The Real You

46. The Lady who Knows Death

"I didn't fall in love with some random young boy who showed me affection, Skylar. Alex will always show affection toward me. He will always fall in love with me. And I will always lose him. That is my curse."

There was a sudden surge of intensity in the air around us. Something heavy that was making me gloomy and sad. It took me a moment to realize that it was the Goddess' emotions.

"I have to watch him die in every lifetime that he comes back. I have been doing it for centuries...tell me, how do I evade this fate? What do I do to not see him die?"

"You didn't kill them?" I asked uncertainly.

"No" She said, gulping down her pain, "I did not kill my husband and my 'fetus'. Isn't that what you called my baby?"

"I did not..." I tried to apologize but she cut me off.

"No offense taken." She laughed without humor, "People have said worse. You still didn't hear the myth where they portrayed my baby as a demon growing in my womb."

I couldn't respond to that.

"What happened, Morana?" I asked, genuinely concerned for her.

A Goddess cannot lie. She can manipulate but cannot lie. I do not see any manipulation here. It is the truth told straight-forward.

"People say that no one should utter my name because I will come and destroy them. That is not true. If people take my name, I'll grow stronger. The priests don't want that now, do they? So, they circulated this false information that my name is a bane for anyone who says it."

I frowned in frustration, "Shouldn't those priests be honest?"

"Yes" She agreed, "But if they think that a white lie will save the life of people on the realm, then why not?"

"Why do they hate you so much?"

I didn't get an answer from her because we were interrupted.

"Morana!" Alex barged in without knocking. His excitement faded as soon as he saw us together in a rather tense atmosphere.

"Oh" He looked from me to her and then back to me, "I should have knocked"

"Oops" The Goddess said playfully.

"I need to talk to you! About..About Merry"

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Merry!" The excitement came back to Alex's face, "My new pet dolphin!"

"You have a pet dolphin? Where is it?" I asked him, totally amused by his happiness.

"In the ocean" he grinned, "It comes to visit me. She likes Morana too. We named her Merry together. I think Merry will be here soon, I want to touch it today and...and...you should be with me" He told the Goddess with genuine child-like glee.

I smiled at his innocence.

"I am coming. I was teaching Skylar a thing or two about her skills."

"Ahh" Alex smiled encouragingly, "Our Augmenter needs to be more fierce and less of a Shakespeare."

I gasped, "You don't mock drama like that, bro-in-law! And it was a very bad joke..."

We all laughed but I could feel the palpable tension and sadness.

"I will join you, My King. Please go ahead"

Alex nodded and smiled at Morana. And there I could see how he was warming up to her. When he was out, away from the hearing range, Morana spoke again.