The Flickering Flame by Alyce Caswell

Author:Alyce Caswell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, family saga, lesbian, bisexual, space opera, science fiction, gods, scifi romance, future fantasy, lgbt romance
Publisher: Alyce Caswell

CHAPTER FOUR

The mortal was splayed across the bed, sheet twisted around her naked form but doing little to cover it. Grinning, Finara stood and slipped into her clothes, then vanished inside a maelstrom of fire. Within moments, she landed on a different planet entirely, but the image of Grace dozing, legs parted just enough to offer a glimpse of the mortal’s glistening brown folds, followed her. It was distracting. And unprecedented. Finara never thought twice about her lovers.

Annoyed, Finara perched on a slate-grey boulder, forcing herself to focus on the small town beneath her. Children woke and pestered their parents, older folk sat and admired the clear emerald sky, and those that could still bend their backs began to head towards their azure fields. But their animals were silent, watchful, tense. Some of the cattle, good stock descended from those that had lived on Old Earth, even broke their bonds and had to be chased down.

Finara felt the nearby volcano stirring, disturbed by tectonic plates that refused to settle. In mere days, the picturesque mountain stretching into the sky would explode, its peak smashed into a crater.

These settlers had journeyed across the stars with just enough supplies to become self-sufficient. But they lacked complicated sensing equipment — and had begun to think they didn’t need it. The volcano had been quiet for the three generations they had spent here; it was part of the unchanging scenery, a feature in some of the artwork they had begun to export off-world. Their planet was making discreet seismic rumblings beneath the soil, but none of the villagers were aware, because they couldn’t see or hear anything. Not yet.

They had an elaborate golden shrine dedicated to the fire goddess standing in the centre of their village. It was for show, because none of them ever bothered to worship her or even thought of her when they passed the shrine. They believed its mere presence could protect them.

‘Stupid entitled mortals,’ Finara said, shaking her head.

She knew that once the eruption started, they’d cry out for her instead of moving out of the way — and she’d feel compelled to save them. Older mortals she could ridicule and ignore until the last moment, but not children. They didn’t deserve to die because of a decision they hadn’t made. They deserved the chance to grow up and make their own stupid decisions.

In a few days, they and their parents would watch in amazed relief as molten rock flowed miraculously around their village, leaving it unscathed. After the lava had cooled, they would forget their need for the fire goddess and go back to their short, useless lives.

This bullshit was why Finara had enlisted the services of a mediaist. Some mortals acknowledged what she did for them, even if they didn’t worship her, but there were others who didn’t know they owed their continued existence to the Firine.

She didn’t want the mortals to fear her. She wanted them to love her. To be thankful. To care about her as much as she cared about them.

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