Gentle waves lapped at the shore, a glaring contrast to the tsunami that had smashed into the sand the previous day. Lorne hoped this meant that Fayay had given up on Blashi. There were other Renaei-worshipping settlements for the Watine to attack, but Lorne was confident that in time those people would be able to defend themselves, even against sub-level gods.
Stark, it was almost too peaceful.
Lorne realised his neck was aching. He grimaced. Tense shoulders, tense limbs, finger twitching without a trigger to rest it on — he thought of another time it had been like this, when he’d still been at the Agency. They’d sent him on a mission to a supposedly peaceful settlement. And it had been much too quiet then as well. He’d barely made it out of the ensuing ambush alive, mostly thanks to the quick thinking of Lieutenant Pina-Sai, his colleague at the time.
Renaei glanced at Lorne, distracted by his unsettled thoughts.
Lorne shook his head. I’m sure it’s nothing, Ren.
She turned back to Silvia, satisfied that she did not need to pursue the matter or use her powers. Her trust in him was frankly terrifying.
Lorne frowned, suspicious that the stillness in the air was some sort of warning, and reaffirmed his grasp on his powers. Renaei was safe inside his telekinetic shield. Just as she had been during the tsunami. Nothing could hurt her.
He blinked rapidly, blinded by the glare bouncing off the waves. Oceania couldn’t read minds, but he knew his sister could. Surely the water god would find a way to use this against her.
Renaei always accessed the thoughts of the people she met and tended to trust them after that initial probe. She didn’t have the time or energy to constantly peer into everyone’s heads to see if their loyalties had changed; she was more occupied with using her powers to save the lives of those in danger.
Would Fayay really give up now?
‘Oh gods,’ Lorne murmured and began plunging into the minds around him.
It would take too long. There were so many people in the clearing. Hundreds of them. Keeping his mounting fear from his face, Lorne tried to think of a way to eliminate as many suspects as possible. Oceania had already tried to use his followers against Renaei without success. Which meant his only option was to tempt someone much closer to the tundra goddess.
Fayay would have made an appearance by now if he’d failed to do this.
Lorne was sure of it.
He abandoned the minds of the Blashians and the Driftwood and dove straight into those belonging to his own people. Merryn he was able to easily dismiss as a suspect. One down, two down — Rejos Michson. That weedy kid was paid the same as the rest of the guards and had the same abilities as them. But he was envious of Lorne’s power. And that made him vulnerable.
Lorne plucked out the relevant memory he found inside Rejos’ head and viewed it. Rejos had met with Oceania on the beach during the festivities the previous night and had vowed that he would kill Renaei in exchange for being gifted with telekinesis.
Rejos had eagerly volunteered to stay outside the clearing. He still had his weapon.
Stark! Lorne forced himself to breathe. Renaei was currently protected by his powers. The kid had to know that. Unless he’d decided to go after someone else first, someone who was in his way…
In the time it took Lorne to blink, Rejos had made his move.
‘For Oceania!’ the kid cried.
The lasbolts were like streams of fire burning their way into Lorne’s back; they disintegrated vertebrae and cooked vital pieces inside him. Lorne wanted to retch at the stench of scorched, ruined flesh, but when he dropped to the ground the wind was knocked right out of him. The pain was a distant thing, utterly unimportant. He had to make sure his telekinetic shield held.
And it did. Rejos’ next shots struck moss instead of the goddess.
Lorne abruptly lost control of his powers and went limp. He felt Renaei become a furious force of nature and heard her anguished scream, almost loud enough to rupture his eardrums. Moments later, Rejos crumpled to the ground beside Lorne, his body unmarked. It was the broken neck that had killed him.
Regret passed through Lorne. The goddess would never have forgotten her aversion to killing without his being injured. But she was safe. He wheezed out a sigh of relief.
‘Lorne!’ That was Renaei’s voice, so far away. ‘Oh, Lorne…’
Where was she? Her scent filled his nostrils and her lips were on his, wet with sweat and tears. He wished he could see her one last time. He’d closed his eyes at some point and it was a struggle to unstick them. His eyelashes seemed to be fused together.
If only… he thought.
‘If only what?’ Renaei demanded.
If only I could have been there for you when your mother died, if only I could stay here with you forever…
He was allowed to say the words now, he reasoned. He was dying. And even if the feelings were tainted by lifelong worship…it didn’t matter. He felt them.
I love you, Ren, he finally told her.
‘Lorne! You will stay here, I command you!’
But this was one order he knew could not obey.
• • •
The desert stretched into the horizon, baked and barren, its seamless sand broken only by a collection of flimsy buildings that had managed to weather more than sandstorm. Luckily, the residents of Carton City had an outpost of Chippers to shield them — and they enjoyed the patronage of a certain desert god. Renaei wasn’t sure why she’d sensed her brother’s presence on Ilbb, one of the galaxy’s least populated planets, but he was here. And that was all she cared about.
Lorne’s broken body lay on the ground beside her. Some of the sand was creeping up his sides already, as if it had a right to judge that this was his time to be buried, forgotten for an eternity. The rest of her guards were still back on New Sydney, anxiously awaiting the return of their true leader. She couldn’t let them down.
‘I will join you in your war against Fayay!’ she shouted at the nearest dune. ‘All I ask is that you heal this man! Please.’
What else can you offer me, sister? the Desine’s voice rasped, so low and so close to being blown away by a vagrant breeze.
Renaei crouched, a hand braced on Lorne’s chest.
‘My hatred of Fayay,’ she said. ‘Feel it. Know that I won’t betray you.’
I need more.
‘You — you lousy piece of shit!’ she exploded, leaping back onto her feet. ‘The man I love is dying because of Fayay, your enemy, and you’re bargaining with me?’
A dark laugh slid over the dunes, heralding the arrival of the Desine in his human form. Sandsa strode towards his sister, a tattered brown cloak billowing out behind him and dislodging the blond hair that had been gathered up inside the hood. He gave Renaei an even stare, his blue eyes bright in the evening gloom. ‘It means I can prise more from you in this bargain.’
‘Are you now so bitter that you can’t do anything out of the goodness of your heart?’ Renaei demanded.
Sandsa glanced down at Lorne. ‘He has barely a minute left.’
‘I can give you an army,’ Renaei said quickly. ‘An army with my powers. Serving me, but following your orders. Is that good enough, Sandsa?’
It evidently was. Sandsa knelt and extended his hands over Lorne. Bright light gathered beneath the Desine’s palms before descending, forming a cocoon that hid the mortal entirely from view. Beads of sweat gathered along Sandsa’s forehead and his blue eyes began to dim.
Renaei bit her lip, forcing herself to stand still. She had to trust Sandsa with her lover’s life, hard as that was.
After several tense minutes that felt like an eternity, the healing light receded and Sandsa sagged to the side, his face pale and slick in the moonlight.
Lorne woke with a gasp. ‘Ren? Ren, where are you?’
I’m here, my love, I’m here, she assured him.
Lorne relaxed against the sand, his breaths slowing and growing deeper. Tears dashed down Renaei’s cheeks as she
collapsed onto her knees and kissed him again and again, desperate to prove to herself that he was alive. When she finally remembered to look up and thank her brother, Sandsa was standing over her, envy creasing his expression. Renaei recalled that his wife had left him a quarter of a century ago, after somehow finding a way to avoid his detection.
Sandsa’s eyes fell to the scars on Lorne’s temple. Renaei held her breath. Her brother’s loathing of Chippers was legendary. But he surprised her.
‘We do so much more for our mortals than those Chippers ever could,’ Sandsa muttered. ‘Look after him, Renaei.’
‘No, Sandsa,’ she corrected. ‘He looks after me.’
The Desine cleared his throat. ‘Mortal. Stop trying to get into my head. It is pointless to try.’
Lorne blinked up the desert god in astonishment. Sandsa had effectively blocked all attempts to peer into his mind.
‘Renaei sacrificed much to save your life,’ the Desine told Lorne. ‘She loves you. I suggest you do not waste a single moment with her, because there is a chance that not all of us will survive the upcoming conflict. Farewell.’
The Desine bowed his head, his body transforming into a figure of sand that dropped and merged with the ground. Renaei stared at the space he had vacated. She had half-expected him to refuse to help her until she had felt an unexpected surge of sympathy from him. He also had something he didn’t want to lose. But his mind had been too well guarded for her to see what it was.
‘Ren?’ Lorne prompted.
She threw himself at him and he caught her, cradling her against his broad chest. His lips settled on her crown, a gentle pressure that sent a delightful thrill racing through her.
‘Sandsa, the desert god,’ she said by way of explanation.
‘Was he right? Do you love me?’
‘Of course.’
Lorne grimaced. ‘I meant…more than a goddess loves her subject.’
Renaei buried her smile into his neck. ‘Yes. I realised it last night, when you held me and took all of me. The goddess and the woman.’
‘Good, I think that’s when I figured it out too.’ He suddenly stiffened, his voice now tight with tension. ‘Ren, I’m done wasting time. And if I’m going to lose my life in this conflict or whatever it is, I don’t want to have any regrets. Will you marry me? I know it’s a bit sudden, but…’
‘Oh, Lorne. I’ve wanted this for so long, even if I shouldn’t have.’ Renaei laughed weakly. ‘But that’s not the issue. Marrying me would make you immortal. I’m not sure you’d be okay with that small but significant catch.’
He lifted her hair out of her face, his thoughts warm and content. ‘Catch? I’d love to spend eternity with you, my goddess. I can be there for you, which is my greatest wish. And I can keep you out of trouble.’
‘Or help me get into it,’ she added coyly.
• • •
The scent of sizzling muskox meat filling his nostrils and the sight of a naked woman leaning over him so that her breasts hung near his face — this was definitely how Captain Lorne Lavine wanted to wake up for the rest of eternity.
He blinked sleepily at his wife, then yelped when she yanked the blankets off him. It wouldn’t be so starking cold if she hadn’t insisted on fiddling with his house’s climate control system. She had confessed to him that she was much more comfortable when she wasn’t wearing clothes, no matter how cold her domain became.
Lorne briefly entertained himself with the thought of chasing her nude form across the nearest plateau.
‘Maybe later,’ Renaei told him in a low voice.
She dodged his amorous hands and danced back to the kitchen to finish making their breakfast, sorely needed after a long night of lovemaking. It had taken some doing, but Lorne had found and hit her limit. He still felt pretty smug about that.
Smirking, Lorne went hunting for boots to encase his aching feet. He paused when he caught sight of the scars on his palms. Binding scars, that’s what she’d called them. Their skin had been sliced open by an invisible blade, their blood had mingled, the cuts had healed — and suddenly he’d become immortal.
He didn’t feel immortal. Just vaguely irritated that all they’d had for a honeymoon was one night together — one night after him nearly dying — and now he was supposed to help her create an entire army so that she could join forces with the desert god against Fayay. Three guards had remained on New Sydney to train the Blashians and the rest of them had bunked down in their ship. Renaei had used her powers the previous night to teleport the vessel to a position right near Lorne’s home on Velde. According to her (and Lorne had made sure to confirm it), the ground didn’t mind the heavy starship being parked on top of it.
His subordinates would probably throw winks and lewd comments at him when Lorne went out to see them. He wondered if telling them he was married to their goddess would forestall some of that.
Probably not, Lorne thought, resigned.
He was very glad he’d put clothes on before wandering into the kitchen because for some reason he couldn’t fathom, the Guards of the Goddess were seated on his stools and eating off his plates. Lorne transferred his stare to Renaei, who was wearing one of his bathrobes as she flounced between the stove and the counter.
‘Hey, Captain!’ Merryn called. ‘You look like you could use a sleep-in. What did you get up to last night, huh?’
Lorne scowled. ‘Ren, I was hoping to have you to myself for a little longer.’
Renaei set down the pan she was using and arched an eyebrow at him. ‘We don’t have a lot of time to waste, husband.’
He expected some sort of stunned reaction from his guards, but they kept right on grinning.
‘You didn’t knock her up, did you?’ Merryn asked with a wink.
Lorne blanched. ‘That’s not — that’s not possible, is it?’ he finished, looking at Renaei. He shouldn’t be able to impregnate anyone because he was effectively sterile, but his wife was a goddess and he had been heading for the afterlife less than a day ago. Nothing would surprise him at this point.
‘No, it’s not possible,’ Renaei assured him. ‘But we can merge our genetic material at one of those clinics when we want children.’
‘I think we have enough children for now,’ Lorne muttered, appraising his guards.
Their snickers quickly became cheers and whoops as he sprang over the counter to embrace his wife. Her green eyes sparkling, Renaei leaned in and gave him a long, lingering kiss, as though they had all the time in the galaxy. Which apparently they didn’t, despite being immortal.
Lorne drew back to smile at her.
Did it matter what happened next, so long as he had this amazing woman in his arms? So long as she had him to keep her safe?
He swooped in for another kiss, his hands sliding between the robe and her skin.
‘Not in front of the children!’ Renaei whispered loudly.
The Guards of the Goddess burst out laughing. More than one of their number began to make the lewd comments that Lorne had been expecting to hear from them. They soon shut up, however, when he threatened to make them clean their weapons for the rest of the morning.
About the Author
Alyce Caswell lives in Sydney, Australia with zero cats, one husband and one son. When she isn’t drinking her way through a giant pot of tea, Alyce is a keen reader and writer of science fiction and fantasy.
You can contact her via e-mail ([email protected]) or on Twitter (@alycecaswell).
Also by Alyce Caswell
The Galactic Pantheon Series
The Tortured Wind
The Twisted Vine
The Flickering Flame*
The Shifting Ice*
The Whispering Grass*
The Creeping Moss*
The Galactic Pantheon Novellas**
*novella
**collection
The Galactic Pantheon Novellas Page 25