The goddess’s piercing eyes, prismatic and shifting every color of the rainbow, assessed me coldly. Her lip curled in displeasure as she returned her gaze to Nurghle.
“Very well,” she conceded. “Vivian… Vivian… Which one was Vivian?” she droned, her fingers slowly swaying to the lull of ambient music in the distance.
I wanted to cut in, say “I am, bitch, who are you,” but I couldn’t risk harm to Nurghle by sassing this woman. So, I stayed reluctantly silent.
“Twenty-eight years ago, ma’am. Your child fathered by the kingpin of New York’s underground. He brought you that castrated sacrifice and introduced you to the white powder you enjoy inhaling through your nose.”
“Oh, him.” She cracked a half-smile. “How time flies. Is he still alive? I quite enjoyed his company. Perhaps we can summon him again?”
“I will inquire.” Arella bowed her head.
“Well, you know the protocol. Send her somewhere.” Eva flicked her fingers at me.
“Send me somewhere?!” I couldn’t believe the gall of this woman. “What doesthatmean?!”
So much for staying safely quiet.
Arella shot me a corrective glare, and I knew I’d fucked up in the exact way I was trying not to. I learned from my father that pissing off the powerful sociopath in the room was never a good idea, buuuuut… here I was.
Eva’s air of nonchalance dissipated. She sat up in her seat and ran her hand through the hair of the man situated between her legs as if he were upgraded from furniture to dog. “Bite your tongue, child. Or I’ll have them put you back on Earth to waste away.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Arella quickly cut in, grabbing my wrist and yanking me back into the marble hallway. The heavy doors slammed behind us.
“You’re trying to tell me that’s mymother?!” I shouted after her as she hurried down the right wing, forcing me to break into an awkward jog to keep up.
I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t. Except… she knew who my father was. The head of the city’s underbelly. Rich. Powerful.Evil. I had done everything I could to separate myself from him, not that he’d fought for my return once I was gone. Maybe he preferred not having a daughter to think about when he was busy building a dark empire. I’d spent most of my childhoodlocked away in my bedroom anyways, trying to avoid stumbling upon the illicit activities of daddy gang leader and his morally black employees.
“Yes. You are a demigoddess,” Arella said with an exasperated breath. Her tone was factual, as if this conversation was routine for her. A routine that I threw a wrench in by acting out.
A laugh sputtered past my lips. “Sure.” It was too absurd to believe, but I played along. “And this woman is sending mewhereexactly?”
“To one of her fields, where you can heal from your Earth poisoning.”
“Earth poisoning?”
“Now that your body is coming into its full power, it can’t tolerate that planet anymore. You will have to be relocated, or you may succumb to the illness.”
“Full power,” I snorted. “I vomitedfourtimes today. I canbarely standsometimes.”
“Correct, Vivian. Goddesses aren’t meant to live on Earth once fully developed. Your body chemistry needs a new environment to thrive. I’m sending you to a planet called Trebianna to live the rest of your days. Its atmosphere has proven acceptable for your sisters.” She muttered the last sentence quietly, seeming to second guess it as the words left her lips.
Sisters?I was an only child. At least, the only one my dad bothered to acknowledge as his. I certainly had my theories about some of his staff’s pregnancies after seeing them leaving his office flushed all the time.
“Then why didn’t she send metherewhen I was born?!” That sounded much better than growing up in a mansion built on innocent blood.
“So your father, as your parent, could raise you on his planet. You are not a full god, you can’t live in Elysium with your mother.”
“Raise”… That was one word for it. These people should’ve sent just my infant body to wherever the fuck Trebianna was. That man was never meant to have kids.
Arella opened a more modest door, stained wood with copper fixtures. I stepped into an office lined by bookshelves and wall-to-ceiling lattice windows. She seated herself in a cushioned chair behind a large walnut desk, immediately putting pen to paper on the carefully laid out documents before her.
I self-consciously seated Nurghle and myself in the chair across from her. The surface was cold on my bare ass.Gross.
“Can I have some clothing? Or a blanket?” I asked.
She didn’t reply, silently unscrewing the lid to an object I couldn’t quite see. “Give me your hand.” She held out her palm expectantly.
Not sure why I was cooperating, I shifted Nurghle into one arm and reached out to her. Before I could register what she was doing, she pricked my finger with a needle and pressed it into a glass petri dish. The shallow liquid clouded red for a moment, then turned a deep blue. I withdrew my hand in surprise.
