Page 38 of Mischief Maker
But I know in my bones that I need him. My heart is certain that I shouldn’t be here, that I was searching for something else. As much as I wish I could have my mother back, this house, this woman, those cows with different names—they are not mine.
“Kireth,” I repeat, turning the word over in my mind. He’s the key to the puzzle, I’m sure of it. I remember flashes of him running through grasses, bathing in the river, lying on top of me as he carefully made love to me.
How is that possible? Surely that can’t be me with an ancient god. But I can feel that it’s real—as if his weight is still pressing me down into the bed. But why is he not here? Why aren’t we together now?
Then it hits me. I’m here for Kireth. I’m going to find him and take him back home with me, to our rickety house with the weak spot in the floor. We will play in the river and tend the farm together and enjoy each other’s bodies in the grass.
Throwing away my love for him won’t bring my mother back.
I stand up from the chair and push it in. Mother follows me with an inquisitive, slightly worried expression.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I know you’re not my mother.” This must be some trick of Lucia’s to keep me from my true goal.
Mother chuckles uneasily. “What do you mean, sweet pea? Of course I’m your mother.”
“You’re not.” As much as I wish she were. “Perhaps you don’t even know it. I’m not sure what you are, exactly, but I’m not here to live out a fantasy that can’t exist.” It feels like a weight is sliding off my shoulders. “You’re dead, Mother.”
And isn’t it time that I let her go?
She opens her mouth as if to speak, but nothing comes out. Then she reaches toward me with one hand, seeking me out, asking one last time if I’ll take it.
I turn around and walk out the front door because I can’t watch any longer. Wherever I need to go to find Kireth, I’d better start looking now.
Chapter Fifteen
Kireth
I can’t tell if time is passing fast or slow. Every hour feels exactly the same as the one before it. The other gods drink wine, eat fresh fruit and perfectly cooked lamb, and fuck often. I sleep more than not, hoping that if I can just pass the time, the memories will return to me.
All I know is that my heart is longing for something, craving something, and it isn’t here. Whatever it is, whoever it is—that is where my purpose lies, and this place is standing in the way.
“What troubles you so much?” Terano asks, leaning against the edge of the fountain as he drops a strawberry into his open mouth. The strawberry is not red, but purple, and the sight of it unsettles me. No one else seems to think these things are odd, and I feel more alone now than I ever did for the hundreds of years I spent entombed in my temple.
“I’m not supposed to be here,” I say, for what feels like the tenth time. “This isn’t right.” I can’t explain how I know it, but I do. Whatever happened, I’m positive that my mother had something to do with it.
“That feeling will fade,” my father assures me. “Get comfortable, Kireth. It is foolish to desire what you cannot have.”
I don’t answer, because there’s nothing I can say to dissuade him. He is the unyielding ocean, after all.
“There is someone coming up the mountain!” Anoinda stands high up on one of the platforms, completely naked, as she peers out one of the great windows. “Look! Down there.”
The other immortals are too sluggish with food and wine and pleasure to make it there in any quick fashion, but I hop to my feet and run up the steps to take a peek for myself.
Far below, the mountain levels out into a great, endless field. A small figure steadily climbs the rocky slope, one heavy step at a time. As the figure gets closer, I can just make out a long brown dress. Whoever she is, she hikes with one side of the dress held up in her hand, so it doesn’t catch.
Something about that gesture, the way this strange interloper carries the hem as she clambers over the next rock, is eerily familiar.
“It’s a mortal,” Anoinda whispers, awed. “What would a mortal be doing here?”
Terano crosses his arms. “Perhaps she is lost. Though I don’t know how a mortal would have come this far, not without help.”
Help. Yes, she would have needed help. And there’s only one goddess I know who isn’t present here, who would have the power to bring a mortal to this realm.
What is Lucia meddling in?
The mortal woman slips on a rock and stumbles, and I catch myself reaching toward her. Whoever she is, I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.
“What is she coming here for?” one of the others asks over my shoulder. He reeks of wine. “This is the hall of gods. She has no place here.”
