Chapter 160 All for Lys
It happened during my wife's last performance at the Summit.
Hale and I were drifting towards the courtyard along with the other guests when the fierce business shark of a woman caught my eye. She held my gaze for a second, and turned away, the veil of her shimmery blue dress sweeping after her.
I darted a sideways glance towards Hale to find him squinting at his phone screen. I placed a hand on his shoulder and wordlessly turned away. Hopefully, he would assume I was heading for the bathroom.
Slowly weaving through the crowd, I came into open space and followed the mobile feminine figure through dim-lit corridors till she pushed a door open and walked into a richly furnished private lounge.
“I would hate for my spouses to find me here and assume something inappropriate.” I closed the door gently behind me.
“Spouses. Only you would use such a term.” She turned around, making a wry face.
“What do you want, Matron?” I sunk my hands in my pockets. She bared her teeth, her eyes flashing green.
“Can you not?” She looked around, as if an eavesdropper would suddenly jump out. “You cannot call me that here.”
I scoffed, but then my eyes fell on her mid-section, and I at once spotted the globe of golden light nestled behind her organs. An intimate creation no one else would notice. At least not without an ultrasound.
“Another demigod on the way? You work fast.”
“Ugh.” She cursed, threw her hand in the air and turned her back to me with a head shake. “Every conversation with you is a reminder why everyone is out for your head.”
“I’m assuming you did not lure me here just to say that?”
Her head whipped around, “Lure you? I came to warn you. Your time is up, you have to tell her. Tell her who she really is.”
I stiffened. And in a flash, heat curled like a serpent at my core. But when I spoke, my voice remained quiet, controlled. “What I do with my ascendant is no one’s business, least of all you lots who are responsible for this.”
I hated this. Hated every time I had to cheapen my wife’s value with that damned ascendant tag. But the only way to keep her safe from that bastard till I set my plans in motion was to never verbally name her for who she really is.
The sound from the performance outside swelled as we stood staring at each other in complete silence. Then an incredulous frown crossed her face, “You think I want to see that child die?”
“Child.” I could not help scoffing.
I was not the only old god in California. Several members of the Firstborn Senate enjoyed living in human form and every couple of centuries they descended to earth. But this woman standing before me was the most notorious for this habit. In fact, she hardly ever left, littering babies in the world who grew up to either be saints and revolutionists, or absolute demons.
Like Aionis.
Still, referring to the woman who was older than both of us as child, was outrageous.
I moved closer, resolved to end this conversation. “Channel your concern towards your spawn. The next time he crosses my path, I’ll do more than break his leg.”
Her gaze burned like a pair of green lasers as I turned away. “He is here.”
My feet halted.
“I know you enjoy the rebel tag, and prefer to believe everyone is against you. But I am on her side, this lifetime at least. Which means I am on yours as well.”
I turned back slowly to look at her as the temperature in the room shifted.
“Aionis is circling like a hawk, and he is gathering allies who…”
“I'll crush him.” I said before she could say more, but she snapped.
“Mordaine!”
The lamp behind her shook and then went still again. “That brute strength of yours never got you anywhere in the past. And this fight is hers, not yours. She can protect herself much better than you ever can, and you know it.”
Those words speared through my heart, and the lava at my core started to come to a boil. But again, I stomached my growl, a fight between the goddess of life and the cinder god was not something I thought any of the people here were excited to witness.
Besides, she was not the enemy.
“The best course of action right now is to tell her the truth.” Her gaze held mine, pleading almost. I hated that she was giving this theory life, vocalizing the truth into the air where Aionis could hear.
I regarded her for a second and then closed the distance between us one last time.
“The best course of action is silence,” I whispered through my teeth, breathing in that green air of health and nature that was her signature god scent. “The longer everyone keeps their mouths shut, the more chances…”
“I found out.” She cut me off. “Neither your Ashbounds nor the witch talked, but I found out. I found out because the veil is beginning to come apart." She winced. "I saw her true form with my own eyes at that airport, just as I now know your ward was the French guard. More people will find out in the coming weeks.”
She moved closer, dropping her voice.
“War. I know you can feel it, a great war is brewing. Aionis is desperate and will go to any length because this is his last chance. Tell her the…”
“Enough!” I growled before she could say the word and undo all my effort. Then I stepped back, struggling, really struggling not to feel an extension of the hate I felt for her son.
“You know what truth I think the ballerina would really want to hear? That her manager is the goddess of fertility, one of the Firstborns who placed a reincarnation curse on her to punish me.”
I left her standing with her mouth open and found Hale waiting in the archway.
“Was that Ms Villin?”
My heart skipped a beat, but my footsteps did not falter.
“Yes. I told you I intended to buy that company of hers.” I reached him, took his hand in mine, and breathed my first real breath.
This...
This was the effect the silver wolf always had on me, calmness and serenity. One look in those deep blue eyes and the world felt right again, running slowly.
“So she is your corporate spy, huh?” He chuckled in his signature teasing, easy way, his fingers playing with my wedding band. But when he raised his eyes to meet mine, his smile faltered.
“Are you OK?” Those blue eyes narrowed in concern, panic overshadowing their light.
I palmed his face immediately and brought our foreheads closer as I let out a deep exhale.
“I can’t wait for the party to end.” My voice came out clogged.
And my charming knight misinterpreted my statement, because his eyes lit up. I felt like a monster.
It gutted my very soul that I had to lie to him. Even if it was temporarily.
But it was for my queen. It was all for her.