Fate Forgotten (5 page)

“Aren’t you from here?” she asked.

He shook his head. “The United Kingdom, actually.”

“But you don’t have any accent.”

“No,” he smiled at her confusion. More proof that she wasn’t Eve, if he had needed it. “I guess you could say I have a knack for languages.” The wine arrived, and the waiter poured them each a glass before disappearing.

“Along with a knack for getting people to do what you want?” she asked, picking up her glass and taking a sip of the drink.

“I do have a measure of charm, yes.” His smile broadened into a grin. “Are you regretting coming to dinner with me?”

She shook her head. “Not yet.”

“I’m glad.” And he was, though he wished again that he had found what he was looking for. But then, he didn’t think Eve would have been so easy with his company. They would have been arguing by now, at the very least.

She set down her glass and leaned forward. “Can I ask you something?”

He reached for the wine bottle and topped off her glass. “Anything you like.”

“Who is it that I remind you of?”

“Hm.” He sat back again and looked into her eyes. So green. So similar. “That’s a bit more complicated an answer than I’d like to divulge on an empty stomach.”

She smiled and flipped the napkin of the breadbasket open, nudging it closer to him. “Then eat something.”

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that he hadn’t found Eve, he decided as he let her encourage him to try the bread. This Renata was quite delightful on her own.

Their food arrived and her eyes lit at the entrée. It was clearly a treat to her and she took such pleasure in so simple a thing. It would be a shame to spoil it. He kept the conversation light and her glass full of wine as they ate. The food was everything she’d promised, and he enjoyed it the more for her company.

“Will you have dinner with me again?” he asked, watching her savor a bite of a cake layered with chocolate mousse.

She swallowed and dropped her eyes, fussing with her napkin. “I don’t know, Jeremiah.”

“Didn’t you enjoy yourself?” He knew that she had and didn’t understand her reluctance now. “How can I convince you?”

She smiled, and for a moment he thought he saw some kind of sadness in her expression. “How long does your business keep you here?”

“A few weeks, perhaps a month and a half.” The waiter arrived with the checkpad, and he paid it quickly, leaving a generous tip. He had no reason to be stingy. His money wouldn’t run out.

“And if I agree to have dinner with you again, what then?”

“Then I’ll ask you to lunch the following day, I’m sure.” He grinned. “Or you can, of course, refuse me. But why not take advantage of the opportunity?”

“What’s the harm?” she asked, her lips twitching.

“Precisely.”

She shook her head and stood. “I should go. Thank you for dinner. It was wonderful.”

“Can I at least give you a ride home?” He rose immediately, putting as much power behind the words as he could without startling her.

“A ride?” she repeated, looking back at him, her forehead creased. “No, no thank you. I’d rather walk. It’s a beautiful night.”

It was rare that a woman could resist his persuasion, though not unheard of. It didn’t stop him from being somewhat irritated by it, as he watched her leave. So familiar and so strange.

He’d have to find out more.

Chapter Four: 164 AD

Evaline was a happy girl, all her life. Bright and eager to learn. Was it wrong that he loved her, like the daughter he had never had with Eve? It troubled him, when he found himself returning to the House of Lions, and letting the thunder rumble just loud enough to wake her. She always came running, laughing, joyful. At ten, at twelve, at fourteen and sixteen. At eighteen, even when she had been promised, and at twenty, now, when she was two years married.

It was past midnight, but the moon was bright and full, the sky clear but for the clouds he summoned to make the lightning and bring the thunder that would wake her. He saw her sit up in her bed, and come to the window, and he even saw her smile as she recognized him, silhouetted against the field.

She twisted her hair into a knot and wrapped a palla around her shoulders against the chill. And then she ran to him. “
Tonitrus?
” she whispered into the dark as she came near.

He had returned to the shadows, that if her husband woke, he wouldn’t see him. Wouldn’t have cause to think his wife left his bed to meet a lover. So that he would not have to explain himself to a Lion who would not understand. He couldn’t even explain it to himself, what brought him here. Except that here was someone he was not forbidden to know, not forbidden to see. A family that did not think him disloyal, that respected and loved him still, because of his flaws and weaknesses. Because of what he had done for them and for Eve.

“Little Evaline,” he called back.

She turned toward his voice and smiled, moonlight reflecting off her teeth and the whites of her eyes. Her skin had not yet turned brown from the sun after a long winter, though winter here was hardly what it could be in the Northlands.

“Not so little anymore, my lord.” She curtsied with grave courtesy.

He laughed. “I’m not your lord, Evaline, and you’ll always be little to me. Just a babe for the whole length of your life.” He took his cloak from his shoulders and spread it over the grass and dirt for her to sit on, before sitting down beside it. “How fares your family?”

She took her seat and pulled her knees to her chest in a pose so reminiscent of Eve, he had to look away. “We are well. Blessed by the weather you bring us here. We’ve heard there’s been drought in the north, but it has not reached us. Will you not come during the day and spend time with us? Tell us our history?”

“Have you forgotten so quickly?” But he smiled.

She always begged for him to tell her the stories of her family, of Eve. He had even told her the story of his life with Tora. Perhaps that was another reason why he always returned. She wanted to know. She thirsted for the knowledge he brought with him of herself, of her history. He could not speak of Eve to Ra, or Athena, or any of the other gods without causing strain. But Evaline the Lion could not hear enough.

“When you have children, I will come again to visit, and tell your daughters and sons the stories of their ancestors.”

“Then you’ll have to return to us soon enough.” Her hand went to her stomach, and he studied her in the moonlight more closely. It was not as easy to see her pregnancy as it was to see Eve’s. He had not noticed it until he looked. “If it is a girl, we’re going to name her Eve. My husband has agreed.”

Eve. A little baby Eve. If it were twenty, or twenty-five years from now, it might be Eve herself reborn. Was it that simple? Could she be summoned just by the intent to name?

“He is a good man, your husband. A strong leader for your family.” He glanced back toward the house and was reassured that no light came from it. It was dark and still and silent. “But he doesn’t believe. You must do so for him. Believe, remember.”

“How could I not believe?” she asked, laughing. “You are here, now, and always coming back. You never fail to answer my prayers.”

He sighed. “I wish you would not pray to me, Evaline. I’m unworthy of it. Pray to your God, and His angels. Gabriel loves God’s people, your people.”

“Don’t you?”

He reached out to ruffle her hair as he had when she was a little girl. It had long ago fallen out of the knot, and it fell fine and shining down her back, soft as silk. “Do you think I would come so often if I did not? Eve’s family will always have my love, for all they have done and all they will do. But you are not my people, Evaline. You are God’s chosen people. I am just a lesser god who cannot stop himself from interfering.”

“I wonder why.” It wasn’t quite a question. She rested her head on her knees and looked out into the night, her tone thoughtful. “You told me once that Michael said you had no right to love her, but how could such a thing be wrong? Do you think God knew you would come? Knew you would love her and protect her?”

“I do not know the True God’s mind. I have never known him.”

But her words were echoes of the angel’s and he listened to the question ring in his ears.
Did you never wonder why you were drawn here?
He wasn’t sure if Gabriel had meant Nazareth, then, or the world. But the world, as opposed to what? Where else would he have gone, if he had not come here with his father?

“Sometimes I pray to Him though. If my father knew, I think he would disown me. It is the blackest kind of blasphemy to lend my power in such a way, to another god who would seek to have us thrown out of this world.”

She sighed next to him. “Sometimes I think you gods are not so different from us. The Emperor is only as strong as his army, as the generals who give him their support, as the Praetorian guards who protect him from harm. If the generals and the guards decide to support another, then the Emperor no longer has an empire and becomes just a man like the rest of us, waiting for death to find him.”

He chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Do not say it where the gods can hear you. They would be deeply affronted, and it does not do to anger them. But I have kept you up for too long, little Evaline. Had I known you were with child, I would not have woken you.” He stood and offered her his hand, pulling her to her feet.

She stood on her tip toes to kiss his cheek, as she had done for years. “Promise you’ll always wake me?”

He nodded. “Go back to your husband and your bed.”

She smiled. He watched her run barefoot back to the house, her palla streaming behind her. When she disappeared inside, he bent down to pick up his cloak and fastened it around his neck again. He reached for Eve. It was well into morning in the east, and she was busy with something that he could not quite see.

He wished that he could tell her about this granddaughter of hers. This Evaline who reminded him so much of her. He wished that he could have these conversations with Eve instead of Evaline, that he could tell her how her family thrived. But he couldn’t.

He couldn’t.

He found himself a tree, lower down the mountains, tall and sturdy enough to support his weight, and fell asleep to the sound of wind rustling the leaves with Gabriel’s promise in his mind. Someday, he reminded himself, Odin’s command be damned, Eve would know him for what he was by the angel’s own admission, and she would love him again, and he would worship her until his last breath.

“Odin-son.” He was prodded awake by a stick and Loki’s faintly nasal call.

Thor rubbed his face and remembered where he was. Too near the House of Lions for Loki’s presence to be anything but alarming.

He dropped to the ground and snatched the stick from the other god’s hands, snapping it in half and tossing the pieces away. “What do you want, Trickster?”

“Is that any way to greet your fellow Aesir, Thor?” Loki feigned hurt, his eyes wide with the lie. “And after all the trouble I went to tracking you.”

“You’ll never be Aesir, Loki, no matter how many of our women you bed.” But he grabbed the god by the arm and pulled him away from the house, away from the Lions. He wouldn’t bring his trouble to their door. But he could not go too far, or leave the lands Zeus had granted him, and the right to the use of his own power. “What do you want?”

Loki jerked free and glared, all pretended emotion but hate vanishing from his features. “I come from your father. Sif has begged her release on the grounds of your disinterest and betrayal, and Odin has granted it.”

Thor stopped too and stared dumbly at the trees, at the sky. “Her release?”

“Yes, you oaf. She’s divorced you.” Loki grinned. “More for me, hmm? Or it would be if I hadn’t already been enjoying your share. I suppose I’ll have to turn my attentions elsewhere. Perhaps to that daughter of Elohim’s?”

He twitched, and
Mjölnir
came to his palm. It was a relief to have something to wrap his hand around in his anger. “I thought I made things very clear to you, Loki. You are not to interfere with her.”

Loki’s smile was a leer. “And have I not kept my word? I did not touch your precious Eve or whisper to her. Nothing sexual at all. But you can hardly forbid me from watching as I will, and without your so regular reports, the Allfather grows ever so curious. And of course, he fears you might be tempted to disobey, now that you’re free of your wife.”