AO 6 Ch 34

Standing in the meeting room, I was seriously concerned about what Maribelle might do to Lucy now that we were alone. After all, she could probably pop her head right off before she even uttered a peep.

"It seems you weren't given any notice," Lucy commented, the woman seemed unbothered by the arrangement or she just did what her mother told her so often that it wasn’t anything new. Just a slightly different task. 

"You pick up on that, did you?" I said, rolling my eyes. 

"There's no need to be hostile." She frowned, her pale lips dropping and a spark of life entering her eyes. At least she had enough gumption to be annoyed.

"Of course not. Hostile? Who's hostile? Me? No." I was so over this entire situation. 

The woman gave me a level glare, and for the first time, I assessed her not only as a noble and a mage, but truly as a woman.

Heavily doctored by life magic, she was pretty. She had rich brown eyes that I was  sure could be artistically described as any number of good brown things. However, with my current displeasure, I dared not compare them aloud to something, otherwise I would absolutely put my foot in my mouth. She had brown hair that, when the light hit it at certain angles, had a touch of red. I think the ladies would call it amber. As for her form, she was short, not as short as Maribelle, but when surrounded by my anchors, most people didn't quite stack up. As for curves, they were moderate. Not overwhelming or even underwhelming, just simply there, under her fine green dress. 

"Anyway," Lucy said after she was apparently done being stared at, "why don't we talk? Usually that helps ease the nerves."

"Oh, yeah. Usually that helps ease the nerves. Sounds like you do this often." I offered with a polite but smug smile.

Her otherwise pretty face fell into a deep, dark scowl, and I held my hands up to stop whatever she was about to say. 

"Look, if you're going to learn one thing about me right here and now, it's that I put my foot in my mouth with remarkable ease." I glanced at Maribelle for confirmation. 

"Startling ease," Maribelle emphasized. "The number of times even his lovers have thought about killing him would concern anyone."

"That's a little much," I said, only to get a slow look from Maribelle. "Or not. Damn. Emlyn? Zuri?" I asked both, raising an eyebrow in curiosity, but Maribelle did not answer.

“You know, you aren't what I expected," Lucy said. 

"Oh? And what did you expect?” I went over and picked at the cheese and crackers that seemed to always be put out when we were putting on a show for other nobility. If I was going to have to disrupt my dinner for this conversation, I might as well eat.

"Cocky. Arrogant. That's granted. You're the first four sphere mage that anyone's known of for the last thousand years. Just watching what you did to the battlefield was impressive," she said, meeting my eyes. 

"Really?" I said, my mouth full of crackers. "I mean, yeah, it was pretty impressive." I puffed myself up and wiped off the crumbs that had escaped my lips. 

"And, while I had expected cockiness and arrogance, perhaps a nose in the cloud, I had not expected you to be funny," she laughed. "And, oh gosh, understanding this side of you, then seeing how our mothers treated you, has set you in a whole new light." She laughed again, just thinking about the previous discussion. She slapped her thigh and leaned back on the couch. 

I appraised her once again. Perhaps I had been too quick to judge. Lucy wasn't so bad after all. Because, of course, a woman who found me funny couldn't be bad. 

Maribelle next to me let out a soft groan. "Given that Ard wasn't aware of this deal, how about you help him understand what is being discussed?" Maribelle's eyes flashed dangerously. 

"It's simple, really. As House Strathmore's only three-sphere mage, there are high hopes placed upon me for our noble lineage." She answered.

That part was clear. I gestured for her to not go too much further. "I think what she's talking about is details in the contract like perhaps timing." 

"Oh, of course," Lucy smiled. "We are to make a child. And we will try at least four times a year," she blushed ever so slightly. "The child, if a girl, will go to House Strathmore and a boy will be raised in House Aldis." 

I rubbed my chin, thinking through the terms. A boy that had more spheres might be more useful for noble lineage technically, but even following that train of thought made me want to scrunch up my face.

"All right, so you just get a chance, and then a chance of a chance?" I frowned at how wildly one-sided contracts could be. 

"Of course, we'll be married on paper," she hurried to reassure me. "We'll go through all of those necessary steps." 

I squinted at her. "You do realize I'm already married multiple times over." 

Her smile faltered slightly before it shone back through. "Of course, given your prominence, it is only expected. I'm not looking to take any time away from the others." She glanced back at Maribelle in a new light. "I could just simply fulfill the obligations of my family and be around for notable functions. Though you’d gain plenty from being closer to House Strathmore." 

I wrinkled my nose at those words. "Nevermind, this might not work after all." I didn't really like the idea of being an obligation for someone. 

"Wait, wait. You can't just walk away from this. The tentative deal has been signed by your mother and mine." She pushed.

I grinned back at her. "You know that whole cocky four-sphere mage bit? It comes in handy, especially when there's something I don't want to do. Do you want to see a neat trick?" I smiled as a small decorative bluesteel sword that had been on my waist unfolded into a platform that I stepped up on and slowly began to rise into the air as Maribelle jumped on it to join me. Before I could get too far, there was a knock at the door and I hesitated. 

"Yes?”

“The matriarch has asked me to remind you that Eva and the rest of your anchors are currently still House Aldis’ guests." The voice sounded.

I floated mid-air before plastering on the fakest smile of my life and making my voice saccharine sweet. "Tell my dearest mother that the message has been received and she can rest assured that I am aware," I said loudly enough for it to carry through the door before I grumbled under my breath.

There were so many ways I could extract them without my mother knowing. Heck, they could die and I could bring them back. Perhaps I could get the dark soul magic working and make a little portal.

My mother could not hold me back. However, perhaps for now, it was best to give her and everyone else the illusion that she had leverage.

I landed back on the ground, the bluesteel folding back up into a sword that slid itself into my belt. “Either way,” I turned back to Lucy. "This only happens if I say it happens. My mother might think she has a few tools in her arsenal, but I have plenty more in mine. And to be frank, I'm not interested in these sorts of transactions." I plopped myself back down in front of the cheese and crackers, put my feet up, and ate them as loudly as I could chomp.

"Oh, that was hard to watch," Ditzy said, reappearing back into my life. Suddenly, she was there, materializing in the room as Lucy collapsed.

Missy appeared next to her, glancing at the now slumped-over Lucy before snorting derisively. "She would have been a waste of time," Missy said sharply. "If you want, we can make her think you're trying," she added, making air quotes with her fingers.

As the two goddesses appeared, a third joined them. I wiped the crumbs off my hands and held them out to the newcomer. "Welcome to the team. You must be Bastet," I said. "Don't worry, they've only been saying absolutely great things about you."

The newest goddess was quite different from the other two. She had dark, tanned skin, though not nearly as dark as Zuri's. Her hair was dark, but shone purple in the light. It was all a lovely contrast to the breezy white cloth draped over her body with nothing more than gold rings used to direct and redirect it to wrap around her. Honestly, that looked like a pain to put on.

Most notably though, she had a pair of cat ears that poked out the top of her hair and the most intense eye makeup that made it hard to look away from her golden eyes.

The raven-haired goddess scowled at me. "Really?" she asked.

"Yes, really. What do you expect? Me to be polite? Do a nice formal bow?" I rolled my hand and swept my arms to the side as I bowed low. "Or perhaps I should clasp my hands together in prayer?" I did so and looked at all of them with bright, innocent eyes.

Missy grunted while Ditzy couldn't stop laughing. Bastet was staring at her antics with interest. Suddenly, a dark tail banded in gold swished out from behind the gauzy white cloth she wore, disappearing a moment later.

"Well now that you've come, are we going to talk about round two with Freya?" I asked, jabbing in the air. "I mean, I got you four new fragments of King Martin's soul." I wiggled four fingers in front of Missy with an expression of egging her on.

"Oh, and why would that mean anything to you?" she asked, arms crossed.

"Because you're going to take me with you?" I flashed her a winning smile. "After all, last time I was pretty effective at pissing Thor off enough that he weakened Freya." I leaned over towards Bastet, covering my mouth as if to exclude Missy, though I didn't keep myself quiet. "Really, I managed most of the trouble with Freya, though we'll let Missy take credit for it all."

"You do know I can hear you," the aforementioned goddess glowered at me.

"That was kind of the point, Missy. Come on, keep up." Missy looked to Ditzy for help.

"What are you looking at me for?" the blonde goddess shrugged. "I'm really just here to see what nickname he gives Bastet." Now both of those goddesses eagerly glanced towards me.

"Nickname?" Bastet asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, you'll get it naturally," I said quickly. "It's one of those things you can't force." The tan goddess blinked and nodded.

"Well, if I'm to get a nickname, that would infer I've joined some sort of team. Though you've both been elusive on the pantheon explanation." Bastet looked to the two other gods in the room.

"Have we?" Missy asked, looking around for someone else she might have been talking to.

“Yeah, Missy what’s the plan?” The blonde goddess teased.

"You're the one who came up with it." She answered.

Ditzy twirled a lock of blonde hair. “I did not come up with it.” 

"You all but baited me into pushing him.” 

“And you said it first." Aphrodite grinned wide until Missy sighed and continued. 

"Bastet, the long story is that Ditzy thinks we can break ourselves outside of the rules, but she's being evasive around how we can do that. For… reasons." Missy watched me out of the corner of her eyes.

I looked back and forth between the group of goddesses, wondering what exactly they were talking about. 

"I see. That is a big deal, and you've told me without asking for anything in return, which is incredibly suspicious. It seems more like you're trying to get me to spread a rumor." Bastet watched them.

"Oh no," Ditzy smiled. "We can both go after you. You spread this, and I promise there will be retribution." The blonde goddess smiled, but there was no warmth in the expression. “No, you should be seeing this for what it is. A show of faith." The goddess spread her hands out like a benevolent saintess.

I blinked as there was even a bright light suddenly shining behind her. "I'm not changing your name, even if you try and pull out all of the stops, Ditzy." The goddess pouted as the light went out. "You can't blame a girl for trying. I mean Ditzy? we can do better than that."

Bastet looked between Ditzy and then back to me. "If you don't like the name this human uses, why tolerate it at all?" 

Ditzy and Missy spoke in unison. "Because he's Ard."

They both shared a look and began laughing.

Ditzy bent over, laughing so hard there were tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes that she wiped as she stood up and forced the laughter down. 

"Either way, Bastet, we'll do a temporary pantheon, if you will. It won't be the real deal. It'll be enough for you to join Missy on her attack for Freya. Temporary alliance?" She raised an eyebrow and held a hand out. 

Bastet grabbed her hand and clapped her forearm rather than shaking hands. "A temporary alliance is acceptable. I still need to understand more about what is happening, though." She gestured around the room. 

"Like what?" I asked cheerfully. "Because I'd really like to get down to the part where we go smack Freya around again."

"That part." Bastet pointed squarely at me. 

“Me?” I tilted my head, doing my best to imitate a cute kitten. After all, that would be understandable to a woman that apparently had cat ears. 

“You.” She frowned, turning to the other goddesses. “He is a mortal, regardless of his noble status.”

“Really more of a peasant. Technically a noble now, but that’s complicated," I began to ramble. "And then once I was a noble, I was a mage. Now I just killed a king. Well, I didn't kill him. I froze him and crippled him. So I'm not sure what I am right now. Definitely a mage. Maybe some other things, too."

"It's easier if you just think of him as a unique entity." Ditzy coached. "Ard is very Ard."

"I see," Bastet said slowly, eyeing me warily. "And he joined you in your last attack on Freya?"

"He did, very well might I add," I said, clearing my throat not liking being spoken about while in the room. "’He’ also contributed to upsetting Thor and provoking him into attacking me during Missy and Freya's fight. In doing so, Thor took his little hammer back between his legs and Missy was able to win the battle."

"Provoking Thor is not difficult," Bastet said, unimpressed. Her dark lined eyes narrowed as she examined me critically.

"Well, if it helps, I think I have a new special spear," I said, pulling the one I had gotten from the King of Avente out of my soul. The thing wobbled as I worked to control the obnoxiously large weapon. But I got it under control to look back at the others.

All three goddesses' eyes were as wide as saucers.