Paldimori Gods Rising Box Set

by T. L. Callahan

  “I’m sure I’ll enjoy whatever’s available,” I said hesitantly unsure now that I’d already made a fool of myself once. My stomach tightened with nerves. I tried to joke my way out of the awkwardness. “You can blame Mr. Short-on-Details for my last-minute addition. Next time you should tell us to fix our own dinner if we’re going to be so late.”

  The slight compression of Selene’s lips was the only outward sign of her displeasure, but I felt the weight of it curl around me as if her emotions were an intangible force. Ann sputtered in shock before she recovered herself and gave me a strained smile. “I would never leave a Kyrion to make their own meals, my lady. It is my privilege to cook for you both.”

  “I thank you for staying late, Ann,” Bennett said, before I could apologize for my blunder. “Though, you should have left this to the others. Take tomorrow to rest.” Ann tried to protest, but he pulled on his commanding Kyrion voice. “The kitchens will run without you for a day. You will rest tomorrow, that is an order.”

  “Yes, Kyrion Bennett. I will send the others out to see to the meal,” Ann replied with another bow before disappearing through a door along the opposite wall from where we had entered.

  Bennett led me around the table to the first chair and left me standing there before moving to the chair at the head of the table. Selene took up position behind the chair directly across from me. A man and two women servants in all black entered the room from the door Ann had exited through earlier. The male servant pulled out Bennett’s chair, helping him to sit. Then the women, in turn, helped me and, finally, Selene.

  I started to reach for the water glass, but Selene’s pointed look stilled my hand. I waited awkwardly while the female servants loaded plates again in the same order. This was all wrong. Any minute now I expected to be told women were to remain silent and subservient. That wasn’t me. I was opinionated and, even if I didn’t like the spotlight, I was used to making my own decisions. I had owned my own art gallery back in Port Lawson, for god’s sakes, and now I was being treated like an invalid.

  Bennett raised a black goblet, and Selene copied him. I picked mine up too, thinking we were going to do a toast; instead, the two of them began speaking in unison. “God of Chaos, hear my plea. Bless my House and this bounty you have given me. Save my soul for the skies, and keep my Kyrion ever wise. Rise gods once more and let my powers through you pour.” Then they shouted, “Anerrhiphtho kybos!” This must have been the prayer that the guides had said at the meal where I met the other Potentials during the Games. The one where Nikki, aka Busty Bigmouth, had been talking too much for me to hear it at the time.

  The bizarre meal continued as Bennett took a bite of his potatoes, and we were free to eat. Selene carefully selected one of the lemon tarts from the pile that covered half of her plate and took a dainty bite making me feel like a complete slob for having shoved the entire thing into my mouth earlier. I poked at the roast, my mouth watering, but my stomach still heavy with nerves. This was like meeting your boyfriend’s parents for the first time and knowing that they found you unworthy of their son.

  “What did that mean?” I asked to break the heavy silence. “That thing that you shouted at the end of your prayer.”

  “It is an old Greek motto that translates as ‘let the die be cast,’” Bennett explained, swirling the wine in his goblet before raising it toward the wall across from me. I had been so caught up in my bungled first introductions that I hadn’t noticed the mural covering the wall on either side of the doorway where we had entered. The vivid strokes of the painting were amazing, and I would be across the room in a heartbeat studying every line if I wasn’t worried about breaking another rule.

  A dark man-shaped figure floated in a starry sky. Galaxies spun in his eyes, and he seemed to be pulling from the very fabric of space to weave together streams of power. The six gods and goddesses I was becoming familiar with floated around him. The color of their powers danced around the dark sky-god’s fingers and surrounded their six robed forms. All around them strange worlds, people, and creatures were being created or destroyed. “It is our way of acknowledging that we all play the games of gods. My people were once gifted with visions that showed us the possibilities that are fated, each thread tied to a pivotal choice. But as our powers have faded, the gift of visions was lost to us. Now each day is a gamble and our fates dark to us.”

  “I don’t believe that,” I said, setting my fork aside. “You said yourself there’s choice involved. I have to believe that people can change their lives, or I wouldn’t be here.”

  Bennett held up a hand to stop Selene when she would have said something. “She does not know our laws. That is why I have brought her here. You must teach her, Selene.”

  “Bennett,” Selene said in a hard voice that communicated her reluctance, “she insulted your hospitality twice this evening and basically spouted blasphemy just now. How do you expect me to teach all that we have learned over a lifetime in a matter of weeks?”

  “I did not say it would be easy, little rabbit.” Bennett’s hand covered hers where it was pressed hard against the table. “I said only that you are the person fit for the job. You know all of the recorded history in our library, and my mother trained you alongside me. You know how to be Kyrion as well as I do.” Selene’s shoulders pulled back in pride at his praise. “You are nearly as strong in power as Kafàli Harris. If not for our laws and my father’s insistence, you would have been leader of the guides. But it is you—my Archai, my adviser—that I trust to run this House in my absence. It is only you I would entrust with this task. Will you teach Lia, my friend?”

  Something flickered in Selene’s golden eyes too quickly to name as she stared at Bennett. The moment drew out, tension charging the air as we waited for her decision. Jealously clawed at my chest, and my hands trembled to pull my boyfriend away from her. Keep it together, Lia. Selene isn’t trying to steal your boyfriend. She’s his childhood friend. Besides weren’t you just giving yourself a pep talk about not monopolizing him?

  Selene turned to me, her voice quiet yet fierce. “We are a race far older than your humans. You might consider us old-fashioned, even barbaric. But this is our way of life, and these are now your people. We have pride and great respect for our Kyrion.” The love for her people and Bennett was obvious in every passionate word. And she was right. Who was I to judge them? I was the newcomer here, and I would have to earn my place amongst them.

  “Lia, will you swear to respect our traditions? To follow everything I tell you, and take your studies seriously?”

  My legs shook under the table, and I pressed my hands to my knees to stop them. The inborn need to run from this commitment was strong, but I was stronger. I was only now starting to realize my inner strength and to find my true self. Would letting them mold me into a Kyrion take me further from that goal or closer?

  I wasn’t perfectly poised, graceful, or diplomatic like Selene. I was awkward and uncomfortable with their social hierarchy. My temper and my mouth could take on a mind of their own. Yet, I was marked as a member of the House of Chaos and was bonded to its leader. Bennett was tied to this world in so many ways that if I rejected this, then I could lose him too.

  “I can’t guarantee that I won’t get mad or try to change things if I think they’re wrong.” Then I said the words that would take me down a path I never anticipated, “But I promise to try my best to become Kyrion here.”

  “I’ll take it,” Selene replied with a hint of respect for my honesty. “We are agreed. Your lessons will start tomorrow morning at dawn in the throne room.”

  “At dawn?” I asked, already dreading the morning. I wasn’t a bed slug like Dia but that was early even for me. I ignored the pang that thinking of Dia caused. Maybe my time here would help me work through the heartache and come up with a solution.

  Bennett gave Selene’s hand a squeeze, then let it go. “Thank you, my friend.”

  Selene picked up her wine and drank it down. “Don’t thank me
yet. We only have two weeks to make Lia ready.”

  We all winced as my fork screeched across the plate completely missing the piece of roast I was aiming for. “Two weeks? That isn’t enough time. I was thinking maybe a few years.”

  “Only Selene knows we are already fully bonded,” Bennett said casually, stirring his soup. Dark brown eyes met mine and for a moment there was sympathy there. And something darker that sent a jolt of unease through me. Then the mask of the Kyrion fell over them, cutting off all emotion. “Word of your identity will not remain secret for long. I cannot make excuses to keep our people from meeting you. The Bonding Ceremony will take place two days from now and the Coronation Ceremony in two weeks. That is all the time I can give you.”

  “What if I’m not ready by then?”

  It was Selene that responded. “Here with only the three of us there is a kind of safety. But if you publicly break our laws, Bennett will have no choice but to punish you.”

  There went my appetite again.

  4

  “Creations change.”

  “No!” I screamed into the humid air of the Emerald Rainforest at Titan Tower.

  The voice sounded again. That cold, emotionless voice that had invaded my body the night I touched the statue in Bennett’s courtyard. “Life is change. Change is life.”

  Not Dia. Please, not Dia. You bastard gods, leave her alone!

  Roots speared into Dia’s wrists, and she started screaming. I stood ready to battle the gods themselves to spare her this pain. Just as I darted forward Bennett grabbed me about the waist, lifting me off my feet as I kicked and fought to reach her.

  “This is the way it has to be, Lia,” Bennett said with a grunt as I landed a kick to his shin. “The Goddess Gaia will not be denied. You help no one by trying to interfere. You cannot fight a god. You must let Dia be claimed.”

  “You don’t know what it’s like,” I cried out, desperate to make him understand and let me go to Dia. “To be claimed by a god like that. You’ve always had your powers and known who you are. Dia and I have been living a lie this whole time. Then some all-powerful gods shove their hand up our asses and make us dance to their tune like puppets. None of you have any idea what it means that we’re Chosen or what will happen. Don’t you dare tell me to sit back and accept this.”

  The wind surged around us rustling the trees. A burning sensation filled my veins and started to build in intensity. My gaze locked on the spot where my best friend hovered in the air, her blood raining down to soak into the ground. Helplessness hollowed out my insides. My struggles ceased, and I slumped against Bennett’s hard body. Acid poured into me, the pain pushing out everything else until I dropped to my knees panting. Bennett kneeled in front of me shouting in concern, but the pain dug its claws into me and would not let go. It filled me to overflowing. Then burst out in an explosion of fire.

  The ground trembled. I floated into the air. Anger, fear, and pain were all I knew. They consumed me as white light poured from my eyes. Somehow Bennett reached me and wrapped himself around me. He blasted through the door to our connection, “Forgive me. You must control the power, or you will kill us all.”

  I bolted upright in bed, clutching my stomach where I could still feel the phantom sensation of Bennett siphoning off my powers that day that Dia had been claimed. I dropped my sweaty forehead into my palms and took a shaky breath. Fear and anger clung to me, making my head pound.

  God no, not again.

  When Dia had been claimed, my own powers had gotten a boost. Where once it had taken great concentration to locate the powers inside me, now they glowed at my center like an iridescent ball of irritated fireflies. And my emotions seemed to be feeding the frenzy. The fireflies took flight swarming through my body to leave trails of fire in their wake, and my breathing hitched. It felt as if that fire was pulling all of the oxygen from this huge bedroom where a servant had deposited me last night—alone.

  I flung off the white comforter with embroidered silken poppies and rolled to the right side of the king-sized bed. Reflected in the tall gold-trimmed mirror which took up a large portion of the wall opposite me was a painting of a beautiful woman in a formal gown which hung over the bed. I looked out of place, reflected there next to her in this elegant room in my T-shirt, Snatch Dragon underwear, and messy bed-head.

  My chest heaved as I struggled to hold onto the power, but it was no use. Fire lit up my palms and climbed my arms. I had learned, after a few accidents at my parents’ house, that a cold shower worked really well when this happened. Leaping from the bed, I raced across the wooden floors toward the bathroom, hoping I would make it in time.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t familiar with this new room in Bennett’s home and tripped over the edge of a rug sending a wave of fire surging out of me. The antique-looking red brocade couch and chairs in the sitting area near the fireplace burst into flames. The golden-hued rug also covered in red poppies disintegrated into ash around my prone body leaving only the outer edges untouched.

  “Lia!” Bennett called through our connection, having no doubt felt my panic. He appeared beside me seconds later and pulled me to my feet. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine, just turned into a human torch again,” I replied sarcastically, squinting as Bennett used his telekinesis to turn on the lights, brushing his hands over my arms as he searched for injuries. “I’m pretty sure I killed your fancy furniture,” I grumbled, looking at the charred remains. “This is why we can’t have nice things.”

  Bennett glanced briefly at the destruction but didn’t bat an eye. It wasn’t like I hadn’t set things on fire before, although, it wasn’t usually this bad. It was going to take me hours to clean up this mess. His gaze swept the rest of the room and paused on the painting. A confused look crossed his face before he turned back to me. Bennett flicked ash from my hair, his lips twitching as he tried not to laugh. “I thought as my wife you might want to redecorate anyway.”

  “Sure, laugh it up, wizard boy,” I teased, shooting a feigned glare his way. “We can’t all be magical prodigies like you.” I wiped an ash-coated finger down his cheek leaving a trail of soot behind to break up all of that masculine perfection. The muscles in his bare chest flexed beneath my gritty touch as my hands wandered lower of their own accord. The man was a sinful temptation, in or out of clothes. It boggled my mind every time I realized he was all mine. “And it’s girlfriend, not wife.”

  Bennett had tricked me into marrying him in the ways of the Paldimori because he had wanted access to my powers to help defend his people from their enemies. At least, at first, that was his reasoning, but somewhere along the way we fell in love, and everything changed. He still had a lot to make up for, though. Our agreement was that we would try dating to get to know each other better before I would acknowledge myself as his wife and put the ring that now hung around my neck back on my finger. But secretly I got a little thrill every time he called me his wife. As much as I loved poking at that infamous control of his, I was starting to wonder why I was still protesting against something I wanted just as badly as he did: to let the world know that we belonged to each other

  “You will get there with time, asteràki.” Bennett sucked in a breath when my touch slid over his hard abs, and he grabbed my hands to keep them from traveling lower. “You need to practice with your powers more.”

  “We’ve been training non-stop.” An exasperated breath puffed out of me sending more ash falling to the floor. I pulled away and started rolling up the carpet. “I’m tired of being isolated from everyone.” I stopped rolling and sat back on my knees as I looked at him over my shoulder. “Not that you and Grayson haven’t been great about trying to help with my control, but I can’t stay locked away here in Prometheus forever.” Bennett and Grayson were like security blankets that helped me control the powers when they were around, so I wasn’t a danger to others. But I had missed Dia horribly while training. What was I going to do now that she had booted me out of her life completely?
And how was I going to tiptoe my way around the people in Bennett’s house without blowing someone up? Heartache and worry filled me, and my powers stirred again. I quickly went back to trying to clean up the mess to distract myself.

  Bennett gripped my arm and pulled me to my feet once more. “Leave that for the servants.”

  “Are you serious? Look what I did,” I said, sweeping my hand out to indicate the destroyed sitting area. “This is worse than anything I’ve torched before. If I’m going to be a walking time-bomb the least I can do is clean up whatever I destroy. And can’t we call them something besides servants? It makes me think of slaves and has me itching to stage a revolt.”

  “Leave this. They serve, that is why they are called servants. If you revolted, you would do so alone. It is an honor for them to fulfill their duty,” Bennett declared, refusing to let go of me so I could go back to cleaning. I frowned at him wanting to argue, but his finger gently traced the dark circles that lived permanently under my eyes these days. “You are tired and worried. Your sleep has either been interrupted with bad dreams or you have been too restless to go to bed. Most nights when we stayed at your parents’ house, I found you dozing in the library surrounded by piles of books.” His hands landed on my shoulders, kneading my tight muscles. “You cannot keep pushing yourself this way.”

  “I know. It’s just that I feel this sense of urgency.” Even thinking about all the questions left unanswered had my chest clenching with anxiety. Time was running out. The Paldimori Games had to be completed within the calendar year, which only left a few months. Dia and the other contestants would be completing the second competition in a few days, but there were still four more to go. Somehow, I knew that this quest I had been tasked with was tied to that timeline as well. “Titan said I was the one who had to find the twin Houses. If I don’t figure this out, something bad is going to happen. Don’t ask me how I know that. I just do.”