"I'm a goddess. That’s what people called my kind. Or they did, before the daemons banished us from this realm."
Stunned silence greeted my revelation.
Cathy was the first to find her voice. "A goddess? Like...an actual deity? With worshippers and temples and all that?"
She appeared to be struggling with the concept, which was fine. I’d put a lot of effort into being the person I was now, who was about as far from divinity as you could get.
I shrugged. "Yeah."
“Which one?” Roma sounded stunned.
“Lots of different names. Innanna and Sekhmet and Bastet, along with others. Something to do with cats usually.”
Hugh crossed his arms, assessing me. I’d become a possible threat to his Tanni, and he was working his way through it. "Why pretend to be a shifter?"
"Because I didn't want to leave Earth," I explained, my tone carefully casual. "This is my home. I enjoy interacting with people. I didn’t want to abandon you all."
Tanni spoke gently. "So, you gave up your powers to stay in this world?"
The vampire queen was a perceptive woman, for all she was quiet and preferred to avoid notice. "The greater part of them, yes. I sealed away what made me different so I could hide among you without drawing attention from the daemons who were hunting and banishing us."
"Understood," Bran said gravely. "You're going to unseal your powers to stop the formless ones after all this time?"
"It's the only way. Believe me, if I could have thought of a different way to do it, we would not be having this conversation."
Shay leaned back into the seat, exhaustion showing on her face. "It must have been a difficult secret to live with."
I managed a wry smile. "You have no idea."
Edward met my gaze, his expression unreadable. "Do you plan to retaliate against daemons? The ones who overthrew your kind? What's to stop the Council from coming after you once you reveal yourself?"
Trust the daemon present to bring all that up. I shot him a glare, annoyed at the reminder of that ancient conflict. "The daemons have already banished my brothers and sisters. They think they got all of us. Even if they realize, they won’t stop me from kicking out the formless ones since they’re in danger too. Anything else can be dealt with later." I darkened my gaze even more. “Assumingyoudon’t tell them in the near future.”
I turned to Rey, my old friend, loved but not entirely trusted. Hewasthe trickster king.
"Well, well, well," he drawled, his hazel eyes sparkling with mischief. "Looks like the cat's out of the bag, huh?"
I winced at his terrible pun, feeling some of the tension drain from my shoulders. "What are you smirking at?"
Rey shrugged, his lean frame lounging casually in his chair. "I’ve got your big secret. You still don’t have all of mine."
Cathy bopped him on the back of the head.
I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Do tell."
His grin deepened as he shook his head. "Nice try, but we've got other things to focus on right now. Like getting your powers back and kicking some formless ass."
Bran cleared his throat, drawing everyone's focus.
"Rissa, I have to ask," he began, "why did you choose to stay here on Earth all this time? You could have gone anywhere, to any dimension, and yet you remained."
I shrugged, a wry smile tugging at my lips. "What can I say? I grew attached to this place, to the humans and the monsters alike. There's just something about the chaos and the creativity here that I couldn't bear to leave behind."
Roma. "But to hide for so long, to keep your true self a secret... wasn't that lonely?"
I met her gaze, a flicker of ancient sadness passing through me. "Sometimes, yes. But I found ways to keep myself entertained, to make small differences where I could." I smirked. "Let's just saythat a few 'miracles' throughout history might have had a bit of divine intervention behind them."
Cathy, her blue eyes wide with realization, chimed in. "That's why you joined forces with Reynard, isn't it? To hide in plain sight as his second-in-command?"
