“I tried that, but she won’t pick up. You just swore by Astarte?”
“She’s an ancient goddess of sensual pleasure, fertility, war, and destruction. Love and hatred, violence and sex were herforte. She was worshipped in the Eastern Mediterranean before the Greeks co-opted her, took away her warlike attributes, and transformed her into Aphrodite. She’s my patron goddess.”
Interesting.I thought of my own cursing, which I must’ve learned from the Crawfords. “I never thought about it before, but I always say ‘Oh god’ or ‘What the hell?’ or ‘God help me.’ The guys say ‘bloody hell’ or ‘you wanker!’ and I like those much better.”
Aline grinned. “Why choose a patriarchal god as your own, when our faith has a matriarchy that extends back to the earliest human civilisations?”
Because he means a lot to my parents, I thought about saying. I didn’t have any more attachment to a female goddess than I did their god. I didn’t consider magic a faith. It was science...sort of. Basic Newtonian laws applied – every action having an equal and opposite reaction, etc.
Gods and goddesses meddling in the lives of humans were just make-believe. But I was too fascinated by the discussion to argue with Aline. It was a welcome distraction from worrying about Kelly. “What goddess would be good for me?”
Aline thought for a moment. “Athena.”
“Who’s she?”
“An ancient Greek goddess – she protects the city of Athens, which is named after her. She’s also the goddess of philosophy, which is as close as I can get to a science goddess because the two things were one and the same until very recently in history. She helps many heroes to complete their quests,” Aline raised her eyebrow toward the door, indicating the guys. “And she also presides over war strategy, but she much prefers to use wisdom to settle disputes.”
I nodded. “Okay, I like that. Athena it is.”
“You can pray to her for guidance on what to do about your sister,” Aline moved toward the desk. “I’ll show you a spell you can use?—”
“No thanks. I don’t pray.”
“Our gods are not the same as the Christian?—”
“Yes they are.” I jabbed my finger at the ceiling. “Magic I can believe in, but there ain’t no one up there answering prayers.”
“Maybe you just never asked the right question.”
Jeez.I rolled my eyes.This subject is now closed forever.“What about you, then? No motherly advice for me about dealing with Kelly?”
“You’re kidding, right? I’m only a few years older than you, and I was your mother for exactly three-and-a-half hours before I pretended to stab you and sent you off to an orphanage. I’m not exactly a fountain of maternal wisdom.”
“Good point.” I leaned back in the chair and crossed my legs on top of the desk, shoving off the top volume with my toes. Obelix yowled as a corner landed on his tail. He streaked fromthe room, padding off down the hall to find his favourite people – Arthur or Rowan. “I just wish I could do something. Between this and waiting for the Slaugh to strike, my stomach’s a big bag of knots.”
“Wecando something,” she said.
“If you’re suggesting we speak to Daigh, the answer’s still no.”
“You’ve had a day of hunting through the books. Do you have a better idea?”
“Not yet. But we don’t know that we can’t use the belief power to stop the Slaugh.”
“I guess we don’t,” she said brightly. But her voice said it all. “You could ask Daigh about his DNA.”
“What?”
“You want to know if the binding is real, if you really have inherited power from Daigh. If you throw your DNA science in his face, maybe threaten to tell this Liah fairy about it, he’llbegyou to let him take the test.”
I opened my mouth to tell her that was a stupid idea, but I couldn’t make the words come. I imagined Daigh’s face when I told him he couldn’t possibly be my father. How his entire plan centred around my ruling beside him. I saw what Aline saw – the chance to crush his ego and open up the weakness we needed.
Plus, if he gave me DNA, I could actually get it tested. I’d know once and for all what scientifically tied me to him.
“Fine.” I sighed. “We’ll try it. I’ll do anything at this point.”
Aline’s eyes danced. “You mean it?”
“I do.” I slid my legs off the desk, knocking several heavy books onto the floor, and called out into the hall. “Guys, could you come to the library?”
