Chapter Sixteen

The girl couldn't be any more than ten years old. The boy standing beside her was younger, perhaps five. He clung to his sister, burying his face in her chest as she wrapped her arms around him. Both sobbed, but the girl was trying to be brave. Atum made sure their mother was dead before he turned to them.

"Where is your father?" he asked coldly, ignoring the tear-stained faces.

"Mama told you," the girl whispered.

Atum advanced on them. The boy shrieked with terror and tried to run. The sun-god lunged, grabbing his arm. As soon as his hand wrapped around the boy's arm he felt it. A shadow, curled in the centre of the child's soul. Chthonic energy, hissing in fury and fear. The boy was tainted by Chthon. Atum felt the rage flare in him, but he kept his flames at bay. Chthon had left his mark, but the boy didn't deserve to suffer.

"Let him go!" the sister screamed, and she grabbed a poker from the fire and ran at Atum. He swatted the desperate attempt at attack aside and grabbed her as well. He felt the same swirl of energy.

They would both grow up to be Chthon's thralls.

The sun-god looked at the terror on the children's faces. "Where is your father?"

"Mines," the boy shrieked, squirming, trying to escape. "Let go, let go!"

Atum felt pity. He released the girl and put his massive hand over the boy's face. Instantly he fell limp. The girl screamed.

"He's sleeping, little one," Atum told her, scooping the unconscious form in his arms. "Where is his bed?"

The girl touched her brother's face and started to sob in relief when she saw that he still breathed. Wordlessly, she pointed to a small cot. Atum placed the boy into it, and then turned to the girl.

"You share this bed, do you not?"

Silent, she nodded.

"This has been a nightmare, little one. It's not real." Atum put his hand on her shoulder. She flinched but didn't run. "Go to sleep and you'll wake up, happy, with your family around you, living in a great big palace with silk gowns and more diamonds than you can imagine."

The girl's head bowed. "No, that's not what is going to happen. You're going to kill us. He says you are."

Atum was silent. He touched his fingers to the girl's temples, and she slumped to the floor, unconscious. The sun-god put her next to her brother. Instinctually in their sleep they clung to one another.

"Chthon is not a master that you want to grow up enslaved to," he whispered, drawing his sword. "And so I free you."

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"I always think that maybe this time you'll say goodbye before you leave."

Gaea turned at the sound of her son's voice. Frey stepped in beside her, his gaze on the ground. Gaea gently carded her fingers through his hair.

"It's never goodbye. Just-"

"See you later. But it's not, Mother. It's goodbye, and it hurts that you won't give us the decency of knowing that you've gone." Frey glanced up. "Freyja, the girls, Bragi and I could come and live with you on Midgard."

"Heimdall?" Gaea asked shrewdly. The gatekeeper must have told him that she was leaving, and why.

Frey nodded.

"You all have your lives here, Frey. It would be unfair to ask you to leave."

"There are many things that are unfair. We need you. Freyja needs you. I don't understand why Odin would threaten Freyja and her daughters to make you leave."

Gaea sighed. As was her agreement with the king and queen of Asgard, nobody would know that she had given birth to Odin's heir, not until Thor was old enough to understand why Frigga had agreed to raise another woman's child, sired by her husband's infidelity. She stomped down on the anger that swirled in her chest. It would do no good.

"There are many things that cannot be understood easily, Frey," Gaea said. "Freyja will be all right. She has you and the girls. She doesn't need me."

"Hnossa is still going to Vanaheim. Idunn is married and will be spending her time caring for Bragi and earning what she can. Var and Lofn are both eager to start some sort of work as well. That will leave Freyja with the triplets and baby Sigyn."

"And that is what you are for." Gaea stopped, and embraced her son. "I am sorry that I am putting so much on your shoulders, Frey. But of all my children, you are the strongest."

Frey held her tightly. "I'm not that strong."

"Yes, you are."

"If I was, I would have found the man who hurt my sister and killed him by now. Mother, I know Freyja hasn't talked to him since Hnossa was born, but if Atum knew what had happened-"

Gaea pressed her face against her son's shoulder. Oh, Frey! If only you could understand... If only any of us could...

"-I know that he wouldn't allow this. He would make sure that Freyja was safe again."

"Frey, I have not been in contact with Atum for a long time. He is busy, defending the known universe from Chthon and Set. There is nothing that can be done at the moment." Gaea pulled away, cupping her son's face and smiling at him. "Freyja is doing much better than-" she choked on her words. Only herself, Chthon, Atum, Oshtur and Freyja knew the story of Atum's conception. "Freyja is doing much better than I expected."

"What's wrong, Mother?"

Gaea opened her mouth, and then closed it again. "You're right," she said softly. "I should say goodbye."

She glanced skyward. It was some time until noon. She turned, going back the way she had come. Frey fell into step beside her again, and his brow was furrowed.

"Mother?"

"Yes?"

"You know that I love you, right?"

Gaea squeezed Frey's hand. "Of course I do. And I love you, too."

He gave her a troubled smile, and then ran his hand through his blond hair, sighing. "You heard what happened last night?"

"What happened last night?" Gaea frowned.

"I broke Njord's wrist."

Gaea's brows rose. "What?"

"He... he's a disgusting old man. And he slapped Freyja."

"What?"

"I couldn't stop myself. After everything that's happened... after he sold her to Asgard... I know that she and Ve loved each other eventually, but even if they had not, Njord would have made her go. Even if it had meant marrying her off to a Jotünn!"

"The Jotünns are no more monsters than the Aesir," Gaea replied sharply. "If your king had ordered you to act as their king had, you would do so and think yourself the hero. But never mind that. Njord raised his hand to Freyja?"

"It's not the first time."

"What do you mean, it's not the first time?" Gaea demanded.

Frey's brow furrowed. "He always used physical discipline."

"Why did you never tell me?"

"What was there to tell? He didn't bruise us. I thought you knew."

Gaea stared at her son in horror. "And Skadi allowed this?"

"Allowed? Mother, why do you think she always wears long sleeves? He did bruise her."

Gaea sat in the dirt, reeling from this sudden information. This was one of the men she had chosen to mate with, had given her precious babies to? She had thought she was a better judge of character than that!

She sat in silence for a few minutes, Frey waiting patiently for her. Was she so prone to error in judging people? Njord, Odin, Atum... she shook her head, clearing it of these thoughts, and pushed herself to her feet. Noon- and Odin's ridiculous deadline- was approaching. She needed to speak to Freyja before she left.

"Are you alright, Mother?"

"No," Gaea replied softly. "I never knew... I am sorry for not being there for you, Frey. And I am sorry that I must leave now. But before I go, there is something that I need to tell Freyja."

If she could do nothing further for her daughter, Freyja at least needed to know of the doubts that Oshtur had planted in Gaea's mind about Atum's motives for his sin. She and Frey talked quietly until they reached Freyja's house, at which point Frey embraced his mother and took his leave.

Freyja was upstairs feeding little Sigyn. She smiled tiredly at Gaea, who returned the smile wanly.

"I'm leaving, Freyja."

The smile faded. "Why?"

"It is time for me to return to Midgard. The people there will need bounteous harvests after the attack of the Jotünns."

Freyja looked down at Sigyn. The baby was falling asleep even as she nursed. "Goodbye, then, Mother."

"I may not return for a long while, but please visit when you feel up to it."

Freyja nodded.

Gaea sighed. How stubborn her daughter was! How closed she was, refusing to let her emotions through her ever-hardening shell. "Freyja, there are some things that I need to tell you. It may be difficult for you to hear some of them..."

Freyja frowned as Gaea went to the door and closed it, returning to sit beside mother and child. "Little Sigyn has less of the Vanir in her than you do. I do not know the extent, but she may exhibit strong signs of her Elder God heritage."

"You mean exhibit signs of being sired by Atum."

"Yes."

Freyja looked at her now-sleeping baby. She pulled her bodice back over her bosom and handed Sigyn to Gaea before lacing herself up. "What sort of signs?"

"He first became aware of his powers as a small child. Conjuring fire was the first of his accomplishments, and he displayed a strong interest in learning magic. He was very talented, though he rarely uses spells and such now, preferring the sword..."

"And brute strength." Freyja ran her hands through her hair. "I keep thinking about his face when he first arrived. The tears... He kept telling me to close my eyes... and he was so, so empty..."

Gaea silently put Sigyn in her crib. "And I felt the same horror from him as from you." She returned to her daughter. "I spoke with Oshtur on this."

Freyja's face paled and then she pressed her lips together angrily. "You said you would tell nobody!"

"Oshtur was concerned. She knew enough already..." Gaea hesitated. Should she tell Freyja about Atum's willingness to let Set kill him, or would it merely make it seem like she was trivialising Freyja's pain? "She suggested something, a reason..."

Freyja's gaze was tortured. "Why?"

"Oshtur told me that Atum has reached a new frenzy and determination to destroy Chthon. Perhaps... Perhaps it is possible that Chthon forced him to do this to you."

Freyja's blue eyes were steady in her pale face. "If that was the case, Mother, then at least I would know why. But it's just speculation. Only Atum knows why and he is too much a coward to tell either one of us. It could be a comforting thought... But I would rather live forever in wondering than to ever set eyes on him again. I hope Chthon rends him limb from limb."

"According to Oshtur, he was prepared to allow Set to do that."

Freyja's already pale face went paler. "No. No, if he didn't want to do what he did, he wouldn't have. Nobody can force him to do anything. And if Chthon had... then he would have told me. Or you. If he cared at all, he wouldn't let me live in this agony of not knowing. No, Atum wanted to hurt me. He is just... Just like his father!"

The words came out in a burst, and Gaea could not help but flinch to hear them. No. No, Atum was nothing like Chthon... Except the parallels were too obviously there to ignore. Gaea hid her face in her hands. Could she chose to believe what she wanted to believe, despite such little evidence? It could very well be that Atum was falsifying a projected emotion. He had done so before, never on such a scale, but he was, after all, Chthon's son. And there was nothing Chthon was more skilled at than deception.

"I can only tell you my doubts and hopes," she said softly, looking up at Freyja again. "There are no answers."

"Yes, there is one." Freyja set her jaw firmly. "And it is that Atum is evil."