Page 49 of Winter Goddess
"A distraction," I mutter. "She can build her own Gates, remember? She'll create one somewhere in the centre of this Realm and invade while we're watching the existing Gates."
"How do you..." Storm is speechless. Wow, the day I got to see that.
"Something has changed. My mind is different, More open. I canfeelmore."
"I'm nae sure I understand," Arc says, his aura fluttering with uncertainty. "What's changed?"
"My powers. My connection to the magic around me. I'm not sure if it was the coronation or the death of my mother, maybe both. I know things I didn't before. My mind has grown."
Only now that I put it into words do I understand the gravity of the new sensation. I'm even stronger now. I have knowledge, ancient knowledge, that is just waiting to be explored and made use of. Like how the Morrigan has acted in the past. How she thinks. How I created her.
Wait.
I didn't create her.
"My mother's memories," I whisper. "I can access some of her memories."
"That's crazy," Frost exclaims, but immediately adds, "and useful."
I try and locate the memories that aren't mine, but they're merged with my own. They have a slightly different taste to them, but it's almost imperceptible. I will need time to sort out what's hers and what's mine. This is going to be confusing as hell.
I think about the Morrigan and new memories appear. I smile at one in particular.
"The Morrigan was created as a warrior. That's how she thinks, in terms of violence and destruction. She also assumes that she's the only one to be like this. She doesn't expect us to take the first move."
"And we didn't plan to do that," Storm says slowly. "Are you saying we should?"
"Nobody knows that I'm awake. Her spies will not have been able to tell her otherwise... yet. She thinks we're weak and she's going to attack soon. Angus might be the only reason why she hasn't yet. We need to be faster than her."
"As soon as we tell our allies, she'll know," Storm points out. "She has spies everywhere."
"Oh yes, she does." I smile. "But she's not in their heads. I can be."
They all stare at me.
"I can feel the Gods in the Palace above," I explain. "I know I can talk to them telepathically. I also feel which ones are on our side. There's at least one who isn't, and two who aren't quite sure."
"Who?" Storm asks immediately, his aura darkening.
I concentrate my magic on the minds that stand out. They're like dark spots standing out amongst all the white, bright minds of the Gods. Guardians are more of a silver hue, and there's one pink dot that makes me smile. Blaze.
"Saturn is a traitor," I tell them. I've not talked to that God in person yet, even though I've seen him around. "Hades is undecided. His sister has persuaded him to join us, but he sees it as a lost cause. He'll turn as soon as he feels himself in danger. The other one I don't know... wait, I do. Aeolus, the God of Wind."
"Aeolus?" Storm asks in bewilderment. "He's been really supportive in the past. He's not very powerful and his Realm is tiny, but I never doubted his commitment."
I shrug. "He's scared. He might just need a little pep talk. Give me a moment."
I concentrate and block out the people surrounding me, focussing on the bright light of the God. He's going to get a bit of a shock.
"Aeolus!" I call in his mind, hoping that my instincts didn't deceive me about my new skills.
He shrieks internally and I have to suppress a smile. He's rather skittish.
"Your... Your Majesty?"
"Indeed. How are your battle preparations going?"
"Good, great, everything is ready." He reminds me of a hamster that's running around in his wheel, scared to jump out of it.
