Call of Water (Madame Tan's Freakshow #1) - Marina Simcoe Page 0,84
It’s very different from yours. Magic is real. And gods have powers that are amplified by the faith of their worshipers.”
I would need to ponder that one for a while.
“It’s kind of scary to learn that we’ve pissed off a real goddess.” I huffed a breath, sinking into the pillows.
“Ghata has hardly any power left.” Zeph stroked my arm gently in a comforting gesture. “The power of a goddess ebbs and grows. It shifts following the strength of the faith of her followers. Once she broke their trust, their faith in her divinity waned, her power weakened. Apparently, she committed even more grievous crimes in her desperation to restore her status. So many that she was supposed to be prosecuted for them. That was when she escaped Nerifir.”
“Could we maybe find a way to send her back?”
He shook his head.
“Only bracks can cross the dimensions. Ghata used whatever power she still had before leaving Nerifir to make sure that her own priests could go back, since she could never return without the risk of being prosecuted.”
“Priests?”
“That’s what bracks were in her temple in Nerifir.”
“Only bracks can cross the dimensions.” I remembered Amira’s words.
My heart ached, remembering her dark, somber eyes.
“What exactly is Amira’s role in Madame’s little freakshow? How did she get there, in the first place? And why?”
He heaved a sigh. “I’m not sure. Amira is most definitely a human, though. She has nothing to do with Nerifir.”
Yet the menagerie now seemed to be her only home.
“In this world, money is power,” Zeph continued. “And Ghata appears determined to make a lot of it. From what you’ve told me, she must have amassed a large sum just by displaying me to the public.”
“And she is obviously not planning to stop. How much does she need? And for what?”
In bracks, Madame had her very own little army that would do anything for her. If she had the financial means, too, how much could she accomplish, and how much damage could she cause?
“Whatever comes, we’re going to stay together Ivy.” He wrapped his arms around me. “I’ll keep you safe.”
I kissed his chest, just because it was the closest part of him to my lips.
“We can do anything we want.” He slid his hands down my back, lifting me into his lap. “And you know what I think we both want right now?”
He smiled, winking at me. His erection eagerly bobbed against my inner thigh, as if joining in the fun.
“I love this undying optimism of yours, Zeph. It’s one of my favorite things about you, your magical power to deal with any problems with a wink and a smile.” The heavy feeling weighing down on my heart had lifted at the sight of his grin. “You make problems easier to deal with for me, too.”
“My sweet Ivy, no need to fret over what you can’t change or even predict.” He slid his hands up and down my back, soothing the worry in my chest with each glide of his palms along my skin. “We’ll stay vigilant, but it doesn’t mean I’m letting the evil hang like a shadow over our lives here.” Pressing me to him, he kissed the corner of my mouth, his hand kneading my breast.
“I wish I could do that.” I wrapped my arms around him. “I wish I had your light to shine through any darkness.”
“I’ll be your light, sweetheart,” he murmured, kissing down the side of my neck. “I’ll fight the darkness for you.”
EPILOGUE
THE SUNLIGHT BURST vividly through the window when I woke up. For a moment, I believed I was back in Paris, in Zeph’s place. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up in bed. Then I realized what had brought that feeling: the warm smell of cinnamon buns, coming from the kitchen.
“Zeph?” I called out, not finding him in bed.
“You’re up?” He poked his head in the bedroom, and my heart stilled with another bout of déjà vu. His long hair was gone. Cropped close to his head above his ears, it was a few inches longer on the top, styled in a tousled wave, similar to the way he’d worn it back in Paris.
“You cut your hair...”
“Do you like it?” He grinned, running his hand through it.
Dressed in a band t-shirt and a pair of shorts, barefoot, with a new haircut and his old smile, he appeared so much like the Zeph I’d met in Paris—so different from the one I had found locked in a tank filled with toxic water.