Ember ducked her head. “I guess you’re right. That’s what Morgana has been telling me. And it makes sense.”
“Yes, it does.” I pulled out my phone. “I’ll call Ashera. Meanwhile, shouldn’t we tell the families of the murder victims something to give them closure? They have no bodies to bury; they don’t have any comfort in knowing what killed their loved ones. I think we should give them something to hold on to. Something they can use to close this chapter of their lives.”
Talia spoke up. “Raven’s right. It doesn’t matter what we tell them—just something that can ease their pain. Even if it’s a lie.”
As I walked to the side, I thought that sometimes lies were necessary. Sometimes, they made life easier to bear, and that—that was a great gift. Especially when there weren’t any easy answers.
To my surprise, Ashera actually answered, and she remembered me.
“What have you been doing the past few years?” she asked.
“More than I can fit in a single phone call,” I said. “But I need to talk to you about something. Have you ever heard of the Aqcarians?”
The dragon breathed in so sharply I could hear it through the phone. “Why? What do you know about them?” Her voice was so abrupt that I thought she was angry.
“We have a problem,” I said. I told her about the murders and what we had found out. “If they are the ones behind the murders, then we need to know why. What are they doing in Puget Sound? Why the string of murders in coastal towns? We were wondering if—since you’re a water dragon—you might be able to poke around the sound and see if you can find evidence that they’re here. I know it’s a lot to ask, but...”
There was a pause, almost to the point where I wondered if she had hung up on me, but then she said, “I’ll do it. I’ll drop everything and go now.”
The fact that she seemed so worried concerned me. “Why the rush? Do you know something that we should know?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Wait till I search the sound. I’ll talk to the elementals, too.”
“Are the elementals you talk to in the water related to the Elemental Fae?”
At that, Ashera let out a short laugh. “No, not at all. There might be some sort of overlap, but no. The Fae—even the Elemental Fae—are connected to the world, but they are not of the world, if that makes sense. They aren’t literally avatars of the elements, like elementals are. Everything in the universe is connected, but some strands of connection are further apart than others. I’ll call you back this afternoon, if not sooner.” And without another word, she hung up.
CHAPTER EIGHT
While waiting for Ashera’s call, Ember asked me to help her figure out what she might want in a temple. We took over one of the conference rooms so we wouldn’t bother the others. Talia was planning out what we could tell the families of the victims, and the medical examiner’s report was more of the same, mirroring everything he had said about the other victims.
When we were alone, I finally asked the question I had been wanting to for a long time.
“Seriously, are you happy? Do you think you made the right decision? Though, I guess it’s too late, if you feel you made a mistake.”
“That’s not a fair question,” Ember said. “But nothing really is fair, is it?” She sighed. “I’m not unhappy, and I will get used to it. But…there are days when I ask myself why I did this. It’s not because of Herne, or the girls—though I was right. I’m not a motherly type. I do my best and we love them to pieces, but I just don’t have that nurturing gene, I guess.”
“And…?”
“And…there are more restrictions to being a goddess than I ever expected. Codes of behavior to live up to. The knowledge that you could end someone’s life all too easily. No one, and I do mean no one, is omnipotent. There’s no conscious superpower that knows all and is all-powerful. But, and here’s the difficult part, I could order someone’s life to be ended and—with few exceptions—that order would be carried out. The responsibility is a lot to shoulder. Even the knowledge that I have that much power is difficult to live with. I have to watch what I say. And now that I’m going to build a temple, I have a responsibility to my followers as well.”
“In other words, your life is no longer your own?” I suddenly heard what she was saying.
“Right. I don’t own my own life now. I live it for others. And that is hard to adjust to.” She shrugged. “I shouldn’t complain. I have a lovely life. I’m living a dream, for some people.”
“We all have our problems. And yours, well…I hope you’re able to work through it,” I said.
“I’d better,” Ember said. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“I guess not.”
She headed for the espresso machine. “Coffee?”
I nodded.
Ember pulled double-shot mochas for both of us and carried them over to the table. As she sat down, she asked, “So how about you? How was your last stint in Kalevala?”
“Good,” I said. “It’s going to take some time for me to process what I learned from Väinämöinen. He warned me to use the magic he taught me on a sparing basis to start, given he won’t be around to clean up any messes I make.” I paused, then added, “Ember, is there any way you can help my ferrets? You know their story.”
