I Can See You (The Gods Made Me Do It Book 5)

by Lisa Oliver

  “But it was growing.” Raff looked puzzled. “Isn’t that what Ner saw when he spotted the leaves above your collar, Artemas?”

  “It is growing,” Silvanus said when Artemas didn’t answer. “That’s a positive sign for all life anywhere. For many years the mother worried the poor tree would die off completely.”

  “What would happen then?” Raff seemed to have forgotten the earlier danger, enthralled with the story.

  “If the tree dies, then life ceases to exist on earth in any form. All of the gods will cease to exist, because there will be no one who remembers their names, where there was once life, there would be a void.” Silvanus looked at Artemas in shock. His mate seemed to be staring off into the distance, his eyes devoid of any expression. Even his voice sounded strange.

  “Artemas?” Silvanus gave his mate’s shoulder a small shake. “Are you still with us?”

  “Yes, yes, of course.” Artemas looked at Silvanus as if he was the one who’d just spaced out. “I was just trying to think of any god who’d benefit from controlling the tree, and I can’t think of anyone. For as long as I could remember the tree has been off limits to anyone and everyone. No being, to my knowledge before meeting you, knew where it was, although hundreds of scholars speculated about it. As you said, it’s not as though it can be used as a tool by a god or a magic user. It’s a tree. It grows. For the moment, it’s growing on me, but as it’s not heavy, and doesn’t seem to sap my strength at all, it doesn’t bother me.”

  “Okay, well that was just double spooky,” Nereus said, trying to laugh. “But, if the person who was using those idiots at the hotel as puppets, wasn’t after the tree – let’s assume the tree was used as an identifier rather than anything else – then who the hell has got a grudge against you, Artie?”

  “Most people ignore the fact I exist, unless they want to pick my brains for something, and it’s not as though I’m overly social with gods or humans,” Artemas scoffed.

  “You haven’t got any ex-lovers, gods or demigods you might have been close to at one point, who got upset when you two broke up?” Silvanus didn’t want to ask, but it was the most logical thing he could think of.

  The look Artemas gave him could strip paint off the walls. “I made a point of never fucking other gods,” he said tartly. “For one thing, none of them could stay faithful to save their life, and for the other, in most cases, daddy dearest had been with them first. You are the only god-figure I’ve been close to in that way. Any long term lovers I had were human and as the last time I was in such a relationship was over three hundred years ago, it is safe to assume that person is now dead.”

  Oops. Silvanus hid the wince he felt. “I’m sorry,” he said, “But I had to ask.”

  “Maybe it’s one of your lovers?” Artemas slid off his lap and started pacing the floor. “You’re the one who said you stay friendly with anyone you’ve slept with, and that they weren’t all human. There’s a good chance one of them could be alive and holding a grudge because I came along and am wearing your mark.”

  “Er, guys, this is getting a bit intense and personal,” Nereus interrupted, looking a bit uncomfortable. “You’ve still got that lake, right, Artie? How about I take my mates down there and set up a picnic. You guys could come along when you’ve had your little chat.”

  Artemas nodded stiffly, and Silvanus waited until they were clear of the door before he answered his mate. He was sure he heard Raff say something about, “We’re in Australia? Really? This is so cool, the way you guys all zap around,” but any response was too quiet to be heard.

  “Artemas,” Silvanus kept his voice calm and low. “This is not the time to be arguing about past lovers.”

  “You brought it up.”

  “And I did that because we have to eliminate any god we can from all of this. Babe, someone wants you, and no one I’ve ever been intimate with has the power to manipulate Crane and his friends the way we saw back at the hotel. My lovers were shifters, the odd vampire or two, no one with any powers.”

  “Vampires and shifters, well that’s very reassuring.” Artemas wore his contempt like a mask. “It doesn’t get us any closer to finding out who wants me taken and why. I am not a sociable person. Anyone who knows me will tell you that. You’re the Mr. Nice Guy who stays friends with everyone he meets. Is there any god you’ve rebuffed, who might be miffed we’re mates?”

  Silvanus had been flooded with offers from gods to share a bed, the trunk of a tree, or in one instance, a boat. But that had been thousands of years ago, and he’d never taken anyone up on their offer. He’d hardly say anyone had been miffed about his refusal. It was more a case of “Your loss,” called over someone’s shoulder as they wandered away to find someone else more willing. He wasn’t going to mention that to his prickly mate though. “There isn’t anyone I can think of,” he said, choosing his words carefully, because he would not lie. “The issue we have, that we both seem to be ignoring, is that very few gods, or people for that matter, know you carry the tree on your back, and that we’re mated. Those facts alone do whittle down the suspect pool.”

  “Not necessarily.” Artemas seemed to be thinking rather than glowering now, which was easier to deal with. “If you think about it, all the major heads of the pantheons have the ability to watch all life, at any time, or at least spy on those elements they want to focus on. Consider Helios when he climbs the sky every morning, or even Hades in the underworld. Thor could probably do it too, seeing as he’s quite high up in the Norse hierarchy. Its just most gods can’t be bothered to do it.”

  “That doesn’t make this process of elimination any easier.” Rubbing his chin, Silvanus thought about all the gods he knew. Unfortunately, that didn’t help, because he knew most of them personally. That was one of the curses of an everlasting life, and a small group of people who shared the same immortality trait. “Poseidon couldn’t be behind all this, could he?”

  Artemas’s face gave an imperceptible twitch at the sound of his father’s name. “Dad is many things, including petty minded and vindictive at times, but if he wanted to say something to me, he’d be standing here in front of us both. Besides, Poseidon travels with the scent of the sea. He wasn’t pulling the strings on the two humans and the part dryad in the hotel room.”

  “You can smell the essence of the gods when they’re around?” Now we might be getting somewhere.

  “My magic senses it. It’s why I always know when someone from the god line is near. All I could smell in that hotel room was more magic, not mine.”

  “Well, that has to narrow the field down a bit.” Silvanus felt a shaft of hope. “There can’t be many gods of magic beside you and Thoth.”

  “A lot of gods have magic aside from their powers,” Artemas said. “I can think of more than twenty of them, off the top of my head, including Thoth, Odin, Loki and Hermes. Then there’s Anulap, Heka, Nanabozho, and Marduk. If you want to go back further still, you could add the old man from Aboriginal fables known as the Bluetongue Lizard, or Enki from Sumeria, even Veles, one of the Slavic gods is known as a god of magic.”

  “But how many of them know you personally rather than by reputation?”

  “Odin and Loki, I suppose, and I’ve had a few discussions with Heka over the years, but nothing recently.”

  Silvanus noticed Artemas didn’t mention Thoth at all. “Despite your friendship with Thor, we can’t discount either Odin or Loki being behind this. If it is one of those two, it’s good in that they won’t want to do you any harm, and are probably messing with you, but they can’t be ruled out.”

  “I’ll need to speak to Thor before I approach either of them,” Artemas said firmly. “My friendship with him is still new, but he’s been my brother Lasse’s wingman for centuries. I won’t go accusing either of his kin, without speaking to him first.”

  “And that’s the fair man I know and love.” Silvanus smiled. “Do you think we have time for a meal first? I swear, with all this zapping about I’ve forgot
ten what meal we’re due to have next.”

  “We’ll have a late supper with my brother and his mates before we go.” Artemas came forward, slowly and Silvanus held open his arms for Artemas to sink into. “Thank goodness for daylight saving or they’d be having their picnic in the dark.”

  “That sounds like fun, too. Remember our picnic in the desert?” Silvanus reminded him.

  “Yeah, but out here, you have to watch for mosquitoes,” Artemas chuckled. “They get really hungry this time of night, and imagine what one of them might do, hyped up on god or shifter blood?”

  Silvanus could imagine it, and they both chuckled about mosquito shifters and the damage they could do, as they headed down the track to Artemas’s lake. When Artemas asked for permission to zap him with a bug repellant spell, Silvanus smiled his approval. Stand-offish he might be, more of a worrier than he should be, but Artemas cared for him deeply in his own way. It was going to be a long time before Silvanus forgot the sight of his mate with tears on his face – tears he’d cried for him.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Artie.” Orin came running from the kitchen in their Manhattan loft apartment, his hands covered in flour. “Look at you, all tanned and happy.” Artemas braced himself for the inevitable hug. “And this hunk you’ve brought with you must be Silvanus, original ancient god of the trees and woodlands.”

  “How did you know?” Artemas was shocked. “I don’t remember mentioning names the last time I was here.”

  “You did.” Orin grinned. “Besides, I know of all the gods, remember? Are you staying to dinner? Please say you’ll stay. Since Lasse and Jason have had their daughter, we don’t see them as nearly as often as we’d like, and Thor doesn’t like other unmated gods dropping in.”

  “Well.” Artemas looked at Silvanus who gave an imperceptible nod. They had just eaten, and now thanks to time zone differences they’d be eating again, but Artemas reminded himself sandwiches was not a true meal, and whatever Orin was making smelled delicious.

  “Come and sit at the kitchen table and keep me company. I’m making bread.” Orin kept up a steady stream of chatter as they walked through the loft. “Thor is out getting wild mushrooms from the Black Forest, would you believe? Honestly, that man is harder to keep track of than a flea on crack. He’s supposed to be taking things easy, but will he? No siree. I said he could zap us the mushrooms if he needed them so badly, but no, he had to go out and pick them himself. Sit, sit.”

  Artemas sat on the chair Silvanus pulled out for him, casting a smile of thanks in his mate’s direction. By the time Silvanus was seated, Orin was pounding a lump of dough like it was on fire and he was trying to put it out.

  “Has Thor been keeping well, apart from getting restless?” Artemas asked. “How long does he have to go now?”

  “About three months by my reckoning, but with God babies you can never tell. The genetics are half mine, and sand cats only gestate for sixty odd days. With the size he is… short answer is, we don’t know.” Orin brushed the hair off his face with his forearm – his hands still covered in flour. “I’ve got to tell you, when Thor finally got over the shock of him being the one who would carry our child, he was really good about it. Oh, he still wanted to do all the things he did before like rock climbing and white water rafting. Nothing stops my man when he’s determined, but now he’s showing and growing bigger every day….”

  “Everything is all right with you two, isn’t it?” Artemas leaned on the table, concerned for his new friends. “I mean he had to know it was inevitable he’d develop a bulge at some point during the pregnancy.”

  Orin looked around as though worried he’d be overheard. Leaning over the dough he whispered, “You might not know this about him, but Thor’s vain. He’s never had to worry about being fat before. Last week, Lasse and Jason brought their little one over to join us for lunch. Thor was shirtless and wearing sweatpants because he can’t fit his tight leathers anymore. Everything was fine until Lasse made a beached whale comment, and Thor just disappeared and didn’t come back for two hours.”

  “That was a tactless thing for Lasse to say, especially when it wasn’t that long ago that Jason was the one with the bulging belly.” Artemas reached over, taking Silvanus’s hand. He hadn’t considered Thor’s pregnancy when he said he needed to talk to the Norse god. Knowing how badly Silvanus wanted children of his own… Maybe I should have just faced Odin and Loki and called Thor on the phone about it later.

  “Lasse was only teasing Thor, the way they’ve been teasing each other for thousands of years. Admittedly, usually it’s Thor doing the teasing, or getting Lasse into trouble, but Thor’s a bit sensitive about his weight right now. There, that should do it.” Orin shaped the bread into a mound, slipped it onto a tray and put the tray into the oven under the counter top.

  “Now, I wonder where that mate of mine could’ve gone. Knowing him, he’s decided to cross paths with a bear or something and wants to prove his masculinity. I can’t wait for this pregnancy to be done, to be honest. But enough about me and my problems. Is this a social call, or did you need some help with something? Oh, my gods, I can’t believe I haven’t offered you two a drink. Non-alcoholic I’m afraid, as no alcohol for Thor, but I have tea or five different juices.”

  “We’re fine,” Artemas reached over the table and tugged Orin into a chair. “You’re looking tired, Orin. Is there anything we can do to help?”

  “Have a word to Chronos and fast forward life by about three months? The baby would have to be out by then.” Orin’s smile dimmed. “I love my mate, you know I do. If I could carry this baby for him, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I just wish sometimes that Thor wouldn’t be so hung up on looks, or how strong he has to prove himself to be. Everyone knows how strong he is. He doesn’t have to keep pushing himself to prove it to anyone who gets in his face. But now we can’t be out and about among humans, his agitation has gotten worse and I’m not sure how to cope.”

  “You talk to him,” Silvanus said gently, opening his mouth for the first time since they arrived. Orin seemed to visibly calm at the sound of his voice. “You cuddle up with him at bed tonight, and you remind him that while the Thor of old was the stuff of legends, the man you fell in love with is the man with the courage and inner strength needed to bring a new life into the world. It’s not an easy thing to do for anyone. But every single birth is cherished by the gods and the Fates. His delivering that new life is his mission now, and let him know how much you trust him to win at this, the same he has any other challenge he’s faced.”

  “That is so beautiful.” A single tear rolled down Orin’s face. “I will. I’ll tell him tonight. Thank you so much Silvanus.”

  Sitting back, Artemas listened as Silvanus gave Orin more tips for helping make Thor’s pregnancy go smoother. It was easy to forget that Silvanus was also the original god of hearth and home, and that meant fertility and pregnancy too. But there were words in Silvanus’s pretty speech, like courage and inner strength, that pierced a hole in Artemas’s confidence. Does he see me as weak because I don’t want to have children yet?

  Logically, Artemas knew he shouldn’t take anything Silvanus said to Orin personally. As more gods found their mates, even more demigods would be born. Artemas didn’t have to be one of the crowd to appreciate how important a new life was. Not for the first time he wondered if he was being selfish, demanding his mate wait before they had children. With his head giving him no peace, Artemas was really happy when Thor appeared in the kitchen, his hair mussed, a long scratch down his forearm and a dirty bag of mushrooms in his hand.

  “Sorry I’m late, lovely,” Thor said, his smile wide as he gave Orin a kiss on the top of his head. He dumped the mushrooms on the counter.

  “What was it this time? Bear, wolf, mountain lion?” Orin asked, holding onto Thor’s bicep. Artemas got the idea the young sand cat shifter would have rather hugged his mate around the waist, but that was currently impossible. Thor was huge.

  “
Demon, or make that three demons,” Thor scowled. “Sprung up out of the forest floor within minutes of me arriving. They won’t be showing their face on earth for a long while.”

  The look of worry across Orin’s face was so fleeting, Artemas barely noticed it. “At least you’re all in one piece,” Orin said, and Artemas knew his brightness was a put on. “Go and have a shower while I pull this bread out of the oven. Artie and Silvanus are staying for dinner.”

  “I don’t need a shower, when a wave of my hand will do. So, you’re the god who broke Artie’s dry spell.” Thor chuckled as he reached over the table to shake Silvanus’s hand. “I have to confess, I haven’t seen you since the council after the Great War.”

  “Our domains have little in common. It seems your life has been good to you. Congratulations on your mating and your expected children.” Silvanus shook Thor’s hand, but didn’t get up. Artemas reminded himself Silvanus was the older and more powerful god and didn’t need to show respect, even to someone like Thor. Thor didn’t seem to mind though, taking a seat, suddenly clean, and the scratch on his forearm disappeared.

  “Don’t think I didn’t notice the use of the plural for child there, Silvanus,” Thor said easing his bulk into a chair. “But I’ll ignore it for now. I’m sure this isn’t a purely social call. Artie had never been here before until he met you and now it’s twice in a matter of weeks.”

  Artemas felt his cheeks flush, remembering the first time he’d translocated to the Manhattan loft without realizing it. “Have you seen your father or brother Loki lately?” He asked, not wanting to discuss his previous visit, or meltdown, with his mate.

  “I can’t remember the last time I saw Loki.” Thor rubbed his chin. “Two, three, maybe four hundred years ago. I can’t be sure. To be honest, I thought he’d turn up like a bad penny when this happened,” he waved at his belly, “but so far, I haven’t heard anything from him. As for Odin…” Thor sighed.