Jasper shook his head and buried his face in his hands. “I just want to live through this damn war and go home then we’re changing our names and disappearing.”
Selena’s throat burned with the familiar pain of sorrow and she put a hand on the demigod’s back and rested her head against his broad shoulder. “Don’t lose faith in us, Jasper. You and Cameron may not like each other, but you have to admit: if there’s a god out there who can accomplish the impossible, it’s him.”
Jasper snorted and through his fingers answered, “Not quite, Selena. He does it because of you. If you’d known him before…”
“Totally true,” Cameron agreed. “See? We don’t always have to fight.”
“God, I wish that could last,” Anita murmured.
“Which god?” Selena joked. “Hopefully not the one in the room with us because we both know he won’t be answering that prayer.”
“Nope,” Cameron answered. “Even I can’t literally accomplish the impossible.”
“I’m going back to my room,” Jasper mumbled.
“Hold up,” Cameron said. “We need answers about Ukko and you might want to hear this, too.”
Jasper blinked at him then blinked at Anita. Selena glanced sheepishly at the woman whose cheeks had darkened to a bright cerise and tried to explain what kind of answers they were seeking a little more tactfully than her boyfriend. “Things aren’t adding up and we know Badb will just lie to us. We need to know more about Ukko, not the New Pantheon or his role in it, but the god himself. I know it’s painful, but… who else could we ask?”
“Why do you need to know about him?” Jasper interrupted, clearly wanting to defend the woman who had been helping him through his own heartache and fears.
“It’s ok,” Anita breathed. “Although I’m not sure what I can tell you that would be useful. I’ve spent the past three decades convinced he’d lied to me throughout our relationship. I don’t know what to believe myself.”
“We just need to know about the guy,” Selena insisted. “He’s chasing me all over the planet for three years trying to force me to work for him but then dropping hints about Ninurta’s invasion, and that was before he knew you were with us. Why would he protect the gods here like that? Or did he just have some feud with Ninurta?”
Anita sighed and fell back against the headboard. “If he had any sort of feud with Ninurta, it’s fairly recent because I rarely heard him even talk about that god. Ukko wasn’t even interested in getting Ninurta on board with the New Pantheon because he thought Ninurta was too unpredictable. I always thought that was code for ‘He could challenge my role at the head of the agency,’ but maybe Ukko really meant Ninurta was a bit unstable.”
“But why warn us then?” Cameron asked. “You don’t think he actually cares what happens to the gods here, do you? He fought against them in the last war.”
Anita lifted a shoulder at him. “He did because he wanted to be on the winning side, not because he harbored any particular resentments toward the Tuatha Dé. If he hated the Irish, we wouldn’t have…” Anita examined her fingernails for a few seconds then cleared her throat. “You all know me well enough now that if Ukko always came across as the asshole who hunts down gods and demigods and forces them to work for him, I wouldn’t have dated him in the first place. After I left the New Pantheon, I told myself those years together were simply an illusion, an act, not the real god. Ukko is not evil. But there was something in it for him by tipping off the Tuatha Dé. We just don’t know what.”
Selena sat on the foot of the bed again and drummed her fingers against one of the posters. “You’ve told us before he isn’t evil, but he has gods and demigods murdered for refusing to cooperate with him. What would you call that then?”
“I can’t have all the answers. I don’t even know what happens to the gods and demigods who disappear.” Anita held up a hand to stop Cameron before he could interrupt her. “I’m not defending him, Cameron. I’m not saying there’s anything that would make what he’s doing right. I’m only saying what I’ve been trying to tell you for a while now. Most gods I’ve known are far more complicated than you think. Ukko could be…” Anita’s eyes moistened and she chewed nervously on her lip. Selena reached across the bed and held her hand and the woman looked up at her over the rim of her glasses and offered her a sad smile. “You must think I’m crazy.”
“No,” Selena assured her. “I think we can never control who we love. Sometimes, we have to end a relationship because it’s the right thing to do but that doesn’t make the feelings go away.”
Anita nodded and squeezed her hand. “I almost got married, you know. About seven years after leaving the New Pantheon. But I broke off the engagement because I knew I shouldn’t marry a man when I couldn’t get over a god I had no business still wanting.”
“Selena,” Cameron warned, “we’re venturing into dangerous territory here. I told you…”
Selena shot him a look that told him if he wanted to sleep in the same bed with her that night, he’d better keep his mouth shut. Her look must have worked because he pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes at her instead. “I’m going hunting for Mithra.”
“No, you’re not,” Selena retorted. “And you’re twenty-seven. Act like it.”
“I am acting like it,” Cameron insisted. “That’s the problem!”
“He’s got a point,” Anita agreed.
“Don’t encourage him,” Selena begged.
“What do you think that would be in god years?” Jasper asked.
Cameron didn’t miss a beat. “Seven. I’m screwed. My girlfriend is so dumping me.”
Jasper nodded and added, “She’s too good for you anyway.”
“True,” Cameron acknowledged. “But we don’t have to keep reminding her.”
“Can you make them both leave?” Anita asked.
“I’m on it,” Cameron assured her. “Jasper, we should totally see if we can find the ghost of Odin hanging out in his former prison.”
“I don’t think he’s a ghost,” Jasper argued. “He just looked like a ghost to you because of something they did to him to keep him in that castle.”
Cameron waved him off. “Close enough. Dude must be eight thousand years old. And there’s this giant hole in the side of the glass castle now. Want to play Hardy Boys?”
“Don’t even think about it,” Selena hissed. “You’re not going anywhere, and you sure as hell aren’t going around the glass castle in the middle of the night.”
“Is it the middle of the night? Just because it’s dark outside doesn’t even mean it’s night. The Otherworld has its own laws of physics,” Cameron said.
“Fine, Cameron,” Selena sighed. “It’s just Nótt astride Hrímfaxi. What difference does it make? It’s dark. You’re staying inside.”
Cameron threw his hands up and complained, “A big difference! Nótt is Norse and even the damn horse is Norse and we’re all going to die! We should go back to Earth.”
Selena blinked at him then looked at Anita. “Why exactly did you miss Ukko?”
“Don’t answer that,” Cameron begged.
Anita rolled her eyes then took off her glasses and rubbed her forehead. “He doesn’t exactly have a lot in common with your Prince Charming here,” Anita said.
“Hey!” Cameron protested. “I told him once, and I’m telling you… I could be charming.”
Anita raised an eyebrow at him and Cameron put his hands on his hips and glared back at her. “I got her, didn’t I?” he said, nodding toward Selena.
Anita laughed and shook her head. “I’m not convinced she had a choice.”
“Are you crazy? Look at her. She could have any man she wanted!” Cameron insisted.
“That’s not what I meant, Cameron,” Anita said, the laughter spreading to her soft green eyes. “I never believed in soul mates until I met you both. I’m still not sure that’s what it is, but I tried asking Badb and she…”
“Wait,” Selena breathed
. “You asked Badb about us and she blew you off?”
Anita lifted a shoulder. “What do you expect? She claimed you were just in love. I’m only a demigoddess… I can’t pry around in goddess’s heads or anything, but I’ve been around long enough to pick up when someone is lying and she knows more than she was willing to tell me. But I figured it was none of my business anyway.”
Selena jumped off the bed and balled her hands into fists, angry at the war goddess for the first time in a long time. “I knew it! She knows why we keep having these flashes of recognition and she won’t tell us! How could it possibly have anything to do with this damn war? Why would it be such a huge secret to the gods?”
“Not just her,” Cameron reminded her. “Even the Greeks seemed to know more about us than any of the gods are letting on. Hell, Anita, even you gave us the whole fated-lovers speech.”
“Because I think you are,” Anita told him. “The only thing I’ve come up with is that it’s part of your prophecy and Badb knew that all along. Perhaps she worried revealing too much too soon would interfere with your relationship. But I know this: she loves you both. Whatever reason she has for withholding your destiny together from you, it must be a good one.”
Cameron grunted and headed toward the door. “You’re both always defending her. These gods can lie to us and manipulate us and you’ll keep insisting they must have a good reason for it. And I’m sick of their games.”
“Cameron,” Selena said, and he paused with his hand on the door handle. “Don’t forget. You’re one of them now and that can’t be undone. Our only hope is to find the Cauldron so I can join you. It won’t do us any good to make enemies of our family.”
Cameron exhaled slowly and leaned his forehead against the dark oak door. “Then what do we do?” he finally asked.
Selena stood beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. His dark brown eyes met hers and he smiled weakly at her. “The only thing we can do. We find the Unbreakable Sword and Nuada’s heir then find my Cauldron. We all know you need me to keep you out of trouble anyway.”
“Selena, I need you for every reason,” Cameron answered, letting his hand fall so he could wrap his arms around her.
“Gross,” Jasper moaned. “Move out of the way before I lose my supper, and that meal was too damn good to end up on this floor now.”
Cameron lifted his head and looked at Anita. “Is he telling the truth about Elise? Someone is seriously willing to put up with him?”
Anita smiled at Selena and pointed out, “Look at who’s in your arms.”
Jasper laughed so Cameron let go of her and punched him in the arm. Selena yanked the door open and kicked them both out. She closed the door behind them and grinned at Anita. “If Cameron takes Jasper to the glass castle, I’m going to find out if I’m capable of kicking a powerful sun god’s ass.”
Anita laughed and shook her head. “Of course you are. Cameron would just stand there and let you.”
Selena snickered and sat beside her on the bed again. “Whatever prophecy the gods are hiding from us will have to wait. If we don’t prioritize finding the Unbreakable Sword, none of us will live long enough to find out what is going on between Cameron and me anyway. If there’s anything else you can tell me about Ukko, I need to know. Please.”
Anita sighed and plucked at a thread on the comforter that covered her bed. “I wish I could tell you he was bad or he was better than you think, but the truth is, he’s more like humans in that regard. You’ve probably noticed many of the gods are. He can do things that cause us to vilify him and turn around and do things that cause us to question if he deserves being vilified.”
“But when you dated him, he never made you question his character, did he?”
Anita pulled at the thread then shook her head. “Not really. I was only twenty-three when we met and young and naïve though. And he’s a god. I was completely smitten at first and it’s not like he talked to me about his business. I believed in my mission with the New Pantheon. He would send me to the CIA whenever they interrogated suspected Russian spies so I could tell them if the suspect was lying or not. He sent some psychics out of the country to accompany the CIA or military on different missions, but never me, and I told myself he couldn’t bear the thought of…”
Selena put her hand over Anita’s to keep her from unraveling the thread further. “But you were right. Didn’t he ever tell you he loved you?”
Anita shrugged and responded, “Sure. But after he kicked me out of the New Pantheon and broke up with me, it became impossible to believe.”
“And your relationship? Was he… normal?”
Anita laughed and took off her glasses again to rub her eyes. “Normal how? God, I hope you’re not asking about our sex life. I have my limits in sharing, Selena.”
“Uh… no,” Selena giggled. “I meant was he kind and affectionate with you? You know… normal.”
“Oh,” Anita sighed. “Yes. Every Saturday, he would come home with a bouquet of dog roses.”
Selena’s brow furrowed as she tried to place the unfamiliar flower but she couldn’t pull it from any internal database. “Why dog roses? Are they your favorite?”
Anita shook her head slowly and pulled at the thread again. “They’re one of the most common wildflowers in Ireland. When you go, you’ll see them blooming everywhere…”
“Oh,” Selena breathed.
Anita inhaled a ragged breath and tugged at the thread, snapping it away from the comforter. She stared it for a few seconds then dropped it onto the nightstand beside her. “Every Saturday. All year for four years. He must have been creating them himself.”
“Anita…”
Anita shook her head again. “Yes, he was normal, Selena. Occasionally, a bit private and reclusive, but he worked quite hard. There are gods amongst us who are far more one-dimensional and you’ve unfortunately encountered some of them. Ukko used to say they were the easiest gods to understand because he knew exactly what to expect from them.”
Selena gasped and whispered, “Badb said the same thing.”
Anita lifted her eyes to meet the young demigoddess’s and offered her a sad smile. “Because they’ve been around for millennia, Selena. They understand the worlds of the gods and mortals. If a god like Mithra has only ever shown himself to be interested in his own power then they know not to expect anything different from him now. Gods don’t really change. And perhaps people don’t either.”
A soft knock on Anita’s door startled them both and they turned to stare at the dark wooden door. A woman’s voice called through the heavy oak, “Why are Cameron and Jasper in the hall pouting?”
Selena and Anita laughed at Badb’s question and Selena stood up, offering to go appease the sullen sun god. Anita wrinkled her nose and teased, “I don’t want to know how you’re going to appease the unhappy god.”
“Not funny,” Selena retorted. “Keep it up and I’ll tell you one of these days.”
“Do it and I’ll move into the new Asgard myself,” Badb threatened through the door.
Selena pulled the door open and fixed the war goddess with a daring look. Badb returned it.
“Don’t test me, Badb,” Selena warned. “If I reveal the details of my sex life, I’m only talking about things that embarrass me. If you have to uphold your threat, you end up living with the Norse.”
Badb folded her arms and tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “Well… that may have been a little more tolerable before Baldr was murdered.”
“Ew!” Cameron yelled from the hall.
“Don’t worry,” Badb yelled back. “I still much prefer Irish gods.”
“I’m leaving, Selena!” Cameron shouted.
Selena was about to admonish her friend and goddess protector when she heard Jasper muttering, “Dude. What the hell is wrong with you? Badb is hot when she’s not pretending to be three hundred years old.”
Badb smiled and pointed down the hallway. “See?” she yelled at Cameron. “The Gr
eeks have always had good taste in all the best things in life.”
Cameron groaned and appeared at the end of the hallway. “Seriously. We’re leaving.”
“I’m going to bed,” Selena told him. “So if you leave now, you’re sleeping alone tonight.”
Selena edged past Badb and walked toward her bedroom. In her peripheral vision, she noticed Cameron’s shoulders sagging as he admitted defeat. “In my next life, I’m coming back as a woman,” he muttered.
Badb stopped by him on her way back to the hall and put an arm around his shoulders. “Just think, Cameron. As a demigod, you would have eventually outgrown your… hormonal impulses. As a god, you won’t age. You’re permanently twenty-seven and at her mercy.”
“I hate you,” Cameron reminded her.
Badb laughed and shook her head. “No, you don’t. As a demigod, I’d believe it, but few gods are capable of truly hating their own family, and the few who do end up paying for it dearly… like being bound in a cave beneath a venomous snake until the world ends.”
Selena turned around and grabbed Badb’s arm to stop her from leaving. “Did you know Loki?”
“Of course,” Badb replied. “Before the Norse gods bound him in the cave for having Baldr killed, he occasionally fought in their battles with us, usually at Thor’s side. None of the gods took Loki’s betrayal harder than Thor.” Badb took a deep breath and pulled her long blonde, wavy hair behind her head into a low ponytail. “Loki wasn’t really a fighter, but he was smart and Thor relied on him in our battles to try to outsmart us. Not that I feel sorry for any of them, especially that overgrown witless giant, but something changed in Thor when his old friend and companion turned on them.”
“How so?” Selena asked.
Badb lifted a shoulder and looked down the hallway as her sisters’ laughter echoed from the great hall. “Loki’s role in Baldr’s death and his confinement in the cave occurred shortly before our last battle with the Norse in the Otherworld. As much as we hate him, Thor used to be a magnificent fighter, and it was as if his spirit had been bound in that cave as well. He’s had centuries to cope so perhaps he is just as skillful a warrior today as he used to be. And I’m afraid we’re going to find out far too soon.”
Treasures of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 3) Page 9
