her.
“What about you?” she asked Tempus, presently.
“Ah, you and Tanda are set. No such luck for me yet.”
His voice held no censure, but the response made Dana sad nonetheless. She was about to get everything she never even knew she wanted but her friend was not yet done with his service. It seemed unfair. “Are you at least going to talk to him while you are here?”
“Who?” Tempus feigned ignorance.
“Your son,” Dana spoke bluntly. “Your punishment – your lockout from the veil – ended several lifetimes ago. Do you not think it is time to say hello?”
Tempus was saved from replying by Max, who suddenly appeared next to them. Her swirling eyes were locked onto Gaias. “I know you,” she whispered, taking a slow step forward. Gaias smiled and reached out a hand to her. Ryker immediately pulled Max back and Darius, Lark, and Beyden quickly formed a solid wall of muscle between them both. “Guys,” Max said, exasperated. “He won’t harm me. Besides, you know we are surrounded by the three entities who pretty much shaped the universe, right?”
“I don’t care. I don’t know him,” Ryker stated, not letting go of Max for a second. “Where the hell did you come from? How many more of you can we expect to just pop up?” Ryker turned his disapproving eyes on Dana.
“But I do know him,” Max said, peering around everyone to look at Gaias once more. “Don’t I? You’re the Custodian. The one Emmanuel consumed and imprisoned.”
Mouths dropped open in shock and a pin could have been heard falling to the soft grass from all the shock resonating through the minds and bodies of everyone congregated on the cliff’s edge.
Gaias smiled at Max but made no move to reach for her again. “I am. I owe you a debt I can never repay. I did not think I would ever be free. Nor all those hundreds of other poor souls. I had no idea supernova was a thing,” he added, winking.
Max laughed, pushing her way through her stupefied paladins. “Just between you and me? I didn’t either.” Then, in typical Max fashion, she threw herself at him and wrapped him up in a big hug. Ryker – and the rest of her paladins – cursed and groaned but didn’t immediately yank her back this time. “How the hell did you get a body?” Max questioned, releasing the young man.
Gaias pointed to Tanda. “Death caught me, threw me into this meatsuit.” He looked down at himself. “It’s strange. As a pure soul, I never thought to have a body. Is it a good one?” he asked, looking curious.
Surprisingly, it was Ivy who answered, “Oh, yes. It’s a good one,” she practically purred.
Beyden’s eyes widened and his whole face turned red, “Ivy!”
“What?” Ivy shrugged. “You don’t agree?”
All eyes turned to the undeniably handsome young man, who simply grinned. Lark was the one to break the silence by agreeing with his lover. “I totally agree. But wait a minute, Custodians are like your offspring, right? Max is your daughter. Basically, a Custodian in flesh and blood. Does that mean Gaias is Max’s brother?”
Dana thought about it for a moment. It was a question she had asked herself many times since finding out what Tanda had done. “Custodians are born of my magic; pure souls, pure energy, pure power. It is true I thought of them as offspring. They were the closest I ever thought I was going to get to having a child. I knew I was not going to birth one from my body. That turned out to be wrong of course. Max is my flesh and blood child, made the old-fashioned way. Her magic and powers are her birthright – her inheritance. Gaias has a soul I created but a body I did not. I do not share blood with him. But I do share magic.”
Dana looked at Gaias, knowing he was there to take her place so she could step aside and live a life full of love and happiness in the mortal world. How could she not love him? she thought. How could she not appreciate him and feel the same affection for him as she did for Max? She could not, she decided. Smiling, she finally answered Lark, “Yes, Gaias is Max’s brother. I claim him as my son – if he would have me,” she added, looking at Gaias.
Gaias smiled and nodded his head, words apparently lost to him. But that was okay. Dana did not