by LM Brown
“As you can see, there’s nothing wrong.” Caspian shrugged and tried not to look as though he’d just been caught pleasuring himself to thoughts of his guest.
Marin took him at his word and returned to the guest room.
Caspian sighed and closed his door once more. What in the name of Atlantis am I going to do about this? He couldn’t throw Marin out to fend for himself. He had offered him a home for as long as he wanted it. Yet the longer they remained in close quarters, the harder it became to ignore his growing feelings.
Chapter Sixteen
Marin stared at the object called a television. He still didn’t understand how the device worked, but he didn’t need to. The picture on the screen showed Atlantis and the science teams who were reporting back on their explorations of the mysterious island that had risen from the depths of the ocean.
“You won’t find out anything new about Urion on the television,” Caspian told him as he passed him a mug of coffee.
“You don’t know that.”
Caspian sat down beside him. “If the sea dragons had been spotted by humans, Mariana would have made us all aware of it.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Oh yes, I’m sure.”
Marin turned back to the television. “Isander seems to think Urion will want to turn back into a human sooner or later.”
“He probably will. Despite his current appearance, inside he is still a man, with a man’s needs and desires. Of course, he can’t turn back without Mariana’s help, and she seems determined to keep her priests in this form. They give her a certain advantage over the rest of us immortals.”
“Why would she need that?” Marin asked.
“Because the Atlantean gods and goddesses have never seen eye to eye on anything. They have always sought to increase their powers, and right now, Mariana is the only one of them with priests. Well, save for Medina and Cari. My sister has her Oracles, and Medina has Jake.”
“Jake is a priest?” Marin wondered whether Caspian even realized he spoke of the other immortals as if he were no longer one of them.
“A somewhat reluctant one, but yes,” Caspian confirmed. “None of the others have bothered to enlist anyone yet. They hoped that raising Atlantis would increase their powers, but it wasn’t to be. We no longer have a place in the world of men.”
“You sound resigned to that.”
“I suppose I am.”
“The mer still believe in you.”
“Unfortunately, it isn’t enough. It might have been once, but your numbers are so few these days…”
Marin sighed. “And that’s my fault, of course.”
“No, it’s not. Anyway, my mother has undone her magic, so the mer will no longer decrease in numbers with each generation. We hope that will save your people from dying out completely.”
“Why did she undo it?” Marin asked.
“Because I asked her to.”
“Even knowing that it means this life I live now will be the last one for me? That I’ll return to the ocean in the way of the mer, instead of being reborn some day in this form?”
“Yes.”
Marin lowered his eyes. “What if I never grow to love you in this life?”
“Then so be it,” Caspian said. “I want you to love me. I don’t deny that. But I don’t want your people to suffer any longer.”
“Thank you,” Marin said, and he kissed Caspian on the cheek.
* * * *
Caspian arrived at the council meeting just as it was starting. He had no idea what it was about, but no one seemed to be taking much notice of him, so he guessed they hadn’t yet decided on his punishment for making Rafe immortal.
He took his seat and waited for the meeting to be called to order.
When Mariana stood to address the gods, Caspian was surprised. He couldn’t recall a time when she had been the one to summon everyone together. He supposed it must have happened on occasion, but it was infrequent enough for him to have forgotten.
“I wish to petition the pantheon for the most loyal of my priests, Urion, to drink from the cup of immortality,” Mariana said. “My high priest has served me longer than any other and I would see him rewarded for his devotion.”
Caspian stared at the goddess in silent horror. Around the table, several immortals were in a similar state of muteness. Others, like Medina and Odessa, made choking sounds. He wondered whether they were choking on their wine or trying to smother their laughter.
“You aren’t serious?” Cari asked. “Your high priest should have died centuries ago and is currently on a murderous rampage through the Atlantic Ocean. You can’t imagine that we would ever allow such a man to be made immortal.”
“Urion is obeying my orders, just as he has done for centuries, even when I was not around to guide him.”
“I vote against it,” Cari said.
Antar stood and raised his hand for silence. “We cannot vote on this immediately. Urion, whatever his faults, should be judged in the same way as any other mortal, before we cast our votes.”
Caspian could tell that Cari had already made up her mind, but there was something he was curious about. “I have a question.”
“Yes?” Antar replied.
“If he becomes immortal, what form will he take?” Caspian asked. “Will he be human or a sea dragon?”
“He will be human,” Antar confirmed. “He will have to take human form before he drinks from the cup, and he will not be able to change back again once he is immortal.”
Mariana made a noise as though she meant to argue, but Antar halted her with a glare.
“You don’t have the power to transform him again and you know it. And even if you did, it is forbidden for an immortal to take such a form.”
“Not in other pantheons,” Mariana said.
“You’re not in another pantheon,” Antar snapped back at her. “In this one, the immortals only take human form.”
“And how would you prevent him from taking another form?” Mariana asked with a sly smile.
Antar shook the room with his roar. “You are doing nothing to convince me to vote in your favor right now. And to answer your question, it would be a simple matter to make Urion immune to all forms of magic if he is made immortal. If you wish him to become immortal, then understand that he will be in human form.”
“Very well,” Mariana replied with bad grace.
As the meeting broke up, Caspian wondered whether Mariana’s request was such a bad thing. Urion in human form was a lot less destructive than a sea dragon. He had to talk to Marin about this new development.
* * * *
“Immortal?” Marin stared at Caspian in horror. “Are you telling me that instead of being punished for his crimes, the gods and goddesses are considering making him immortal?”
“Yes.”
“What sort of warped reasoning do they have?” Marin shouted. “They should be killing him, not making sure he stays around forever.”
“The pantheon didn’t decide this,” Caspian explained. “The request has been made by Mariana, just as I once requested the same for Phoebus.”
“Then they have to vote, as they did before?”
“Yes.”
“When will that be?” Marin asked.
“Probably in a couple of weeks,” Caspian said. “It doesn’t usually take long to come to a decision about such things.”
“Even less time when the one in question is a monster like Urion,” Marin muttered.
Caspian gestured for Marin to take a seat at the table. “The decision isn’t as straightforward as you might imagine.”
“What do you mean?”
“If Urion becomes immortal, he’ll be forced to give up being a sea dragon.”
“Oh. And he’s prepared to do that?”
“I don’t know. Mariana wasn’t happy to hear about that condition and I doubt Urion will be either. He seems to like being one. I never thought he’d stick to that form for so long.”
> “Me neither,” Marin said. “Isander thought he’d want to change back to have sex long before now.”
“Me too.”
“So, you think some of the gods might vote to make him immortal, just so that he has to turn back into human form?”
“Yes, I’m considering it myself.”
Marin glared at him. “But if he’s immortal, how am I supposed to kill him?”
“Well, there’re a couple of options,” Caspian replied. “The same way I instructed you when it came to Rafe, though you’d need a lot more practice since Urion won’t be chained in a dungeon waiting for you to strike the blow.”
“And the other option?”
“There will be a short period of time where Urion is human and mortal,” Caspian said. “During that time, he will vulnerable in a way that he hasn’t been for hundreds of years. You could strike him then.”
“The gods would allow me to do that?”
“It isn’t a question of whether they would let you or not. You have free will, after all.”
Marin nodded. “I guess I need to think about this.”
“Yes, you do. It may be that Urion will eventually tire of his sea dragon form anyway. If that happens, you’ll get a much longer window of opportunity to fight him.”
Caspian left Marin to consider what he had told him. He didn’t want Marin fighting Urion at all, but he knew there would be no way to talk him out of it. He just didn’t know if it would be best to wait indefinitely for Urion to revert to human form, or whether to speed things along by voting for him to be made immortal and give Marin the chance to kill him before he drank from the cup.
Chapter Seventeen
The next summons from the council came through before Caspian had finished drinking his morning coffee. It was tempting to wait until he had, but this time he knew what he was being called for. Since he was being summoned to face his punishment, he thought it perhaps better to go immediately.
“What is it?” Marin asked from across the table.
“I’m being summoned by the pantheon,” Caspian replied. “I should go and see what they want.”
“Is something wrong?”
Caspian guessed he hadn’t kept his voice as casual as he had hoped. “No, there’s nothing for you to worry about. I’ll be back soon.”
He didn’t give Marin time to question him further.
All the other gods had gathered already. From the look of them, they had been there for some time.
Caspian gave a bow of respect to his parents, but he didn’t take his usual seat.
“You know why you have been summoned today?” Cynbel asked.
“I presume you have decided on my punishment.”
“That is correct.” Cynbel took his seat and turned to his own father.
Antar rose and gestured for Caspian to come forward. “I won’t keep you in suspense, other than to say that we have not come to our decision easily. For making Rafe immortal without the consent of the gods, you will be stripped of your own immortality.”
The room swayed around him as his grandfather’s words registered in his mind.
“You will have one day to put your affairs in order, then tomorrow at dawn you will present yourself here for your father or mother to remove your powers.”
Caspian frowned. “But what of justice?”
“The world will be as it was before you were born, at least until such time as a new god is born and appointed to that position. It will not be the same as if you were killed in battle.”
“Will I retain any of my powers?” Caspian asked. He knew from discussions with Fabian, a former demi-god, that he had retained the power to communicate with sea creatures, though he had lost the rest. Caspian suspected that Mariana letting him keep that ability was nothing more than an oversight on her part. She had, after all, removed his demi-god status in the midst of an underwater battle, with the intention of killing her rebellious son.
“No,” Antar confirmed. “You will live as a mortal.”
Odessa coughed delicately. “You will still be able to visit this isle—however, you’ll have to do so the same way mortals do, via the crystal portals. I will see a crystal installed into your home, wherever you choose to live.”
Caspian nodded. He wanted to argue his case, but he knew it would be useless to do so.
“What of when I die?” he asked quietly. The words nearly choked him. He had never once truly considered his own mortality. Even in the midst of battle, the concept of death had seemed far removed from his reality.
“We believe you will be judged and move on in the same way as the Atlanteans once did, though we cannot say for sure since this is unprecedented.”
“I see.” Caspian pushed aside the thought of his impending death, which would hopefully be many years from now. He had a life to live before then and no idea what to do with it.
The room swayed once more and he stumbled forward. His mother leaped from her seat to catch him and guide him to a chair. “Leave us a moment, please,” she said.
Caspian took a deep breath, trying to stem his rising panic.
Mortal. Fuck.
As the panic receded, he heard his mother humming softly to him and a feeling of calm washed over him. He could tell it was his mother’s magic.
“Will you be the one to do it—or Father?” he asked.
“Who would you prefer?” Odessa replied.
Caspian put his head in his hands. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “Either way, I’ll be losing a part of myself, something I’ve had my entire life.”
“Yes, you will,” his mother confirmed. “But you’ll be gaining a lot as well.”
“Such as?”
“Um…”
Caspian chuckled but without much humor. “You know as well as I do that there is nothing to be gained from mortality that we don’t already enjoy as immortals.”
“Only the ability to grow old with the one that we love.”
“I happen to like being young,” Caspian muttered.
“As do we all, but how would you feel about remaining forever young while Marin aged and died?”
Caspian hadn’t thought about that. What am I going to tell Marin?
“You said yourself that you were unsure about offering immortality to Marin. Like Phoebus, he is mer and would have to give up that part of himself if he were to drink from the cup.”
“Marin and I aren’t a couple,” Caspian said.
“Not yet, but in time you will be.”
“Since when do you see into the future?”
Odessa smiled. “I don’t, but I have faith that you will one day win the heart of your merman.”
Caspian wished he shared her optimism.
“Where do you think you’d like to live?” his mother asked.
“I have no idea,” Caspian replied. “But if Marin is going to be a part of my life, it must be somewhere near the ocean.”
“You’ll have to make your mind up quickly,” Odessa warned. “As of tomorrow, you’ll lose your ability to magically move to any location you wish.”
“Bloody hell. I’m going to have to conjure up official papers to live as a human. I’ll have to learn to do things the mortal way.”
Panic washed over him again as thoughts of all the things he didn’t know how to do popped into his head. He wasn’t even sure he could make a decent cup of coffee without his powers.
“You’ll do fine,” his mother assured him. “You’ve been more a part of the human world than any of us. You even dress as modern men do.”
“I’ll have to get a job. What the fuck can I do?”
“Well, you could watch your language for a start.”
“Sorry, but I’ve never worked a day in my life.”
“You’ll find something and you’ll learn. Now, I suggest you go speak with Marin. He needs to know too.”
Caspian nodded, but he didn’t return home at once. Marin was expecting him to help deal with Urion. How was he going to tell him that he
could no longer do so?
Instead, Caspian transported himself to the island where Jake and his lovers lived. Perhaps the human in this ménage could give him some advice.
He found Jake making lunch and realized he would have to learn how to cook as well.
“Caspian, come on in,” Jake said when he spotted him at the door. “What can I do for you?”
“Can we talk?” Caspian asked as he stepped into the kitchen.
“Sure. Is something wrong?”
Caspian frowned. “Do I really only ever come here when something has gone awry?”
“Pretty much,” Jake replied. He waved Caspian to one of the stools at the counter and sat down too. “Help yourself to a sandwich.”
“Thanks, but I’m not hungry right now.” He would be soon. Tomorrow he would have to eat and drink to survive. He made a mental note to ensure that wherever he ended up living, he stocked the cupboards with easy-to-make meals that didn’t require any form of effort.
Jake studied him as though he were some form of strange creature he had never seen before. “What brings you here?”
Caspian drummed his fingers on the counter. “Is it hard to live as a mortal?”
Jake snorted. “I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about it. It’s not like I’ve lived as anything else to have a comparison. Why do you ask?”
Caspian shrugged. “As of tomorrow, I’ll be living as one.”
There, he’d said it.
Jake stared at him in silence. “What’s happened?”
“I did something I shouldn’t have done and the other gods have decided to strip me of my powers. Today is my last day as an immortal.”
Caspian expected Jake to ask what he had done to incur their wrath, but he didn’t.
“What will happen to justice?” he asked instead.
“It will be as it was before I was born,” Caspian explained. “Don’t worry. Justice won’t be gone from the world. I just won’t be able to help keep the balance.”
Jake breathed a sigh of obvious relief. “And what does Marin think about this?”
“I haven’t told him yet. I must, of course, but he’s not going to be happy about it.”
“What makes you think that?”