Page 78 of A Reign of Storm and Madness

Now he knows too. All three of them know one of my deepest secrets and as such, my life is in their hands.

Chapter 39

Theos

Since being recognized as one of Azai’s sons, since being removed from the facility for failed God children—the place of my childhood—I have not found myself surprised by much. When you don’t expect anything from anyone, no one can truly shock or disappoint you. But this … as Ruen had warned me, is an entirely different matter.

Who could have guessed that the beautiful and biting little Terra that had entered our chambers and announced herself as our new servant and we, her masters, would end up being that which we all have hated ourselves for being. A Mortal God. A child of the Divine Beings and, with as many spiders as she has called to her, a powerful one at that.

Ruen was right again. She is dangerous. Her very existence and the fact that we now know … if we don’t turn her in to the Council, it isn’t just her life at stake, but all of ours. I turn my gaze to the woman that has just damned us all. The very same woman that had come to me in one of my darkest hours. I knew she had been hiding something, but … I’d never anticipated that it would be of this magnitude.

The spiders lingering around the room, blocking out the window light, begin to slowly disperse. It’s not necessarily noticeable at first, but soon enough the sun pours back into the room and when I glance up, there are only a few skittering here and there as they disappear. My gaze returns to the woman sitting before us.

The look in her eyes—as deep and wide as a storm and as vast as the world itself—is followed by a fine tremor starting up in her fingers. I watch her, curious and astonished, as she clenches her hands around the glass and a crack forms along the crystal’s side. Quickly realizing her mistake, she sets it down with a hard and heavy thump.

“I know that this complicates things,” she begins, “but I think you can understand why I kept it from you.”

Despite the silver hair that is pulled back and away from her face, hanging in a thick rope down her back with soft tendrils broken free at her temples and against her neck, her lashes are charcoal dark as they lower against her cheeks and rise again. “I can’t tell you much,” she continues. “My life isn’t the only one at risk if anyone finds out about my existence.”

“Then why tell us now at all?” I demand. As much as I tried not to feel the bite of disappointment in my brothers for hiding this from me, I know I failed earlier. I’m angry with them. Buried in that anger and hurt because for so long, it has felt as if I was the addition to the two of them. Kalix might find me more amusing to play with because I’m not as fastidious as Ruen, and Ruen might find me far more tolerable and controlled than Kalix, but they had been together years before they’d found me. Before Darius had helped them find me.

That last thought stabs into my chest, a violent, cruel reminder of the life unnecessarily lost. Kiera’s response is the only thing that keeps me from falling into my darker emotions.

“I wouldn’t have told you at all,” she admits. “Kalix found out weeks ago.” She gestures to him with a curl of her lips, obviously displeased by that fact. “Ruen found out just this morning by eavesdropping on my conversation with…” Kiera pauses, eyes flashing to Ruen before shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“With her brother,” Ruen supplies, glaring at her for trying to keep yet another secret. Her head turns slowly in his direction, gray eyes flashing with promised retribution.

“Is he—”

“No.” Kiera’s snarl, cutting off my question, echoes throughout the chambers, causing Kalix to thrust his head back and bark a laugh. She turns her furious gaze on him.

My eyes, however, fall onto the creature perched on her shoulder. Although the other spiders have receded, disappearing back into the crevices and walls to go only Gods knows where, the rather large brown and black spotted spider remains. I tilt my head and the creature follows the movement. When introduced to Kalix’s familiars, the serpents hadn’t shown nearly this much curiosity. The slithery beings were content to sunbathe in the open or follow his commands, but rarely did they gaze back with this much interest.

Pausing her eyeing insult fest with Kalix, Kiera lifts her head and glances down at the spider on her shoulder before looking back to me. Confusion mars her brow as she reaches up, almost absently, patting the head of the spider before she looks to me. “Would you…” Kiera’s lips twitch as if she’s not quite sure how to phrase her question. I wait.

I might seem the patient type, but I’m not. It’s like driving daggers beneath my nails to hold myself back from throttling her and demanding to know what thoughts cross her mind. Still, I do.

Kiera clears her throat uncomfortably and then casts another odd glance between me and the spider. “Would you like to hold her?” she asks.

I blink. That had not been what I’d expected. “Hold her?” I inquire. “How do you know it’s a female?”

Kiera shrugs, the movement jostling the spider slightly. I bite down on my urge to crack a smile when the spider’s head turns towards her and I get the sense that the creature is annoyed. “She told me,” Kiera replies. “Her name is Aranea.”

“Spiders have names?”

Kiera sends me a dull look. “I named her,” she answers.

“We don’t need to discuss holding your damn familiar. What we need to do now is—” Ruen’s demand is cut off as I lean forward in my seat and set down my glass.

“Yes,” I say. “I’d like to hold her.”

Curiosity burns bright within me and before Kiera can overcome her shock, the spider decides that my request is now up to her to fulfill. Aranea practically leaps down Kiera’s shoulder, sliding over her arm to her lap and then skittering off the tops of her thighs to the lounge cushion and then its armrest. From there, it’s a short hop for her to land in my lap.

The spider is quite agile for its size. Though small, merely two inches or so in diameter, it’s far larger than most spiders and when it props itself up on my thighs, it lifts its head to me. Eight pitch-black eyes land on mine, glittering with quiet intelligence.

Silent surprise permeates the room. It does make me feel a little better to know I’m not the only one who can still be shocked. Lifting a hand, I hover it over the spider’s head. She tilts it at me, waiting. Unlike me, she seems far more tolerant and patient. With gentle movements and careful not to hurt her eyes or go near her mouth, I stroke the back of her head. Little fuzzy legs twitch and she shudders under the movement.

“She … likes you.” Kiera’s voice is ripe with bewilderment. “Most spiders don’t like humans or Mortal Gods.”

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