Forsaken Fates

by S J Doran

  “The difference, one of the many fucking differences between him and I, is that I don’t long for more power than I’ve been allotted.”

  “You haven’t even reached your potential. You’re young for a god, and your development was… delayed,” her words faltered as her voice gave out.

  “I just want to be with her. She’s my strength. All I need.”

  “We need you to be stronger.” Avrogale looked up at him, pleading.

  “I can’t,” he shouted. “I can’t be stronger or move forward when I haven’t even resolved my past. I need vengeance, it's eating away at me, sure. But my every waking thought is focused on not being able to have my wife by my side, in my bed, because of some garbage prophecy we’re being held to, because my own father.” He eyed her coldly. “And mother, created me to be half of a trigger for Armageddon. Tell me, mother, how do I move past that and ‘be stronger’?”

  Her chin quivered, and she looked away, reaching in her pocket to pull out a piece of worn parchment and pressing it into his hand.

  “Heed my advice Cassius, do not make it easier on your enemies by succumbing to the allure of the Ruby Rod, or you will lose it all.” She held her hand over his fist. “Power will be yours when the time is right, I promise you this, my son. You are so very close — just have patience.”

  “When the time is right…” he snorted, “you know how often we had to hear that? I’ve lost count of how many times that phrase kept us complacent while locked away in dungeons... strapped to a bed. No more.” He took a step back, “We decide when the time is right. And If the Rod can help me secure a future with her, while preventing the destruction of the realms, then I will not hesitate to claim it.”

  “By doing so, you’d be throwing away your only real chance at happiness. I know I have not yet earned trust in your eyes. But that day will come, as long as you don’t fall to corruption.”

  She moved to stand before her only son, the fearsome King of the Hells, the dormant heir of Inanna, and gently cupped his cheek. “I never turned my back to you, and no matter how painful it was to see your pain and sorrow, not once did I close my eyes to it. My sacrifice was done to give you that chance.”

  “You abandoned me for a chance, a chance for what exactly?”

  The smile that curved her lips was his very own. “A chance to defeat your fate, of course. A chance to have it all, because nothing else would do.”

  He held up the parchment she’d pressed into his hand. “What is this?”

  “An invocation. I realize the idea may not be appealing to you, but your Amara was born a vessel to the gods, Cassius. As Priestess, her calling is to serve us, to be used by us should we need to communicate with the living. Reciting that chant will allow me to take temporary possession of her body and communicate with you, it is a way for you to reach me.”

  “You honestly think I’d use my assat-shi, my wife like that?” The parchment crumpled within his grip, but he couldn’t bring himself to toss it. “Amara was right, there is no compassion to be found amongst the gods. Makes me wonder how I could even be your son.”

  “The Rod was given to the Lich King, their kind the only ones able to mask its infernal power,” she said, her voice soft and tinged with sadness. “King Bloise won’t lightly give it over, be prepared. He’s not an easy enemy to have. The Lich have the hearts of mortals, eaten up by greed and envy and encapsulated in immortality. Mortals do not do well with immortality, with good reason.”

  “Well. Thanks for that.” He held up the crumpled paper. “And this. I suppose I’ll see you again sometime.”

  “We’re watching,” she said, tears standing out in her eyes. “And rooting for you both.”

  With a short nod, he turned and walked away from his long-lost mother.

  Heavy burdens

  Levistus was a heavy lout, no matter that Cass was larger, managing dead weight was cumbersome. They’d rolled him into the skiff in the underworld, then the rest of that journey was a blank for Cass. It wasn’t nearly the same as getting there; it was more of an elongated step through the void of a portal. A stretch in time and reality.

  They unloaded back in his rooms in the Malsheem, with him hoisting Levistus over his shoulders to drag his sorry carcass into a safe bed. He made do with the settee in front of the fireplace. Not once did his fist open, that damned crusty parchment resting inside of it and singeing like fire.

  “He’ll need a healer,” Benzosia was saying.

  Cass snorted softly. In the Hells?

  “What did she say to you Cass?” Mara said, leaning over him to look him in the eyes. He hadn’t even realized he’d sat down. “Cass? What did she give you?”

  “Hmm?” He blinked up at Mara’s carefully schooled features.

  “Your mother…” she said, and he jumped to his feet.

  Benzosia flinched back and his insides clenched at the sight. So familiar. He paced across the front of his empty fireplace. Where was the fire? It was always supposed to be burning; he hated being cold.

  If she hadn’t left him here with his father, if instead, she’d brought him with her… what would his life have been? Would he have the powers from her divinity? Would he live all-powerful in the realm of the gods with no influence on the constructs of the mortals’ reality? Would anything he’d done been of any impact at all? If that were the case would he even really exist?

  “Hey.” Jez’s hand was gripping his shoulder. “You need to calm yourself. You’re making the lady nervous.” He jerked his head to where Benzosia stood beside the settee, wringing her hands.

  He took a deep breath and his lips suddenly had feeling again. When had they gone numb? Jez picked up his balled-up hand and tried to pry his fingers open, with a snarl, he snatched his hand away, holding it tight to his chest.

  “His mother gave him something.” Mara stood beside Jez. “He won’t tell me what.”

  She’d lost her sisters all over again today, and here he was feeling sorry for himself about a past that would never come to be.

  “Mara.” He picked up a strand of her hair that had fallen loose from her braid and tucked it behind her ear. “I’m sorry about your sisters.” He swallowed down the fury that was threatening to swamp him. “I didn’t know that anyone else knew you were down there. I could have gone for help…”

  Her finger pushed against his lip. “Demon. You were a child yourself. Who would have taken you seriously?”

  “Does someone want to fill me in on your little expedition?” Jez was scowling, arms crossed over his chest. “Cass? Your mother?”

  His hand tightened at the reminder. He should toss it in the fire. The fire wasn’t fucking lit. Right, he meant to light that. He focused a wave of his free hand toward the mantle, calling flames into the empty hearth. Logs, the fire needed fuel...

  “Hello?” Jez tapped his cheek. “What’s happened to Levistus?”

  “Cass,” Benzosia muttered with a soft smile. “I wonder if your father gave thought to the shortening of the name. If Glasya has been male, that would have been her name, you know. He had an unhealthy respect for Gaius Cassius and his politics. Sat at his side for years, Asmodeus made him promises when he finally began to fade.”

  Cass’s stomach churned, thoughts not making sense of anything.

  Jez lowered his voice to a whisper, “and who is she?” He looked to Mara for the answer.

  “This is the lady Benzosia,” Mara said, shifting just a little closer to Cass. But damn she smelled good. “Former high Queen of the Hells, Asmodeus’s—I guess she can’t be ex-wife since they are technically still married…”

  Benzosia hissed in a breath and swayed at that.

  “Benzosia, this is Jez’Piel, Herald of the Hells.” Mara finished and tucked into Cass’s side.

  Jez’s brows rose as he studied the lady, then with a nod, he knelt to toss some wood into the fire, calming it from eerie blue to a natural orange.

  Benzosia studied Cass, her eyes darting around the room,
and back to his face.

  “You look so very much like him. Your father I mean,” she said. Pink bloomed across the tops of her cheekbones and she turned her face from his.

  He stiffened and Mara stepped directly in front of him, leaning her back against his chest, shaking her head slightly.

  “I wonder how much of the Malsheem I’d still recognize for all that I helped furnish and decorate it.”

  Benzosia looked around the room more slowly, eyes taking in everything.

  “Why did you merge the master suites with the library?” She looked back at him, her brows drawn together. “The master suite had the harem rooms en-suite, now you have this bedroom attached with no other exits.”

  “For his future consort,” Jez said assuredly, giving Cass’s shoulder a squeeze as he stepped up beside him, “rein it in.” He leaned over to whisper.

  He looked over to Jez, his brows raised in question. Jez waved his finger up and down, pointing out his and Mara’s proximity.

  He bent down, burying his face in her hair and inhaled deep. Dark gods, he hungered.

  Mara whimpered and Jez chuckled as Benzosia shifted awkwardly, moving closer to Levistus’s prone body.

  His power enveloped them, seeping out without him having realized. Dammit. He hadn’t even realized. He concentrated on breathing, every breath full of her scent, then tried focusing on her heartbeat. only for you

  It wasn’t working either.

  “You met your mother?” Jez asked with a too careful expression, his eyes glinting with barely restrained laughter. “And brought back your father’s ex-wife… who is Mara’s… Relation?”

  Mara raised her chin and bared her teeth at Jez, Cass pulled her back against him, trailing his fingers between her breasts and down until her snarl became a gasp.

  “His mother gave him something,” Mara said to Jez, even from looking down at her face from behind, he could see her obstinate scowl. Brat.

  “She gave me a way to speak to her,” he whispered against her neck, “an incantation to be used with a priestess who can channel the gods.” He kissed under her ear, down her jaw. “My priestess, who, according to the defunct old gods was created merely to be used.”

  His free hand wrapped around her throat, gently, his thumb stroking across her jaw as he held her tight against his body, ignoring her bristling outrage. But eventually, she relented, she always did at his touch. Only his.

  “As if I would be just another to use you and toss you aside.” He steered her jaw up to his waiting mouth and kissed her deeply. Softly sucking, teeth dragging across her pouting lip, tongue delving in search of more heat…

  “I hunger, Mara,” he mumbled against her lips.

  Benzosia cleared her throat and Cass stopped kissing Mara, looking up and around. He’d forgotten, for a moment, that they weren’t alone.

  “If you’re hungry Cassius, perhaps your Herald can see to a light repast while we await a healer?”

  He stiffened and Mara turned her face into his chest, smothering her giggle.

  “Yeah, that’s not what he’s hungry for,” Jez said with a chuckle.

  “We’re going to have to bring him to Asurim,” Mara said, her eyes narrowing on Levistus’s prone form. “The healers in the Hells are only proficient enough to prolong suffering. Bring him through and I’ll have En-Rasputin see to him.”

  She tried to move out of his hold; he clung tighter. “Don’t.” His face flushed. It was absurd, really. The numbers of females who had seen him completely nude and in the throes would number in the thousands—it just didn’t seem right for Benzosia to see him stretching his leather pants. She looked far too much like Mara… she’d been married to his father…

  Mara’s hand flew up to cover her mouth, coughing to hide her obvious chortle.

  “Are you really okay Mara?” he spoke low enough his voice wouldn’t carry through the room. “That was… unpleasant.”

  She shook her head and turned to fully face him. “I’m not really processing—nothing seems real, does it? If it wasn’t for,” she swept out her hand towards Benzosia, “I’d have thought we’d dreamed that whole ordeal.”

  “If it had been a dream, it would have been far dirtier.”

  “Mind out of the gutter, Sin.” She smiled coldly. “We’d better get you fed so your brain starts to work again.”

  He looked around the room again, noting the titles of the books on his nightstand, the dirty cup on his desk, the bookshelves that stretched the height of the cathedral ceilings. This was home. He wasn’t sure he’d give it up for anything, even a different childhood. If he hadn’t been raised the way he had, he’d never have met the warlock girl who had become his best friend. His anchor. Lifeline.

  He released her and walked over to his desk, shifting aside the tome Jez must have been working through and plucked his ancient leather volume of Medea off his shelf and set it on the desk. Fitting. He carefully unfolded the parchment that was now damp from his hand, straightened out the creases best he could and slid it in the center of the book, closing it with a hard press.

  “She told me where we will find the Rod,” he said evenly, meeting Mara’s startled gaze and ignoring Benzosia’s gasp.

  “And did she tell you if it would help?” Mara gave a quick glance to Benzosia. “If it’s even worth going to look for?”

  He shook his head. “It’s with the Lich.” Everyone stilled at that. “Their rift is part of my Hells.”

  “Removed for good reason,” Benzosia cut him off. “The Rod isn’t worth it. If the gods want you to retrieve it, it will be for their own gain only. It’s not going to do whatever you think it will, it’s become sentient, therefore you must treat it as a foe.”

  “Azadiel seemed to think it would help,” Cass cut over her.

  “Azadiel?” Benzosia’s voice rose a pitch. “Is he here? He could help me with Levistus. Will you send for him?”

  Mara’s head tilted to the side, studying her grandmother. “I suppose you would know Aza, with him being Herald to Levistus.”

  Benzosia blanched, her hand pausing in its stroking of Levistus’s hair. “Azadiel is my brother.”

  Mara jerked back and met Cass’s eyes, confusion and hurt radiating from her eyes. Was there no end to her betrayals today? He moved around the desk so he could hold her again.

  “She can’t stay here, whatever we decide from here.” He nodded towards Benzosia, who gave him a blank look. “Sorry, love, but if you stay here as you are, the Hells will consume your soul. Nature of the beast, not anything I have control over.”

  “We’ll have to bring Levistus to Rasputin. He’ll need something to counteract the effects of the bog water.” Mara spun in his arms, looking him up and down, her eyes lingering over the obvious bulge straining his leather pants. “We’ll bring her, I can transfer her into a body from there.”

  He barely resisted grabbing the hand she’d placed on his chest and pressing it to his aching erection. “Let’s get them to Asurim and seen to so I can find a way to feed.”

  A queen gained, a Sarratum lost

  “Welcome back, Sarratum sa,” Domina Elmira’s lustrous voice heralded their arrival the moment they stepped foot within the Hall of the black temple.

  “Oh joy, the welcoming committee…”

  Cass was doing his best to stifle a grin, while she was struggling to rein in a frustrated groan. Instead, she inhaled deeply, the scent of blood and opium wafting heavily through the smoky air, finding no comfort in its familiarity.

  Judging by the dark violet sky behind the stained glass windows, and the bright flicker of golden flames illuminating countless lanterns within the hall, night had long since fallen. They’d been gone for hours.

  “Are you injured, Sarratum sa?” Dominus Malachi’s calm tone eased some of her vexation at finding the nine of them assembled. She was not in the mood for a lecture.

  “Other than a few blisters and reeking of bog water, I should say I’m quite well thank you. Better than t
he Demon King’s advisor, anyway.”

  She smiled at the sound of Cassius growl. “A little less gloating perhaps, minx.”

  The soft purr by her ear had her to swaying into him. All she yearned for in that moment was a hot bath, a decent meal, and her demon against her. It didn’t take much to see her content.

  “Since I fished him out of the water, a little gloating is the least I deserve.”

  Whatever she’d been about to say next was forgotten when sinful lips pressed a lingering kiss behind her ear. She didn’t know when the lout had discovered that traitorous spot, but he was aware of his effect on her. Her obstinacy reigned when met by his love.

  “Mara...” His words were cut off by the grumbling of her Dominae.

  “Beg pardon, but did you just admit to having stepped into the waters of Kur? Have you any idea how dangerous that was?” Domina Ravanna’s usual curt tone somehow managed to sound even sharper, shock audible in her voice.

  “I made it back, did I not?”

  Granted, jumping into the bog did not rank amongst her better strategies, but she’d believed it to be Cassius drowning in those murky waters. A shudder spread through her at the memory. She’d have done anything to get him safely onto the embankment.

  “Your recklessness is a risk to us all, Sarratum, you carry a responsibility to your realm. What will become of Asurim should the last descendant of King Nekelmu and Priestess Lilith no longer lives to serve it? You could have gotten yourself trapped within the wandering lands.”

  With her patience thin and emotions worn out, she couldn’t hold the reign on her composure.

  “Do not challenge me on my responsibilities when you cannot be counted upon to uphold your own, Dominae shi. I’ve placed each of you in your seat of power to ensure the safety and protection of my realm in my absence.” She met and held each of their gazes.

  “And though I understand your concern regarding the risk of me becoming trapped or being killed while absent of the throne, it does feel rather hypocritical.”