Balance Of The Worlds

Calle J. Brookes

Lost River Lit Publishing, L.L.C.

Est. 2011

Copyright © 2015 Calle J. Brookes

Cover by CJ Brookes

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-940937-23-6

The Lost River Lit Publishing, LLC name and imprint are the sole properties of independent publishers Calle J. Brookes and C.B. Brookes. They cannot be reproduced or used in any manner; nor can any of their publications or designs be used without expressed written permission.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, or locations, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For my readers, who’ve stuck with this series this long!

Thank You!

Other Titles by Calle J. Brookes

Paranormal

Dardanos, Co. Series

The Blood King

Awakening the Demon’s Queen

The Healer’s Heart

Once Wolf Bitten

Live or Die

The Seer’s Strength

The Warrior’s Woman

The Wolf’s Redemption

A Warrior’s Quest

The Wolf God & His Mate

Out of the Darkness

Warrior Blind

The Witch

 
Balance of the Worlds

Dardanos, Co:

The Adrastos Series

The Outcast

The Forlorn

Romantic Suspense

PAVAD: FBI Series

Beginning

Waiting

Watching

Wanting

Second Chances

Hunting

Running

Redeeming

Revealing

Stalking

Ghosting

Suspense/Mystery

PAVAD: FBI Case Files #0001

“Knocked Out”

PAVAD: FBI Case Files #0002

“Knocked Down”

Coming
Soon

 
Burning

PAVAD: FBI Case Files #0003

“Knocked Around”

The Healer’s Soul

A Dardanos, Co. Novel

Book Fourteen

Nelciana stared at the god before her. He was serious. Even with all his aloofness, his coldness throughout the millennia, this was one thing she had never expected. “You’re insane!”

“No, that is the one thing I am not.” He answered with his customary seriousness. Didn’t anything faze him? “Because Eiophon fathered twins tonight, we need to offset the shift in power with another set of twins.”

“And you think I should be the mother.”

“You’re the only one who can be.” Lothonos continued in the same infuriatingly logical tone. “You and Kennera were the only ones with the necessary qualifications to be the carriers at this time.”

“And Eiophon ruined that, didn’t he?” Nelciana rubbed her arms to ward off the sudden chill. “Bet your first choice was Nera, wasn’t it? But now you’re stuck with your second choice. Too bad for you.”

“None of this is my choice, but it has to be done. We cannot have only two Kinds rebirthed, it must be four. And the babes must be from mothers with the right qualifications.”

Nelciana snorted. She could just bet she knew exactly what those qualifications were. “You mean virginity. Let’s be honest here, the reason you haven’t approached Iastucia or one of the other goddesses is because their knees are like freaking revolving doors. Open for any male who go near them. Nera and I were the only ones who had a few morals. And since the Lupoiux mated Nera, you get me. Lucky me.”

“Be that as it may…it has to be done. Ours would already be younger than Eiophon’s. His will be Lupoiux, after all. It will take twice as long for ours to grow. And soon, if the babes are to be born this cycle.”

“And if they’re not? What happens then?” He spoke as if she had already agreed, didn’t he? Did he think he knew her that well?

How could he? Though of all the Gaian deities, she and this male in front of her led peoples with the most similarities. Even her closest friend, a goddess she had known since they were in their infancies, did not so closely resemble the creatures Nelciana led as this reclusive, and some said unfeeling male.

His Kind were descendants of her own. If they had babes together, then their Kinds would be united for eternity. Was that what he was counting on?

With his blood and hers mingled, those babes would be considerably powerful—was he planning something he hadn’t yet revealed?

She wouldn’t put it past him. He was the god of strategy, after all.

“The four corners of Gaia will fracture and the landmasses we now have will be irrevocably damaged. I do not know what will happen to the various Kinds, or the humans. My powers cannot predict that kind of chaos.”

She stared at him a moment. She had known he was serious--the God of Logic and Reason always was--but he was predicting what amounted to the end of the world. At least the end of the Gaian one. “You’re kidding!”

“No. I would not joke about something of this magnitude. So you see, whether we are happy with the situation or not, we must heed the warning signs.”

“This is not what I want. I suggest you find another solution.” Nelciana paced around the chamber where she spent most of her time watching her people or studying her art as a Nellana Witch. As the goddess of her Kind, she was responsible for the knowledge and magic her peoples possessed. “What of the babes? What would become of them?”

“I do not understand what you are asking.” He stepped to the left, blocking her path. “The babes will be born, they will live. They will be deity, as we are. As will Kennera and Eiophon’s twins. They will live and play together. Grow together as a family.”

“With? You? Me? What are your plans for them? Or did you think that far ahead? They will be living creatures, too. Not just a means to an end. Or were you planning to father them and leave them completely to me?” She felt a twinge in her heart at the images flooding her mind. Two babes. Her babes.

“I certainly do not intend to abandon my offspring. They will want for nothing and when the time comes, I will instruct my sons in the Lothon Druidic arts.”

“Your sons? Have you precognition, then? It is entirely possible that the babes be female.” Nelciana pushed the wistfulness aside. While the thought of babes of her own tempted her, this was not what she wanted. Not like this.

Was it wrong to want someone to want her for herself? To not be second to Kennera? To the other goddesses? To have offspring from her own body to love always?

“True. In that case, you would have the primary raising of them, as you would be the logical choice.”             

The logical choice. Not the first choice, not the best choice. Just the most viable alternative. How like Lothonos. She hadn’t interacted with this creature much over the past five thousand years, but when she had he had held himself separated from all the other gods and goddesses. Except for Kennera. Anyone who’d looked at him had been able to see how he had favored her friend. To her he had barely spoken—until the last century or so. When he had at least spoken with her out of politeness whenever their paths would cross. “I see.”

“So when do you want to commence?”

“I don’t. I won’t. We both know that any of the other goddesses--regardless of some sort of purity requirement--can do what you need. I suggest you ask them.”

***

He had not expected her refusal. Reluctance, yes, but refusal…no. “I see. So the idea of a family of your own does not appeal to you, then?”

Or course it did. He had studied her carefully when it became apparent a hundred years ago that Kennera would not be the goddess to fulfill the prophecy. He did possess precognition; it just was not a power he had shared with anyone. He had been devising his plan for that century.

While the goddess of family and loyalty had not been his first choice as mate, he far preferred her over the other goddesses. And she was quite lovely, with her long dark curls and strangely blue eyes. Her body was perfection in itself. Bedding her would not be difficult. And if needed, repeated until the babes were assured.

His babes needed to be of her or Kennera’s bloodlines. That’s what he had been shown. And he could think of no other who would be a better mother. Even above her closest friend. Kennera had so often been foolish when she was young. But Nelciana…she could not say the same.

Her eyes had darkened with her longing. She, the goddess and patroness of all things family, hurt for children of her own, of relatives to claim. She had none. The goddess of family was an orphan, a refugee from a world she and Kennera refused to divulge. They were entirely alone and had been since they had been found near death by his cousin Acylias five thousand years ago.

The two had had no one else. The other deities, including Lothonos himself, had ties to several other realms. The connections were often complex, but they did exist.

Lothonos was a cousin to four other gods--Domustri and Levorkan, Acylias and Eiophon.

Her aloneness had factored into his plan. Lothonos did nothing without thought and planning. Evaluation.

She would agree if just to get her hands on the babes. And he was fine with that. He possessed not the patience or interest for raising babes. But the younger deity did. He knew she did and for a moment he felt shame at using her desire against her.

But this virgin goddess would make the strongest babes, the most powerful. If the babes were to restore balance to the world, that strength and power would be required.

Nelciana was the most enigmatic of the female deities. She showed so little of herself to anyone save for Kennera, the girl goddess.

She intrigued him, and this would be a good time for him to learn of her what he wanted. Then once the deed was completed and the babes were growing within her, they could return to their homes and live in peace and harmony.

He stepped up behind her and wrapped his hands around her arms. She felt narrow, almost fragile, beneath his hands. He was not the largest of the male deities--Eiophon, Erasomophus, and Domustri were all larger. But he was still a formidable male by anyone’s standards. The goddess next to him was small, delicate and feminine. He had never noticed that about her; her strength overshadowed her physical attributes. He used his hold on her to turn her to face him. “Nelciana, you know it must be you. This is but a fragment of a moment in our lives. Once it is done we can go back to the lives we had before.”

“With two significant changes, Lotho. Or have you forgotten these hypothetical babes already?” Her mouth trembled and his attention focused on her lips exclusively. They were full and pink and he could not wait to taste them. So he did.

She allowed the embrace for several breaths, then pulled away. “You don’t need to pretend or to force your will on me.”

“That was not what I was doing. I was trying to show you that we can both enjoy each other. I know you know little of the physical arts between male and female, but it is not unpleasant. I promise you will enjoy it.”

“You sound just like your cousin.”

He felt his brows raise. “What do you mean? Which cousin?”

“Domustri. He believes every female, goddess or Kind, will enjoy being with him. And he thinks protests are foreplay.” She shivered and Lothonos’s suspicions grew. Real fear was suddenly clear in her eyes. “And he takes no little better than you do.”

Irrational fury began to fill him. “Has he tried…?”

“Three times in the last one hundred years. Before that he barely noticed my existence.” Nelciana stepped away from him. “I need to think, Lothonos. It is a mammoth request you’ve made. Babes are not something to take lightly. At least not for me.”

“I know.” He would think on Domustri later. His cousin was the god of three things--pain, trouble, and chaos. If he was persistent in this, there was probably a reason behind it. “But time is of the essence. We have less than two weeks to conceive the babes.”

“I see. I…”

“Stop. Take tonight to think of it. I will be here for your answer in the morning.”