"What's Aisa doing up there?" Luis whispered beside me.
Like I knew?
The room was silent, every figure bowed low before the trio on the thrones, except for Ciaran and my friends from Earth. Even Luke, Erick, and my banmuinen had prostrated themselves. But the most confusing part wasn't just the fact that Aisa was sitting up there with two outrageously handsome men.
It was that she had cared for me for years, and now she was Duir?
One of the men, the one wearing a crown of lavender berries, helped Aisa to her feet. She let out a grunt as she stood, wobbling slightly. The other man offered his arm as well, and thenâughâkissed her. Both of them did, actually, one after the other.
Like they were her devoted lovers.
Ugh, squared.
Aisa, the crotchety old woman who'd constantly told me off for tracking dirt into her house, was being treated like some queen by the gods of this realm.
Once steady, Aisa adjusted her glasses, still looking like the grumpy old woman I knew. She banged her staff on the floor with a metallic clank, and her sharp eyes scanned the room. The crowd seemed to hold its breath.
"Ah, Matt!" she called out.
Great. I felt every eye in the room turn toward me.
"Get over here, Matt! And bring your..." She squinted at my court, "bargain bin crew with you. Where's your seventh?" She banged her staff again. The other courts scrambled to make way, like terrified sheep parting for a wolf.
"Uh... Aisa?" I muttered as we approached. My court and I stood in front of her dais, and she looked me up and down with the same critical eye she'd used when I was a kid. "You're Duir?"
She smirked. "Duh."
A ripple of outrage spread through the crowd at my casual question. Someone from the crowd, emboldened by tradition, dared to speak up. "Eternal Goddess, the Elect Regina should go first, as befits her stationâ"
Before they could finish, Aisa flicked her staff in their direction, and the floor opened beneath them. A scream rang out before the hole sealed shut with an audible snap. Everyone recoiled, but no one else dared to interrupt.
Aisa turned back to me, smiling as if nothing had happened. "So, Matt. You're here. Took you long enough. Did you bring my present?"
I swallowed, already feeling the weight of Luke's glare at my back. The coinsâI'd left them on the desk. "No."
Aisa rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't. Always rushing, never thinking."
I took a deep breath and asked, "Aisa... where's the real Goddess? Did you tie her up in one of your curse sweaters and stash her somewhere?"
The crowd gasped audibly, whispering in shock at my familiarity with her. But Aisa just laughed. "Oh, that's rich, Matt! Maybe you'll give me a little more respect if I put on my party dress."
With another clang of her staff, the air shimmered around her. The frail old woman melted away, revealing a regal figure: golden skin, oak-brown hair twisted with roots and branches, and a tall crown of leaves and acorns. Her velour tracksuit became a deep red gown embroidered with oak leaves. She was beautiful, powerful, and terrifying.
The crowd's murmurs of adoration filled the room as they gazed at their Goddess. But AisaâDuirâkept her eyes on me. "When the first snow fell in Aleria, we were worried. It defied even the Trees. But something else happened. The doorway to Earth opened. A doorway that had been sealed for centuries."
I tried to follow, but she was speaking in riddles. "What's that got to do with me?"
"Everything. You see, Matt, I figured out that your birth wasn't an accident. It was a plan. Likely by the Straif." She squinted her eyes, looking upset about that.
I blinked at her, completely lost. "The Straif? Who's that?"
Aisa looked both intrigued and delighted that I didn't know. "You really don't know? Well, that makes things more interesting." She sighed dramatically. "He's a powerful Edentree, one of the old ones."
"And why would he bother to do that?"
She shrugged. "He's a scientist, and the very source of magic. Probably made you in his cauldron."
Nice. I scowled. "So?"
"It means that you're a threat." She raised her chin, her expression hard. "I've spent centuries keeping Aleria stable, preserving the balance. Humans ruin everything they touch. The last thing Aleria needs is a bridge to Earth. You could tear everything apart. And I won't let that happen."
Her voice was steady, but she was afraid of me. Her eyes gave it away "Why didn't you tell me any of this before? Why keep me around all these years?"
"Because you were useful!" Aisa snapped, her calm cracking. "You have power, Matt. And I used it to fuel my work. But I always knew what you were. I knew you'd be trouble one day. I should've ended you when you were a child, but I waited. I thought I could control you."
The realization hit me like a punch to the chest. All those years... she'd known. She'd kept me alive because I was useful to her.
"And now," she continued, her voice hardening again, "you're at the center of all this. The Becoming. The trials. If you succeed, you'll have power beyond measure. Power that could undo everything I've worked for."
I glared at her. "So you want me to fail."
"Of course I do," she said bluntly. "I don't need another threat to my realm. And don't think for a second that I'll let you rise to power and tear everything apart."
Ciaran stepped forward, his expression cold. "She doesn't need your approval."
Aisa sneered at him. "Nion... or should I say, Ciaran Ull? Still playing the rebel?"
Ciaran's smile was sharp. "I am of her court. And she chose me through the Tree bond."
Her eyes glowed as she regarded me more closely. She must have seen the faint roots between us because her mouth thinned. "That's impossible! She can produce the bonds?! She is not a Tree!"
"Is she not?" He kissed me on the cheek, then looked at Aisa with smug satisfaction. "Why do you think I am so bound then, Duir?"
She was scrutinizing me and followed my other roots with a look of shock. "She's also bonded with non-trees." She was regarding me like a second hand store item worth millions that someone else had grabbed. Then she shrugged, but the devious look didn't leave her face. "It doesn't matter. She's still only a half and won't pass the trials."
"As a Tree, she has a right to choose for herself." Ciaran grinned. "You don't have the right to stop another Tree who's not given you their oath." He looked at her like she was a miserable pauper. "And only she's able to do this. How sad for you to have to resort to oaths when mere half can produce roots."
Duir was silent for a moment, shaking with what I assumed was rage, or maybe envy, then she stood taller. "Regardless, she is too dangerous to be allowed to rule. I'll take her into my court instead. She'll be mine." She had that greedy look on her face, but then grimaced. "Even though it is likely she is the whelp of that Straif."
Be with Aisa for all time? I imagined endless years being relegated to being a sewing form for her.
Ugh. No.
"I won't let you control me," I said firmly.
Her smile vanished. "You don't have a choice, Matt. If you want to survive the trials, you'll need my help. So, what will it be? Agree to be mine and give up the trials, or will you give me what's in your pocket?"
My heart sank as I cupped my pocket. No. I wouldn't let Aisa take my Klack from me, or Dom's stone. The two men beside her echoed Aisa's sinister grin. I assumed they were the two boyfriends she had in SF. I'm sure they had a good time laughing about how they tricked me.
"Come on, hurry, Matt. I'll finally be able to study the little creatures and find out how your magic works. Mike refused to tell me."
I struggled with my horror, pretty sure I'd have to give her one or the other. If I gave her Klack, my heart would break.
And if I gave her the stone, I was done.
"In place of the coins, Duir, I offer this apple of Hesperides." Ciaran cut in while he pulled an apple from out of nowhere.
The man with the lavender crown, which I suspected was the Ash, said, "You dare to oppose The Oak, The Ash, and The Thorn? You think we will not raise our arms for battle and crush your tiny realm full of slaves, Ull?"
Ciaran stepped forward with the apple and I couldn't see his expression, but it was enough to get the green-haired mafia guy to step closer to Duir. Ciaran's voice was cold as he responded. "I dare... I am of her court, and I defy no one."
Duir gnashed her teeth at Ciaran as she patted the Ash. "Very well. I will accept this as tribute from the Nion, consort of the Elect Madeline." She then scanned the crowd and swept out her hand to point at me. "If there are any that oppose the Brigid's daughter being a part of the trials, please speak now."
"I do." My aunt's hand came up as she stood up from the ground. "I gave her a gift of her mother's jewels, and as such, she owes me a favor in return. I ask that she give up the trials so that Regina may have her rightful place as queen."
Aisa perked up at this news. "That is a wise favor, Athalia. You're a credit to the royal line."
Athalia curtseyed low. "May purity reign forever, Oak Mother."
"You forget that a gift equal or greater in value may repay your bargain," Ciaran reminded my aunt.
Her lips pursed. Of course, Athalia hadn't forgotten. "I accept that this is an alternative, but Madeline has nothing on her person to offer."
"It so happens that I brought two of the apples, and being part of her court, I may offer them in proxy by my Elect's leave. The Hesperides obliged me, being my subjects and all." He nodded at me for permission, and after a few seconds' pause where I wondered if I was making the right choice, I nodded back.
He stepped over the prone figures on the floor until he was facing my aunt.
My aunt stepped back, her gaze never leaving the bright, golden fruit that rested on Ciaran's palm. "I've never seen one before. I always wished to see â," her voice caught on a gasp as Ciaran stepped closer to her.
"So what do you say, eternal youth and beauty that will eclipse your own daughter in exchange for an uncertain win by my Princess?" He held up the apple under her nose and grinned like the most affable Satan you'd ever seen.
Athalia looked at the fruit with longing, and I remembered my mother's lessons about man's plight in the Garden. The knowledge the forbidden fruit promised had not tempted the first men; rather, it was the possibility of becoming a god. It is why money and power are never enough and why Alexander wept when he had no more worlds to conquer.
The disappointment had likely killed him.
"I'd always longed... Brigid was always first. I want to be first." I could see in her eyes all the jealousy and resentment she held as the second daughter in a line of queens.
"Do not take that fruit, Athalia! I forbid it!" Aisa hollered.
Just as the serpent had caught the couple in the Garden, Athalia had already taken the fruit and bitten into it, despite her Goddess's command. The juice that ran down her chin was as red as blood.
Time in the ballroom stood still.
The absolute silence made Ciaran's voice boom as he told a story.
"It was one of my apples, sweet Athalia, that caused the Trojan war. Three goddesses bickered over a gift given through spite. A man named Paris chose beauty when faced with a choice of beauty, power, or wisdom, and beauty won the apple. Some people believe he should have chosen another, but I? I believe he should never have chosen at all. In the end, choosing sealed his fate."
Athalia coughed and tried to spit out the apple, but it was no use. It worked as promised, however. Her face and figure became perfect, and she grew youthful. Then she turned to stone.
Ciaran continued to speak to her as though she could hear. "My apples are the downfall of many because no one can seem to remember that they hold a horrible curse for selfish hearts."
"Mother!" Regina screamed.