Page 36 of Maker

Space was peaceful. Space was beautiful. Maddox felt the distance from his problems, and a relief he had not imagined was possible. He was close to giving in. As the stars wrapped around him, he remembered a time when things had been simple. When he and Will had lain on golden sands and had eyes and thoughts only for one another. A blessed vacation.

The idea of going to space had been Lorien’s. Gideon could, indeed, sense Maddox anywhere on Earth. But he was no longer on Earth. He was over two hundred miles above Earth, in a high orbit shuttle that would circle the planet several times before returning to Earth. But it would return to Earth, and that was the problem. He could not escape to space. He could not escape anywhere. Gideon was a problem to be contended with always.

Indeed, the moment his phone was returned to him after his surprisingly sad jaunt between heaven and earth, it rang.

“Have you gone mad?” Ray’s voice came down the line. “Have you actually lost your mind? Is that what this is? You ran away to space?”

“I did not run away to space,” Maddox sighed. “That would be impossible. I did, however, take a break to think.”

“Really. Because Lorien implied this was a desperate, last-ditch attempt to manipulate him into letting you keep Will for your very, very own.”

Maddox paused. “Did it work?”

“No,” Ray sighed. “No. Maddox. It didn’t work. He knew you weren’t gone. He is obsessed with you. Absolutely obsessed. He gets this way about his youngest. He will let the world burn for you.”

“Then maybe it is time I wasn’t the youngest anymore,” Maddox suggested.

“It’s not that easy. It has been thousands of years since he found anyone worthy of being turned. Do you think he’s going to just conveniently find someone now?”

“I suppose not,” Maddox mused. “But there has to be some means of distraction. I am not that interesting.”

“There, we agree. You are not worth any of this.”

“Thank you, brother,” Maddox said, genuinely grateful. “Now we merely need to convince Gideon of that fact.”

“I’ve been trying to convince him of it since before he made you,” Ray sighed.

“He needs someone broken, someone he can fix, and then break.”

“But who? What person now walks the planet that has not in three thousand years? What supremely warped human being could possibly satisfy Gideon’s many desires?”

“I don’t know. But we will find him.”

“No. We won’t find him. We’ll make him. We’ll pick some beautiful young man, tragically adrift in an unfair world. We’ll force him to struggle against terrible odds, we’ll take everything he has from him. And then we’ll give him to Gideon.”

“This seems as though we could end up hurting a lot of people for no real gain.”

“It does. But the alternative is you and the one you love being hurt a lot for no real gain. This has to end, this obsession with you. Or, you could save everybody the trouble and actually end things with the little wolf.”

“Actually end things with Will?”

“Yes. You could do what Gideon wants. You could listen to your maker, and you could consider that maybe he knows something. You’ve been separated from Will for weeks now. In that time, you’ve had your throat ripped out, Lorien’s face was burned off, and you’ve unleashed a murderous wolf who is now destroying the marriage of your favorite human woman. Oh, and you went to space.”

“I enjoyed space. It was peaceful.”

“My point is, Maddox, there is a very simple way to stop the chaos. Gideon cannot be killed or manipulated. He is too old for either of those things. When he made you, he demanded your submission and obedience. That was the price of your life. Accept that the deal you made with this devil has a cost, and Will is that cost.”

“I can’t.”

“You have to. Will is doing what he needs to do. He must have smelled you in the forest. He must have been tempted to come, but he didn’t. He did what he needed to do, for you. Sometimes, Maddox, love isn’t about getting what you want. Sometimes, love is about suffering, and separation, and loss. Actually, if you think about it, love is always about suffering, separation, and loss. It’s a matter of when.”

“I’m not ready for that when to be now.”

“I don’t think it matters if you’re ready, Maddox. I think it’s time you accepted your fate. Call the wolves and tell Will to make his place with them. Forever. Anything else is just cruelty to you both.”

* * *

Maddox had never wanted to make a call less in his life. It took quite some time to arrange a connection with Henry and Will, and when it was finally live, he almost wished it wasn’t.

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