I stopped walking, my mouth falling open, my words tumbling out on a squeal. “You what?”
Siret tossed his hands up in the air. “You wouldn’t understand! It’s a running joke, between the gods. Staviti has been in love with Pica—the goddess of Love—since the beginning of time; she was the first companion that he created. But she didn’t love him. She eventually fell in love with Rau, and so Staviti banned all of the gods from pairing up, or having children together. He thought that it would be better for nobody to have a partner than for Pica and Rau to be together. Anyway, so to get around his rules, D.O.D.—our dear old dad—used his magic to disguise our mother as Pica. She ran to Staviti and asked him to gift her with children. It’s the only way to have children, in Topia, since Staviti controls everything. So she told him that she would finally love him, if he allowed her children. He agreed, and gifted her two pregnancies, on the condition that she not seek out Rau to be the father of her children. He obviously thought that if he took Rau off the table, she would turn to him instead.”
“Uh …” my brain seemed to be short-circuiting. That was all a little hard to swallow. “So he thought Adeline was Pica, and he allowed her two pregnancies?”
“That’s right.” Yael was the one who answered, this time. There was a wry smile twisting his lips. “By the time he found out that he had been tricked, it was too late. And being the asshole our father is, he manipulated the magic to get as many sons out of those two pregnancies as possible.”
“That’s …” Really messed up. “Impressive?”
Siret snorted. “Over the life-cycles, you’d be surprised by how many times Staviti has fallen for the Pica Illusion. It’s like he’s deluded, and every time it happens, he convinces himself that it really is her. That’s how desperately he loves her.”
“So you … disguised a beast of some kind as Pica,” I surmised, trying to keep my tone bland.
He grunted, and I took that as an affirmative. The other boys were smirking. They clearly still found it amusing.
“But wait …” I frowned, looking from one of them to the other. “If Siret is the one being punished, then why are you all down here?”
We had herded back into Siret’s room, since it was the closest, and Coen grabbed me by the shoulders, spinning me around.
“We stick together,” he said firmly. It was almost a warning, or an ultimatum.
The others were staring at me, but trying to be covert about it, like they were waiting to hear my response, or to see my reaction. A tiny smile hooked the side of my mouth, and I bit down into my lip, trying to curb it.
“Okay,” I said casually. “We stick together, then.”
Coen smiled—a real smile, wide and beautiful and completely disarming, almost knocking me off my feet as an answering happiness welled inside me, filling me to bursting with emotion.
For the first time in my life, as I stood surrounded by the Abcurses, I wasn’t worried about what the next sun-cycle would bring. Whatever the world of the gods threw at us, we would face it together.
And nothing would defeat us.
To be continued …
Acknowledgments by Jane
First and foremost, I really need to thank my husband. He clearly needs to get himself checked out (mentally) or checked in (to a mental hospital) because he’s still married to me and still bringing me coffee in the morning. And now he has to stay married to me, because I mentioned him in my acknowledgements and it’d be super awkward if he divorced me for someone less insane.
For Seb and Jesse, thanks for making sure my books are always above all your other books on the bookshelf. Even Game of Thrones. That’s sacrifice.
For Will, I don’t know where you’re displaying my books, but it better be above all your other books. I’ll be checking next time I visit.
For my dog, Mowgli. Thanks for waking me up at 6am with your stupid codependent barking. I hate you, for reals.
For whichever ancestor is responsible for giving me my overachiever genes. Dude. Thanks for nothing.
For the Washington Club, my review team, my street crew, and the Delusional Delinquent Reading Ninja Squirrels Book Club (we did one book and have mostly just examined food since then), you guys are all amazing. Really amazing. Thank you for the constant support; I’d be nothing without it.
And finally, for Jaymin. This has been one of the best experiences in my authoring career. You haven’t just made writing more enjoyable for me, but you’ve also made existing within this industry more enjoyable for me. You make me laugh daily, and I’ll never forget how many smiles you’re responsible for putting on my face, because they’re innumerable.
You’re amazing. Let’s be friends forever.
And it was really hard to think of all those nice things to say about you, just so you know.