“And among the Brahman as well,” Ganesha agreed. “But if the Council moves for her death, even Bhagavan cannot protect her for long.”
A woman knelt by the water, skin like cinnamon and hair like ink. She bent to draw water, dipping a large earthen jug into the river. The crocodile’s tail twitched and it submerged, invisible while it hunted. Just as Odin had shielded his own motives, holding Thor out as proof of his good will and claiming the Trickster acted alone. Had he always? Thor could not be certain, looking back, but he knew what Odin wanted, now. His father would call for Eve’s death.
“Then we must stall the Council,” Athena said. “Even under the best of circumstances, it might take a century, but the longer it waits, the less urgency they will muster. By the time all the gods have been gathered, Loki’s work could be undone. And there is still the question of their godhead to be decided before any judgment is passed.”
From the vantage of the window, Thor could see the barest ripple of the water where the crocodile lurked. The woman only hummed to herself, seeming unconcerned, even careless. He gripped the windowsill, stone crumbling beneath his fingers.
“Better for Loki and Sif if she were not recognized, but calling the Council at all works against their cause.” Ganesha said. “They might have acted first, claiming ignorance, and begged forgiveness later. Now they will be bound by the outcome, and with the Trickster’s silver tongue silenced, we might work our own wiles.”
The beast sped forward, intent now on its prey. A hoarse call of warning broke from Thor’s throat, and her head turned, away from the river. A soft line formed between her eyebrows as she searched the trees with emerald eyes, her body still bent over the water, in easy reach. Too close.
The crocodile lunged, maw gaping, and she sat back, the jug of water slowing her response. Its jaws snapped shut with a crack, and then…
“Aphrodite might help, even if Hermes sides with Loki,” Athena said, coming to stand beside him. She snorted at what she saw and turned away, back to the others. “Together, we will speak to Zeus.”
Laughter floated on the wind, clear and sweet and joyful. Eve stroked the crocodile’s nose, leaned down and kissed its leathery snout.
Thor forced himself to relax, and let go of the static that filled the air around him. Of course she was fine. No living thing of this earth would do her harm. Not truly. And even if it had wounded her by some strange chance, she would have healed quickly. She always healed quickly. He should have known better than to worry. Even in the most deadly of circumstances, Eve survived. Unfortunately, the same could also be said for Adam.
“But what will they say?” Buddha asked. “Speaking against her death is not enough; we must argue for her life, some purpose she fulfills in the world—she must serve it somehow.”
The other gods fell silent, and Thor became aware of their scrutiny, the weight of their gazes upon his back. He shook his head and did not take his eyes from Eve.
“Eve could not tell me her purpose,” he admitted. The crocodile had sunk back beneath the water and slithered away. Eve had turned again, staring into the trees, into his own eyes, though he knew she could not see him. “Adam hid it from her, and Elohim fell into his slumber before she might ask.”
But there was a pattern, he knew, which spoke of something more than bloodline and chance. Elohim would not have risked the godchild for nothing, and even if Thor knew little else, he knew what she had given him, and seen that gift spread, rippling out and flowing over an entire village, bringing them peace and joy and happiness. Looking into her eyes, he longed for that peace again, ached to hold her in his arms.
He had nothing left in Asgard, but he was still tied to the North. If he appeared to her now, offered her his love and a home, what would she think? He was not certain she thought of him at all, anymore, but for when he used those memories to soothe her. And she could never be happy in Asgard, torn from the earth, from her people and her family, from whatever purpose she was meant to fulfill, besides love. Even if he were wrong about her happiness, Sif would never give her peace.
What is it? Athena asked, touching his hand. What do you not say?
He forced himself to turn, tearing his gaze from Eve, though it had been near a thousand years since he had met her eyes. Now was not the time to reveal himself, with Loki and Sif spreading lies about how Eve might respond.
“She is Elohim’s love,” he said, glancing briefly at Ra. Thor thought for a moment he saw the old god’s lips twitch, a smile quickly repressed, but he could not understand why. “I am not certain the argument will give much peace to those afraid of being cast out into the void, but I know she brings love to every land where she is born. It is very much like Divine Grace. A blessing to renew her people.”
Buddha smiled, even as Athena’s hand fell away. Thor watched her, guilt and grief squeezing his heart. Forgive me, Athena.
She shook her head. Only tell me it was not just for the nimbus of her grace and love that you came to Olympus so frequently while she lived among us.
He straightened, catching her by the arm. That she might think it—but he could not blame her for fearing he had used her, knowing her family. Aphrodite and Ares would think nothing of cultivating another god simply to have their way.
“We are friends, Athena.” He kept his voice low, but firm. Ganesha and Buddha did not speak, but it was clear they communed, their faces turned to Vishnu’s stone form. “Even for Eve I would not suffer through so many feasts upon Olympus. I came for the pleasure of your company, and you need never doubt it.”
She smiled sadly. “I am ashamed for thinking otherwise, even for a moment.” Seeing the way you look on her… I thought for many years I was above my sisters, my queen, that I had escaped the pettiness of their temperaments, but when it comes to you, I am as jealous as Hera.
But unlike Hera, you do not let your jealousy rule you. He squeezed her hand and let her go. It is a very great difference, Athena, and one which sets you very much apart.
“We have decided,” Ganesha announced, his long trunk curling up to his broad forehead. “The Brahman will assist as we may and Bhagavan himself will delay this assembly. If Eve is indeed Elohim’s Grace, we dare not risk her loss. Without Grace, the world will wither, and its people will fail, just as surely as if the godchild unmade it.”
Ra bowed, relief more than evident in his features. “Then we must leave you. I fear we have already lingered too long.”
Thor hesitated, casting one last look out the window. Eve balanced the water jug upon her head as if she had done so a hundred thousand times before, and made her way back to the village.
“Come, Thor,” Athena said gently. “You will see her again. And if we succeed, perhaps one day she will even know you, again, too.”
He let her draw him away and bowed farewell to Vishnu’s form, thanking Buddha and Ganesha for their time, for Eve’s protection. They left the temple together, Athena’s hand firm upon his arm. As if she knew how much he wished to turn back, to take himself to Eve.
“Spend this night in Olympus,” she said when they stood again beneath Shiva’s stone gaze. “Let us offer you at least that small comfort.”
“Better if my father sees me hollow-eyed and heartsick.” He covered her hand with his, then brought it to his lips. “Perhaps he will choose to see it as remorse. And I must try to reason with him, Athena. The Aesir have too much influence to do otherwise.”
She shook her head, catching his hand in both of hers and pressing it tightly between them. “It is not the Aesir who have influence, Thor. No matter what your father decides, no matter what he says in the Council meeting, it will be your words that hold sway. You are the god they know, the god they trust. Not Odin.”
“If I speak against him so openly, there will be no healing the breach.”
Athena let him go and stepped back. “I cannot help you decide how far you are willing to go to protect her, Thor. I can only say that if Odin has lost your loyalty, the fault
is most assuredly his own. And if he acts unwisely now, unreasonably, he does not deserve your support.”
He watched her open her arms, thick with feathers, and shake them into wings. With another breath, she was all owl, and lifted herself up into the trees, and then the sky, leaving him behind.
“She would make you a very fine wife, Thor,” Ra said at his shoulder. “If I were free to choose…” The Egyptian god sighed the rest away and smiled dryly. “I fear I am too old to give her what she deserves, now, but she would make a better match for you than Eve, if you could turn your heart.”
“My father is not wrong about me, Ra. Once my heart is set, it does not change so easily.”
But for a moment, that moment, he almost wished it could.
Chapter Thirty-four: Present
Eve slipped away to the library, hoping she might escape both the DeLeons and the Watsons for a time. It was a struggle to find a comfortable position anymore, but she leaned back in an armchair with her feet up, hands resting on her stomach, and felt some of the knots in her back unkink. When she concentrated, she could feel the baby inside her, contented and calm. The unique mind and presence within her own body had always fascinated her, utterly trusting, so totally innocent, untouched by the world but still part of it.
“Am I intruding?” Adam asked.
She looked up, surprised to find him in the doorway. He had seemed to be avoiding her since his arrival, though she wasn’t sure if that had been his own idea, or Garrit’s. “Only if you’re intending to fuss over me. I’ve had quite enough of that for one day.”
“No.” His lips curved, then thinned in what she thought might have been a repressed smile. “I wouldn’t dream of insulting you that way.”
“It isn’t an insult.”
“Isn’t it?” He came into the room, perching on the edge of the ottoman beside her feet.
“I appreciate their concern,” she answered, trying to keep the note of challenge from her voice. She didn’t have the energy to fight with him, and she was just uncomfortable enough that she wasn’t interested in defending her family, either. “But Garrit fusses over me enough without his parents and his aunt doing it too.”
He tore his gaze from her stomach to stare at the book in his hands. Ryam’s journal, by the dates on the spine. “They’ve made an art of hating me, haven’t they?”
“You shouldn’t have taken it.”
“I thought it might answer some of my questions.” He met her eyes and smiled, offering it to her. “He loved you a great deal to go to all this trouble. To set his family the task of caring for you in perpetuity.”
She frowned slightly as she took the book, following his thoughts. He was thinking about what Juliette had told him. The things he had forced her to tell. “You don’t know who they are, do you?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure I understand your question.”
“This is Reu’s family, Adam. My House of Lions.”
The warmth drained from his face almost at once, and he stood up, turning away to the window. No wonder they hate me so much.
“They don’t hate you.”
He laughed, but it was an awful sound. Bitter and angry. “Even you hate me.”
She sighed, watching him lean against the frame of the window, his head bent. The last few days had been easy. He had behaved himself perfectly. Garrit hadn’t even had cause to gripe. Not that it meant he relaxed at all. But she felt at least they had come to some kind of truce. René had been as reasonable as she had hoped, and Juliette as calming. The change in Adam had been fundamental, though she couldn’t quite identify it. He had been no more and no less than kind. His arrogance and the hurtful sarcasm of his last visit all but gone. If she was honest with herself, she found it more disconcerting when he was nice, and she saw glimpses of Paris.
“I don’t hate you, Adam.” She wouldn’t lie to him. It was fear, more than anything. Anxiety for what his presence could result in. Maybe she shouldn’t worry. Maybe she didn’t have to. Maybe she was safe. But that was no reason to tempt fate.
He turned to look at her. “But you don’t trust me.”
“No.” She hadn’t trusted Paris, either, and that Adam hadn’t threatened her at all. But she wanted to trust him now. That was the most frightening part.
He smirked. “I’m not sure I would trust me either. Though I think your husband distrusts me enough for both of you.”
“They have a long memory, this family—Oof.” The baby kicked and she stroked her stomach, trying to soothe it.
He sat down again on the ottoman, reaching for her, and then stopped suddenly, his hand suspended over her stomach.
“May I?”
She raised an eyebrow at his tone, so strangely reverent. “If you like.”
He pressed his hand to her stomach and she tried to ignore the heat of his touch, the way it seeped into her body. The baby kicked again, and his eyes lit. He smiled, and it was the most artless expression she had seen on his face since he had arrived before her wedding. Full of an innocent joy. Like the day in the Garden when he had offered her strawberries for the first time. Her heart started to race and she scowled. The baby, feeling her stress, began moving more forcefully and she winced.
He pulled his hand back at once, almost guiltily. “I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. It isn’t you.” She closed her eyes to soothe the mind within her. So undefined but so sensitive. The baby calmed and she looked up at Adam. “See? All better.”
He smiled, but it was forced, as though he were distracted.
Adam?
He shook his head and stood up, walking to the door. He stopped before he opened it, but he didn’t look at her. They’re right to mistrust me. There was an anguish in him she hadn’t noticed before, an ache that ran deep and made her own heart hurt. “I’m sorry for disturbing you. I just wanted to return your book.”
And then he left, the door swinging shut behind him.
She stared after him for a long moment, at the place where he had been, puzzling over the exchange. If they were twins, shouldn’t she have some idea of his thought process? If they were so similar, how were they so different? Adam was the most confounding man she had ever known.
She picked up the journal and let it fall open in her hands. The sketch of Adam in its plastic sleeve stared back at her.
Maybe she was being unfair. It seemed more and more lately that the title of most confounding really belonged to Ryam. At least Adam she could question. Ryam was still baffling her centuries after the fact.
She wasn’t sure what was worse: not knowing the answers, or knowing Garrit seemed to have them but was forbidden to tell her.
They served lamb for dinner, and Eve did her best to ignore the associations. Juliette must have made the menu, she thought, and Garrit must have decided she didn’t need to be bothered by it. As if choosing a main course was going to send her into early labor.
She hadn’t eaten lamb since Troy. Eve stared at her plate and pressed the memories back into the darkness where she had kept them locked away. Before she had married Menelaus, when she had still believed she might escape her fate and the horrors of war with Troy which would follow, she had fled to Athens, throwing herself upon the mercy of Theseus, its king. She hadn’t thought, even for a moment, that she would fall in love—but Theseus! Her throat closed, tears pressing behind her eyes. Theseus had sacrificed a lamb to the gods every day for the two years of their marriage, until her brothers had come and stolen her back to Sparta. For lives afterwards, she hadn’t been able to even smell lamb stew without her stomach turning into knots. If it hadn’t been for Theseus…
She rubbed her chest, over her heart, trying to dispel the ache of his loss. Another husband who had loved her more than she deserved. Thinking of Paris was preferable, but with Adam sitting across the table, she didn’t dare.
You’re not eating.
She nearly bit her tongue in surprise, but she brought a piece of
the lamb to her mouth and swallowed before she could taste it. You were saying?
Adam’s eyes narrowed, but the stone in them had softened to storm clouds, and she could feel his concern. You can’t afford not to eat with a baby in your womb, Eve. Is there something wrong with the lamb? I didn’t think you could suffer from cravings or morning sickness.
It doesn’t have anything to do with the baby. Except it had, once. A baby she had born for Theseus, and lost. How many hours had she spent on her knees, praying to Michael to let her keep her child? She’d even made offerings to Poseidon and Aphrodite, Hera and Zeus, desperate enough to beg even for their intercession. For nothing. False gods, and worthless angels. How did anyone ever convince themselves of faith?
“Are you all right, Abby?” Garrit asked, frowning. “You look a bit gray.”
She forced a smile. “Just fine, Garrit. I bit my tongue, that’s all.”
You’re lying.
Eve didn’t look at Adam, but kept the smile on her face until Garrit went back to listening to her mother. Something about how she wished they would purchase a summer home in England, so she would be able to see her grandson when he was born.
Eve?
The way he said her name brought Paris to her mind, and she latched onto the memory to chase away the sorrow. Paris, at least, had never fed her lamb. Not that he hadn’t sacrificed enough of them to Aphrodite.
Adam was smiling at Mia as he poured her another glass of wine. He’d done the same for her, once, at a banquet in Sparta. She could still see the lines of Paris in his face. The curve of his ears, the straightness of his nose, the strength of his jaw. He had changed, of course, skin color, face shape, the rise of his cheekbones and the color of his hair, but the essentials stayed the same.
He turned to look at her, his forehead furrowing in the same place hers did. A wrinkle between the eyebrows that could have been her own. She realized she was staring and looked away, focusing on the napkin in her lap, but he was already in her head. Gentle, but present, like a lazy day in a hammock with an insect buzzing in your ear.
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