“Mom,” Selena whispered back.
Chapter Twelve
Selena’s legs weakened and she collapsed into the chair at the table as her mother rushed into the hall, throwing her arms around the young demigoddess and sobbing against her shoulder. Selena felt her own arms lifting to hug her mother, but her brain struggled with comprehension. Why did this woman have a body? Why did her hair smell so familiar, like some combination of flowers and fruit? Selena closed her eyes as the powerful associations of smell reminded her she knew this smell because it was her mother’s shampoo.
“A memory,” Selena breathed. “You’re only a memory.”
Cynthia shook her head and placed her palms on her daughter’s cheeks. “On Earth, I was with you always as a memory, Missy. Here, I’ve waited for you, but oh, Selena, it’s too soon! You’re too young!”
“Missy?” Cameron interrupted.
Cynthia’s pale blue eyes, so much like Selena’s, shifted to look at Cameron. She smiled at him then her smile pulled a little higher as she looked at her daughter again. “You have good taste, Missy.”
Selena choked on a laugh that still wanted to erupt in her cries. Only part of her registered that her mother seemed to think she was in this palace because she’d died, but she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t yet think, let alone speak in front of the woman for whom she’d mourned the past twenty-three years.
“Ok, I still want to hear the Missy part, and thanks, I still think the Tuatha Dé just cursed her to force her to fall in love with me, but…” Cameron paused and turned his attention toward the old wise man. “Uscias, you should have told her we’re not dead. Dude, that’s totally messed up.”
“You’re not…” Cynthia whispered. She blinked at Selena then threw her arms around her again. “You’re alive? You’re still alive? Oh, promise me!”
“I am,” Selena whispered back. She couldn’t bring herself to adding for now.
“Oh, thank the gods!” Cynthia exclaimed.
Selena sobbed out another laugh and nodded toward Cameron. “Thank this one.”
Cynthia inhaled sharply. “You’re a god?” That sly smile pulled at her lips again. “You have good taste and you aim high.”
Selena laughed and agreed with her. “The world’s most powerful warrior and sun god. Can’t aim much higher than that.”
“Keep it up and I’m going to find Cú Chulainn because you’re embarrassing me and there are no shrimp po-boys in here anyway,” Cameron warned.
Cynthia’s blue eyes lit up as she watched them, as if the physical incarnation of their love were displayed between them. “Tara did a wonderful job with you, Missy.”
Selena lowered her head and stared at their hands, which her mother gripped tightly as if terrified the fates would rip them apart again. “She’s in hiding, Mom. We’ve both been running for three years and I haven’t even been able to talk to her.”
“Why?” Cynthia shot Cameron a beseeching look. “Can you help her? Can’t you do something?”
“He is,” Selena answered immediately. “I’m only still alive because of him.”
Cynthia let go of Selena’s hands and shot to her feet, pulling Cameron into a giant hug. He hugged her back and gave Selena a happy, satisfied smile. “Why can’t all of our journeys end this easily?”
Uscias pushed his chair back underneath the table, reminding Selena he was still in the room. She wanted to stand to hug him and thank him, but the room still spun and she didn’t trust her legs to hold her up. “To answer your question, Cameron, I told Cynthia nothing because I didn’t know when you and Selena would be able to come for her. You do have quite a lot going on right now, and if you’d decided to wait until the Battle of the Gods was over, all I would have done is cause her to worry until then.”
Cameron seemed to think about what the wise man told him then nodded. “Makes sense. Sorry I snapped at you.” His dark brown eyes danced at the delight he was taking in what he’d done for the woman he loved as he added, “Thank you.”
“Cameron, what you and Selena will do for us… there is nothing in any world I can do to repay you adequately.”
Uscias left the room despite Cameron’s protests that he return and explain what the hell he meant by that. Cynthia stared after him as well then turned to her daughter and her daughter’s lover. “Clearly, there’s quite a lot I don’t know. Perhaps you can fill me in now.”
Cameron held up a finger and said, “I’ll tell you anything Selena will allow me to, but first, I need you to tell your daughter something.”
“Cameron,” Selena breathed, her eyes brimming with tears again. Suddenly, she didn’t want her mother to know what shame and guilt she’d carried with her most of her life. She felt her cheeks warming and the hot tears rolling down her face, quickly followed by her mother’s fingers wiping them away.
Cynthia’s soothing, gentle voice answered quietly, “If it’s the truth, then I’ll tell her anything she needs to hear.”
“Tell her your death wasn’t her fault,” Cameron said.
“What?” Cynthia whispered.
Selena’s chest exploded, painful sobs erupting from so deep within her she wondered if her soul was ripping itself from her body, abandoning her just as everyone she’d ever loved had been forced to abandon her. Her mother’s arms tightened around her and she felt her hand smoothing her hair, so much like Badb had once done to comfort her.
“Oh, my beautiful baby girl,” Cynthia cried. “All these years… all these years, you’ve lived with this?”
Selena nodded against her mother’s shoulder, but she couldn’t look at her. It seemed so obvious now that she was here in her mother’s arms that she never should have doubted her mother’s love.
“Selena, my darling, why? Why would you have blamed yourself? I got sick. That’s all.”
“I… can…” she hiccupped in response, but her voice failed her.
Cameron sighed and she heard him speak for her. “She can heal. It’s not only an extremely rare talent, but Selena’s gift is extraordinary. I’m not sure there’s ever been a more powerful healer. She’s brought two demigods back from death, and she’s destined to become the next healer for the Tuatha Dé if we can find the Cauldron. I mean, when we find the Dagda’s Cauldron. And when we do, she will become the most powerful healing goddess not only in our pantheon’s history but in anyone’s.”
Cynthia sat back from Selena and put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. “Selena, you listen to me. You were three. And even if you’d been thirty, I wouldn’t want you to go through your life feeling responsible for my death. You are my child. You owe me nothing. Nothing. And all I want is your love, my darling. You promise me you’ll stop this.”
Selena nodded and put her head back on her mother’s shoulder who smoothed her hair again and sighed quietly in her ear. “If I had known… if I had known how you were punishing yourself, I would have hounded every god on this island until I found someone willing to let me talk to you one more time.”
Cameron laughed and told her that was usually his strategy: annoy the hell of people until they caved.
“A healer,” Cynthia exhaled happily. “And one who is destined to become a goddess. My shining star, I’m not surprised. I knew you were special the day you were born.”
Selena tilted her head at her mother and brushed her sleeve across her face to wipe away the tears. “What is your gift, Mom? Aunt Tara always insisted you didn’t have one, but I can’t believe that.”
Cynthia laughed and placed Selena’s hand firmly in her own again. “I have one, I just never told anyone, not even my sister, the person I trusted most.”
Selena gasped and spun around in her seat to face Cameron. His dark brown eyes widened as he stared back at her. “But… nobody ever found out,” Cameron stuttered. “When they touched you…”
Cynthia’s eyebrows pulled together as she looked at her daughters’ hands. “What happens when someone touches you? I may look and feel like I have
a body, but this is the Otherworld. I am just a spirit.”
“I’m not quite sure,” Selena answered. “They can just… feel something. It’s not bad, just different.”
“I didn’t notice anything unusual when you were little,” Cynthia said. “I wonder if it’s because I was used to it? Because no one ever noticed anything odd when they touched me. But I wasn’t a powerful healer, Selena.” Cynthia inhaled slowly and kissed her daughter’s hand then let their folded hands fall back into her lap. “I wish I had been. I tried to heal myself, but even with the chemo…”
“Wait,” Selena breathed. “You know how to use this power on yourself?”
Cynthia lifted a thin shoulder at her and smiled. “Of course. Why can’t you?”
Cameron smiled at her now, too. “Told you the only reason you haven’t figured it out yet is because you’re too compassionate and kind. You think it would be greedy or something to use this gift on yourself.”
“Perhaps,” Cynthia mused. “But it’s also trickier because it takes a great deal of concentration to heal, and it’s harder for us to concentrate when we’re the ones hurting or scared.”
“Mom,” Selena said excitedly, “you have to teach me how to do this! I mean, Cameron can heal a lot of things but…”
“Wait,” Cynthia interrupted. “You’re also a healer? I thought you were a sun god?”
“Turns out we’re all descended from Dian Cécht. My lineage is much more strongly tied to Lugh though, which is why my primary power is fire. I can heal, but before having to heal Selena after Ninurta nearly crushed her to death…”
“He what?” Cynthia demanded, jumping to her feet again.
“I, uh, I killed him, Ms. Cynthia. It’s fine.” Cameron shook his head and corrected himself, “Ok, it’s not fine, because truthfully, if he has a spirit roaming around somewhere, I’m going to hunt that bastard down and find out if I can harm a god that’s already dead, but I was promised he can’t hurt her anymore.”
Cynthia’s fists unclenched as she glanced over her shoulder at the empty doorway. “I don’t know if he’s here. I heard something about this invasion he just tried to lead so I doubt he would be allowed to stay anywhere in the Otherworld, and if a god’s spirit is banished from the Otherworld…” Cynthia looked at her daughter again and exhaled slowly. “Then he’ll cease to exist.”
She sat down again and put her hand on Selena’s arm, seemingly not wanting to be physically separated from her for too long. Selena found herself wishing she could be a child again, at least temporarily, so she could climb into her mother’s lap and let her rock her and sing softly to her and tickle the bottom of her feet as she cooed, “My Little Missy Sparkles” at her.
Selena had no memories of why her mother had given her such an odd nickname. She usually shortened it to Missy, and would occasionally call her Missy Sparkles, but only ever gave her the full title when she tickled her feet and made Selena giggle.
Cynthia lifted an eyebrow at Cameron and told him, “And no Ms. Cynthia. I was thirty-one when I died and I still look thirty-one, so I’m guessing I’m not that much older than you.”
“True,” Cameron conceded, “but you’re still my girlfriend’s mother. And considering you do look only four years older than me, this has officially become the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had, and this is coming from a guy who’s fought flying snakes and had to rescue an Irish psychic from the stomach of a giant water serpent.”
“Hm,” Cynthia teased. “We’ll compromise. No misses or ma’ams and I still get to set rules for dating my daughter, but at least you get to date her.”
“Um…” Cameron responded.
Cynthia laughed and assured him she was only joking. “I trust her. Besides. You’re nothing like her father, so you must be a good man.”
“Well, he took off while you were pregnant, so that’s a grade A asshole there. I sure hope I’m nothing like him.”
Cynthia grimaced at the memory of her ex. “He was a demigod, too, you know. Did your Aunt Tara ever tell you that?”
Selena shook her head. The only thing her Aunt Tara had ever told her about her father was that he was a grade A asshole.
“David was a telekinetic,” Cynthia said.
“Maybe that’s where I get it,” Selena responded. “Although Aunt Tara is telekinetic, so it must run in our family, too.”
“I didn’t know we were Irish until arriving here, but I hope it’s from our side. The Tuatha Dé are so much more powerful and trustworthy than the Finns.”
Cameron choked on the water he was drinking and Selena thought she asked him if he were all right, but for the second time that morning, her surroundings had dissolved into background noise and the resulting tunnel vision focused on one thing only: she was part Finnish, the pantheon of one of her greatest enemies.
Cameron tried to catch his breath and between coughs, asked Cynthia, “Which god? Did he know? If it was Nyyrikki… well, dude had it coming even if you are partly descended from him.”
“Don’t have a clue who that is,” Cynthia answered. “But David claimed to trace his ancestry back to Ukko.”
Chapter Thirteen
Cameron grabbed Selena’s wrist then Uscias’s palace disappeared, replaced by a familiar hotel room, but it wasn’t their suite in Waco. She gasped as she remembered the room she and Cameron had escaped from at the W Hotel in New Orleans and her eyes searched the ceiling, but it had most likely long since been repaired.
“Cameron,” she whispered, “my mother…”
She inhaled sharply again when she saw the deadly, inhuman anger had returned to his beautiful, chocolate brown eyes. A loud sigh pulled her focus away from her boyfriend as Ukko stood before them, looking both genuinely aggravated and genuinely curious, most likely about why he’d been brought to their old room in New Orleans.
“She’s one of your descendants?” Cameron demanded.
Ukko’s pale blue eyes flickered briefly to Selena then he looked quizzically at Cameron again. “How did you find out?”
“Oh, my God, it’s true?” Selena shouted.
In his anger, Cameron didn’t even ask her which god, perhaps because the answer was so obvious this time.
“Yes,” Ukko answered. “David is one of my descendants, but Selena is Tuatha Dé. Mostly.”
“Mostly?” Selena squeaked. “What does that mean?”
Ukko unfolded his arms and sighed again, apparently resigning himself to the fact that he couldn’t fight Cameron and was stuck here until the young sun god let him go. Even in her shock, Selena thought it was an ironic twist of fate.
“I mean that demigods who have been chosen to replace gods on a pantheon usually have any genes linking them to other pantheons repressed. In your case, that didn’t happen. It’s partly why you’re so powerful, Selena. All of your ancestors have somehow managed to live on in you.”
Selena stepped back from the Finnish thunder god and whispered, “You.”
Ukko watched her carefully but nodded. “Yes. Me, too.”
“Oh, my God,” Selena groaned again.
The air in the room warmed and a hot wind blew the comforters and pillows from the bed. Ukko stumbled and grabbed the wall, shooting Cameron a sly look. “Why kill me now, Cameron? Simply because you can’t stand the thought of your future children being related to me?”
Ukko’s body slammed into the wall, sending chunks of mortar and wallpaper to the floor.
“Cameron,” Selena begged, “stop this!”
Cameron kept Ukko pinned to the wall but looked at Selena, demanding, “And it wouldn’t come to this eventually anyway? You really think he’ll ever leave you alone?”
“He warned us about Ninurta and Mithra!” Selena pointed out.
“Because he wants to control you!”
“Badb…” Selena breathed. She eyed Ukko who struggled to free himself from the stranglehold against the wall. “Badb has always known, hasn’t she?”
Ukko blinked at her then e
xhaled impatiently. “Of course she has.”
The winds in the room stilled and Ukko’s body slumped forward. He grabbed the foot of the bed to prevent himself from falling on the floor and stared up at Cameron. “We had a deal, Cameron. I’ve been working on tracking down Alan in exchange for your favor to the New Pantheon. If you break our deal, it puts you in the same league as other traitors like Ninurta. I told you: a god’s word is binding and there are consequences.”
“Mythology is filled with gods breaking their promises,” Cameron hissed. “Pretty sure I’d survive.”
“You’d survive,” Ukko agreed. “But you’d never be the same again.”
“Cameron,” Selena said softly, “you can’t get out of this unless he breaks the agreement first. Besides, we shouldn’t be surprised that he would withhold this information from us. We should be angry at our own pantheon for never telling us.”
Cameron continued to glare at the Finnish thunder god but nodded. “Good point.”
“Oh, shit,” Badb mumbled.
Selena spun around and faced the Irish war goddess, who didn’t seem nearly as confused as she should be as to why she was in an unfamiliar hotel room in New Orleans. She did, however, seem angry that Ukko was in the room with them.
Cameron turned that terrifying gaze on her and demanded, “Were you ever planning on telling us Selena was related to this asshole?”
“Oh… shit…” Badb repeated.
“Badb!” Selena exclaimed.
Badb threw her arms up and attempted to defend herself. “What good would it have done you, Selena? I knew there was a chance you might find out from your mother one day, but I didn’t expect it to be this soon. And knowing your father’s ancestry isn’t going to make your life any easier.”
Selena shook her head slowly. “No, but I still had the right to know.”
“I told you, Selena,” Cameron said, his voice still carrying the venom she wouldn’t let him dispel literally. “This is what the gods do. They all play games, and they use our lives to do it.”
Treasures of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 3) Page 12
