CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

The Golden Couple

I opened my eyes wide. I was still inside the cave. While my body protected the cave from the radiation, the extreme heat had not all been absorbed by my body. Some of it had leaked out and it had completely melted the spherical inner chamber and the chair I had been sitting on. Actually, it fried most of the cave, but it was very clear that the heat had been contained. Only the magnetism of the star had passed beyond and it had done its job nicely.

Suddenly, I understood that Earth’s south pole had previously been in the northern hemisphere. We had moved it back to the south pole, so now magnetic north was true north. That seemed funny. The reaction was that the core of the world felt stable, and I felt like I had just come out of a very warm bubble bath.

Just like Christian promised, my clothes were wrecked and I had melted gold dripping from my elbows.

I called to Rhuk and it leaped out of the molten mess, leaving the other diamonds in the cooling metal. Rhuk had to shake the liquid from its facets to look clean. It looked like a tiny kitten shaking off the rain. I saw at a glance that the heat in the room had melted the setting that held my earring together. It only took a moment to create a stud and a superior setting of the remains of what had been the inner chamber. The diamonds cheered as their setting was remade and they danced together as I recreated my earring. The collective lump jumped up to my ear like it was home.

I had been about to inform Christian that I needed more clothes when I glanced at the remains of the golden chamber that had popped like a bubble.

From deep in my past, I remembered an idea I had once cherished. If only Christian could see me in the right dress, he would forget whatever was holding him back and love me. What if that was still true? What if I just hadn’t had the right material?

What if I made a dress out of the gold that was splattered against the cave walls and pooled beneath me? Could I even design something clever enough?

“Is Christian on his way here?”

“He’s coming,” Rhuk announced.

I closed my eyes and wove the cooling gold into a dress. I worked on it with intense dedication while I waited for him to arrive. He walked in, illuminating matter that should not have been able to light up. It wouldn’t have lit up if he was not now commanding level four openly, creating matter that did what he wanted instantly. He looked at me, clutched his chest, and leaned against the wall.

Then he laughed.

Well, I was something to see. The malleability of gold was impressive anyway, and I made it do things that would have been hard for any craftsman. The gold dress had one strap, a thick corset, and ten layers of skirt with gold woven so finely that it looked like tulle. There were splatters of gold on my face in swirls and patterns that sparkled. I shook it out and the whole thing moved almost like fabric because each atom was moving the way I told it to move.

“I bow to your greatness. I don’t know why I expected to find you naked, crying, and on the floor. I got here as quickly as I could, but you were here making an outfit out of the remains of the room. Why didn’t I think of that? You’re a visionary.”

“You came running like that and you didn’t bring clothes for me?”

“I didn’t need to!” he huffed. “At level four, I don’t need to twist gold into thread. I can order a stone to become a housecoat and it does my bidding.”

“Truly?”

“Of course, but what you’ve done is better,” he praised, taking in the sight of me with obvious pleasure.

“Does it look good?” I asked with uncertainty.

“I wanted you to wear a dress I put away in my closet, but I have to forget about that now. Let’s go say our wedding vows in front of the villagers.”

“Are you going to change?” I asked as we left the room. “It wouldn’t be a good wedding if you weren't dressed as nicely as me.”

“On the contrary, it wouldn’t be a good wedding if anyone was dressed as finely as you.”

***

The fashion fanatic changed his clothes anyway. Christian put together a look that made him look like he was a modern-day Apollo and called for the little gods to meet us in the Moon Room, which was the only room he said was fit for us to say our vows. Inside, all the sane gods and goddesses met together. Christian welcomed them and told them what would happen next.

“Welcome! I am here to announce that my wife has healed me. All my level four powers have returned to me and I have news. There are a total of five immortals on the surface who have not been recruited. The first is a man named Max who has reached level two. He has a family, so you’re unlikely to recruit him for several decades, but I recommend Brandon to keep an eye on him.” He turned to Brandon to give further instructions. “Just have lunch with him once a year for the next forty years or so. Provided he doesn’t fall off the wagon, he will probably only be willing to do stints in the village until he no longer feels comfortable on the surface. Work on him, will you?”

Brandon whined hilariously. “I hate going to the surface.”

“It’s a very understandable feeling. I see the scar around your neck is disappearing nicely though, so I think you’ll be able to manage by next year.” He smiled and moved on down the agenda. “The second one was discovered by Beth. It’s a young man called The Incinerator.”

“His name is Rodrigues,” Rhuk interjected.

“Rodrigues? Great. He’s a level one. He sets a lot of fires but heals himself often and fast. Beth promised to keep an eye on him and apparently, Rhuk is doing it for her. She’ll speak to him in person in a year.”

He then told of a boy in Ethiopia, a girl in Denmark, and another girl in Argentina.

“Should I go?” Indra asked. Looking around the room, it was obvious to her that she couldn’t help them with their level two work and these people were freaks who couldn’t fit in on the surface without help. She wanted to be helpful, essential even.

Stolen novel; please report.

Christian shook his head. “No. Brandon and Pricina need a holiday and I need you to do something different.”

She waited expectantly.

“There are immortals here whose bodies are corrupted. You can practice your level three work on them. If you can correct their bodies and rework their minds so that they can stay out of the Red Forest, they can be returned to the surface. I recommend that everyone take turns delivering them. If we do it that way, everyone can have a little holiday as the mad ones are integrated back into society.”

“How will we decide where to release them? We can’t release them all in the same place,” Brandon protested.

“No, we can’t,” Christian agreed. “A few of them don’t speak English and never did. We can drop those people in the places they’re most likely to be able to communicate without help from us. We don’t need to make this more complicated than it has to be. After their bodies and gray matter are returned to their proper places (some of these people have their brains in their feet), they won’t be immortal anymore and it’s unlikely they’ll figure it out a second time. We just have to say goodbye. Surely, you all can figure out a sensible way to manage the details without my help. ”

“What about my wife?” Axel asked. “If Indra can heal her, then why can’t I be with her?”

“You can,” Christian easily allowed. “You can take her up to the surface and live with her for as long as you want.”

Axel sat back in his seat with a vacant look on his face. “Christian, you look like you doubt I’ll be back if I do that.”

Christian regarded him kindly. “You’re in charge of your own destiny. I don’t wish to pour doom on your most crucial desires, but you know as well as I do that any choice that isn’t living as a god is living like a human and runs terrible risks if your godhood means anything to you. I did exactly what you’re suggesting. It’s a hard path back.”

“I’m tired,” Axel replied.

Christian did not say what he was thinking. I was glad because it was heartless and heartfelt at the same time. He would have told Axel to go to the surface and live as her husband for as long as he could. It was a very selfish way to treat a woman if he was going to leave her when she got too old because he wouldn’t be able to blend in anymore. Or stay with her and give up his immortality? There was no easy answer to the question.

What Christian did say was, “Beth and I are going to stay for one year to work on the planet and give all of you a break. She needs the practice and it is as convenient to work here as anywhere else. We will not stay beyond one year. I have kingdoms of my own that need my attention, and I will leave whether you are ready to take control of this planet or not.”

“Doesn’t our planet need fixing?” a god I didn’t know asked.

“That’s why we’re taking control of the planet for one year. Beth is going to fix your planet. She has mastered levels one and two, which is more than any of you. This is her training ground.” He looked at me, giving me a look of pure love, and I wondered if I’d ever get tired of him looking at me that way. He turned back to the group. “I didn’t think any of you would be interested in working on the fallen immortal since if you’d had much of an interest in it, you would have done what you could to save them by now. Still, if you are, I will give a little guidance to Indra and anyone else who is interested.”

Everyone looked satisfied as Christian made that unprecedented, tantalizing offer, except Axel who looked confused. Perhaps it wouldn’t always have been obvious to me what was happening inside him, but it was obvious now. When I first met him, he wanted to meet a new woman from the surface, we brought Indra down, and he spent a bit of time with her. He was perplexed at how disinterested he was in her. He preferred his wife, who was no longer his wife.

“Now, if any of you have any further questions,” Christian said abruptly, “I’d appreciate it if you kept them to yourself. You’re a god. Figure it out yourself. I have a few things of my own to figure out.” He put his hand out to me.

I reached out and took it.

“Bethany,” he said. It was the first time he’d said my name and even though I always hated it when people said my name, I never felt so humbled and happy as when he said it. The word went straight to my core. “In front of all these witnesses, and the greater gods who are not present, I, Damon Christianus, promise to be your husband and to love you more than I love anything eternally.”

Brandon leaped forward and handed Christian a knife. He took it thankfully and eyed the blade.

I understood that was all he had to say. What more would a man who had cut his own heart out to give to me have to say? He’d kept his hands to himself, committed murder, and given me everything he had to the last hair.

I repeated what he had said from my perspective. “In front of all these witnesses, and greater gods who are not present, I, Bethany Estel Coldwell, promise to be your wife and to love you more than I love anything eternally.”

Brandon shoved a blade in my hand. I took it and looked at Christian oddly. What were we going to do with these? It wasn’t like we could cut ourselves.

He lifted his to slice his palm and I copied him. He swiped the knife and so did I, but all that happened was that the blades broke and tiny pieces of the sharp edges fell on the carpet like glitter.

Everyone cheered!

He took me in his arms and kissed me. It was a kiss to let me know that everything was finally all right. We were finally together, and nothing could ever come between us again.

When it was finished, he brought my ear to his lips and said, “I should tell you, that isn’t exactly my real name, but for today, it’ll do.”

I slapped him across the chest and groaned.

“I’ve been using it for six hundred years,” he said defensively. “How long do you have to use a name before it’s yours?”

“You probably have a closet full of them,” I said crossly, as I pulled him to me to kiss him again.

“I have closets filled with everything,” he laughed and kissed me like the other gods were not watching.

I glanced at our guests, allowing them to offer us their congratulations. When I turned to Brandon and Pricina though, I saw the normally distant couple kissing. A wet streak slid down Pricina’s cheek as all her stress and fear were released. He held her close and whispered words about joy and freedom. Christian was right about them… all of them. They needed a break and then perhaps, they could begin again.

The Moon Room melted away in the background and Christian and I were alone in his bedroom with the doors closed and a spell that spun around the room that left us alone, without a sound or a thought entering in or out.

Alone, at last, Christian wrapped his arms around me from behind and jangled my chandelier earring with his nose. “How would you like me to love you?”

“Are there a lot of options?”

“So many,” he said, getting the wet parts of my mouth involved with the wet parts of his.

There was no more talking because I was finally getting what I wanted.

His skin was heaven as more of it came into view. His eyes were on me and above everything else, he finally looked at me the way I always dreamed he would. He touched me the way I wanted him to as if he had learned a lot more about me as King Christian than he let on. He performed like he had scoured all my romantic fantasies and chosen to reenact the one he liked the best.

I had never felt the end before, but being loved by Christian felt like the end. It was a dramatic conclusion to a long journey. I had once been a girl who thought being with him was out of my reach. I had been a teenager who stole a kiss because it was too hard to keep my hands off him. I had been a young woman who pulled her whole life apart because she wanted to sneak into his room after dark and wear his sweatpants if that was all I could get of him. All those parts of my love for him were fulfilled and so in a way, the dream was over.

In another way, I had a greater god tangled up in my limbs. Like a king, he ran his hand up my leg to feel what was his. Like a sacrificial victim, he did what he was told as he looked up at me and waited on his knees. Like a doctor, he remembered to treat me carefully. And like the end had finally come, he looked at me like he never had before, like there was no part of him that didn’t want me.

I knew it would last forever because he knew how to build things that wouldn’t break, dull, or tarnish.

When I fell asleep, I woke up in his arms and realized that there were so many more dreams to come.