Page 89 of The Alpha's Mates

My head was already spinning. "How many of...them are there?"

"A lot," she replied. "Call them higher gods. They," she said, giving us a hard look, "are the true immortals. You can't kill Fate. Or Death. Or Nature. Or Heaven. But the rest of us? We can be eliminated. In his wisdom, our father gave us the choice to govern over the moon, sun, and sky. Three constants on Elaria. Because there were three of us, he knew he needed to find a way to balance the power between us. Arune and I are equally as powerful as one another. Because of that, she could never outright kill me, any more than I could her. Celinda, on the other hand, is more powerful than us both."

"That's why she's the balance between you," Atlas murmured. If anyone understood balancing personalities, it was him. It didn't surprise me in the least that he picked up on that before my mind even caught up to Lyas's words.

"Exactly. If she wanted to kill one of us, Arune and I could join forces to battle her. If Arune or I got out of control, she would be able to take us down. She's been playing peacekeeper between us since the beginning of time."

"Wait," Calder shook his head, "that's where it gets confusing. You've been around since the beginning of time. So, how are you not immortal?"

"We don't age. We'll never die that way. It's an arrangement father made with Time."

"Time is a God?" Soren asked, eyes narrowing.

"He is," she replied. "Not very pleasant in the morning," she confided. Her head tilted as she thought about my question. "I guess God isn’t the right way to describe him. He’s a constant, he keeps time from getting messy. He has no worshipers and grants no favors, not like the rest of us. The reason we aren't immortal is because we can be killed using other methods. Not because his timeline ages us the way it does you and humans."

Sucking in a deep breath, I tried to imprint every piece of information she was giving to us into my mind. Who knew what could be important later?

"Arune first had to ensure that Celinda couldn't interfere when she came after me."

"So she imprisoned her," I said.

"That's right. It was ingenious really. But, because she and I are opposite sides of the same coin, she couldn't outright kill me. So she trapped me, binding my essence, making it impossible for me to escape. My physical body died. My powers were bound. If Squall hadn't found me and counter balanced some of Arune's magic I would have died long ago."

"How did Squall get involved in all of this?" I asked.

"I sought him out."

Turning, I saw both Katashi and Calix leaning against the wall behind me, near the door. They must have just come inside, though I hadn't heard them. I studied the handsome Gods. They seemed like an unlikely duo, but appeared to be friendly with one another.

Handsome?

My head snapped back and I blinked at my mates, who were all glaring at me.Well they are, I pointed out.

Fangs were bared and growls rumbled through the room.

A quick look over at my mother showed that she was biting down on her bottom lip, trying not to laugh. The others weren't privy to our discussion, at least I didn't think the Gods could hear us, but they clearly knew something was going on.

"He was hesitant to get involved," Katashi continued, "until I pointed out that without a moon Goddess his tides were going to be all fucked up."

"He's the God of the Ocean, though," I said. "Wouldn't he have power over all that?"

Lyas's grin was huge and smug. "That's the thing. So many of us are so interconnected, we can't do our jobs properly without the others. Without Arune, the sun wouldn't shine, and Nature would die. The moon would decay right along with Elaria. Shifters, humans, all magical beings would die."

"Which is why so many decided to join us in helping Lyas," Calix said, shifting from foot to foot. It was as though he couldn't stand still. Even in human form, he reminded me of the crow. "Without her, without the others, we were all doomed."

"Which brings me back to Fate and Reese."

All eyes landed on me, causing me to squirm in my seat.

"Fate always gives us a choice. Reese could have decided not to dive down to find me. And Arune would have won. Reese was my last priestess, my last hope. Once she was down there, she could have chosen to abandon me, seeing me in my skeletal state. Who would have blamed her for believing me long dead?" She reached across the table, palm up, and I placed my free hand in hers. She gave it a little squeeze then sat back once more. "Her choice to stay, to die, gave Shroul the ability to return me. A life for a life."

"Then how were you able to bring her back?" Calder asked.

"Because I'd made a promise that if any of my priestesses took that leap of faith, and gave their life for mine, that I would bring them back."

We all sat in the silence after, pondering her words.

"It's all so...convoluted," I said, finally breaking the quiet hush of the room.