Fate Forgotten (45 page)

With love, above all else.

Weeks turned into months, and still they traveled. As long as Eve was comfortable, he had no intention of abandoning their cruise, and every once in a while, they even left the ship to see the sights. But there was so much they didn’t know. So much he didn’t remember, and Michael still hadn’t come.

He lay awake at night with Eve in his arms, and felt the baby as she grew. Her mind was brilliant and happy and full of feeling. A feeling he recognized.

Memories he thought he had lost rose in his mind, nebulous and fleeting. Days spent in the Garden before it had burned, before Eve had been made, or even thought of. He remembered how it had been when he had walked with God and felt His touch within his soul. Ill-defined and immature though it was, this baby was no different. And the more time he spent with Eve and the child inside her, the more he wanted to believe as she did. That there was hope. That even though he had sworn not to use this baby for his own purposes, he might still be her father, her family.

“She feels you reaching for her,” Eve said.

He hadn’t realized she was awake, but he kissed the side of her head and tucked her more neatly against him. “She’s strong for so small a thing.”

“But she loves, Adam. Don’t you feel it? When she hears your voice, there’s a surge of contentment, of adoration. She loves you.”

Even as she spoke there was an eagerness in her heart. He could feel the longing she had for this baby, to know her and watch her grow. To love her and teach her to love the world they lived in.

“Adam?” Eve asked. “Are you all right?”

He swallowed against the thickness in his throat and met her eyes. “She only loves me because she doesn’t know me yet. Give her time and I’m sure she’ll manage a healthy indifference.”

“But if we could just make her see,” Eve said, frowning slightly. “If we could just show her enough of the world, let her discover its beauty for herself, maybe she’ll want to save it, to keep it the way it is.”

She was so determined, and it only made his heart ache that much more, because he could promise her nothing. Not even that he would stand with her against whatever Michael might bring against them.

“Evey—”

“We could do it, Adam. We could teach her to love the world, you and me. She doesn’t have to be the end of everything. She doesn’t have to be a force for destruction and chaos. She could be
good
.”

But if the baby really was that powerful, it would only take one tantrum to undo everything. One fight. One meltdown.

He pressed his lips together and said nothing. Because even in Eve’s womb, their daughter already possessed more power than he would ever dream of, and if all that love turned into even one breath of hate, or resentment, or even fear…

He didn’t want to think what it might do to Eve, never mind the world.

Chapter Forty-three: 1920 AD

The jungle was steaming, and the temple, while it provided shade, wasn’t much cooler. Thor pulled at the collar of his shirt and wished that he had taken the time to change before making this trip. He didn’t understand how Ra could stand the humidity after living in Egypt for so long. At least it had been dryer there.

“So good of you to come.” Ra clasped his hand and smiled. “We have not seen you in much too long.”

“I’m afraid this trip isn’t for pleasure, my friend.” He was too hot to waste time with pleasantries, even with the breeze that blew gently through the temple.

An immense statue of Shiva stared down at him inside the chamber where Ra had led him, and he offered it a polite bow. The stones creaked, and the air around them thickened perceptibly as the rock of the statue ground against itself and the massive head nodded in return. Thor removed his jacket and seriously considered stripping out of his shirt too.

“Oh?” Ra paused in the act of pouring a cup of tea, glancing over his shoulder. “I didn’t realize there was much business left for either of us in this world. I did hear about some society in Germany that was reviving the old ways. Your father must have been pleased by that.”

Thor grimaced. By all rights, his father should have left, and taken the rest of their people with him. But he was just stubborn enough to stay simply because Thor refused to leave. To ensure he did not go unpunished. “They do not look to gods, only to their own race and their own agendas. They offer us nothing, and in return we give them nothing back.”

“Ah. I must have been mistaken then. No matter.” Ra flicked his fingers as if giving up the matter to the jungle heat. “Tea?”

“No, thank you. The climate here is too oppressive for hot drink.”

Ra laughed. “Indeed. For you, I can well imagine that is so. Athena seems to enjoy it well enough, though.” The old man studied him while he sipped from his cup. His eyes were still sharp and brilliant, even as aged as he appeared now. “To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”

“I need a favor.” Thor unbuttoned the top buttons of his woolen shirt. Suitable for the cold mental ward where Eve was kept, but not for here. Perhaps he should have gone to France first, before he came to India. But there was no point in applying to the DeLeons if Ra would not help him. She needed a healer first. “It’s about Eve.”

Ra set down his cup, his eyes lit with what seemed to be amusement. “Yes, of course it is. You’ve seen her, I take it?”

He hoped that Ra didn’t notice the rush of heat to his face. Surely he must already be flushed with the humidity. “She’s locked up in a mental institute. By her husband’s order.”

The old god’s eyes narrowed and all humor left his face, leaving it lined and ancient with grief. “Where?”

“The Americas. If she were anyone else, she’d be dead twice over by now. As it is, she loses herself in memories and past lives. Even if I were to remove her, I do not think her mind will heal in this life from the traumas it has sustained. Electro-shock therapy and lithium in such doses that she cannot even lift her head to vomit. And something else, I’m almost certain. Venom from the world serpent.”

“She cannot remain there.”

Relief flooded through him. He could see the determination in Ra’s face to help. To do what he could. To do everything he could. “I thought to take her to her Lions in France. But I would not burden them with her care. I would not have them see her this way at all. For her as much as for them. She’ll need someone to help her, but in France I am too close to my father to see it done myself. I take great risk even now.”

Ra nodded. “Of course. Yes. You will have my assistance in this. Have you spoken to your Lions yet?”

He shook his head. “Not since the war.”

“I’ll go with you. The sooner she can be removed, the better for us all. Though, I’m surprised she allowed it to get this far.” Ra had abandoned his tea and moved with an alacrity that belied his age, collecting his things.

“God gave her too great a fear of hubris I think.” He picked up his jacket, following Ra out of the chamber. He bowed again to the statue, which nodded back with the scrape of sand and stone. “If she’s been poisoned—if Loki has returned from Hel, or even if it is only Sif’s work—there is no knowing the damage that has been done. Bad enough she believes herself to be a danger to others in her more lucid moments. She thinks if she uses her power for manipulation, even in her own defense, she will become her brother.”

Ra looked grim. “I trust you’ve assured her she has every right?”

“Not that she’ll listen.” Would she listen if she knew who he was? What he was? He didn’t know, but it wasn’t something he could risk. Revealing himself as a god would mean exile from the world at best, and he couldn’t leave her behind. Not when she needed him still. “Perhaps she’ll accept your word over mine.”

Then they were in the jungle again, outside of the temple. Thor looked for the sun. It would be late morning in France, and Eve would still be sleeping in her cot in America. Perhaps he would be able to return to her before dawn. He hated leaving her alone for so long, but at least this time if she tried to bleed herself, Ra would be on hand to heal her.

“I’ll follow you to the House of Lions,” Ra was saying. “I must take my leave of Bhagavan first.”

Thor nodded, and the air thickened with static around him, the green and gold of the jungle and the stones melting away with white light and prickling heat as the lightning took him from India. One last stop, and then she would be free.

Thor stood on the edge of the wood, wondering if he should wait for Ra, or go on to the manor. They would already know he was here by the lightning and the smoke rising from the tree beside him. He put out the smoldering wood with the rain and hoped the thunder hadn’t upset the horses. Luc DeLeon was not prone to paroxysms of any kind, but Thor didn’t particularly want to test him, either. Not when he came to beg a favor from the man.

“Bhagavan sends his regards,” Ra said, appearing rather abruptly beside him. “Or at least Brahma does. Shiva probably would prefer we didn’t interfere. I was wondering why the world seemed to be going to pieces in the west.”

“Brahma is generous.” And the only god left with a people who had not turned from him back to Elohim. At least giving Adam back his memory had ensured that much. Thor nodded to the manor, and then set off toward it. The sheep in the pasture ignored him. “And if there was ever an argument for keeping Eve alive in the world, the Great War that just passed should have won it. If any of the other gods were willing to listen.”

“I had thought to blame some trickster god for that.” Ra said, keeping pace and shooing a particularly brave ewe away from his path. He had changed, too, for the cooler weather, when he had said his goodbyes to the Hindu god. “But now it makes much more sense. You believe her to be that strong of a force for good in the world? That the repercussions include war?”

“If you had ever known what it was like to make love to her, my friend, you would not have to ask.” He felt his face burn with the memory and quickly forced it away.

But when he vaulted over the fence and glanced back at Ra, the old god was watching him with knowing amusement.

“How in the world did you manage to ingratiate yourself with her so completely as to accomplish that?”

Thor clenched his jaw to keep the rumble of thunder at bay and inhaled deeply through his nose. He had to watch his temper so close to his father’s lands, or he would risk Baldur coming to investigate. And that would do no one any favors.

“She believed me to be a figment of her imagination, brought to life by the drugs and her own psychosis. But to engage with her on such a level was never my intent.” Thor couldn’t help but grimace. He never should have let her sway him on that point in the ward. Never should have let her beg him to touch her that way. When the day came that he could reveal himself to her at last, she would not look kindly on him for taking advantage of her belief that he was a delusion. But she had been so warm in his arms, so soft against his body. Her hands slipping out of his grasp to tease him. “She was upset, and I was trying to soothe her. And before I realized what was happening, she had made up her mind. In that regard, she’s virtually impossible to argue with.”