.”

  Moon gasped. Stars' eyes widened, and she ceased her pacing. “Visited by who?” Moon asked, but she knew what the answer to the question was.

  “Neit, the god of war,” Sun answered, her tone threaded with bitterness.

  Moon looked at Stars, who swallowed hard and approached her older sisters. “What did he say?”

  Both sisters allowed Sun time as she searched for the memory and the words. “It was three days ago, just before we launched into the final stages of the siege. I had gone to the Temple to be alone, but he found me.” She revealed what had transpired between her and the dazzling god of war. She told them how he had discovered her secret.