“Not protect,” Raven said.“They just won’t carry the backlash and repercussions—death, destruction, shackled worship—of tapping into the spell of a living god.”He lifted his mug up to Cupid.“That’s a very sneaky loophole.I didn’t think you had it in you, Bo.I approve.”
Cupid’s smile spread slowly, giving him a wolfish look.“You agree?”
“That a wayward god’s spell might kill Headwaters without Lula or Brogan paying for it with their lives?Yes.In theory.We won’t really know until they try, which is its own problem.And as soon as they tap the book, it’s gonna draw attention.”
“I know of a place that could keep them hidden.With people who will look out for them,” Eunice said.“I think…” She hummed and tapped a beat I could not hear against her thigh.“So many possibilities.”
I did not want to use that damned book.Just because a spell might not kill us, didn’t mean the price wouldn’t be higher than we wanted to pay.
There were worse things than death.
“Let me guess,” I said.“This place where we can use the book without Atë or other gods finding us is Ordinary.”
Eunice put her hands on her hips and shook her head.“Ah-yah.Are you so ready to believe the worst of me, Brogan Gauge?We are here to see that you and Lula survive.We are here to see the book put to rest.Even Raven has good intentions.”
“Hey now,” Raven said.“Don’t go ruining my reputation.Trickster god, remember?”
“Oh, you’ve plenty of tricks, but not against the Gauges.You hate that book more than any of us.Why, you’re here in my kitchen, breaking a promise to the Reed sisters, to see that it is buried for good.”
“My promise to Delaney isn’t broken, it’s just…flexible.My hatred for that book, is not.”There was so much god power behind those last words, I tasted ash in my mouth.
“You know I will bend my power to keep you safe and hidden,” Cupid said.
“Safe?Like when Atë almost killed me and buried Lu?Or when Lu almost died fighting the king vampire?Were you keeping us safe when the Hush swarmed us?When Lorde was shot?”
Cupid tipped his head.
Out in the field, Lula stood very still, her shoulders angled toward me.Her supernatural hearing caught every word, even though she was several yards away from the house.
“No,” Cupid said.“I have not kept you safe or hidden.You were within my awareness, but my protection was slow.Until I fought Atë.”
“After she’d tried to kill me.Aftershe’d kidnapped Lu.”
He inclined his head.“I didn’t expect her direct approach.I did not expect her at all.”
“Time is long, Brogan,” Raven said.“Even the most powerful gods become forgetful.”
It sounded like an omen, like a line from a very old poem.
It sounded like the truth.
“I will keep you hidden from Atë,” Cupid said.“I will keep you hidden from Headwaters.I am giving you time to learn how to use the spells of the lost gods, if that is what you choose to do.”
“What if we find another weapon to kill Headwaters?”
“If that is your choice, I will keep you hidden and protected to the extent of my powers for however long—months, years, decades—it will take to find that weapon.But you have made enemies of gods.There are ways they could make you suffer that even I cannot save you from.”
“Damned if we do,” I said.
He made a considering sound.
“Can you guarantee the price we pay for wielding lost god magic won’t be too steep?”I asked.
“Define steep,” Raven said.
“That either of us dies.That we lose our humanity, our souls, our minds.That we will come out of it so changed we are no longer capable of loving each other.Of being who we are.”
“Your souls,” Cupid drew on his god power, putting intent behind it, “are always yours.Unchangeable.Perfect.Free.”
