“Not the deal we agreed upon.” One half of the Sek and Mot duo drawled.
“Get him.”
“We got him.”
“She—”
“—ain’t our problem.”
“Tell your Mother—”
“—we’re square.”
And within a blink the two demi-gods were gone.
Qetesh sighed dramatically. No one reacted. She sighed again, louder.
“I can kill her for you, most divine and beautiful one.” One of the guards withdrew his short-bladed sword from its holster, holding it aloft. It wasn’t a smooth or practised motion. But Gigi supposed that didn’t matter since the blade’s edge gleamed wickedly sharp.
“Demetrius. That would be lovely, thank you.” Qetesh gifted him a smile, tears of joy brimming in Demetrius’s eyes. HisGoddess had said his name. His Goddess had smiled at him. Thanked him.
Crap. True believers couldn’t be reasoned with. Couldn’t be swayed from their objective. Gigi glancing Nico’s way, maybe he had a plan. Currently he was down on one knee, trying to rip apart the shackles with his bare hands. He was strong. But if he was making any progress, Gigi couldn’t see it.
Demetrius was ten feet away now and closing in fast. He strutted. Hard to pull off in roman sandals, but the wickedly sharp blade he held aloft helped him nail it. Okay, think. Magic? She concentrated her powers on Demetrius. Heavens, other than water and grapes, the man hadn’t digested anything much for the last day. Clearly Qetesh’s followers were fuelled by love and not actual food. Damn.
Canary. Gigi fumbled with the latch on his small cage. But the darn thing was fused shut or broken. It had probably happened during all that running around the atoll trying to elude the sand monster. She couldn’t even dissolved the cage itself since it had been a magical gift from Riya.
She could move still, wouldn’t be able to kick, but her arms were free and she could roll. It would have to do.
“Honestly.”
An exasperated voice broke the tense moment. A woman stepping out of the shadows at the far end of the room. Overlooked previously because she was not golden and she didn’t glitter. Of average height she was dressed in skintight black jeans and a tank top that hugged full, bordering on voluptuous curves. Her hair was likewise black, but riotously curly, falling to just below her ears. She was beautiful, with dark olive skin, full raspberry tinted lips and dark eyes that had surprising flecks of green in their depths to brighten them. On her feet she wore ankle boots. And in her left hand she held a pack of playing cards that she constantly divided and re-stacked,her fingers so blindingly quick that the results of the cut were never known, except perhaps by their holder.
“Have you never heard of the word, hostage?” She turned to look at Gigi, her back to Qetesh, winking at her. Winking? What the hell did that mean? Who was this woman?
Qetesh’s pout switched to a petulant moue as she eyed the woman with clear dislike. “Hostages are nothing but trouble, Vaia. Now that I have the fire touched, she’s extraneous.”
“Perhaps. If he was yours. But me thinks one thing does not look like all the others here.” Vaia stood only a few feet away from Gigi, her left hand almost a blur now as she constantly cut and recut the deck of playing cards in her hand. “He’s not golden. He certainly doesn’t look happy to be in your blessed presence. And all evidence suggests he’s intent upon escaping your august hospitality.Lucky bastard.” Vaia muttered the last two words under her breath.
“What kind of trouble are you trying to stir up now?” Qetesh sat upright, swinging her legs around, rising to her feet. Her kneeling fawning admirers all murmured their appreciation, reaching out as if to touch her, though no one made actual contact. Treating her like a piece of rare artwork you were scared to scuff. “You only ever cause trouble when you deign to speak.”
“Make up your mind. You want to know when you stand at Fate’s crossroads or you don’t?”
“Of course I want to know. But so far you’ve failed every single time to bring about the result I desired.”
“I’ve failed. I’ve failed? I’ve given you times, locations, and opportunities again and again. But between you and your squabbling sister and your insistence upon sending sub-par resources to do the job, it goes without saying the winds of fortune have not favoured you.”
Qetesh flushed, high colour flooding her cheeks. “I’m seriously considering returning you to the not so tender care of my Mother.”
“That would be an interesting conversation indeed. Please, contact Hathor. Tell her exactly why you’re returning me to her prison. Make sure to explain in great detail how neither you nor Neith have managed to set her plans into motion. How, thanks to your never-ending rivalry, the two of you have threatened everything she has planned.”
“I have everything in hand.” Qetesh shot Nico, still struggling with his shackles, a look of annoyance. “Almost everything in hand. My plan is brilliant. Much better than Neith’s. She has nothing to show for her efforts except two missing contractors and a large dent in her bank balance.”
“Please, you had the exact same idea. Except the moment hot-to-trot over there touched your little love token forming a connection, you had a light bulb moment and realised even if you did manage to incapacitate or kidnap the mother, none of you would be physically capable of picking up the child, given her powers.”
Gigi had been following the conversation avidly. Suddenly everything that had recently happened made dreadful sense. All these incidents, they had never been about Copper Yanez and her step up to Goddess-hood. No, this was all about the imminent birth of Nell and Drum’s daughter, Sunny. Already blessed with sun sourced powers in the womb.
Heavens, with this information, all the timings made horrible sense. That first intruder in her shop, carrying poison, the descendant of one of Athena’s Owls, she’d headed straight for the refrigerator containing all Gigi’s pre-made fondants and icings. Items she had fully intended to use for Nell’s baby shower that would have been scheduled for that coming weekend, except it had already been postponed about three hours after thedate was proposed. Gigi never made the connection between the two events.
