Page 132 of Broken Veil
Duncan cocked his head. “So then every time we stop putting our faith in something—started thinking it was a myth or folklore—it moved from our world into the Shadowlands?”
“We are born in halves” —Carys looked at Duncan, then Lachlan— “because we continually reject parts of our own nature.”
“Shadowkin have always existed.” Donna brushed the back of her hand along Lachlan’s cheek. “Because the human mind cannot survive in contradictions. Not as the gods can.”
Oshun looked at Carys. “There are worlds within worlds within worlds. You see the Shadows and the Light, but we see all of them.”
“And they are all beautiful.” Lakshmi’s face took on a radiant glow. “But the tender creatures of magic” —she put a hand on Naida’s shoulder— “would be crushed out of existence if the worlds collided as the Morrígan desires.”
“She wants all of them.” Oshun’s dire words echoed through the bookshop. “One world is not enough for her.”
“She can’t help it,” Donna said. “She can only be as she is.”
“She is three and she is one,” Lakshmi said. “She must have everything or she would have nothing.”
Duncan murmured, “Gods are contradictions.”
“That is why the horse goddess bound the Morrígan to one world,” Donna said. “And that is why she must be bound again or none of the worlds will be safe.”
“So the Morrígan can’t help herself,” Lachlan said. “Shemusttry to conquer the world and create war.”
Laura added, “And it’s not like it’s a hard push for humanity these days.”
“As it has ever been,” the three goddesses said in unison.
“I understand that,” Lachlan said. “But how does that help Carys?”
“Because in the circular way of things, the heroine has already defeated the goddess,” Lakshmi said. “She simply has to realize how.”
“Not. Helpful!”Carys paced around the library of their borrowed house in Mumbles, a small town just south of Swansea.
Duncan had called another friend from school, and that friend had an oceanfront “cottage” with five large bedrooms that sat empty for most of the year and a garden house in the back that Angus had claimed as his own.
Floor-to-ceiling windows lined the front sitting room, which also contained a decent library where Laura had spread out their research, again in neat piles.
“I’ve already defeated the goddess in a ‘circular way’” —Carys’s air quotes were more than sarcastic— “so why not just tell me how?”
“Carys.” Laura tried to calm her down. “We’re going back in the morning. Maybe this is a… thought exercise. Like learning how to picture the worlds. Maybe they want you to just think about what that could mean, but they’re going to give you the answer tomorrow.”
“Really? Has anything over the past month been that easy?”
Laura opened her mouth, then closed it.
Lachlan was looking oddly cheerful since their visit to the bookshop. “Maybe it means that you’ll only have defeated her once yourealizehow.”
“That could be.” Laura pointed at him. “It’s like… Schrödinger’s victory. You’ll have defeated the Morrígan when you realize how, but until then, she still has power. She is both defeated and undefeated at the same time.”
Godrik frowned. “That does make an odd kind of sense.”
“No, it doesn’t!” Carys felt like she was losing it. “How does that make sense?”
Duncan cleared his throat. “I would like to point out that if we’ve learned anything over the past couple of weeks, it’s thatgod-type things are full of contradictions. The three Mothers admitted as much tonight.”
“Exactly,” Laura said. “Our brains would literally break if we tried to understand all of it at once, which is why our natures split in two when we’re born.”
Carys muttered, “I feel like you’re all as completely lost as I am, but you’re trying to say things that sound like they make sense to make me feel better.”
Naida raised her hand again. “I would like it noted—if Laura is taking notes?—”
