A Pirate for the Dead Goddess (Legends of Rahasia Book 2)

Chapter Two

-ODE, GODDESS OF DEATH-

We're in the Before, the place where the gods' energy is strongest. It's made of starlight and stardust and spinning little gemstones that hover in the silky-black expanse of the night sky. Three thrones, one a mirror to represent death. One of vines and scenes of beautiful humanity to show life. The third empty, the third throne that once held the place of the brother who betrayed Kane. Who blinded my husband.

         We blinded him in revenge, cast both traitorous brothers into marble and metal to remain for an eternity.

It's only fitting, that the gods live amongst the stars, where our stories are written.

         "I saw what you did, Ode."

         I take him in then, my husband, Kane, god of life. Silver hair falls to his shoulders, bare skin above a black-silk robe. Skin like obsidian, like it's made of the night sky. Eyes that glow silver, one tinged just slightly reddish to match the same color that mine were as a mortal. I try to pull him into a teasing embrace, but he just frowns at the blood on my armor.

         "You aren't even trying to hide that you slaughtered a bunch of mortals."

         "Kane, joon-am, my soul." I hold him to me, press my lips to his silver-haired brow. His handsome face, ageless, like a twenty-year old for eternity. His eyes, holding the wrath of an immortal god. "Those men on Akua weren't mortal for slaughtering a peaceful fishing village to get to their shells, to steal their livelihood and resources."

         "You know who else slaughtered mortals?" Kane points to the swirling energy of the Before, dark violet, thrumming like a living thing. I inhale, smell the scent of power, get drunk on it. Get drunk on the lifeblood of eternity that exists outside space and time. Outside of forever. "My traitorous brothers who also tried to turn the Emperor into a puppet. My parents who tried to slaughter their own children, who roasted human infants for fun! You're turning into a callous immortal like them."

"I killed as a mortal. I kill now, what's so different when I kill for justice?" I kiss him on the nose, having to hover a bit past tiptoe to reach since he towers so high above me. I haven't gotten the hang of just altering my height in an instant yet. "You can't be mad at me for your family's mistakes, Kane."

         "Why not?" His silver eyes run jet black in anger. I kiss him again and he softens this time, taking in a shuddering breath.

         "Because," I nod to my stomach. "It's going to expand."

         I have to use all my strength to hold his immense weight up as he slumps to the ground. How funny. He hears I'm with child and he suddenly acts like he's a regular human.

         "Oh, Ode, my love, I'm so happy—." He pauses, furrowing his brow. "Wait, that means you went on a warring expedition pregnant!"

         I wave his rage away as he bustles off to remove my bloodied armor, to fashion a soft robe from the Before's astral plane, the stars as thread, using the fabric of the sky and moonlit dreams as cloth. "It was a surprise for me too. I didn't know goddesses could get pregnant."

         "They can't. Not unless the entire fabric of the universe is going to get altered."

         I raise an eyebrow. "What?"

         "Yes," Kane rubs his hands nervously, moving to massage my shoulders and kiss my forehead. "My mother, the Matriarch of Truth, gave birth to my brothers and I, tried to kill us, and ended up in an eternal slumber after we defeated them. Then we ended up fighting an entire godly war that nearly tore the whole Empire and their neighboring kingdoms apart." Kane lists these choice facts off as I feign to yawn. He talks so much. I'm sure half the religious texts in Rahasia are just Kane speaking for almost the entire book or scroll, and I'm just a nicely drawn illustration of an epic battle scene that spans half a page. "Not to mention there's an entire coven of witches down there who still worship my mother and perform savage killings in her name."