“Who?”
“Ithman. Or was it just a legend?”
He laughs. “I don’t actually know. Fitting, though, that we come out here and see this statue, don’t you think?” He looks at me, and his features are bolder than ever in the light of the moon. “After all, you’ve killed Okeanos and he’s not quite dead and here’s a reminder that he could come back and snatch your godhood back.”
“We’re married,” I say thickly, not certain if he’s threatening me or if he considers this a joke, too.
“So you are.” His eye is sharp as he looks at me. “So youare indeed. You should guard this island better. You are ripe for an assassination attempt.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. Of all the gods, he has been the most threatening to me. Who would I guard against but him?
“If they have tried to persuade Okeanos, they may try to persuade you,” Markanos says coolly. “And they may do so violently. All the protections he put on this place died with him. Best be on your guard.”
“I think our enemies more subtle than that,” I tell him, though I am a little worried at his assessment. I have had guards to protect me all my life, but now there is only me and the sea. “Come to the cottage and we will talk. I have limited time.”
To my relief, he follows me. “Limited time? Surely you jest.”
“When dawn breaks, I’ll be a crab again for the daylight hours. If I fail to make that bargain, then our friend will be eaten alive for yet another day.”
“Forget being a crab,” Markanos says as he walks. “It’s a waste of time.”
But I don’t answer him. I simply lead him to the cottage as calmly and regally as possible. I must make this plan with him. I need a powerful ally. Markanos is my only option to fill that role.
I open the cottage, offer him a seat, and begin to brew tea.
“Let us be clear,” he tells me as he sprawls on the same seat he sat on to threaten me so many mornings ago. “I do not want to play games or raise lighthouses or any othernonsense, so we leave that behind now. What we need is to free Okeanos and wage war against Treseano, and for that we need allies. And my first choice is Ordanus. He’s bright and creative and… amenable to persuasion. Do you have any reason to object to that?”
“None.”
I arrange a pair of cups on the table, weighing my words with care. How much should I share with him?
“We could free Okeanosandcomplete one of his tasks,” I say carefully.
“I don’t want to hear about his fool ambitions,” Markanos says.
But they fill my mind, and for two reasons. Firstly, because I have agreed to help Okeanos raise this Lighthouse and I have never been one to go back on my word. But secondly, because I can still feel his eyes on me, still feel his longing that this be accomplished, and I can no more fail him in this than I can fail him in seeing him freed from his torture. His face fills my memory, his words my heart, and it’s like I’m soaked in him and can’t get dry. It’s like he’s seeping right into my bones. I could not be free of him now if I never saw him again. I could not be free of him if I slipped into the Nightwaters myself.
And so, as I brew our tea, and listen to Markanos try to explain why Ordanus might be a valuable ally, I am thinking of how if I were to heal Okeanos, it would also mean healing the Crown of the Sea. I’m thinking of how I can accomplish his task while making him whole.
Which is madness.
I’m a wife in mourning for a lost husband. I have no right to be letting myself soften for another. And yet I am. I feel it with every breath. I soften like fruit left in the sun and I am no more able to stop it than the fruit can.
I’m still struggling over that when I surface to find Markanos is still trying to persuade me.
“Ordanus, for all his foolish-seeming ways, has ever been an untangler of what is tangled. A solver of puzzles and clever tricks. You can’t love art without understanding the basis of what makes a thing beautiful and that’s usually its own kind of puzzle. So we’ll visit Ordanus and see if he can shed a little light on the matter of how to free Okeanos.”
“Why would he?” I ask grimly, trying to return to the task at hand. “It seems to me that all the gods but Okeanos have lined up in a row against this King of Heaven. Oke has made himself their enemy by virtue of his faithfulness and none of them can stand it.”
He offers me a mocking half smile. “Oke, is it? Stay your pet names. Ordanus sits on the marker post, neither jumping one way nor the other. And you’re a fool to think all of them are against your husband. There are ways to oppose a thing quietly. Not everyone dramatically kills a perfectly good husband just to make a point.
“Ordanus will hear our request. Chances are, he will even help, if only to restore the balance again and stay firmly in the middle. Trust me. I have tried to take Ordanus’s territory before. He is a formidable enemy. Slippery and difficult topin down. He does not like to commit himself to one thing or another. We’ll find him firmly neutral.”
I nod. I would never have guessed this of the God of Art. I would have expected… I don’t know… dreaminess, perhaps?
“Is that your god weapon?” Markanos points to my trident as he takes a sip and I hand it to him. “Hmm. This is Vesuvius’s trident. Terrible thing. I’d hate to have it scoremyflesh. I suspect there’s more to it than the usual. Vesuvius was a tricksome monster when he ruled the blue, and I tremble to think what he might now be plotting in the Nightwaters. How did you come by it?”
“Okeanos has a host of strange items laid up in a storeroom.”
