26. Maeve

26

Maeve

L ydia owned not just the penthouse but two massive apartments that took up the floor below it, and so they split the party. Jen and Troy were staying in Lydia's largest guest room, Pike and Elias taking the other two. Corra, Nath, Cedric, and the High Priestess all went into one of the spare apartments.

Which meant Maeve and Rodan had one apartment to themselves, though they had offered to host the morning meeting. Though there had been some rest between the coronation and their departure, most of the time awake had been spent in making supplies for the castle and Realmsgate, and then traversing the pathways always took its toll. They were tired, all, and did not know what the morning would bring.

When she had inquired politely as to how Lydia afforded all this, in one of the most expensive cities in the nation if not the world, she had grinned. "One positive in living as I have, is it's like having an economic cheat-sheet. I know exactly what to do and when with my investments. I was a billionaire by nineteen this time around."

However fantastic the reason, Maeve was simply grateful for the privacy the spare apartment offered. This unit had three large bedrooms, one with three sets of bunkbeds in a U-shaped formation, and the other more like an office with a double bed. The last was a well-appointed primary, done in soft shades of blue and gray.

She stood staring at the bed as Rodan moved about the apartment around her, presumably checking for points of egress and, if the sound of it were correct, running the taps multiple times. They had taps at the castle at Realmsgate, but indoor plumbing was still something of the abnormal in the Realms.

Maeve felt the shift in air current as Rodan came up behind her, and the fine hairs on her shoulder rose the moment before his hands came down, the touch gentle.

"My love." His voice was the rumble of thunder. "Speak to me."

She closed her eyes and shook her head. She had been standing here more than twenty minutes now, and she swayed, leaning against him.

I want to fall into nothingness, she said through the bond, unable to form the words out loud. I want so much to disappear on a cloud of euphoria. I want drugs, Rodan, or I want to be fucked senseless. Neither is a good thing in this context, not truly. It's all escapism and avoidance.

She turned so she was looking at him, pulling his hands to her own, threading fingers. She gazed at him, willing him to understand.

I can't do that anymore. I'm a Queen now, in truth. You put the crown on my head yourself. Not only that, but I'm a mother. Sooner than I expected and differently than I expected, but … she took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, speaking the next part out loud. Her voice was remarkably steady. "What can I do?"

Rodan tilted his head.

"You were sole ruler for centuries." Tears were beginning to prick at her eyes. "What do I do? When I want to run away, when my whole body is screaming to disappear? What can I do, when I feel like this?" She was trembling by the end of it. She needed him to see. "I don't know how to do this."

"Oh, love," he murmured, and pulled her in for an embrace. She clutched him, but she could feel the tightness in her body. The tension of wanting to flee. "Relax," he whispered into her hair. "Right here and now, it's just the two of us. You can relax, when it's just us. You don't have to do anything at all, if it's you and me."

She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the tears that wanted to stream. "If I fall apart, if I break, then I'll let them all down."

"Not me," he said, his breath on her ear. "I promise you, I'll always be here to hold you when it all seems too much." His hands stroked down her back, and he breathed deep, inspiring her to do the same. "That's it," he said. "Just breathe."

Maeve hated this, in part. She felt like some kind of skittish horse being soothed, and yet—she had never been cared for like how he was offering, not truly. Rodan had already done?—

Maeve pulled in a breath, shocked.

She could not see. There was nothing but darkness.

"Rodan!" she cried, holding him tight, afraid to let him go would mean— am I back under the lake? It smelled like that place. If darkness had a smell, she could sense it now. "Don't let go."

"I've got you," he said. "Stay with me."

It had been closing in on sunset, but light had still been flooding the apartment. Maeve scuffed her feet and felt the carpet beneath, same as what she had been standing on. Not in the cavern, then , she thought. Still on Earth. Still in the same place.

Then why was it like this?

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

She did not want to say the name aloud, but she clutched Rodan closer, crying out the fear closest to her heart. "You can't have him!"

Laughter. The purring, black leopard sound, as though he were pacing around them. For all Maeve knew, he was.

My love? Rodan asked through the bond.

It's Ninack. He took my fire, he ? —

Pray for your father. Now.

Maeve wanted to argue. Lydia was above. She had heard the fear in her daughters voice. She was terrified of her grandfather.

"I've come for what is due to me," the god of darkness hissed in the pressing shadows, his words so very close.

Ankou—father? We need you here. Ninack is ? —

"Don't pray another word, little one," came a breath whispered against her cheek. "Do you think he'd come for you? Why? When?—"

"Of course I will come for my daughter," Ankou's voice split the dark, causing it to recede up the walls and along the ceiling. He stood so close to Maeve she could reach out and touch him if she chose, wearing the dark shadowed robes of his world, a hood pulled up to shade his eyes and cheeks. "You forget, brother, I will do anything for my family."

This time the laughter that flowed from Ninack was harsh. "Anything for family? Please."

Maeve still held Rodan, but as she heard laughter her head turned toward the source, beholding?—

Nothingness.

Her eyes strained to pick out features, but Ninack was a three-dimensional void, an absence taken shape.

Tears burned as she beheld the god, and she blinked as she continued to try to find his features. What she could tell, in profile when he moved, was he was tall and broad, with a strong nose and jaw. There was the sense of hair floating about, though it was like a mist and hard to pin down to any particular shape, only it was longer than her father's, brushing nearer the shoulders.

Maeve clutched Rodan, sensing his heart beating as fiercely and as fast as her own. He had been promised to Ninack by his father, though the deal had never gone through. Rodan had escaped Tartarus, and bound his father. That should have stopped things.

"The Fae lord is mine," Ninack said, a purring snarl in his voice. "I did not come for her, but I have had his name since he was born."

"No," Maeve said. "He is mine."

Rodan's grip on her tightened.

Ankou smiled, exposing brilliant white teeth. "You hear my daughter. She has claimant upon him. You are too late."

"Mine came before hers!" the god snapped.

"You had two thousand years to exercise your rights," Rodan said with a steadier voice than she could have managed herself. "But she is correct, and I declare I am hers. I do not, however, recognize your claim on me, god of darkness."

Maeve curled her fingers into Rodan's jacket, her knuckles white with her grip. "You said you would leave my loved ones alone. You vowed."

Ninack laughed, then clicked his tongue. "No, niece, I said I would not harm those envisioned. Rodan was not part of the sights I sent your way."

She bared her teeth at him, and he laughed again.

"Regardless, brother, you have taken much and more from my daughter. You will not take her bondmate. I forbid it."

"Do you?" Ninack rumbled, sliding forward a step, the darkness seeping in around the edges of the room. "And how will you stop me?"

"The balance, brother. Do not think your actions go unnoticed. If we do not restore order soon, we'll attract His attention." Ankou lowered his hood, golden eyes gleaming. "You want that as little as I do."

"He barely stirs," Ninack said, and though Maeve had the impression he was attempting to be flippant, she could sense the fear in his tone.

Fear?

What could inspire such a thing in the god of darkness?

"Even if he did, our purposes align," Ninack continued, gaining strength as he spoke. "He will thank me for doing this."

"No, Apep," Ankou said, his expression as sorrowful as his tone. "He will destroy you, and put something else in your place. But you will be gone. He does not appreciate anyone working against his will."

"This would be his will!" Ninack shouted, and it shook the room, illumination fading to almost nothing. "You do not see. You are a fool. This will benefit us, too, you and me. We have always been the most likely of allies, and yet you?—"

"I will never join with you, brother," Ankou stepped forward, sweeping his arms out and dispelling the darkness almost entirely. The room shone with the last slanting light of day. Beams of it hit Ninack directly, and still there was nothing to reflect off. The light sank into him and died. "You are as bad as Tegal can be when he's in his cups, but at least that's infrequent. You? You consume and consume with no thought to the consequences, and soon it will be your undoing."

Maeve and Rodan had gone very still. She was hoping, probably like him, that if she did not move she would not attract their attention. There was so much here she did not understand, but right now she was focused on sheer survival. They were the weakest things in the room, and there was the possibility of unintended casualties when dealing with the might of the gods.

Rodan's heart beat hard beneath her grip on him, but his gaze was all for Ninack, who stepped back, lifting his hands in surrender. "Fine," he said, words oozing with contempt. "Have your claim on him. It will be his doom."

Maeve opened her mouth, said, "What do you—" but by the time the words came out, the god was gone.

Ankou, however, remained, staring at the spot where his brother disappeared. "Siblings," he muttered. "Perhaps be grateful, Maeve my darling, you are an only." He shook himself. "Now. What are you doing on Earth?"

She released her hold on Rodan, stepping away from him and closer to her father. "What did he mean?" she asked. "When he said keeping the claim would be Rodan's doom?"

Ankou shook his head. "I have discovered a number of things since our last meeting, and I confess they are still but pieces of a puzzle I strain to assemble. I only hope I find the answer in time."

"Tell us," she demanded. "Maybe if we add what we know, we can figure this out together."

Ankou sighed. "My brother is gone for now, and there is much to be done. I understand you wish to know more, but I have many responsibilities. I am stretched thin as it is, and manifesting my avatar in a Nexus world is… a strain."

Maeve lifted her chin. "Surely there's a way? Something we can?—"

Ankou reached for her, and she pulled in a breath, though she stood her ground. He hesitated, seeing her nerves, and said, "I can simply give you what I know, daughter, but I cannot remain. There is too much at stake."

She stared at him for a long moment, and then nodded. "Do it."

He reached for her again, and pressed his pointer finger to her forehead. For a breath, there was nothing, and then?—

Maeve was slammed with knowledge. So much of it, so quickly, including sensation and vision, her knees went out.

Rodan caught her before she hit the floor, sweeping her into his arms even as the images and memories continued to flood into her, cataloguing and sorting as they went.

"That is what it is, to share memory amongst the gods," Ankou said. "She will be fine," he continued, addressing Rodan as her eyes tracked over images no one else could see. "But it may take anywhere up to a few hours for her to find her stride. Be patient, and pray for me if Ninack returns. Either one of you I will respond to, though Maeve will have the best ability to reach me."

She had a sense of her father leaving, but she was still processing, still?—

Is this how Lydia feels, when she starts again? All those memories coming into a too-small mind? For these were the thoughts and recollections of a god, and Maeve was now realizing just how intensely her father moved through the worlds.

"My love, can you hear me? Speak to me," Rodan said, setting her on the bed.

Maeve's gaze tracked to him, and she clutched his hands, mouth working, but?—

Let me in, he said through the bond, which she realized now was closed tight. She could barely hear him. Let me see.

She shut her eyes, opened the bond wide, and felt Rodan slip through.