told her that war is brewing, and Poseidon will likely get his head cut off if she doesn’t come to knock some sense into it. Of course, she agreed the stubborn ass would probably try to take down a war alone if someone doesn’t talk sense into his mull-headed skull. Those are her precise words,” Delphine tells us. Proteus chuckles at that, and I smile, only getting a small shred of insight into these two.
All of a sudden, the door opens, and another woman walks in. She has fire red hair and alabaster skin with mischievous green eyes. She sees Poseidon in the corner talking with Rita in hushed tones. I can see her eyebrow rise, but then she looks over to where the three of us are standing and looking at her. She smiles wide and saunters over with a sway of her hips. She is a beautiful woman. I can tell she is used to getting her way because of the way she looks, yet I feel nothing toward her. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much for a young god like me to get aroused. Right now, though, all I want to do is find out what the plan is and what I need to do to help before this war really starts.
“Delphine, Proteus, so good to see you again,” she says, smiling wide at them as she gives them hugs in turn. Then she turns to me with a coy little smile. I just raise an eyebrow, showing her that her smiles won’t have me falling to my knees for her attention. Visible surprise and shock pass across her eyes at my gesture, you can tell right there that she isn’t used to not getting her way. I heard Poseidon had a daughter, is this her?
“Hello, and who might you be?” she asks, looking up at me. I nod to her, not sure who she is. If she is Poseidon’s daughter, I do not want to be rude.
“My name is Tane. I have come to help stand with Poseidon.”
She looks at me like she is trying to figure out who or what I am. I turn my head and look at Delphine. “Should we get started and see what we need to do first? I noticed some sentinels lined up at the edge of the city as we were coming in. We need to see how many there are and if we can position them further out to give us a heads-up if there is a problem approaching, instead of at the edge of the city,” I tell him. I can see by the way the redhead cocks her head at my statement to Proteus and Delphine that she is used to being the center of attention, and having me turn from her after a short introduction isn’t sitting well with her. I won’t be one of the myr-admirers I am sure she is used to having. It would take a lot more than her coy smiles and obvious want for attention to turn my head. Delphine and Proteus both have a small smile on their lips at how I am ignoring the looks the girl is giving me.
They point to the map on the table behind me. I look back at the redhead, not even catching her name. I just give her a quick nod and say, “Excuse us.” I turn and walk over to get a better look at the map. At this point, Poseidon comes over holding Rita’s hand as if he’s afraid she will disappear again. It is kind of amusing for this strong god to worry a little slip of a woman like her would disappear. I wonder who will make him see that if he really wants to keep this Rita around, he will have to marry her.
Focusing back on the map and what I need to look for, I push all thoughts of Poseidon and his consort out of my mind. Delphine is pointing out where the sentinels, sentry is what they call them, are located currently. I see the redhead slip out the door quietly. Poseidon interrupts what we are discussing, “So, what exactly do you all have in mind?”
Leia
As I am about to leave my room to see what snooping I can do, I see Natal storming through my door. She looks puzzled and mad all at the same time. “Ah, hi again, what’s wrong?” I ask. She looks at me.
“I was basically dismissed by a man! That has never happened to me before,” she says to me as she paces back and forth. I laugh at her outrage. One, because it is funny to see her get dismissed by someone of the opposite sex, and two, because she gets a glimpse of how men usually react to me. She looks at me with an annoyed expression.
“I’m being serious here; my charms have never failed me before and there is a new myr in your father’s study. Oh, and by the by, Delphine and Proteus are here in the study as well.”
Thank goodness they came, and quicker than I would have thought. Seeing Natal still distressed by being dismissed by this new myr, I figure she has finally met someone that is her equal.
“Maybe you finally met your match!”
She looks at me as if I am crazy for thinking that way.
I push aside thoughts of Natal’s outrage over this myr and her inability to accept that a single myr-man wouldn’t fall to his knees for her. I am just too excited that Delphine has made it and that he has brought some people to help, even if it is only a couple.
I’m so excited that others have come to help that I am making my strides to the door to head to my father’s study when she says, “Oh, and also, Rita is back and has your father wrapped around her finger already.”
I stop dead in my tracks and turn to look at Natal. Is she serious? My father hasn’t been close to her in almost a century now. He was a mess when she left, and I know he searched everywhere he could think of to find her and bring her back with no luck. Now, with war imminent, she shows up out of the blue.
Natal is nodding her head, answering my unspoken question. Yes, she really is back and here in my father’s study with him.
All thoughts of finding out more information disappear, and I feel my temper rise through my blood remembering the way my father was after she left him. He was a shell of a man for so long, heartbroken and empty. Wanting to rip every piece of blond hair out of Rita’s head for what she put my father through for the last century, I storm out of my room. The door slams behind me as I head straight for my father’s study. There is a lot that needs to be said to that woman and the gods know my father would never say it. He is putty in her hands, acting like an untried myr-youth. She can’t just show up now and hurt and manipulate him after all this time. I can feel my blood boiling more the closer I get to his study, and I can hear Natal’s feet padding behind me trying to keep up. My vision starts turning red at the thought of what it would be like once again for my father when either the war is done or she is, and she leaves him again. I can’t watch him go through that again. I can’t see the look of his heart being crushed and the humiliation of what others said about him behind his back.
I push the door open with a shove and it slams back against the wall with a loud bang. I have a tunnel of vision glaring down straight to Rita. All I hear is complete silence, I can feel eyes one me, but I don’t care or see anyone except her.
I walk right up to her, and I see her arm wrapped around my father. At first, she has a smile on her face at seeing me walk into the room, then she notices the death glare I am sure is written all over mine at the moment. “Leia!” she says in a squeak.
I come face-to-face with her as she drops my father’s arm and turns her back to him.
“Rita, if you are here to toy with my father’s heart again and leave for another century, you better say so now so I can just bury you where you stand! Just because you didn’t get your way hundred years ago, don’t think for a minute that I will let you twist up and tear down the man who has finally come back from his despair, and then disappear again when you want to throw a tantrum! I will rip your damn black heart out first!” I shout at her.
Seeing my blood still boiling, my father puts Rita behind his back, comes close to me, and places his hand on the side of my face. I can feel his power rush through me and send a calming feeling, as if cold water is running all over my body, to cool me down.
I look up at him, not ready to let go of my anger. I want to release all my hatred on the woman
