“Then don’t tell them.”
Brigid nodded. Aye, she’d keep this secret. And she’d make sure that her son was forever safe from harm. Forever beyond the reach of all evil. He would be the last of her sons. She felt that with every part of her goddess being.
She’d buried one son already, she would not lose another.
“I shall name him Cadegan. The son of battle and glory.”
And in addition to life, she would give him the one thing that she dared not entrust to any other. The one thing that would protect him from harm and keep him safe from all.
Her father’s shield.
So long as Cadegan didn’t shed human blood, he would be safe from his father’s reach.
Her mother brushed her hand over Brigid’s furrowed brow, smoothing it with her fingers. “Good and bad lives in the heart of us all. It is the choices we make, large and small, every day that determine our future. Have faith in your child, Brigid. For while he holds his father’s blood, he also holds yours. Once he leaves you, his life will be his own. And as with all living creatures, he’ll have to find the courage to face and battle what his enemies throw at him. Whether he stumbles, falls or ultimately triumphs is a decision only he can make. For there is no true failure in life, child. There is only giving up one day before we would have achieved success.”
“But if he unites with his father?”
“His father was born of evil blood. Yet he spurned it and is now on our side.”
“For today. What of tomorrow?”
“It will come, and we cannot stop that. But we don’t have to fear the morrow. We only have to face it.” Kissing her cheek, her mother left her.
She was right, and Brigid knew it. Whatever happened, she would do her best by her child and hope. After all, hope was the greatest gift and the single greatest curse of every living thing.
Simi sat on the floor, listening to akri play his lute when all of a sudden, she felt a jolt go through her.
Akri-Thorn.
He had a great sadness in his heart like akri had whenever his thoughts went to his bitty nephew or his sister. It was so hurtful that it made her eyes water.
She could barely breathe.
But akri didn’t like for her to leave on her own, and he would be angry if he knew she went to Azmodea. Whenever he went to visit the heifer goddess, he assumed his Simi stayed here with akri-Lexi and she let him think that. Akri-Lexi assumed she stayed in her room lots.
She never told him different either.
But now …
“Akri?”
He looked up from his playing. “Yes, Simkey?”
“The Simi’s tired. I go bed, okies?”
“You sick?”
She shook her head. “Just tired from all the good eats.”
“Ah. Goodnight, then.”
She went and kissed his cheek, then flew off to her room. As soon as she closed the door, she teleported to akri-Thorn’s palace.
Only he wasn’t in his throne room.
Still, it was easy to find him. He was throwing things in his bedroom. Lots of things shattered very loudly, like a scary thunderstorm.
For a second, she considered going back home. Maybe akri-Thorn needed to be alone for his fury.
