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She let out a heavy sigh. “I wish I could have been there for her.”

“And she wishes she could have been there for you that night.”

Katana looked up at him sorrowfully. “I know.”

“I have a question that I need to know for security purposes,” Thane said.

“This has something to do with me?”

“It does. If Atlanta discovers the portals are open and somehow finds out you’re here, will he come to Palenor, and what do you want us to do about it if he does?”

Her lips pressed firmly together, and her grip tightened on his arm. “He will come. As far as what you should do about it… I do not want any of you in harm’s way. I will speak to him.”

“Can I ask why you don’t want to go see him? I can only guess you didn’t love him even if he was your husband.”

“I did love him.” She gulped. “And he loved many.”

Thane nodded. The sorrowful change around her eyes flared an angry heat in his cheeks. It was typical for a god to have several lovers. They lived long lives, and among many it was competition to produce as many heirs and powerful offspring as possible.

“I want to start a new life. Katana—Atlanta’s first wife—is not who I will be anymore.”

“You felt like an extension of him even as a primordial goddess?”

“In many ways, yes. Nothing we had together ever truly felt like mine. It was his. Evenmypalace was modeled after the sea… not the sun. My own bed chambers were the only thing I had complete control over.”

What an asshole.“You had separate palaces?”

Typically, it was the females who took charge of the decor. Even here Thane’s mother, Orlandia, oversaw that. He might agree to the overall feel or theme, but she did the rest unless there was something specific he wanted done.

“I was not about to watch him parade around with a different female day and night, sometimes several. I raised my children in my home, not in the shared female house. That was one thing I would not budge on.”

He had the goddess of day as his wife, and it wasn’t enough? “The more I hear, the more I think he shouldn’t be a welcome guest. Did you not want to divorce him?” It wasn’t common but it was done in Runevale.

The silence was filled with her shoes tapping lightly on the stone as they descended the stairs. “I did ask for one once. He did not like that.”

“It doesn’t really matter if he liked it, does it?”

There was strange energy coming off her. Almost like she was…afraid. “To keep it simple, divorcing someone powerful like Atlanta when he said ‘no’ seemed impossible. There was notmuch I could do about it at the time. And should Atlanta want to come here, I doubt anyone would be able to stop him.”

She underestimated what he, Hel, and Valeen were capable of. No more needed to be said for him to decide that Atlanta was indeed a threat. Katana was one of them now. And if they had to fight a battle against her former husband, they would. “So, you don’t want to see him?”

“Ideally, he does not find out I am alive.”

Just ahead Valeen stood in the foyer and his stomach tumbled. It brought up strange feelings to see her standing in his castle again. He’d avoided one-on-one interaction with her as much as possible since their talk in his room. Their relationship had been over months before that, but that night was the finality of her choice. The mixed emotions whirling inside him made sweat bead on his brow. A flurry of excitement, sadness, and trepidation. The way she teased him while they rode on dragon back made him want her again. Friends or lovers, he’d take either. Now that she knew everything it wasn’t like he could take advantage. At the very least he wanted them to be close friends like they had been when he was War but after loving her so deeply, and her sharing those same feelings, it couldn’t be the same.

She beamed at them both. “Good morning.” In a few quick strides she threw her arms around her sister. “I’m so sorry I slept for two days. I should have been with you.”

“Do not trouble yourself over me. You needed the rest, Val.”

Valeen tilted her chin toward him and playfully tapped his arm. “Hello, Thane.”

“Valeen.”

The corner of her mouth turned up. “Wow, I’m reduced to a name as a greeting. Not even a smile.”

“Good morning.”

“You’re so formal today, High King.”