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“With the past. I thought you and Ryker would like to know more about your childhood.” What? There’s no way I just heard her correctly. “And your parents.”

The room is quiet for a moment as I attempt to process her words.

Parents, as in plural.

Not just my father, but my mother?

“Did you know my mother?” I’m across the room in just a few steps, the words pouring out of my mouth before I can stop them. I shouldn’t let myself get my hopes up, not after all this time, but I can’t help it. I’ve always wanted to know who she was, what she was like, even just her name would do.

Draven always referred to her as ‘a useless whore’.

“Of course I do. What kind of dryad would I be if I were unaware of our lady Aranyani?” Theo asks, looking at me like I’m crazy, and right now I kind of feel like I am.

There’s no way she just said who I think she did. There has to be a mistake, or maybe they just share a name?

My mind is running wild, the possibilities swirling like crazy as I stagger back a step.

A hand rests on my biceps, and I almost pull away before I feel that it’s her. Turning around, I find Serena beside me, concern filling her eyes as she looks up at me.

“Who’s Aranyani?” she asks, her voice soft and unsure.

“The goddess of the forest,” Theo answers as if that should be obvious, and I guess for her, it is. “Ryker is a god.”

“Afucking what?” The words are out of my mouth before I can think better of them, but I’m not sure there’s anything better to say. A quick glance around the room also tells me everyone else is on the same page, maybe Ryker more than the rest of us. But that’s to be expected with the crazy that Theo is spewing.

“Well, a half-god, a demigod actually, but he has god blood coursing through him, just like Serena.”

Boom! Just like that, another bomb.

My head is spinning, and I’m worried I somehow never made it to the cabin to find Serena. Maybe I just took a wrong turn and fell off a cliff, and this is just a hallucination?

Somehow, that seems more plausible than what Theo’s saying.

Although, just last week, I would have thought Theo wasn’t plausible. Nobody has seen signs of deities for so long it was believed by many that they were merely legends.

So you can imagine my mother’s surprise when Serena brought Theo back to the castle a few nights ago. She was beside herself, overjoyed, and full of questions. Not that Theo answeredthem. I’m pretty sure the only thing she said that was of any solid meaning was,‘I’m here to help the realm through a time of great darkness and bring what’s lost home.’

I have no idea what she meant, and she didn’t stick around to explain, but so far it seems like she’s helping Serena, has helped her more than once now, and that’s all I really need to know. I’m trusting Ryker to do the very same thing at this point, so why not a deity who was believed to be gone for hundreds of years…

“Wait.” Serena holds her hands up, cutting off whatever Theo was about to say. Probably something even crazier, like us being reincarnations or some shit.

Gods, there’s only so much I can take, and right now I’m at my limit.

“Let’s rewind. Tell us more about Ryker’s mom, please. How did a goddess end up with Draven?” Serena pulls a face, and I don’t blame her. I can imagine how that might have happened, and the slight greenish color Ryker turns tells me he’s thinking the same thing.

“Aranyani is the goddess of the forest. She’s the mother to the dryads and nymphs, who protect all that live in her domain. She loves every tree, flower, insect, and weed. She is beautiful, and she is strong, but she is also stubborn and curious, like most gods.” I can hear the fondness in her voice as Theo talks of Aranyani, and I rack my brain for some mention of her. From a young age, we were taught about the gods; after all, they are the ones who gifted us with magic and the ability to shift.

“Long ago, when the kingdom was just beginning to grow, Aranyani was upset. In order for the kingdom to grow, the forest had to shrink. Aranyani hated humans, wanted nothing to do with them, but it wasn’t her choice alone to make. In the end, the gods allowed the kingdoms to grow, and in return, they were granted gods that they would worship, one of which was Aranyani. For a long time, humans and gods coexisted perfectlyand peacefully. But as time went on, the villages grew, and what were once small areas of trees being cleared, turned into moving enough to create kingdoms, and not just here in Anolas, but in Salona and the other four kingdoms as well.” Try as I might, I can’t remember ever hearing a single thing about this. Thankfully, I’m not the only one who looks confused, though. Sol has probably read as much on our realms history as I have, maybe even more at this point, but when I look to him in question all he can do is shrug.

“They continued to worship Aranyani, though, so she allowed it, despite a deep hate that was beginning to fester. Eventually, the kingdom flourished, and humans began to have numbers that the gods couldn’t dream of achieving. They offered their children those of the elements; fire, earth, water, and air, and with us came the potential to wield elemental magic based on your region and which god had blessed that area. We taught them, became friendly, and some even took lovers.” Theo sighs, her earlier happy mood gone and I don’t need to be psychic to know where this story is going, to know it’s not a happy ending.

“After a while, Aranyani was forgotten. She no longer received worship for allowing them to destroy her beautiful forests. The mortals had been gifted the ability to shift and access to elemental magic, they were busy worshiping other gods now. For years and years, Aranyani festered in her hatred for the mortals until one day she met Draven,” she spits his name like it’s a curse, her eyes darkening.

Blowing out a calming breath, she continues. “He was strong, one of the few mortals that had been gifted with dark magic. Even at the peak of peace, Salona wasn’t a huge kingdom and, much like with Anolas, not all received the gift. Draven promised Aranyani that they would reclaim the land and make it better. Together, they could restore the forest and stop future destruction.”

I can’t stop the huff of laughter, but there’s nothing funny about the situation. I just know that’s about as far from what happened as possible.

Draven doesn’t care about anyone but himself.