“And you betrayed Monakribos. You’re lucky my mother didn’t destroy you for everything you’ve done.”
“She’s too afraid of my parents to even try.”
Akri laughed at that. “You keep telling yourself that lie. One day, you might come to believe it. Now trot along after your master. Your stench turns my stomach.”
There was raw fury in Mot’s eyes, but he was smart enough to do as akri commanded.
Simi didn’t move until he drifted off, after Leucious. “Who was that, akri?”
He took her hand and led her back to the table where the lady had placed her platters of beef. “My cousin, Mot.”
Her eyes widened at that. “Cousin?”
Akri nodded. “His mother is Cam and his father the god, Set.”
Stunned by the knowledge, she stared up at him. Set and Cam were the brother and sissy of his mother, akra-Apollymi. “Why don’t he smell like a god, then?”
“He no longer has the powers he used to. He turned against his parents and sided with Noir and Azura in the First War of the gods. Now, he’s left to serve as a lapdog to Noir’s bastard child.”
“Leucious?”
Akri nodded as he cut her meat for her. “Unfortunately, Leucious doesn’t know all that yet.”
His words confuzzled her. “How he not know who his daddy is?”
Akri took her hand and placed it on his cheek. The moment he did, she saw akri-Jaden in the horrible realm where she was forbidden to go. The sad god with mismatched eyes stood before Noir’s bony throne where the dark god gave him a sneer. Not because Noir was angry at Jaden. Rather, the meany god always looked like that.
“Paimon will be my surrogate to carry my seed, and when my son is born, he will rule the human realm and find a way to free me. Make the deal with the human woman for his birth.”
Akri-Jaden bowed and left to do as he’d been bidden.
Simi gasped as she pulled her hand away and saw akri’s grim frown. “Why does evil Noir think Leucious will free him?”
“Because of how vicious Leucious’s adoptive father is. He’s given that same cruelty to Prince Leucious.”
She suspected there was more to it than that. “What do you see, akri?”
“I see Leucious turning against Noir and beyond that … I don’t know.”
Simi chewed at her beef as she considered his words. “How can you not know?”
Akri poured himself a goblet of wine. “You know my limitations, Simkey. I don’t know if Leucious will become my friend, or if he’ll somehow impact my future. Or maybe it’s because once he realizes Noir is his father, he becomes a full god, and I lose the ability to see anything about him. Take your pick.”
Perhaps. Any of those would make it so that akri wouldn’t see anything. It was unusual and interesting. Simi continued to think about it while eating.
All of a sudden, Leucious appeared beside their table again.
Akri scowled at him. “Is something wrong, Your Highness?”
Leucious scratched at the neck of his leather armor. “I …” his voice trailed off. He seemed to go between anger and some emotion Simi couldn’t name.
Finally, he put a small rag doll down on the table beside her. “Never let anyone scare you, girl. Not because of Acheron. Because you are unique.” And then he rushed off even faster than the first time.
With a frown, akri picked up her doll to look at it curiously. “I think you made a new friend, Simi.” He held the doll out to her.
Simi took it, then put the doll’s hand in her mouth to taste it.
“No!” Akri pulled the doll away. “It’s not food, sweetie.”
