Time passes, measured out by the frantic, terrified beats of my heart. It’s funny how mine and Jaga’s roles reverse. Only a few weeks ago, I was the one pummeling her with pleas and threats through our bond, begging for a crumb of attention. Now, I am hiding, and Jaga hisses and screams, and none of her words affect me.
Two days pass since I learned what Perun did, and all I do is sink lower and lower into despair.
I am done for. Maybe it will take centuries for all mortals to be branded, but it will happen sooner or later. I can’t fight this.
“Come out! You damned fool and coward, you… You excuse for a man! Come out and talk to me! We have ideas, things to try! Weles, Woland, you bastard!”
I don’t reply. It’s endearing that she thinks something can be done, but I know better. My brother is devious, constantly one step ahead, and he was always meant to crush me.
“I’ll fuck you if you come out. Talk to me. In the Hall of Fires.”
I pause at that. Will she really? But do I even want to? One thought about Perun will be enough to thwart whatever erection I can muster.
But what if she was in charge? I so badly need to forget, even just for a moment.
Grudgingly, I pick myself up off the ground where I spent the last two days, and sniff my clothes. Sour. I’ve drunk a lot of poisoned wine. I clean myself with magic and push through shadows to the Hall of Fires, but what awaits me is not Jaga seductively spread on the table, but all of my allies sitting there, with her fully dressed.
“You lied to me.”I glare at her, and I know I’m behaving like a grumpy brat, but at this point, it’s impossible to control. We’re doomed.
“Stay and listen, and it won’t be a lie.”
I sigh with ostentatious reluctance and trudge to my seat at the head of the table. Jaga stands opposite me, clapping her hands once.
“Since everyone’s aware of the situation, you know how dire things are. We must act fast. Perun’s blessing people as we speak, depriving thousands of an afterlife, and it cannot go on. The obvious way to stop him is destroying the temple.”
Nyja sighs dejectedly, and Rod looks at the table in front of him with a morose slump of his shoulders. Strzybog shakes his head. Even he seems subdued today. I guess he regrets betting on me when Perun is so clearly the winner.
“Since no one will say it, I will,” Jaga speaks up again after the silence stretches. “We can’t destroy the temple while Perun is in there, that is clear. We must first find out what protections he has in place, so we can counteract them swiftly, and then lure him out. Like Rod once said, Weles and I make excellent bait.”
I snort, but my laughter is born out of sheer helplessness rather than mirth. “Yes. Good one. I agree.”
I keep laughing, and Jaga huffs, stomping her foot. “Will you be serious, please? This could work! All we need is a good plan and an escape strategy.”
“Sure,” I choke out among chuckles. “Yes. Let’s do this.”
When I look up, her nostrils flare cutely as she levels me with a deadly glare. I give her a wide, insolent grin, and Jaga looks away with a hiss.
“You should turn the tide,” Dola says quietly, and I swallow my laughter to listen. “Make people realize he gives out curses, not blessings.”
I wait for her to say more, but of course, she doesn’t. I clear my throat, tamping down on the last tickles of my hysteria.
“You mean that he will just start again, even if his temple is destroyed. What we need to do is make mortals wary of his marks and blessings. But how?”
Dola only watches me, not saying another word. Jaga paces in front of the table, her hands clenching and unclenching as she thinks.
“Yes, good point. So, we’ll have three goals: lure out Perun, destroy the temple, and discourage people from taking his marks. Could we do it in a way that will elevate Weles? That’s our main goal, after all.”
And that, somehow, gets them going. Chors and Nyja chime in with ideas, and even the King of Bees susurrates a sentence here and there. The rodzanicas stay quiet, and Rod seems to be lost in thought, pulling on his beard from time to time.
Finally, after everyone falls silent again, my son speaks up.
“I think I know what to do.”
Chapter thirty-six
Double
“This will never work.”
