Page 78 of Alien God

“Me too,” I said thickly. “Mine died when I was just a baby. It was just my dad and me until... well, until very recently. Did you say your father is here?”

“Yes,” she said. “You have not met him. His name is Ashken.”

“Well, I look forward to meeting him then.” I pursed my lips, studying her, wondering how long the three of them had been alone here. “So, how does this work, exactly? You’re employed by Wylfrael? Are the Sionnachans tenants on his land?” His title of lord made me think of historical British lords who had vast lands and earned income from renting the farmland.

“Oh, no. Nothing like that. Wylfrael owns this castle, and the surrounding forests, because they belonged to his mother’s family. But no Sionnachans live on his land. Well, besides the three of us now. And yes, we are employed here. We are paid by the estate’s coffers.”

“OK... But how does Wylfrael have so much money then? Where did it come from?” If he wasn’t a lord in the sense I was used to, then how did he pay these three? I certainly hadn’t seen him doing anything that looked remotely like work, unless you considered bossing me around to be work. Which he probably did.

Aiko gave me an odd look.

“You... Forgive me, Torrance, but you really know very little of the stone sky gods.”

“Please! Enlighten me! I feel like I have no idea what’s going on half the time!”

“I... I should not. That should be something your husband tells you. It’s his history.”

I felt my expression sour. Wylfrael hadn’t even told me that he was putting me in his room, who knew how forthcoming he’d be about all this?

“Just tell me about Sionnachan history, then. Tell me about the things that have happened on this estate. That should be OK, right? You’re not telling me anything secret.”

“I suppose that would be alright. You do live here now, too.” She looked so happy at those last words that I felt a pang of guilt about the fact that if I had my way, and our plan worked out, I wouldn’t be here for long.

“Many generations ago, a stone sky god appeared in our sky,” Aiko began.

“Hold on. Sorry to interrupt, but what do you mean, appeared?” I leaned forward, my elbows on the table, as I gazed intently at her.

“He opened a sky door to Sionnach. We knew nothing of the stone sky gods before then.”

Holy fucking shit.

“Are you telling me,” I said slowly, “that he came here, flew here, from another planet?”

“Yes, exactly. That’s one of the stone sky gods’ many powers.”

I kept my mouth shut, but barely. I’d seen Wylfrael emerge from the sky myself, but I assumed he’d come from somewhere nearby. Not another fucking planet!

But then again, how would he have visited Rúnwebbe? She was on a different planet, too...

“What’s a sky door? How do they create them? They don’t even wear suits or helmets or anything?!”

“Ah, I’m sorry, I don’t know the answers to these things. Would they not be better explained by Lord Wylfrael?”

Impatience made me want to press her, but I didn’t. But my dear future husband better be ready for some very serious questions from this astrophysicist. Starting with, what the actual fuck?

“OK. Sorry. Please go on,” I said.

Aiko closed and opened her fists in a gesture I was starting to realize was something akin to a human nodding “Yes.”

“This stone sky god was Lord Cynewylf. He found his fated bride here, a Sionnachan woman named Sashkah. They married and had Lord Wylfrael.”

“So that’s why Wylfrael has some Sionnachan features. His mother,” I said.

“Yes,” Aiko confirmed. “The three of them lived here together until the Lord and Lady died.”

“What happened?” I asked, feeling a twinge of unwanted empathy for Wylfrael that he’d lost both his parents, just as I had.

“Lady Sashkah simply grew old. She passed of natural causes.”

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