Balance Of The Worlds (9 page)

If they were ever to become besieged Lothonos knew that until reinforcements arrived from whatever worlds could provide them, Levia would have to hold out against the devils of the Three Hells.
He’d spent the last several hours running scenarios where those very eventualities played out. His evaluations would be necessary in the world’s preparations.

He had spent over two thousand years making sure his world had the defenses it needed. He had known the time would come when even the peaceful place of Levia would face attack.

But never had his defenses mattered more.

Nelciana had yet to forgive him for dragging her from Relaklonos and into his home. The babes were the only real comfort she had. How would she react when he told her that the time was inevitable that they flee his home and to the larger castle that his cousin and Kennera occupied? The displaced Lupoiux packs had begun building a large city near that castle. And Lupoiux were notorious for ripping enemies to shreds if they got too near the young. He would count on that as an added safeguard.

Lothonos wanted Dres and Nella there as quickly as possible though it sat ill with him to have all four of the babes together. It would make them far too desirable of targets.

He did not know how long they would have until Levia
was
targeted. But he knew it would be. His foresight made that abundantly clear. There were too many soft targets in Levia. And too many resources for an intelligent enemy to pass up. He paced around his office while he thought.

A purple cloud formed around his feet and Lothonos jumped back. He carried no sword, but he was not defenseless. Depending upon who entered through the portkey he could—and would—defend his household.

Eiophon’s brother Acylias stepped through. He wasn’t true Lupoiux wolf, but Lupoiun shifter. Eiophon had started out much like his older brother, able to do almost anything and shift into anything, but the curses directed at Eiophon by Kennera all those years ago had changed the younger brother into something quite different from the elder.

Acylias was even more reclusive than Lothonos, and if he had creatures that followed him
no one
knew of them. Not even Lothonos who’d made a point of knowing everything about everyone who occupied any space in Levia.

“Popping in for a family visit?” He strongly suspected the Solestru that populated Levia and portions of Gaia were followers of Aki’s ways though no one had ever confirmed.

The other deity nearly glowed. Aki pulled strength from the sun, and it showed in the blond hair and golden skin. But the other male’s soul wasn’t the least bit warm. Nor was it cold, for that matter. Acylias meted out retribution to all who needed it, in Levia or Gaia. Even to other deities. It had hardened a shell around Lothonos’ cousin’s soul.

Lothonos had long understood it and had never challenged Aki for his lack of caring toward others. Even his own brother.

That was why Acylias came to Lothonos more often than he did Eiophon.

“Something surrounds Levia for the moment. A cloud or sickness, I think.”

Had Lothonos imagined the concern in Acylias’ blue eyes?

“I planned for such an eventuality. Something comes.”

“What? I can bring the Solestru to the city.”

Could he? Somehow Lothonos wasn’t surprised. The Solestru were the native inhabitants of Levia and had been there long before Lothonos and some of the other deities had left Gaia when the humans began to reproduce rapidly. Acylias was one of the first—if not
the first—
to enter Levia. Eiophon and Erasomophus had followed until Levia was home to those of their ilk.

Lothonos had followed because he felt that family connection to Eiophon and Acylias—their mothers were sisters and close.

But Acylias had been the one to state that the Solestru were the natives.

Lothonos half believed his cousin had created them somehow. Odd that the god most aligned with the sun would just randomly
find
a species of creatures that many described as sun warriors, wasn’t it? No, logically it made sense for Aki to have created the creatures.

“That may be needed. I do not know what it is that comes, but something does. Something
I
personally will not have ever seen.” Sometimes precognition was more of a curse than a gift. No matter what he had tried, Lothonos had never mastered the ability to
control
the precognition he’d inherited from the father he’d had never truly known. “How many Solestru do you command?”

“Not a one. I don’t want the responsibility of guiding a Kind. You know that. I got my fill of responsibility millennia ago. But the Solestru number in the tens of thousands still, I believe. I will
ask
them if they are prepared to defend this place. If they choose not to align with us, that is their choice.”

“So you will be involved, then?” The god of retribution would only serve them well in this war, wouldn’t he?

“Of course. Levia is not a world deserving of invasion and war. The peoples of this world are young, sparse, and passivist. They are not fighters or warriors. We both know this. The Solestru are as angered by injustice as I. They should agree to fill out your numbers. How many of my brother’s people are to fight? The Dardaptoan and Nellana goddesses?”

“I do not know. I am working on that now.”

Acylias draped his damned large body in a chair. He looked at the paper spread over the table. “This is the city. Going Gaian, cousin?”

“Paper is much more easily shared with those damned archaics in Relaklonos.” Lothonos was hoping the demon world would be able to spare some
Beskre
warriors to round out any weaknesses in numbers. “We move to the Levian castle soon. It has fewer weaknesses than this place.”

“Even after all your machinations?” Aki waved a hand and a small band of warriors on the display moved to the east. “I know you have expected this for centuries. No need to be secretive with me, cousin.”

“Like recognizes like, is that it?”

“Something like that.”

“Where were you?” Lothonos tried to keep tabs on the other worlds’. He suspected war would come to many of them. Wouldn’t that make the most sense? For the Dark Sorcerer to invade as many as he could, to separate and immobilize those that could fight against him? “Any signs of attack?”

“Gaia, that filthy place of human rats. Those little fuckers disgust me at times. Total stupidity reigns. Eiophon and Kennera asked me to comb that world, looking for any lost of their Kinds who did not get the damned message to get out of Gaia or else. Just finished up in some gods-forsaken place called
Indiana.”

“Find anything?”

“Not too many Lupoiux. One Dardaptoan. And a total idiot shifter. A bear shifter had wandered in. You’d think the dumb ass would have known to check if bears roamed Indiana freely. No, so he walks right in and gets the entire area in a panic. I smoothed it over, best I could. Brought him here and set him free in the north. There are a few others of his Kind there.” Aki tapped the map again. “The Gaians are completely clueless about what’s to happen.”

“If the Dark Sorcerer attacks there it will prove disastrous for the humans.”

His cousin snorted. “Maybe they’ll all be wiped from the world. Then we can clean it up.”

Lothonos knew he didn’t truly mean it. Aki was often surly when it came to the destruction humans had wrought in their realm, but he was protective of them as well. He felt they were defenseless when faced with the other Kinds, and Lothonos agreed. One of the few decrees he’d made for his own followers was that they were not to harm the humans, but the educate them whenever possible. And Acylias was known to be swift with punishment to anyone who ultimately harmed humans.

“Do we have to call him that? Dark Sorcerer sounds so childish. The guy’s a bastard bent on conquering everyone. Greedy ass or something like Son-of-a-bitch-who-needs-to-just-die-already sounds better. Why give him power with a name like sorcerer? He isn’t that. That is the name given him by panicked youths.”

Was it? Lothonos didn’t know for certain who’d first coined the phrase. “It does not matter what name we give him. If he succeeds at his task, we will not be here to know what he calls himself. If we succeed, we’ll carve whatever we wish into his flesh to be there while he rots.”
They did not have time to discuss something so trivial. “Any signs of him in Gaia?”

“No. And I would have felt it. The sun still rises and sets like it ought there. And the humans are blissfully unaware of what happens elsewhere—and what destruction
they
are causing themselves. I wonder if the Damn Bastard will even look in their direction. Why should he? There are more resources for him elsewhere. And someone will need to explore the other realms. How many do we have names for now? Are they in the line of attack?”

Lothonos shook his head. “I do not know. I am focusing on
our
world. It is all I can do.”

“And the Nellana goddess upstairs? The one who is very angry with you? What do you have planned for her, cousin? Is she now unhappy with the bargain the two of you had made?”

“She thinks her place is at the front of the war. I disagreed.”

“You told her that? You still know very little of females, I see.”

“Nelciana is mine to be dealt with. When this war is over, and she is safe, I shall make my amends. Until then, she is safer where she is.” Yet her Nellana witches were closing in on his home, as well, weren’t they? His sentinels had brought word the witch’s Kind were gathering north of Av. And rumor had it they weren’t too happy with the captivity of their goddess. Something he would have to address. As soon as he figured out how. “In the morning, when all are rested, I will relocate my household to Eiophon’s.”

“I will have the Solestru who are willing meet you there. They will fortify your numbers, and Eiophon’s.”

“That is all we can do at this point. I will need to speak with the Relaklonos king and the Laquazzeana. There must be some way to protect all the realms, and not just focus on our own individually. Divided, we will be far more vulnerable.”

“That’s the
logical
assumption, isn’t it? Do what you must. And I will align with your people.”

“Thank you. It is honored I am to have you at my side.”

“Yeah, well, just make sure you don’t get us all
dead,
will you?” His cousin stood to leave but turned back. “And Loth? Don’t leave your female alone until it’s too late. Someone may come along and take her from you. If she weren't yours…I’d already be talking her into my bed. Now that she’s not a virgin any longer…A goddess driven by her emotions—so very tempting, isn’t it? And I know I am not the only one who’s noticed.”

She settled Nella into her cradle and nodded at Jordan. “I’ll return in a bit. I need to find Lothonos and find out what is happening in the cities.”

“I’ll stay close.” Jordan snuggled Dres. Nelciana knew the girl with her sister’s soul loved the babies like they were her own. With Dres and Nella, Jordan felt
safe.
There weren’t many in this world that Jordan could say that about.

She wasn’t the goddess responsible for the Lupoiux, but Jordan would
always
have a spot in Nelciana’s life—even if she hadn’t been her sister reborned. That Jordan had suffered at the hands of the Lupoiux pack that had kidnapped her hurt Nelciana to her heart whenever she thought about it.

No one deserved to suffer so much pain that it broke their soul. No one.

“Thank you, Jordan. For all that you do. Since the babes’ birth, and even before.” Her pregnancy with the twins had been uneventful, unlike Kennera’s with her own twins. But the delivery—Dres had struggled greatly to make
his
way into the worlds. It had taken her longer than she’d expected to regain her strength. She wasn’t entirely certain she had.

But she would do it all again. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for her babes. Anything.

“Guard them well. Their father has a guard on the door if needed.”

“Of course.” The guard made Jordan nervous, but it was obvious she understood the need for it. Lothonos would be doubly cautious, wouldn’t he?

Couldn’t risk Nelciana escaping, now could he?

The idea of what he had done still burned her. Had it not been for the children, she would have fought him far more greatly than she had. But she had yet to find a solution to keeping
them
safe.

She felt so useless at times. She could not stomach the idea that the Dark Sorcerer was out there somewhere, that he
knew
her sister still lived. That he knew Eaudne was still out there.

Everyone she loved was still vulnerable to his threats—not just the babes. Didn’t Lothonos understand that? She couldn’t sit back and watch Loren and the rest be consumed. There were some things so powerful that they had to be protected, fought for. Family was at the top of that list. Why didn’t he understand that? How could she make him understand that?

She found him in his library, and only because one of his cousins was exiting the large room. He was one of the few cousins of Lothonos that Nelciana liked. Acylias might have been the Gaian god of retribution, but he was also tempered by the power of fairness. And he had always treated her with the utmost respect.

He’d sent her flowers when the twins had been born. Flowers from a world so unknown to her that she had never been able to identify the mother plant. The flowers still bloomed in her children’s nursery. At the home she’d lived in for the last five thousand years. Which Lothonos seemed to have no concern for
at all.

“I do have an estate of my own, Lotho.” That was what she said to him the moment Acylias left them alone after winking at her. It wasn’t exactly what she had been planning to say. “Do you have no concern for it?”

“Do you not? If you were so concerned about it, shouldn’t you have
stayed
in the same world as it?”

His dark eyes showed absolutely no emotion. The lack made her want to smack him. She had never understood his lack of passion for anything. Would she ever? “For five thousand years, Lotho, I have thought myself alone. Months ago, a woman I considered an aunt was returned to me. And now a sister. How could I have
not
gone to her, to ensure she was genuine and not some foul imposter?”

He stood, and rounded the desk. “And if she was some form of evil? Were you prepared to fight this woman? I do not think so.”

Nelciana thought for a moment. “I am not helpless, Lothonos, for all that you think I am. I can defend…and I can protect when needed.”

He stepped closer—until he was almost near enough to touch. Why did she always feel his heat first? Then the hot scent of male touched with just the spice of some world she’d never identified.

Where had Lothonos came from originally, anyway? The Gaian deities, Lothonos and Acylias and Eiophon included, were not originally of the Gaian world. Yet she had never asked him where he originated. Perhaps one day she would. For her children’s sake.

Nelciana refused to let herself step away from him. “This war could potentially last for centuries. How long do you intend to keep me—and the babes—here?”

He frowned again. Long fingers wrapped around her arms. That hard, strong chest was right there in front of her. “As long as I must. I know you are not helpless. But you have to understand that
your
job
right now
is not to prepare for a war, but to protect the babes from it.”

“While their father fights.”

“Yes! For them and for you! Why do you not understand that?” For the first time, real frustration was visible for her to see. It had her pausing. “Do you not
know
that I cannot do what
I
must to ensure you and they are safe, if I am so consumed with worry for you?”

“You do not have to worry about me. It is not your place.” She said the words slowly as she tried to process the idea that he had shown emotion
for
her
to
her. What did it mean? And why did it have her heart beating fast and her skin heating where he’d touched.

“Not my place? There have been no other males within your body, no other male in your bed though many now want just that. I planted my seeds right here. And I did it with the purpose of what was to come.” He dropped a hand to cover her stomach. She
almost
stepped back from him. “That makes it my place. I dream of you and that night. And I cannot
stand
the idea of you going to war. Of you getting anywhere this dark bastard. And I do not understand why it is that you cannot understand that.”

She had never heard him so intense, had never seen his eyes so heated. “Lotho…”

He scooped her off of her feet and against his chest. She could feel
his
heart beating fast, and could swear he trembled.

“Damnit. I had planned to wait until this war was over, but I can now see you need more than that.” He stared down at her, and time seemed to pause around them. Then his head lowered and he was kissing her—with far more passion than she would ever have thought possible.

When she was finally able to
think
again, he jerked back. “Go back to the babes. We…we’ll discuss
this
later.”

“But…”

“Go.”

Instead, he turned and walked away.

Nelciana just watched him go, not understanding a single moment of what had happened.