Chapter 188: Grace
I stared at Maizie tiredly and nodded at her. This was the same conclusion both Rhys and I had come up with too. Both of us were too afraid to sleep, not that he would admit that. After leaving Sawyer’s room, we had come right to the office. Neither of us had really said much. The whole thing was quite upsetting and honestly, I just wanted to block it from my mind, but it just kept replaying on repeat, no matter how much I didn’t want it to.
“Why other gods?” Rhys asked curiously, bringing me back to the now.
“They were trying to kill you, not just chase you out of the realm. The protectors would have been warned by the Moon Goddess, but she was trying to keep you a secret, which leads me to believe that it has something to do with the other Gods.”
Other gods? I hadn’t even considered that to be a possibility. I hardly knew about Moon Goddess, let alone other Gods. I wasn’t sure that the Red Blood pack worshipped anyone at all. I had never even heard them talk about the Moon Goddess, let alone another God or Goddess. I wasn’t sure where I had even learned about the Moon Goddess. I surely hadn’t paid her any mind growing up, but I had always known she existed, hadn’t I? My head hurt with all the possibilities. This was all too much, but I was to be the Luna Queen. I needed to be brave.
I took a deep breath in an attempt to steady myself. Right now, I was safe. Rhys and I would face it together. We had no choice but to; we were in this together.
“Did the Red Blood pack worship anyone other than the Red Blood pack?” Sawyer asked, not taking his eyes off Maizie. I don’t know if he knew it, but he had barely taken his eyes off her since they’d walked in the room. I wondered if he knew how obvious he was, but Maizie didn’t seem to notice or care, if she did.
Maizie shook her head and turned to look at him. “Actually, we weren’t allowed to worship anyone. At least not in public. It was a little different when Luna Ava was alive. I know she herself worshipped the Moon Goddess, but when she died, Alpha Andrew banned it. No one talked about her. It wasn’t till I came here that I actually remembered she existed. Or at least was thought to.”
That was right. Luna Ava had been religious. Alpha Andrew, my dad, he hated it. He allowed her to pray, but that was it. We hadn’t had any ceremonies, dedications or rituals at all. At least not that I was aware of, but Maizie seemed to remember the same thing which made me feel better. I had been excluded from most of the daily life, and anything and everything important. I felt so far removed from that life, it was hard to think about it sometimes. I couldn’t believe I had been so complacent. I would never go back to that life. I would rather die.
“Why wouldn’t you be allowed to worship where you came from?” Sawyer questioned.
Maizie looked at me and then shrugged.
“I don’t know. I just remember my mom took it really hard, but it was really important to not get caught breaking any rules. Things got really strict. I was pretty young when I was placed in the program. The program was built for experimentation and punishment. If your family broke any of the rules, you were placed in the program. If you asked too many questions, you were placed in the program. If you had the right blood, you were placed in the program. It didn’t take much to have your life ruined and your family torn apart.”
“It doesn’t make sense.”
Sawyer was leaning forward in his chair, his elbows resting on his knees as he shook his head.
“What doesn’t?” Maizie asked.
“Why religion would just be banned like that,” Sawyer answered with a frown.
“I used to think it was because Alpha Andrew was mad at the Moon Goddess for taking his mate,” Maizie answered with her signature shrug. “But when he died, and things got even worse, I don’t know. It could have been for another reason.”
“We need to start those meetings. I’m not sure that we can wait anymore...” Rhys answered tiredly.
“I’m not sure we have a choice.” I interjected. “Unless you are going by yourself, which I don’t think is wise, we need to follow the order of our plans. The second we start trying to rush things, the more unprepared we are going to be.”
“She’s right,” Michael agreed. “I’m more worried about you guys getting stuck in the Land of the Gods.”
“I have that fear too,” I admitted. “If Rhys hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. I just thought it was a weird, vivid dream.”
Rhys frowned, and I forced myself to stay in my seat even though I wanted to walk over to him and give him any comfort I could. But now wasn’t the time or the place for that. There was nothing I could do right now to make any of it less heavy.
“Listen,” Heather said, “Let's go to breakfast, and then reconvene after the kids are in school. I think we all need a little time to process and think on this. Grace is right. We can’t rush any of our decisions. We just need a plan with multiple contingencies for every situation as well as the outcome likelihood of each of them.”
“Yea, that’s all.” Michael mumbled under his breath, and I gave him a small smile.
“Wait, no, I don’t want to miss this meeting!” Maizie exclaimed. “Do I have to go to school?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Rhys and I said at the same time, and I shot him a look of annoyance. I didn’t want to argue, but it seemed we were already heading that way.