Hearts Cursed, page 13
“Probably was, but if you see everything, what’s the fun in that?”
“Fun? This isn’t fun. This is life and death!” Ilia looked very much like she was going to clock him. And a strange glow emanated from her chest.
“Ilia. He’s here to help.”
Her gaze snapped to Trip’s, eyes ablaze. “Is he? Can we be so certain of that? He is the God of Mischief, after all. He can’t help himself. I mean, why waste time bringing us together in dreams? Why not just tell us what we need to know if it’s so important? He could have saved us months and months of searching and stress and despair. But no, because he’s a God, he has to do things the difficult way. The way most likely to piss people off and obfuscate the truth.”
“The truth! You can’t handle the truth!” Loki said, doing an exact impersonation of Jack Nicholson in that army movie Charlie and Harry had made Trip watch half a dozen times over the years.
Obviously though his impersonation-joke was ill timed because Ilia’s fury sparked in her eyes, the glow in her chest getting brighter.
She turned on Loki, demeanour menacing, flames burning in her eyes, heat coming off her in waves. “The truth! All I ever wanted was the truth. But all I’ve ever got from you bloody Gods and Goddesses is lies and betrayals and secrets. I don’t think a single one of you is capable of being truthful.”
Loki pouted. “That’s not fair. I can be truthful. It’s just often not fun.”
“This. Isn’t. Fun.” She stepped towards him with every word.
“Maybe not for you. But for me …”
Trip grabbed Ilia’s hand before she could raise it to punch Loki a smacker right in his smiling mouth.
At his touch, the glow in her chest dimmed.
Loki laughed, clapping his hand. “Such drama. Such passion. It’s no wonder I could never keep control of the dream-visions.”
“What do you mean?” Trip asked. “If you weren’t in control, who was?”
Eyes opening wide, he let his gaze run meaningfully from Trip to Ilia.
“Us?”
Loki shrugged. “One of you? Perhaps both? But all that sexy stuff was definitely all you. Although, why you couldn’t seal the deal, I have no idea.”
Ilia looked away and Trip cleared his throat. “Umm, well, okay. But then what was your role?”
“All I did was put you together in the dreams because Demeter needed my help.”
“But why would she ask you to help?” Ilia asked. “You’re not even of her pantheon.”
“Precisely the point. She could not show her hand, and she couldn’t ask anyone she trusted in her pantheon to do so either, because same result – it would make her effort to hide you pointless. But who would look at little ol’ me? I’m always doing something mischievous and silly. The Gods are so used to it now, they barely even glance at what I’m up to as long as it doesn’t affect them.”
“I still don’t understand why she’d ask you. Why she’d trust you.”
He touched a hand to his heart, flicking his hair back. “My innate charm and trustworthiness, obviously.”
“Loki!” Trip snapped before Ilia could. “Be serious.”
And suddenly, he was.
The wind stopped blowing his hair back from his face, his eyes stopped spinning green and red, and the cloak ceased its heroesque billowing. “I’ve never been more serious than I am in my duty to Demeter. She helped me when no other God or Goddess would in a moment of darkest despair; an action I can never truly repay. But even if that wasn’t the case, I would have given my help when she asked for it. I have felt Perses creeping back. The darker side of my magics quivers and wishes to prostrate itself to the power he could wield if he ever escaped. And I vowed long ago that I would never again prostrate myself at the foot of another God. So even if you do not believe that I would do everything I can to ensure Demeter’s plans succeed, believe that I will put myself and my wellbeing front and centre. Perses cannot have me or my powers. And to ensure that never comes to pass, he cannot fully be allowed back into this world.”
“Fully?” Ilia asked. “That thing that came out of the Void at Easter – was that him?”
Loki nodded. “A small part of him. Call it a scout.”
“It’s scouting us? Then why have we seen nothing of it?”
Loki pulled a face. “Why do you think I’d know what’s in the mind of a mad Old One? I have no idea what that scout is scouting, or even how it might report back. All I know is it’s here and that, sooner or later, it will make itself known. It won’t be able to stop itself. And when it does, you all have to be ready.”
Trip stared at the other God, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Ilia looked worried, the glow in her chest now completely gone. “Then why play with us like you have? Why not just come out and tell us what we need to know if things are so dire?”
“Because while I have more freedom to act than Demeter does, there are still eyes on the lookout all the time. Rules that are in place regarding how information about certain forbidden subjects can and cannot be shared without drawing the ire of the greater Gods. I may be mischievous, but I am not foolish.”
He crossed his arms, pouting a little. “Besides, I am not entirely to blame here. It’s you two who couldn’t seem to keep it in your pants. Every time I thought you were headed towards where you needed to go, you just kept dragging the visions right back to sexy-land. I should have realised then that you are soul-bound—”
“Soul-bound? What are you talking about?” Ilia said, jerking back a little. “We’re not soul-bound.”
“Of course you are. What do you think all of this …” he waved his hand between them, “is caused by? This isn’t just simple lust. You are meant to be.”
Ilia paled, as if she was scared. But why? The thought they were meant to be together thrilled through him, making him happier than he’d ever felt in his life.
But he didn’t have a chance to question her, because Loki tipped his head to the side and said, “Huh, that’s probably why your blood more than any other is the key.”
“My blood?” Ilia asked, paling further, fear now definitely clouding her eyes.
Trip tensed. Hells. It wasn’t time yet for that to be brought up. She wasn’t ready to know.
Loki waved his hand again, blithely ignoring her. “Of course, I can’t be held to blame for missing such a thing. I mean, it’s not like it happens that often. And I was just a little too frustrated by the fact my little plan wasn’t coming together quite how I wanted. I have to say, it’s been quite tiring constantly pulling you back into the dream-vision so we could attempt to get to the good stuff. I swear, it wouldn’t have even happened if I hadn’t done a little spell on that book and made it cough up the address when Trip failed to tell you in time.”
“That book? That was you? That almost killed Dawn and me!”
“Uh-uh-uh, no skipping to the Ghost of Christmas Present act. We’re still in the past. Now, on with the play!”
He waved his hand and another mirror appeared before them, wavering like before but quickly resolving to show the same tall woman, her green eyes shining with tears, standing before a man dressed in a Grecian-style tunic, shaking her head as he pleaded with her.
“This is when you came up with the plan,” he said to Trip.
The scene sped forward to show them standing in this very forest, snow covering everything.
“This is where the spell was placed and you sacrificed everything for the good of us all.” He raised a brow at Trip. “So honourable. Ah, but wait, this is my favourite bit.” Demeter waved her hands and the ancient Trip stiffened, his face a rictus of pain, before he fell, to be caught and lowered lovingly onto the snow. A handkerchief appeared suddenly in Loki’s hand and he dabbed at his eye and said wetly, “So touching. Brings a tear to my eye every time.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Ilia grumbled.
“Harsh!” Loki said. “But hush. This bit is what affects you.”
They watched as Demeter made her vow, hearing her words clearly and the three rolling knocks that followed, signifying the vow was accepted by the Eternal Well – unbreakable, unshakable, causing death if not brought to fruition.
“Why would she do that?” Ilia asked. “It wasn’t even specific. How did she know she could do it?”
“She didn’t. She just knew it must be done so made a vow to ensure it, no matter the cost.” He turned his gaze to her, something in his eyes that was pointed and knowing, but that she couldn’t understand.
“But … I don’t understand what this has to do with me? How am I a part of this?”
“Shortly after, she had a knowing about the gem and the spirit residing in it that she’d come into possession of. It was then she realised that you were the key to her completing the vow. It’s funny how the Fates work, isn’t it? Placing you in that gem so that you could then be of use when needed. An act of superior weaving, I have to say.” He waved at the image again. “But look! This is where my Machiavellian mind truly came into its own for Demeter’s plans.”
They watched as the image played out, showing him bowed over the gem, Demeter behind him, a worried expression on her face. “You had already started to be able to make yourself known and she was worried you would use your persuasion on some poor bleeding heart to get you out.”
“But nobody could get me out but Korinna and Tamuel. It was prophesied.”
“I know. I was the one who came up with that prophecy,” he said proudly, as if expecting congratulations. “Demeter was so grateful when I suggested it, because it was the only way to ensure you couldn’t get free until in Korinna and Tamuel’s hands. What she saw in her knowing was that you would only get to this point if they were the ones to free you.”
Ilia stared at him, breath heaving. “You. Kept. Me. Enslaved. In. That. Gem. For. Three. Thousand. Years!”
“Uh-huh,” Loki said, staring at the image of Demeter thanking him. “Pretty clever, huh?”
Ilia roared, lunging at him, the glow, like dawn’s light, spreading in her chest once again, brighter this time.
Trip caught her as Loki went stumbling back, hands up. She screamed and fought against the arms banding around her. “Let me go! I have to kill him!”
The power in her chest didn’t lessen this time at his touch and was hot to the point of burning. But he held on. “No, Ilia. You can’t. We need him.”
“I don’t need him. I don’t need anyone.”
“Ilia, please. Look at what’s happening now.”
Something in his voice made the fury hazing her sight and her mind fade just enough that she looked where he was pointing.
In the mirror a new image showed; one that was clearly of the present.
She and Trip lay on a bed, side by side, a glow surrounding them, their hands clasped.
Beyond them, Jules stood, sobbing, a limp Dawn in her arms. Bas, Korinna, Tamuel and Violetta gathered around her, hands raised above the baby, working their collective magics on her. But no matter what they did, she remained limp, face as pale as death, lips turning slowly blue.
“Dawn!” Ilia cried, the glow and her anger fading as quickly as they’d come.
“Ah, now we’ve got to the present,” Loki said, spinning around.
His hair changed back to his normal black as his cloak turned into a black-hooded one covered in black sequins, except for the green ones on the back that spelled out Ghost of Christmas Present.
Chapter
Sixteen
Ilia lunged towards the mirror. Trip let go of her just enough so she didn’t face-plant into it. She would have thanked him except all her attention was on the precious baby in the image. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s dying.”
Loki’s tone was so cheerful it took her a moment to take it in. “She’s dying?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” He looked towards Trip as if seeking assurance.
Trip opened his mouth to say something but Ilia got in first. “What do you mean ‘she’s dying’? Why?”
“Because you’re dying,” he said pragmatically, waving his hand at her.
She blinked at him for a moment before words came to her. “What? No, I’m not.” She pointed at her image. Both hers and Trip’s bodies looked relatively healthy given their unconscious state.
“Ah, but you are.” Loki wagged his finger, swaying a little so that his cloak fluttered around him. “You have been since you were made corporeal by Tamuel and that rather powerful little baby. A single life-force, no matter that it’s as strong as hers, isn’t enough to keep the both of you going.”
“But … there was no sign of this before.”
“Ah, well, yes …” Loki shuffled away from her again. “I’m afraid I might have just precipitated that a little – only out of necessity, of course.”
“You what?”
“The dark magic book that I put in your way to help facilitate an astral visit with Triptolemus here … It might have just sped things up a bit.”
“How much is a bit?” Trip asked dangerously.
Loki shrugged. “Hard to know, really. You might have had a human lifespan to figure out how to separate yourself before. Now … given how quickly little Dawny is deteriorating …” Loki tipped his hand back and forth. “Probably Christmas day. Maybe a day less or a day more.”
“What?” Ilia said, terror spiking through her as her gaze went back to the baby she’d give her life for. “This can’t be. I can’t let this happen. Tell me how to stop it from happening.”
“Let Triptolemus drink your blood.”
Once again, he said it so pragmatically that it took a moment before his words speared through her, but when they did, it was enough to pull her horrified gaze away from the mirror. “What?”
“You. Need. To. Let. Triptolemus. Drink. Your. Blood,” he said slowly as if talking to someone who couldn’t hear properly. And maybe she couldn’t because she didn’t want to hear what he’d just said, and yet she had.
Blood magic. He was suggesting blood magic! And not just any type of blood magic, but exactly what Tiberinus had used on her.
Fear, huge and clawing, scraped at her insides, making it difficult to think, to breathe. She shoved it down, shoved it back. “You can’t be serious,” she said, voice shaking.
“I am very serious. What do you think all of this is about?”
“Umm, getting Triptolemus’ memory back?”
“Which this will do.”
She shook her head, trying desperately to hold onto reason, to not let the fear take her over. “B-but h-how does that help Dawn? I-I can’t even s-see how it will help T-trip’s memories c-come back.”
“Well, I don’t have time to get into the minutiae, but basically it comes down to the fact that the power you were born with, added to the power you got when you were reborn, not to mention the fact you are soul-bonded to him, makes your blood the ultimate cure-all for Trip here.”
“But … my original power wasn’t anything special.”
“The power you were born with is more than you ever thought it was. It is very special.”
“Well … I … “ She looked over at Trip but he seemed as lost in all this as she felt. “Even if that were true, I-I don’t have it anymore.”
“Of course you do. What do you think that hot little glow is that keeps leaking out of your chest?”
She stared at him, shaking her head, unable and unwilling to accept what he was saying. “B-blood magic isn’t the answer here.”
“Of course it is. It is the only answer.”
“It’s never an answer!” Ilia snapped, fist pressed against her chest as she struggled to breathe. The glow in her chest pulsed in response. She thought it only activated with anger, but it seemed fear flipped the switch on it too. She tried to shove it all down as she whispered, “Blood magic only brings pain and betrayal and death.”
“But if it will help the baby …” Trip said.
“You only want this because it will help you!” she snarled, turning on him. She’d been right to hold herself back from him. He was just like any other God – always wanting something from her. Wanting to use her and betray her.
He took a step back from her anger, but to his credit, kept his calm. “I won’t lie. Of course I want that. But if you hadn’t agreed, I would never have pushed the matter. I would have spent my life by your side trying to find another way. But this …” He gestured at the image hanging before them. “That poor little baby. We have to do everything in our power to save her. Surely you want that?”
“Of course I do.” Just the thought of Dawn’s life in danger … Her anger fizzled once again.
Trip wasn’t to blame for this. No. The brutality behind all this had a touch of the Fates about it. No wonder she’d found that entry in the grimoire that said blood magic, under the right conditions, would sever the link between her and Dawn and had found nothing else to help her.
Well, she hadn’t trusted the answer then and she certainly didn’t trust it now. Breath unsteady, she said, “But … This can’t be the only option. Blood magic is dark magic. It trapped me and used me and has been the cause of so much misery in my life and in others. I mean, look at what it’s done to you, Trip.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
She began to pace, the words tumbling out of her. “This is all happening because of the curse of blood magic. Perses means to use your special blood to break his way back into this reality, if what Loki has shown us is true. He means to use it for evil because that’s what blood magic can only ever be used for.”
“That’s not true,” Trip said. “Think what I can do with my blood. I grow things. I take something that is hardly living and make it flourish, turning it into something vibrant and new.”
“That’s not blood magic. That’s just something special in your blood because of how you were created.” Which was why she could feel the goodness in his soul, the kindness that made him want to give and share joy.
Her thought of moments before was unfair. He was nothing like the Gods and Fates responsible for all this. She should have known that. After all, part of his legend was about him travelling the globe, sharing his skills and teaching humans how to provide for themselves. He stopped them from relying so heavily on the mercy of the Gods – which was always a good thing. Then he’d given up his beloved wife and unborn daughter to protect not only them, but everyone, from an evil none of them was strong enough to face at that point.
