by G. Bailey
Killian picks up his last card and looks annoyed as he reads it. Killian quickly gets out of his seat, and his hands start glowing with swirling gold magic as he looks around us.
“Killian, on your left!” I shout when I see the black ghost-like energy rushing at Killian.
“A nightmare. One from a nightmare god that got free. Killian is scared of them.” Seth’s voice is nervous too. The nightmare thing scares him just as much. I’m speechless to say anything as I stare wide-eyed at Killian. We can’t help him; the game will never let us.
“Not helping my macho look, brother,” Killian shouts as he runs, jumping over our table and landing on the creature. He slams his hands into the stomach of the creature, and it makes a high-pitched scream as it struggles, fighting its way out of Killian’s grip. Finally, it bursts into black dust, and Killian falls to the floor. I itch to get up and go to him, but I have a feeling I’m not allowed to leave the table until the game is over. Killian picks himself up off the floor and comes back to his seat, looking worn out.
“You okay?” I gently ask him, seeing all the tiny cuts all over his arms. His eyes are wide, and he looks exhausted. I want to do nothing more than hug him.
“Yeah, I’m going to be fine,” he tells me. “Nothing like seeing your worst nightmare over and over inside that monster.”
“Killian—”
“Honestly, I just want the game over. I’m okay,” Killian tells me, and I know he means it. I want this game over just as much. There are only two more cards now; how badly could it go?
“I’m going next,” I tell Seth before he can pick the card up. It’s making me nervous to wait any longer.
“Nothing in the rules said we couldn’t pick them up at the same time. She just said we couldn’t turn both our own cards over at once. Hold my hand, we will do it together,” he suggests. Smart man.
“Didn’t have you down as a rulebreaker, brother,” Killian teases with a tired smile.
“Maybe some things change,” Seth replies, though he looks at me as he says it. I hope I bring out more of Seth’s wild side and less of the control freak I’ve grown to love. We pick the cards up at the same time, and I only look away from Seth to read it.
“One kiss will set you free. One kiss is all you need. Those who have not kissed before shall now meet.” I gulp as I get the gist of what the card wants.
I have to kiss Seth. Seth drops the card and pushes his chair out as I stand up. He takes my hand and tugs me to his chest.
“This is the easiest game to win. There isn’t a moment I haven’t thought about doing this since we tracked you to that pub,” Seth softly tells me, and then he kisses me. I meet his lips with just as much passion as he pours into it. My hands slide into his soft hair as he deepens the kiss, and I forget about the entire world as Seth kisses me. There is just him and me. And a whole lot of tension and love we both have ignored for way too long. Seth breaks away first, and I stare up at him as I lower my hands to his chest. We need to talk, I know that, and I think he is thinking the same thing.
“About time. The sexual tension was getting annoying,” Killian says, placing his hand on my back as Seth lets me go. I look across at the higher gods, who are standing up and clapping.
Only one person isn’t there.
Storm.
17
Killian
“We won, you should be happy about that,” I tease my brother. We’re in our quarters, decompressing from the not insignificant revelations that came about during the last game. I’m slumped in a chair, my feet up on the side table, and in spite of my relaxed posture, inside I’m thanking all the gods in the world that neither of us ended up getting hurt… or Karma, for that matter.
Especially Karma.
I’m starting to think I’m the only one of the four of us who’s handling our situation like an adult. Karma’s reaction I can understand - she’s stuck in the middle of all this, literally, and it can’t be easy to know the lives of everyone you care about are riding on the decisions you make in someone else’s tests. Seth, on the other hand, seems more content to glower and stew in his own juices, as he’s doing right now: he’s currently sitting in the window alcove, his elbow propped against one knee like he’s in a fucking painting, glaring out at the world outside like the sky itself cause all the problems in his life.
He wouldn’t be totally wrong, a spiteful voice within me pipes up. This would be a hell of a lot easier if Storm would man up and act his age instead of throwing a supernatural temper tantrum whenever we’re around Karma. A second, more mature voice pleads with me not to go there, warning me that I’m no better than him if I can’t manage to live and let live.
But that’s the fucking problem, isn’t it? Karma is intoxicating, and I find myself drawn in by her spell every time I’m around her. I know she has the same effect on Storm - and Seth, although he’s not wont to admit it any time soon, I suspect - which is why this is so maddeningly frustrating. Hell, that same churlish part of me speaks up again, since we’re going the immature route, might as well come right out and say it: we’ve known her for longer than he has, anyway. I know it’s not by much, and I’m aware of how childish that probably sounds, but Storm isn’t exactly manning up here, either. And if we’re going to get technical, Seth knew Karma before either of us, even if their initial date left something to be desired.
The truth is, I was being completely honest when I told Karma I would be willing to let her be with the others, too - even if Storm is a pain in the arse. I’ve always been a bit… nontraditional, at least in my personal life, as one or two past flings have told me. It’s not even entirely uncommon amongst the gods to share women, even if the practice is a little archaic. I don’t know if it’s a god thing, or just a people thing, but when you live long enough, eventually you realise that real love is wanting another person to be happy, even if that means letting them be with someone else. It’s a lesson I would have expected someone with four centuries of experience leading a prison to understand, but considering how quickly Storm… Well… Stormed off after the last game, he doesn’t appear to have gotten the message.
My eyes return to Seth, who is sitting still as a statue, watching the waves roll in and out on the pebbly shore. I open my mouth to make a teasing remark about him finally getting to kiss Karma, but then close it again - I know the look on his face, and he’s clearly not in the mood right now. I don’t know why; kissing Karma isn’t a problem, or something to be angry about. I reckon there’s more to it than that, though. “Are you going to say anything?” I ask, crossing my arms and sitting up straighter in my chair.
There’s a long pause before Seth replies, not bothering to turn away from the window. “There’s nothing to say, Killian.”
“Sure, there is,” I reply, reaching up and stretching my arms over my head. “You just don’t want to say it.”
Seth makes a scoffing noise. “Maybe I don’t.”
“Fine,” I say, standing up from my chair and slowly walking over to where he’s sitting, “then I’ll say it for you. It’s about Karma, isn’t it?” Seth continues to glower, but there’s a flash of something in his eyes that tells me I’m on the right track. “It’s about kissing her, right?” I continue, crossing my arms and leaning against the wall so I can look at him. “I mean, what’s not to like? She’s a damn good kisser.” I know I’m on thin ice right now - I can see it by Seth’s clenched fists and stony expression - but I’m not about to let it go now. It’s not just that I’m curious (although that certainly plays a part); it’s that I need him in this with me if we’re going to make it through this. Seth was always the one more swayed by his emotions, and I can already see him stewing under the surface - I don’t want to wait for the least convenient moment for him to boil over… Say, for example, the next time Karma is put in harm’s way.
“Yeah,” Seth replies through gritted teeth, “she is.”
“So then what’s the problem?” I demand. “You should be happy. I don’t
have a problem with it, and Storm…” I shake my head. “He’s a stick in the mud. But we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it - isn’t that what they say?”
“It’s not that,” Seth snaps, finally turning to me with fire in his gold eyes. I see I’ve finally gotten to him. “Just leave it, Killian, all right? Can you do that?”
“No,” I reply without missing a beat. “Because when you’re brooding, it means there’s shit you want to talk about, but can’t bring yourself to. So talk about it.”
Seth shakes his head, turning to face me and letting out a long sigh. He runs a hand through his hair, and I can see that his face is lined with anxiety. “Karma is…” he begins, and then trails off, as if he’s searching for the right words. “Karma is special,” he finishes at last. “You know, it, I know it, Storm knows it… Hell, the whole damn world knows it.”
“Yeah,” I agree, my voice going a little soft. “She is.” The rest goes unsaid: the fact that she’s gorgeous, her biting sarcasm, her obvious compassion for others, her determination to see this through, no matter how many times the elder gods beat her down… The list goes on and on.
There’s a long pause, and I wonder if I should say something else, but Seth seems to be collecting his thoughts, so instead I wait for him to speak. “I haven’t done anything like that since before she died,” Seth says at last. “The kiss, I mean.” I don’t need to ask who “she” is. Seth has always been quiet when it comes to his long-dead wife; even when she was alive, he tended to shelter her from me, from the reality of the supernatural world, as if putting a wall up between those two parts of his life would protect her. It did, for a while… but not even a god can stop cancer, and he knew it as well as I did. I tried to be there for him, tried to support him as a brother even as he was watching the woman he loved slowly waste away to a disease that no magic could heal, but there was only so much I could do. I think that maybe on some level he was ashamed at his inability to keep her safe, that in some twisted way, he felt guilty. In all the years that I’ve been a god of justice, it’s always pained me to see innocent humans fall victim to circumstance - war, poverty, disease… To watch my pregnant spouse go through it isn’t something I like to think about.
Seth clears his throat, and it’s obvious he’s struggling to talk about this, so I keep my mouth shut. Sometimes it’s best to just listen. “You know…” he chews his lip. “Back when we had our date, some part of me was still grieving. I saw Karma, but I didn’t see her, you know?” He scratches the back of his head. “That probably doesn’t make any sense.”
“No,” I tell him, “I get it. You went because you were trying to move on, but you weren’t ready.”
“Right.” Seth takes a shaky breath. “I knew she was beautiful, and fiery, and… Well, all the things we’ve seen of her since we tracked her down in that bar. I was attracted to her, but I wasn’t ready for it. I felt guilty. But then… Meeting her again, after all this time… It was like a switch went off. It was like I was seeing her for the first time, you know? This wasn’t just someone I wanted to be around - it was someone I wanted to protect, and that scared me.” He turns to meet my eyes. “I think that’s why I spent so long pushing her away,” he confesses at last. “I was afraid to feel what I felt for my wife, because of what it might mean if something happened to her.”
I nod grimly. It’s something I’ve thought about, too, as much as I don’t want to: the idea of losing her is too painful to imagine.
“Anyway, kissing her just made it that much more real,” Seth continues, turning back to the window. “Not just my feelings for her, but the fact that, no matter her powers, she’s vulnerable. It dawned on me that I could lose her, and that scares me more than anything else.”
I stay silent, not needing to say anything for him to know that I feel the same way. Karma acts strong and tough, but for all her bluster, underneath it all, she is just like everyone else. I think that’s what drew me to her in the first place, but it’s also the terrifying truth of the situation: any of us could die. We fear losing the one we are in love with, and we have no idea how to cope with it. Not even hundreds of years of being gods are enough to take away that fear.
I clear my throat, realising that this is all I’m going to get out of my brother, and move away from the wall.
“One more trial left,” I say. “Although if it’s anything like that batshit card game today, we’re in for a hell of a time.”
“That’s just it, I think,” Seth replies, getting to his feet. “That’s the problem. I have a suspicion that these games so far have been just that - games.”
“Your point?” I ask, not liking where this is going.
“My point,” Seth replies, “is that I think the last one will be different. It won’t be just a game - it will be a test. And the higher gods are conniving - you know that as well as I do.”
“You’re saying…” I begin, my stomach sinking.
“I’m saying that, knowing them, they aren’t going to make it possible for Karma to win,” Seth replies grimly. “At least, not without causing her deep pain. That’s how they manipulate you - that’s how they want to get into her head: by breaking her down so much that she has no choice but to join them.”
“And even if she does win,” I point out, “there’s no way of knowing they’ll even keep their promise.”
“Exactly.” Seth crosses his arms, mirroring me. “That’s why I want to take her away from this place and the horrors that live here - before they get into her head and ruin her.”
“I agree,” I say, nodding. “That’s why we need to be right there at her side, in case she needs us to fight the higher gods.” It’s not an idea I relish, but it’s crossed my mind before. Could we even stand a chance against them?
I want nothing more than to get Karma away from this fucked up world. We were officially fired the moment we got back from the prison; we more or less signed away our jobs the moment we started working to help Karma. It’s all so transparent, it’s almost sickening: justice is apparently not needed anymore, and maybe it never was. Maybe it was all just a guise for the higher gods to exert their iron will on the people of the supernatural world. The whole system is corrupt, and we were working for it all this time. They’re not even bothering to disguise it as the moral thing anymore: according to my contacts, they’ve started sending hired assassins out to kill anyone who has ever done anything wrong. The prison was at least a chance at a life, if not a pleasant one.
I don’t know where all this puts me and Seth, but I’m sure the higher gods will not wait until we are older to kill us. We are powerful and immortal; they won’t want us around to mess up their plans. They won’t want Karma around either, not unless they can control her. I’ve learnt one thing in all this, though: no one can control Karma; it’s one of the things I love about her.
“I will not fight them if it hurts Karma,” Seth says, and he’s right. It’s the whole reason we can’t just storm their chambers right now and try to take them all out at once - with Karma’s fate connected to Xur’s, our hands are tied.
“The prison was impossible for Storm to escape. What if we throw Xur in there and tie him up so he can’t hurt himself?” I suggest.
“It’s a wise suggestion,” Seth replies.
“Of course it is, I came up with it, brother,” I say, and Seth smiles at me for a brief second, breaking up the heaviness that has been hanging in the air ever since the last game. That is - until someone kicks our door down. The door slams against the wood floor, the wood cracking as Storm fills up the doorway.
“I liked that door. Have you not heard of knocking?” I ask, crossing my arms. Storm ignores me altogether as he eyes Seth. Before I can grab Seth, he is walking up to Storm, and I wish I could say I’m surprised when Storm punches him hard in the middle of his face. I hear his nose crack, and I’m pretty sure it’s broken as blood splatters everywhere.
“Fuck,” Seth groans. I shake my head as Storm grabs his jacket and li
fts him up, his purple eyes glowing. Outside, it gets very dark, and there’s a sudden clap of thunder. Rain seems to have started to pour down out of nowhere, no doubt a result of Storm’s magic. I guess I should have been expecting this, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.
“Both of you are fucking idiots!” I shout at them, and Storm turns his eyes towards me. Seth pushes Storm’s hands off him before taking a few steps back as blood pours out of his nose.
“Karma is mine. I want you both to stay away from her,” Storm shouts, his hands in fists at his sides.
“Are you a fucking child?” Seth exclaims. “It was part of the game! I had to kiss her to win! If we had lost, she would’ve been forced to play another one.”
“That’s an excuse, and you know it,” Storm snaps. “You’re in love with her - it’s obvious.
“Damn right he is, whether he can admit it or not,” I say, taking a step forward and bristling. “And so am I.” Storm rounds on me, his eyes flashing, and he looks like he wants to break me in two like a twig. “I’m never leaving Karma’s side, and you need to accept that fact.”
“I’m not leaving either,” Seth adds in, though that is all he is saying.
“The point is, if you can’t accept this way of life, all of us with Karma, loving her, then you are just breaking her heart. She doesn’t deserve that. Karma has enough going on; she doesn’t need us arguing like idiots,” I point out. We are immortal, we can spend forever arguing over this if we really wanted to, but right now, Karma is young and needs our support to deal with everything. She is flying in a shit storm at the moment, and we are the only people holding her down.
“So the question is, can you handle it?” Seth asks Storm.
“I don’t know. That’s the problem. Every time I see you touch her or even fucking look at her, I want to kill you both,” Storm admits, and it’s the first time we have had a real conversation from him about the elephant in the room. I can share her with my brother, but I’m not that close to Storm. The only difference is I’m not willing to lose Karma, so I will love her no matter who else she loves at the same time.