“Protection?” Beth said, coming in behind him. “What do we need protection from?”
“We must always be prepared to defend what is ours,” Perkons answered.
“I’m not going,” I said.
He turned to me, lightning flashing in his eyes. “You cannot decline. It is for you we do this.”
“Don’t make her,” Laima said. She rose to her feet, her expression placid and calm once more. “Jayne is a new goddess. She has no blood lust and killing hurts her soul. She still has the compassion and mercy that make humanity both weak and strong. Her ties to the human emotions are an asset to us. Do not force her to celebrate when she is mourning.”
“Wise words, daughter,” he said. “Dekla may stay.”
“I’ll stay too,” Meredith said.
Beth looked at me with worried eyes. “Do you need me here also?”
She was willing, but she’d already changed into a different blue gown and put her hair up. I knew where she wanted to be. “No, go. I’ve got Meredith.”
“Okay.” She gave a brief smile. “Call if you need anything.”
“Come,” Perkons said, extending his arms out to Beth and Laima.
They left with him, and suddenly we were alone. Meredith picked up the tea settings and returned them to the kitchen, then came to stand by me.
“Well. Want to play cards or something?”
I laughed. And then the laughter turned into tears. Meredith sat by me and held my hand without asking any questions.
I brushed my eyes and stood. “I’m going to sleep. You can go to the party if you want.”
“I don’t want to leave you. I’ll stay here.”
I squeezed her shoulder and went up to Beth’s room, where I fell across the bed. I closed my eyes and willed sleep to come. Being a goddess with full command of my faculties, my body obeyed. I slept dreamlessly as Laima’s words about Aaron and the war turned over and over again in my head until they coalesced into a need for action.
I needed to get on Jumis’ good side. He would help us fight Jods and guarantee Aaron’s victory.
My eyes opened. Lights and music percolated through the window, and I knew the party continued. They would sleep when they felt like it. They would not notice my absence. Now was as good a time as any.
I slipped out of bed. Meredith had passed out on the couch, and I tiptoed past her. I left the cabin quietly, leaving behind the magical enchantment Meredith had created to protect us. I kept going, through the forest, away from the protections woven around Perkons’ court. When I was far from everyone and everything, I lifted my arm to my lips and spoke into the communicator.
“Jumis. Come to me.”
I didn’t know for sure if he would come. To say we’d parted on a sour note would be putting it lightly, but Dekla’s memories of him told me when his rash anger faded, he would be filled with regret and want to resolve things.
I wasn’t wrong. I only waited a few minutes before the glow of an immortal soul appeared on the horizon. The light transfigured into a man, and Jumis stood a few paces in front of me.
“Are you alone?” he asked.
As if he thought I could possibly be a threat to him? Shouldn’t I be the one worried about that? “I am. Are you?” I said, turning his question around on him.
“Yes. What do you want?” His words were hard as coal, yet I detected a cautious note of hope.
Hope for what? That I would apologize and we would get back together? Would he leave Aaron alone if we did? It boiled my blood to imagine living with this man, truly becoming his wife, but I would do it if it would save Aaron. Could I give myself to him and not recoil at his touch? Not feel the need to run to the shower and cleanse myself?
Except Aaron was going to win and save me from this marriage. Would he ever forgive me?
It didn’t matter. If it would buy him enough time to be victorious, even if he decided he didn’t want me after all, I would do it.
“What happened back there?” I softened my tone. “How could you betray me that way? Betray Dekla?”
Guilt flickered in his eyes, but he stood taller. “You betrayed me. Do you think I don’t know how your thoughts go to him? You might have blocked me from your mind, but you can’t hide your eyes.”
Now I was sure I was the one looking guilty. “What does that matter?” A tremor entered my voice. “I want him to live. But you are the one I’m married to.” I clenched the palms of my fists together, trying to control my trembling. “Leave him alone. That’s all I want you to do. And I’ll be your wife. I’ll be yours.”
He took a step closer. “You would still be mine?”
“I am yours,” I said, my heart thudding painfully with each word. “Tonight, if you desire.”
A deep exhale relaxed his shoulders. His eyes darkened with hunger, and some of the tension erased from his brow. “I am sorry for earlier. I would not have hurt you. I was angry, but I love you. Do you know that?” He reached for my hand, and I let him take it. His touch was familiar, and it brought Dekla’s memories and feelings to the forefront of my mind. Hope for a future we would have had. Yearning to feel the heat of his love again. His hand squeezed my forearm and ran down to my elbow, pulling me closer still. In a moment he would kiss me. A sigh escaped me, and I closed my eyes, giving in. If this was my destiny, it would be better to embrace it instead of kick against it.
“Don’t believe her!”
Another voice interrupted us, jarring the moment. I jerked away from Jumis, startled and alarmed.
Jods stood there, his hair whipping about in an angry wind, fire in his eyes. In his hands he brandished the sword I had plunged into Samantha’s chest.
I hissed at him, an instinctive and feral reaction that made me feel like a cat. Then I whirled back around to Jumis, the anger that filled me stemming from somewhere deep inside.
“You said you came alone!” I snarled, backing away from him.
“I did,” he said, matching my steps.
“No! He cannot get here without help! You brought him here!”
Jumis shook his head. “I didn’t! He must’ve followed my pathway!”
There was no mistaking Jods’ motives. “He’s come to kill me!”
“I won’t let him!”
Something Samantha had said came to me, and I seized on. “You helped them! You made a pathway to Slitere for Samantha and Jods! You would let them kill us all!”
Jumis reached for me, his features anxious, trying to grab my hands. “I didn’t! Samantha asked me, but I didn’t tell her!”
I jerked away from him. “Liar!”
“She’s the liar!” Jods screamed, his voice raw. I couldn’t help stealing a glance at him, wondering at his emotional state. Had he actually cared for Samantha? Had she been more than just a tool to him?
“She only wants her hero to succeed,” Jods continued. “She helped her protector hatch the plan for the hero to challenge you. This is just another ploy to buy him more time.”
Jumis switched back to me. “Are you playing me for the fool?”
Frustration leaked out of me, making my curly hair fly around my face. “I’m telling you the truth! I’m offering myself to you!”
“She was never going to be with you! It was all a ruse!”
“That’s not true!” My voice thundered. “I gave him up. For you!”
“That’s why you wanted me to leave him alone,” Jumis said, his tone tumultuous. “So that he could win.”
“So that he could live!” I shouted. “So that he could live his one lifetime and I could be with you for the next thousands of years, and you couldn’t even grant him that!” I clenched my fists to my side, the wind swirling so loudly around me that I could hardly hear myself.
“Don’t listen to her. You have to kill him, or she will never give herself to you.”
The tears burning in my eyes felt so hot I wondered if they were fire. “If you kill him, you will kill me also.”
“Then let’s
be done with it!” Jods leapt forward, swinging his sword at me.
My anguished soul cried out to the trees beside me. I reached a hand up, and the tree nearest me reacted by extending a limb. I grabbed it, and it snapped off.
“You think a tree will protect you from a sword forged in darkness?” Jods laughed, an ugly sound. “I will destroy you like you destroyed Samantha.”
“You destroyed her,” I said.
He raised his sword, but I didn’t intend to fight him with the tree branch. Instead I lifted it high in sky, and the upper branches ignited, shooting a beacon of light into the night. Then I plunged it downward into the earth, which opened to swallow the branch. The ground rippled as roots scattered out beneath the soil, and then new shoots sprouted up into trees, forming a wall between me and Jods. He hacked away at them with his sword, but new ones grew just as quickly. I took steps back from him, no longer frightened. I wasn’t helpless. I was a goddess.
“Dekla!”
I heard Jumis’ voice from the other side, and I turned my head, meeting his eyes through the growing branches.
“I believe you,” he said. “Come back. We can make this work. But Aaron must die. You have to know that. There will never be peace between us if he lives.”
I smothered whatever feelings Dekla had for him. This man was nothing to me. “You lost your chance. I denounce you,” I said. “You will never have me. I take back my promise. You do not own me.”
“Come to me now!” he said. My body jerked at the command, refuting my own denial, trying to obey his order, but before I could magically push myself through the trees, other gods and goddesses dropped to my side, summoned from their party by the beacon I’d lit. Meredith was there, and she wrapped her arms around me, holding me in place with her whispered enchantments.
Trey appeared beside Jods and skillfully drove him back with his staff. Jods bellowed, gripping Trey’s staff and struggling for it. He managed to knock Trey in the face with it, but Trey got it under control again and shoved Jods in the stomach, pushing him farther from the trees.
Jumis’ eyes sought me out. “I know your heart. I know the real you. And I will fix this. I haven’t given up on us, Dekla.”
I glared at him, and then he disappeared. Only then did my body stop fighting against Meredith.
“Trey!” she cried, and I turned to see Jods bearing down on him with his sword.
My heart lurched. This would be the moment I lost my protector and friend. When I lost my Auseklis.
A white swan fluttered in front of Jods, intercepting his blow. The sword came down on the bird’s wing, knocking it to the ground, and I uttered a gasp as it transformed into Laima. She lay unmoving on her side, arm at an odd angle, the white mist rising from her body in great waves.
Jods didn’t hesitate. He lifted his sword and plunged it into her torso.
I screamed, but it was drowned out by Perkons’ roar. The forest cracked down the middle when he pushed through, the ground thundering as he leapt at Jods. Jods’ eyes went wide, and he turned and ran.
Perkons removed a long, glowing whip from his tunic and snapped it after Jods. It nipped his heel, but the next moment a pathway opened for him, and Jods vanished.
I didn’t wait to see what would happen next. I dashed through the path Perkons had made through the trees and dropped to Laima’s side. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I barely registered the sobbing from the other deity around me.
Trey already knelt beside her, blood oozing from a gash on his head. He pulled the sword from her side and dropped it next to her, then he smoothed Laima’s blond hair gently away from her face. Blood as red as ripe berries soaked her white gown.
“She’s not dead,” he said. “Not yet. She sacrificed herself for me.”
“Laima,” I whispered, clutching her hand.
She coughed, and blood spewed from her mouth. “Ragana,” she croaked.
“I’m here.” Meredith knelt also.
“I am mortal. My powers are gone. Find them, quick, before they go far, and give them to Jayne.”
I jolted, nearly dropping her hand. “To me?”
“Yes. What you do with them matters not, but they cannot be lost.”
“No. We’ll give them back to you. You can’t be lost!”
She smiled faintly. “This body cannot be saved. Not even sap from the Tree of Life can undo a cursed blade.”
“No,” I sobbed out. “You can’t leave me.”
“It’s time. It’s my time. Ragana.”
“Yes,” Meredith said, her voice trembling. “Yes. I’ll do it.”
“And the lost pieces. The lost pieces of the souls. Call them back now.”
“Beth,” I said, lifting my face. “Beth should be here.”
“I’m here.” She stepped out of the masses who watched us as if at a movie. She crouched beside me and took Laima’s other hand.
Meredith took a deep breath, exhaled, and began to whisper. The whole time, her fingers danced through the air as if writing something on an invisible chalkboard.
Then I saw them, the balls of energy. Dozens of them, zooming into the meadow. Beth and I stared, but nobody else seemed to notice them. They floated through the open courtyard until they bounced in front of us. I couldn’t take my eyes from the orange and white dots. I stared, my breathing coming a little faster. Usually I only craved the orange, but something had changed. Now I yearned for white ones also.
And then they dashed into my eyes, blinding me. My body trembled, tiny spasms in my fingers, toes, even my bellybutton. Laima’s hand released mine.
“Welcome to the pantheon, Jayne and Beth,” Laima whispered. “Now you are whole.” She coughed again, choking on the words, then focused on me. “Take the sword. Take it. You must save your champion. Jumis will kill him, and if he does, all is lost.”
I picked up the cursed blade beside her, hating it, but recognizing its power at the same time. I tucked it into my gown. “I’ll go. I’ll save him.” Jumis would not win this one.
Her chest stilled, and she closed her eyes. She didn’t open them again.
Perkons shoved us aside with a throaty cry, and then he cradled her body in his arms. I was shaking from head to toe, and Trey put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me back to the trees. Beth and Meredith followed.
“Laima said to go,” Beth said. The power of the goddess glowed in her eyes, and I wondered if it did in mine also. “Go help Aaron.”
“Jayne can’t go after him.” Trey shook his head, his eyes clouding over. “Aaron has to do it alone.”
“She has to,” Meredith said. “If Jumis kills Aaron, we lose this war.”
“But if Jayne helps him, even if he succeeds, he won’t be made the hero.” Trey met my eyes. “And if he’s not the hero, he can’t challenge Jumis for your hand.”
“And you’ll be stuck married to that stupid idiot for the rest of eternity,” Beth said.
I swallowed hard, internalizing their words. After everything that Jumis and I had just said to each other, could I stomach that?
Could I stomach it if Aaron died?
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t take the chance that Jumis will kill him. I have to help.”
“And Laima said to go,” Beth added. “That means something.”
“Laima is dead.” Trey said the words softly but forcefully. “She was no longer a goddess when she said those words.”
“But she could have Seen something before she died,” I said. “I’m going.”
Trey paced the grass between the trees, his expression agitated. “I can’t go with you. I can’t protect you.”
“I thought you could go to the underworld,” I said.
“If I’m helping you fulfill a quest. This time it is you helping Aaron on his quest. I can’t go.”
“That’s fine. I understand.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. There was a good possibility I might lose not only my immortality, but also my life. “Jumis already has a
head start.”
“We better hurry, then.” Trey gave a resigned nod. “Even if he isn’t victorious on his own, Aaron must win. If this is what you’re going to do, the time is now.”
A loud, thunderous roar broke out behind us, followed by several screams.
“Protect the tree!” Perkons’ voice boomed above the noise that followed, and a shudder ran through me. Fire flared to life in front of us, and memories of the meadow burning filled my mind.
They were here. Velns’ army had come to us.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ursins charged through the trees, stopping long enough to speak to us. “They’ve breeched the meadow! Hold the front line at Perkons’ court!”
Beth removed a sword from her long gown. I reached for my own, but Trey grabbed my arm and hauled me farther away from the fighting.
“What are you doing?” I gasped out. “We have to fight!”
“Not you.” He put his hands on my shoulders and met my eyes. “Remember our plan. You have to protect Aaron from Jumis.”
“That’s right.” Meredith’s eyes flashed to the action behind us and back to me. “If Aaron doesn’t defeat Velns in the underworld, we are lost. The gods will be defeated.”
“Go.” Beth stood radiant and dangerous in front of me, her sword glinting in the moonlight.
I pictured Laima being cut down and dying from the cursed sword and couldn’t bear the thought of that happening to Beth. “I’m not leaving you.”
“You have to!” Beth said, her voice sharp. “One more goddess fighting will not win this war. Our only chance is Aaron.”
My hands shook at the thought of my sister fighting here, maybe dying. I forced it from my mind and gathered my courage. “How do I get to the underworld?” Just as Velns could not enter my realm, I could not enter his.
“Meredith can make you an entrance. Like she did before.” Trey looked at Meredith, and she nodded.
“I just need a door,” she said.
“You can use the front door to—to Laima’s house,” Beth said, and her voice cracked slightly, the only indication that her emotions were also in upheaval. “Good luck, Jayne.”
Destined (Goddess of Fate Book 4) Page 14