Everybody had been keeping up for weeks searching for us but you would’ve thought they’d just gotten a good night’s sleep from how much everybody wanted to stay up. Commander Polvi, the loyal rebel captain that had taken a permanent position in my military, wanted to go over absolutely everything that we’d missed out on.

The thing was, we’d only been gone for a couple of hours, and beaten back hordes from an all-powerful god and had crazy truths dropped on us. Nothing they had was worth losing sleep over, for any of us.

“You guys need to get some rest,” I said firmly, not just to my men, but to my girls too. To one of the messengers, I told him to inform everyone from the elder council that their presence was expected in the following day to discuss with their king, but everybody else needed to get the hell to sleep.

“Sir, what about the Shadowlands?” Commander Polvi pressed. “They were our trusted allies during the rebellion but they’ve requested to come to your coronation and some of the elder council—”

“Tomorrow, Polvi,” I reminded him.

“Yes, your majesty.” He paused for a moment and a satisfied smile crossed his face. “I’m pleased at your return.”

While I’d wanted to establish a permanent portal between us and Earth, I couldn’t say I was unhappy to return. And because we’d discovered the reason why time had skipped ahead for all of us, I considered it a successful trip.

And…Maeve.

Some of the chambermaids drew her off to another bedroom and Byrid and Auror were only too happy to get away from the excitement. Both the fox girl and the cat girl were fast asleep when I checked on them in our huge bedroom. Auror, stiff as always, sleeping in a flat line, and Byrid, curled around one of the blankets, her cat tail flickering peacefully behind her.

“But I’m missing one,” I murmured and headed back towards the far off tower, the highest one connected to the castle. I knew where my sorceress was.

At the tallest tower, I pushed open the door and saw an unsurprising sight. Keeose had snuck away from us, of course she’d gone to her favorite spot. The walls were covered in maps, papers copied out of magical books, and rough runes, Keeose’s attempt at harnessing the magic that she handled when she wanted to.

She’d managed to get her sleeping gown before she snuck out. Her dark hair cascaded down her back, thick and lovely. Every time she knelt down to the ground, it dipped low, running across her arm, drinking in the lantern light that flickered across it. And when she turned around? I saw the curve of her body through the sleeping gown. Her nice ass, her heavy breasts, the dip in her hips, she was mouthwatering.

“Hey, stranger,” I called, leaning against the door frame.

Keeose jumped at least six inches. “Don’t do that.”

“Sorry. It was a rare opportunity.”

Any other time, Keeose would’ve laughed or rolled her eyes at me. But she averted my gaze, her plump lips pressed so hard, it was like she was trying to make them disappear. With a frown, I realized what she was doing.

Keeose was cleaning.

She tore another paper off the wall and stacked them in her arms, dancing back and forth between the stone tiles while she hurried to finish.

I cocked my head to the side. “What’re you doing?”

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“I’ll go to bed soon.”

It wasn’t like her to duck away from questions. I took my time walking into the tower and got sight of the big stack of stuff that she’d gathered in the corner, old books and notes and such. I picked up one of the books. It was a written history on the goddess Moruun, with a terrifying goddess, her hair in flame, and her hands out to defy anyone against her.

She didn’t look like Maeve.

I flipped over the book and held it there for a moment, taking another look at Keeose. She hadn’t even bothered to reapply her goth makeup after we’d gotten back. That was unlike her.

“Are you okay?” I asked, setting the book back down.

“I don’t need help.”

“Okay…not what I asked.”

The sorceress paused over one of the trunks and she pushed back from it, resting on her knees. She looked so beautiful at that moment but there was clearly something bothering her. I didn’t want to go to bed without trying to talk with her about it.

Her voice wobbled. “I don’t…need any of this anymore.”

Ah, she was cleaning up all of her Moruun stuff. Everything that she’d had on the goddess, all her maps and calculations to find the goddess. Now that we’d found Moruun, she should’ve been elated. Instead Keeose was tossing out stuff left and right, upset as could be.

“We just got back from a fight,” I said, gentle as I could. “You’ve exhausted your magic. Let’s get some sleep.”

Keeose held up a portrait of Moruun, bathed in a fire across the dawn. She gave me a long look. “This is my goddess? This is who I’ve been searching for?”

I didn’t say anything. I just let her talk.

“This is—is—” Keeose stuttered, suddenly pushing herself up and yanking down another paper off the wall. “This is a goddess who denies her godly ties.” She scoffed and I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard that. Keeose had come from a lower-stature, a small cottage on the outskirts of a small town. She didn’t scoff at much. Keeose crumpled up the paper in her hand. “I learned magic because I thought she could repair the world!”

I nodded and took a seat on one of the trunks, stretching out my legs to get comfortable. This wasn’t going to be a short conversation.

“What I am thinking is, what are gods?” Keeose continued, a curl to her usually bubbly voice. “When we met the Harvest Gods, I knew. Those were gods. Those were fearsome gods! But Maeve is…she’s just a person. I don’t know what to think.” Keeose sat down heavily next to me and put her head in her hands. “She’s my friend. But she’s not even regal. She’s your friend. But, gods, do I wish she was more. How unfair is that to her?”

I took Keeose’s hand and ran my thumb across the back of her hand.

“Warrick…I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Nothing to apologize for.”

She glanced up at me with a soft smile. “It’s a lot.”

“I think it’s a lot for everybody,” I said. “Maeve’s going through it, we’re going through it. I don’t think any of us necessarily choose this specific path. But they’re the cards we’re dealt with.”

“There’s something I can’t stop thinking about.”

“What’s that?”

“If Morunn—” Keeose stopped herself and squeezed my hand. “If Maeve can’t save us from the Harvest Gods…and if what she says is true and the Gods of Hidden Names are loose in this world…” She pushed up from the trunk and fished around in the papers, returning with a paper that wasn’t for a kids’ birthday party.

There were five gods drawn on a beautiful manuscript, but terrifying to behold. At the bottom, I could see the drawing of the Harvest Gods, with grain and such for hair, their eyes wooden, their teeth bared, their bodies cut into hard circles with how they grew from the ground. At the other side, an old man with gnarled limbs had a snake lower-half of his body, curled around part of the paper. His eyes were shaped like a viper’s. His neck was bent unnaturally, evidence of the reptile influence.

To the other side was a man cloaked in darkness, sharp icicles held in both hands but what held my attention was the woman at the very top, her mouth opened in a scream and monsters poured from her stomach.

Not a happy picture.

I held out my hand for the paper and inspected it. With a shake of my hand, I passed it back to her. “So, these are the bad motherfuckers?”

“If Morunn can’t protect us from these…?” Keeose let her question hang in the air.

“Then we’re going god-hunting,” I completed for her.