The Tied: Possessive Gods, Book Three Page 6

  She’s forgotten about the war, apparently. Blue sea silk evidently has that effect on her.

  My arms are filling up. I have already had to enlist two courtiers to hold the excess of her purchases. This is a very good day for the shopkeepers, among whom the word of the royal shopping spree has already spread.

  Purveyors are putting out their most expensive and finest items, and Lucy is demanding to buy every single one of them. I will not deny her anything. I want her to know that I will give her the world if that is what she wants.

  It is nice to be something other than a captor, to make her happy. Perhaps I am spoiling her, but I saw the horror on her face and I heard the fear in her voice when I took her from the beach. I know she doesn’t want to be here, and that sex only goes so far to assuage that. I can tie her up, fuck her senseless, and it’s not enough. I’ll buy the whole damn city if it makes Lucy happy.

  * * *

  My misgivings are soon proved to be grounded. It takes a sizable retinue to return all the goods to the palace, and soon the room which was empty is now filled to overflowing with the contents of every store in the city.

  Lucy is wearing two dresses, sitting on the most expensive bedding in the city, looking completely and utterly miserable.

  “You don’t like your purchases? We can shop again tomorrow, and the day after.”

  “This is Tanuk’s fault,” Lucy growls. I knew she had the war on her mind. I was hoping she was shallower and simpler than she really is, but I have discovered that just because a woman likes pretty things it doesn't mean she’s stupid.

  “How is it his fault?”

  “Tanuk started the war when he took Lucy to Earth.”

  “Or Helios started the war when he took your mother into Okeanus instead of letting her burn up in the atmosphere as is tradition.”

  “Or Sapphire started it when she brought that toy with her.”

  “You can’t blame a child for a war.”

  “You can, but it is frowned upon.”

  The truth is there are many hands in this war. Every time a god tries to take a woman, chaos and death follow. To be fair, to humans and their godly lovers, chaos and death are bound to happen anyway. Humans merely act as focal points for their energies.

  I understand that which Lucy cannot. She does not have the gift, or perhaps the curse, of perspective. I, on the other hand, cannot escape it. I am older than Helios. I came before Ragnar. I am the most ancient god on this planet. Perhaps any planet. Before I was the god of the ocean, I ruled over the ooze of creatures discovering mitochondria. I have seen absolutely everything, and that is why I know that nothing compares to the innocence of youth taking its first steps into the adulthood, which will inevitably wear it into a hollow version of whatever potential it might have had.

  Lucy is at that precipice. She yearns to throw herself forward to her destiny, as is right and proper. But she does not know that no good can come from it. If I could keep her as she is now, preserved in this moment in time, I would. She is so innocent. The coming years will strip that from her inevitably and inexorably. One day she will look back at this time and yearn for the simplicity of it. But she cannot do that now. Now she is swimming in the water of her youth, and she believes that it will always be that way.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “How young you are,” I answer honestly.

  “I’m as old as I’ve ever been.”

  “True,” I admit. “But there is so much you are yet to learn.”

  “Tell me then,” she says. “Teach me what you think I don’t know.”

  “That would take a literal eternity.”

  “So it’s not worth starting?”

  I love her tenacity, not to mention the spark of intelligence which is so often overshadowed by her beauty.

  “I suppose we could start with the nature of the gods on this planet,” I say. “You see, you blame Tanuk and perhaps Sapphire, and almost certainly your sister. That’s because they are essentially the only gods you know.”

  “That’s not true! I also know Helios and Ragnar.”

  “Yes, you know your fathers. But that’s not real knowing, is it. You have not been educated on the world around you. You’ve been kept away from it. You didn’t even know the word for mermaid.”

  Her expression sours. “I’m not stupid, Triton.”

  “I know you’re not,” I say. “That’s precisely my point. You are in no way stupid, but you've been deprived of the information which would allow you to make sense of the world, and even this war. Knowing your family isn’t enough.”

  “I tried to get to know more than my family, and you spanked me and sent me home, remember? A year ago?”

  “No, you stripped naked, attracted the lusts of almost every male and some female libidos, and then wandered off with a dangerously unpredictable trickster god,” I remind her. “If you’d kept your clothes on and engaged in less libidinous conversation, you might have learned something. Here, I tried to introduce you to the merpeople at the party, but once again, you had your own agenda.”

  “Well, I was trying to escape,” she says, turning her hands palms up and shrugging.

  “Indeed. Perhaps you could sit and listen a while.”

  “Maybe I could,” she considers. “I do have a question. Can a human ever become a god?”

  “Yes.”

  “Very cool. How?”

  “Humans contain a small amount of divinity. Most of the time it is released upon their passing, but sometimes it grows and becomes self-sustaining.”

  “What makes it grow?”

  “Acts of divinity. Self-sacrifice. Heroism. Cats.”

  “Cats?”

  Lucy

  He nods. I’m not sure he is being serious or not. Triton has a sense of humor, but it is incredibly deadpan and I’m sure I have missed many of his jokes.

  “What’s so special about cats?”

  “Everything,” he says. “But they don’t care for water, so my familiarity is limited. There are isles on Okeanus where those who have sacrificed in the service of their animals are rejoined with their spirits in much more powerful forms.”

  “We only had horses. Winged horses, but still, basically horses. I want to see what you’re talking about. I don’t want to have to imagine it.”

  “When the war is over…”

  “When the war is over…” I mimic his words and watch his expression turn stern. “I just don’t want to wait to live until the war is over.”

  “And you don’t have to. There is still much of Undersea to explore.”

  I don’t care about Undersea. The wonders down here are beautiful and magical, but my mind drifts up, where my body is not permitted to go.

  “Triton?”

  “Yes?”

  “Would you go and see what is happening?”

  “What is happening where? In the stores we emptied? Frantic re-stocking, I imagine.”

  “Up above. The war. Can you go and make sure my family are okay?”

  How can I refuse that request? I won’t to let her leave to find out for herself. It is only fair I at least relay reports.

  “I will send a scout,” I tell her.

  “No. You. You should go. I want to hear what it is happening out there from you. I wouldn’t trust a scout.”

  I do not like this for an abundance of reasons, but I suppose she does have the right to know what is happening, and from a trusted source.

  “I will go, as long as you promise to stay here and unwrap all your purchases.”

  “Promise,” she says.

  That’s the first time she’s promised anything like staying in Undersea.

  “I will go,” I say.

  “Now?”

  “Yes. Now.”

  “Okay, thank you. Don’t be long.”

  She is a demanding little thing, but she is a princess and they are built that way. Truth be told, I am curious as to how the war is progressing. It would be wrong to want the war
to drag on just so I can keep Lucy to myself, but sometimes even the oldest gods are wrong, and this is one of those times.

  I rise through the water more swiftly than any other being, living or not, covering hundreds of fathoms in a matter of seconds. As I approach the surface, I slow considerably. Usually I would burst forth onto the beach, but today the waters are not friendly and I know that before I break the waves.

  I have seen sights like this before, after naval battles when my waters foamed red with the blood of warriors. It is not a sight I have ever seen on Okeanus, nor one I ever thought I would see. There are dark stars splayed above me, sinking down through the waters. They are dead humans. Some of the humans who arrived with Lucy’s sister when she returned from Earth. Or perhaps all of them.

  The Entity which came from Earth may very well have come to slay the humans. But in doing so, it has made war with gods. I was half afraid that I might emerge to find the trouble over, and be compelled to release Lucy back to the dry world. But the sight which greets me is the antithesis of peace and I find myself regretting even having that thought.

  When I breach the water I hear screams coming from the beach, from the meadows, from the sky itself. I see the flash of fire. The unmistakeable scent of death is everywhere, clinging to the exposed parts of my flesh.

  Looking toward the golden palace, that great jutting ornament of a castle, I expect to see the spires broken as they were in the first assault. But it is worse than that. There is nothing left but the crumbled foundations. The golden palace has been destroyed. I am not given to dramatic reactions, nor to belief in shallow prophecy, but Okeanus was founded when Helios raised the golden palace from the ruins of his earthly defeat, and its destruction bodes ill for all.

  Entity is everywhere. Those little biting metal gnats are swarming in droves over the land, sending flame across the green expanses which Helios and the others are so proud of. From my limited vantage point, I can sense and see great destruction.

  There has never been a scene like this on Okeanus in all the time it has existed as Okeanus. The arrogance of the human machine is matched only by its destructive power. We retreated here at first to avoid the new gods. But as time went on, it became clear to me that we had retreated from humanity, and like the fractious children they are, humans had come seeking our attention.

  We should give it to them full force. We should overcome their attack with our divine power and send them weeping back into the shadows. But that is not what is happening. Whatever version of humanity which comes with whirring wings and tiny tongues of penetrating fire is not being repelled by the combined might of all the Okeanean gods.

  I lift my hand and raise a spire of water toward a swarm. Caught in my wave, they are knocked from their orbits and thoroughly quenched. I experience significant satisfaction, but it is not enough to drown a few dozen of them. I want to join the battle and make my waters rise to the skies, but I cannot. If Okeanus falls, it will be my responsibility to keep Lucy safe. She may very well be the last of the gods, a little spark of deity kept alive inside her beautiful body. If I join the fray, I leave her unprotected, and leaving her unprotected is not an option.

  I do what comes least naturally to me. I retreat. I turn my back on the fighting and I dive back down to the depths, moving as fast as I possibly can.

  Lucy

  “What is going on up there? Is it safe for me to return?”

  He looks at me with his impenetrable aquamarine gaze, and then forces a smile to his lips. Triton rarely smiles, and for some intangible reason, I don’t trust this one.

  “It’s not safe," he says. “Not yet.”

  “Is it… is it bad?”

  “It’s a war, Lucy,” he says. “Wars are never pleasant.”

  “Did you see my family?”

  He swallows. “Yes,” he says. “They’re safe and well.”

  He’s lying to me. I know it in my gut. Unlike certain other trickster gods, Triton is not a good liar. I doubt he is used to doing it. Who has he ever had to lie to?

  I don’t want him to lie to me, but I also don’t want to accuse him of lying. That would give the game away. He’d know that I don’t believe him. And if he knew that, he’d tie me up again. Because now, I have to leave.

  “Do you like the red dress or the green one?” I change the topic of discussion.

  “I like anything on you. But I prefer it all off you.” He follows the change of pace gratefully. Now I am sure he is lying. And I know exactly what I have to do.

  7

  Lucy

  The first time I tried to sneak out, I was distracted and then caught. This time I am focused, and I know the territory. Triton doesn’t sleep, but he does have to attend to matters of state. The city does not run without him. His lords and ladies come to him with troubles day in and day out. They clamor for his rulings. He is the sole judge of matters of state, economy, and justice. Whenever a crime takes place, he is required to oversee the carrying out of sentences. I am sure he could delegate many of these duties if he wanted to, but he does not want to. Undersea is his realm, and he is the complete master of it.

  I could let him be the master of me too. It is tempting, to stay in this realm where the troubles of the surface do not penetrate. These waters are clear and clean and without concern. The merpeople are charming and happy. They produce beautiful things and they make pleasant conversation, almost pleasant enough to distract me from what is taking place above me, the destruction of all I hold dear.

  I’ve never been brave. I’ve never been smart. I’ve never been anything but pretty and willing. But that is going to have to change. I can feel the destruction of Okeanus in my gut and in my bones, and I also feel that I have a part to play in saving it.

  “What are we going to have for dinner tonight? I’m in the mood for something sweet,” I smile.

  Unlike Triton, I am practiced in the art of being fake. He’ll never know what I am really thinking, or really planning. He’ll believe that I have taken him at his word.

  “What sort of sweets?”

  Sweet revenge, I think to myself. “Sweet cake,” I say. “I like the frosting. It’s delicious.”

  “Is that dinner?” Triton asks the question. “I was led to believe humans need to eat more than sugar to survive.”

  “Well, I’m not human, am I?”

  “You’re more human than anything else down here,” he reminds me. “But you can have cake for dinner this time. Just don’t think we will be making a habit of it.”

  “I’ll go to the kitchen and tell them.” I say. “Cook promised me some samples of a special salmon dish.”

  Triton smiles again. Does he know how much that smile gives away? He wants me to believe all is well so badly he is baring his teeth like a shark.

  I leave his presence and go to the kitchen, just as I said I would. Cook is a jolly woman with a great sense of humor and a thick glistening tail of red scales which match her red hair. She is my avenue to all the palace gossip.

  “There you are,” she says as I swim in languidly. “I’ve been waiting for you all day. I ate all the salmon treats, but I have some tuna? Fish is fish after all.”

  I would expect an underwater chef to be more discerning about the flesh she serves, but now isn't the time to question her.

  “I just told Triton I wanted cake for dinner,” I say.

  “Everybody wants cake for dinner. But I don’t have any on hand. I’ll have to make some. Sit down. It doesn’t take long.”

  I sit down and try to work out how to address this next part. I’m not going to be able to get out of here alone. I’m going to need some help. I don’t have any friends down here. Cook might be the closest thing to one. She feeds me and I like her food. That’s a basis for friendship, right?

  “Would you do something for me, Cook?”

  She turns to me with a wicked smile. “You know my name isn’t Cook, don’t you?”

  “Of course. But would you do something for me?” />
  “What do you need?”

  I hesitate. I am about to ask this mermaid to cover for me, to lie to her king. She has no reason to help me, and I’m not sure I can give her a good enough one. But I cannot do this alone.

  “I need to sneak out for a while.”

  “Oh? Why?”

  I’m not going to tell her why, of course. Oh, I want to go visit a war zone, rarely plays well with the public.

  “I, uhm, I want to surprise Triton with something from one of the boutiques we went to the other day, but if I tell him I’m going out, then he will want to come with me, and then the surprise will be ruined.”

  “He does keep you on a short leash,” she notes, sticking her finger in her mouth. “Okay, I’ll cover for you, but try to be back soon.”

  I’ve bought myself an hour. Maybe. Not quite enough time to get all the way to the surface, but enough time to get a good lead on Triton. I’m sure he has all kinds of godly powers which he could deploy to stop me, but I am hoping that he thinks I am in the kitchen, with Cook, stuffing my face.

  * * *

  The first time I tried to run away, I took a dolphin and quickly discovered that riding dolphins is nothing like riding horses. You don’t direct a dolphin where to go. You ask it nicely and you give it a reason to do what you want.

  The cake is not for me. It was never for me. It’s to bribe the dolphin to take me to the surface instead of driving me around in circles and then dumping me at the door of a nobleman. I never admitted the series of events which led to Triton discovering me covered in dolphin pups. It was far too embarrassing, even considering what happened afterward, which was also rather embarrassing. There has been a great deal of humiliation in my life since I came to Undersea, some of it self-inflicted, some of it not.

  This time, I’m going to do it properly. This time I have a plan with multiple stages. First I get the dolphin, and I convince it to do what I’d like it to do.

  The harness dolphins are playing in their pen, as they were last time. I’m not going to try the same dolphin as I did before. It was unruly and difficult and only one of us should be unruly and difficult.