The words, and the look on his face, caused her to feel ashamed of herself, and she couldn’t even look him in the eye. He lifted her chin up again. “I am so very sorry for leaving you with your thoughts. I should have known that by not talking to you, your very vivid imagination would take hold.”
He took her face in his hands as his eyes filled with love. “You must know that I think only the
very best
of you. You must know that I...
adore you
.” He swallowed. “For 3,000 years, I’ve had one dream—to be with you. To be honest, I never dreamed of children, but only because I didn’t believe it was possible,” he said softly.
“I don’t understand why it would be so...surprising to you. Your parents had two children.”
Sudden understanding flooded his face. “Oh—Ian and Morgana.” He rolled his eyes and said to himself, “That explains a lot!”
“After you told me that story, I should have thought about birth control. I should have. I was lectured about my responsibility for years and I...I just didn’t think about it,” she admitted.
He knitted his brows, clearly upset by her words.
“Val, I need to explain a few things. Ian and Morgana are my
adopted
parents. They were oracles and they rescued us. They found me rocking Antonia in the burnt ruins of our war-torn village. I was little more than two years old. Antonia was only a few months old. They are the only parents I remember.”
“Oh, Alex—how awful!”
He shook his head. “I don’t remember much of it.”
“Are there any oracles
who have had children?”
Alex thought for a moment and then drew a deep breath. “No.”
The reality was sinking in.
“So...I’m not immortal,” she said flatly, thinking of the repercussions.
Slowly, Alex shook his head, unable to say the words.
Finally, finding his voice, Alex said, “That has been my concern. I’m sorry that I didn’t share it with you.” He pulled her up onto his lap and kissed her neck. “As far as birth control—it would have been my responsibility, too.” She glanced up at him and he wiped a tear from her face. “Val, I’ve never considered children, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want them.” He gulped again and let out a long sigh.
He rocked her in his arms as he swallowed back his emotion. “There are some things that are frightening about this. I have seen the frailty of the mortal body—of your mortal body. I want to believe that you will be all right. I need to believe it. I just…” He choked. “I can’t lose you again.”
Valeria pressed her lips to his neck and whispered, “You won’t lose me again. And if you do, I’ll come and find you. You’ll see—we’ll be fine.”
They lay back on the bed, wrapped in each other’s arms until the stress of the past two days caught up with them and they both drifted off to sleep.
“Hey, beautiful.” Alex woke Valeria gently. “Doc is ready for you—if you’re up for it.”
“Yes. Might as well get it over with,” she said.
He led her by the hand down the stairs and into an office that had been turned into a physician’s office. Mani hugged both of them.
“I’m going to perform an ultrasound. Home pregnancy tests can provide a false positive or be misread. Come and lie down on the table.”
She lay down as Alex stood by holding her hand. Mani scooted her yoga pants down, revealing her lower abdomen and then squeezed a tube of cold gel over the area.
“I apologize. I should have heated the bottle.”
“It’s not too cold,” she said, despite the shiver that ran down her spine.
Mani pressed the wand to her lower abdomen and moved it around while Alex and Valeria stared at the monitor. Mani zeroed the monitor in on something and Valeria and Alex stared, trying to determine what they were looking at. Mani leaned toward the monitor and pointed with a pen.
“That is the baby’s heart.” Mani nodded toward the monitor. “Congratulations.” Mani turned the speakers on so that they could both hear the heartbeat.
Valeria felt overwhelmed and watched as Alex’s eyes had a moment when he allowed himself to dream, before they shifted to fear—followed by the replacement of a pleasant mask and a kiss to Valeria’s forehead.
Mani went on, “Valeria, since you don’t recall your last cycle, we will monitor the baby’s progress by ultrasound.”
He moved the wand again and suddenly there was a profile of a baby.
“See here? Mani said, as he brushed a capped pen along the screen. “You can see the face and nose here. Here are the hands. See, it is sucking its thumb.”
“Mani, I had no idea that babies grew that fast! I’m probably only a week or two along, right?”
“The fetus is considerably more than a couple of weeks along. See its fingers and toes? By the size and development of the fetus, I would guess you are about fourteen weeks.”
“That’s nearly four months!” Alex said. “Doc is that possible? Val just began feeling sick last week. Besides, we’ve been drinking wine and hiking.” His words all ran together in a nervous train of thought. “Oh, and I took her scuba diving!” he said with sudden dread.
Mani turned off the Doppler and removed his gloves. “The fetus looks fine.”
“Do you know…what it is?” Valeria asked.
“I’m sorry, Valeria, I don’t have the expertise to tell at this stage. In a few more weeks it should be evident.” He pushed back the Doppler, and said, “I’ll give you both a minute alone. We can talk more outside.”
Valeria wiped the slimy clear liquid from her belly. Alex helped her sit up and they went outside and sat in the Adirondack chairs in the courtyard overlooking the Caribbean.
Mani smiled. “Do you have any questions for me?”
Valeria wanted to laugh and cry and she wanted Alex to feel like she did. But right now, she would have to be satisfied that he was here with her and loving her—not drowning in potential loss.
“I have a lot of questions,” she began. “I understand that oracles don’t have children. But Alex is an oracle. So how can this be?”
Mani thought for a moment, and then leaned forward as he clasped his hands. “You bring up a very good point, Valeria. One that I have no answers for. I don’t believe that we can discount your immortality without input from…others.” His gaze shifted to Alex. “But, it does no one any good to worry about this. We must remain hopeful and we will all do our best to safeguard the health of both you and the child.”
“Will the baby be an oracle or a mortal?”
“I cannot believe that oracular visions would pass genetically. There were only a hundred oracles and I believe we would have heard of offspring. But when the child is born, we will test its DNA.”
“Why is it that oracles don’t usually reproduce?” she asked.
“I can only believe that when the body is not concerned about death, or populating an environment, that it no longer reproduces.”
He continued, “Of course, in your case, it is very interesting. Your DNA appears as an oracle and your eye color matches ours. But the fact that you are pregnant is an indication that there is some other force at work in your body. I cannot explain it, but at this point, both mother and child appear to be healthy.”
Valeria sighed happily, and squeezed Alex’s hand.
“Do immortals reproduce?” she asked.
Mani’s eyes narrowed in thought. “
The first few generation of gods could reproduce fully, even with other creatures. After that, there was a declining incidence of mixed specie reproductions.
“Of those immortals who were changed by the River Styx, I personally know of none, except for you, Alex, and Caleb. However, it has been said that Achilles fathered mortal children.”
“I wonder if because we swam in the River Styx, if it changed our physical make-up?” Valeria asked.
“I don’t know.” Alex said.
“Paolo’s eyes are darker than yours.” She thought for a moment. “So are Caleb’s.”
Alex nodded.
“Paolo is the son of a god?” Valeria asked
“Evidently,” Alex said.
She wanted to know how she could have been pregnant with Paolo. She would ask this question when she was alone with Mani.
“Alex, you said that because I swam through the River Styx, that I would be immortal, even if the oracle DNA didn’t kick in. So, it looks like—despite the evidence—I am still…mortal?”
“Val, we have been trying to answer the riddle of your immortality for some time. What we do know is that you are an oracle, but for some reason, your body is still not behaving as a typical oracle. It also takes two to make a child and so, for that matter, neither is mine,” Alex said.
“Looks like we’re just in time,” Lars interrupted, as he and Ava entered through the screen door and pulled up two chairs. “It’s time we talked about answers,” he said as he stared at Alex for a moment, who hesitantly nodded. Ava stroked Valeria’s arm and winked. Tavish entered behind them and pulled up a chair backwards; sitting down, he nodded to Valeria.
From upstairs, they heard Camille holler down, “Lars, don’t start without me! I told you I would be ready at four o’clock. The rest of you are early—for once!” Camille teased.
Lars smiled. “I’ve heard that before.”
“This is a family meeting?” Valeria asked, as Caleb lumbered in and sat down with Charlie next to him.
Camille entered and excitedly hugged Valeria. “I’m so excited that you’re pregnant! I hope it’s a girl!” she said, as she sat down on the other side of Valeria.
Lars, as usual, got right down to business. “Val, we need to get some answers. Part of Alex’s concern has been about your health, and the health of your child. And if you aren’t immortal yet, we need to fix that. There is only one person we know who may be able to shed some light on this situation. His name is Myrdd.”
Valeria looked at Alex. “Yes, he was the first oracle.”
Alex nodded. “That’s right.”
“I thought he had been executed in Delos.” she drew in a deep breath remembering how she’d almost been beheaded.
Suddenly, things got very quiet. Valeria glanced at Lars and saw his intense focus on Alex, as if their non-verbal communication was taking place. Immediately, she realized that this was the discussion Alex had said would need to wait until after the honeymoon—evidently the honeymoon was over. She felt the tears well up inside her again and she pushed them back.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Mani responded, “Valeria, do you recall our discussion about the council when you were in the hospital?”
Valeria thought for a moment, and then she remembered. She had been in the hospital in Manhattan recovering from dehydration when Doc had told her the story of his symbolon, Lita, and also about Myrdd.
“This council, with Jeremiah, was not always the way it is. At one time, when it was led by Myrdd, was a council who sought to expand understanding and reduce the prejudice between the immortals and the oracles, and to improve the world with our gifts, as Apollo had intended. Jeremiah was able to gain power with accusations that Myrdd had violated sacred agreements. As a result, he was executed.”
“Melitta began a petition to remove Jeremiah as the council head. I was away when it was presented at the next council meeting, 500 years later. She was executed, along with all of the other petitioners. My name was on that list.”
“I don’t understand how they…I mean, they are—were—immortal. How did they…”
Mani looked away for a
moment, and she could see that he didn’t want to discuss it with her. Then he turned and looked her straight in the eye. “They were beheaded.”
Valeria’s eyes widened. “Alex, what did Myrdd do?”
“He was accused of bringing a mortal into Delos. He didn’t challenge the accusation so it is likely true.”
Trying to make sense of this, Valeria asked, “How would Jeremiah know about these rules of oracles when you don’t?”
Lars sighed and lifted a hand. “There are those that weren’t pleased with the creation of oracles. Of course, there is Aegemon, but there are others. Some of the gods were upset, as were the Fates. It’s also possible that Jeremiah has a link to Hecate—a goddess of the underworld with secret powers. Or possibly he is linked to the Fates—maybe a combination.”
“But if beheading was not Myrdd’s Prima Mortis, he should’ve recovered in twenty-four hours, as you did.”
A cloud moved over them blocking the warmth momentarily, and Valeria shivered lightly. Alex brushed his hand along her arm and then said, “Val, we don’t know where or how Jeremiah got this information, or how he managed to discover these charges against Myrdd. As far as why Myrdd and the others haven’t been recovered—the predominant theory is that, besides their Prima Mortis, there is one other condition where oracles don’t recover, and that is when the event that created the ‘death’ continues. It has long been believed that Jeremiah stores the head and the body apart so that the ‘condition of death’ continues.”
“But you’re right, Val. You have to wonder how a mental giant like Jeremiah put that together,” Ava said sarcastically. “That guy isn’t bright enough to tie his own shoes.”
“We hypothesized that the deaths—or rather, lack of recoveries—of the others, may have something to do with Erebos’ involvement or perhaps his double-sided axe. But recently, we acquired some evidence that the bodies and heads are stored separately—which supports Mani’s hypothesis,” Lars added.
“So, you plan to conduct a search in order to reunite Myrdd’s head and body,” Valeria asked.
“Yes,” Lars answered, and Valeria noticed everyone was staring at her.
“How are you going to do that? Don’t you need to have an idea where the bodies…and heads are stored?”
Alex bit his lip, and Caleb leaned forward and smiled. “Can I tell her?”
Both Lars and Alex glared at Caleb and said, “No!”
Charlie hid his head as if they were upset with him. Lars raised his eyebrows in question at Alex, who reluctantly nodded. Lars said, “Alex and Caleb made a discovery when you were swimming out of Delos.” He paused for effect.
“Two underwater depositories. They spotted skulls in one of them and Alex is certain he saw bones that resembled leg bones in the other.”
Valeria turned toward Alex. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to tell you but everyone said no,” Caleb added.
“I…I’m sorry.” Alex brushed his fingers through his hair. “I knew we would need to…to do something with it, and I felt that you had been through so much.” He bit his lip and grabbed her hand.
She tightened her grip on Alex’s hand as sudden understanding came through. “You want to go back there!” she accused.
“Val, I—” Alex started.
“Alex, please tell me you aren’t possibly thinking about swimming in there again.” She felt her throat tighten and, the next thing she knew, tears were flowing down her face. She didn’t want to cry, but these days, she didn’t seem to have much choice in the matter. “No! You are not going to make this child an orphan before she can even…”
Alex looked away and Mani pulled his chair directly in front of hers.
“Valeria,” Mani said, as he squeezed her hand gently. When she looked up he continued, “I would go alone—the rest of us would go alone—but without Alex’s knowledge of the exact position, the dangers increase exponentially. All of us owe a debt to those who are gone. My wife is one of them, and so I do have an ulterior motive. But I do believe it is in all of our best interests to recover these oracles.”
She didn’t want to make sense of this situation. Lars added, “Besides possible information from Myrdd, we also know that there were at least ten executions. Those ten would help provide a small army to battle Jeremiah, if it comes to that.”
Finally, Alex said, “Beautiful, I’ve known since I saw the depositories that we needed to go back. At the time, the political situation was far too hot to make the attempt.” He sighed. “Now it’s different. I believe that this must be done so that all of us can be safe again. So that, perhaps, we can raise our child in the safety of our home...or anywhere else we wish.”