The Lightning God's Wife: a short story by Grace Draven

Author:Grace Draven [Draven, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grace Draven
Published: 2014-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

***

She stood hip deep in the pool with the lightning god. Ninun had left and taken Derketo—returned to human form—with him. They waited above, waited to be freed by their father’s crippled power and a human woman’s uncertain aid.

In any other scenario, she would be nothing more than a burnt corpse, roasted by the lethal marriage of water and lightning. But she lived and breathed and faced the creator god whom she’d comforted and then loved in her dreams.

Atagartis traced the length of her arm with one finger. “You are lovely, Revida.”

She turned her face away, mortified, and stared into the shadows cast by the pool’s glow. “Please don’t,” she said. “I’m old—weathered as hard as a sun-cured hide.” She managed a small smile and a quick glance at him. “Were you truly human, you’d be young enough to be my son, maybe even my grandson.”

She held still as he stroked her coarse hair. “I’ve searched the world for you, Revida. The woman I see before me is the same one I see in my dreams.”

Revida shivered, awestruck and confused by his affections—and his words. “Why were you looking for me?”

Fear closed her throat as Atagartis’s features darkened and blue sparks danced in his eyes. His touch remained gentle on her body. “In his jealousy, Sumarimis destroyed our wife. Nirari loved him as much as she loved me, but it wasn’t enough for him. When she refused to abandon me and cleave solely to him, he became enraged. If Nirari wouldn’t have him alone, no one would have her.”

The great storm with its punishing winds, fierce lightning, and drowning rain—a battle between gods and all for the affections of a goddess. She’d felt Nirari’s death all the way to her soul. Revida hadn’t known then what had brought about the sudden emptiness that filled her, only that she’d wanted to scream her agony to the stars. She had cried until she grew sick and then cried in her dreams until Atagartis sought her there and bid her weep no more.

“It’s been more than twenty years since the rain fell,” she said. “The crops withered and the livestock died. Men spilled blood over the control of streams more mud than water. The world dies because of a lover’s quarrel.”

She didn’t bother to hide her resentment, her bitterness. Atagartis might strike her down for her impertinence, but he would know what chaos he and his brother had brought on all who dwelt on this parched earth.

Atagartis didn’t smite her; he did embrace her, his wet hands caressing her back. “We’re trying to save the world, Revida,” he whispered in her ear.

“As an injured man with two small children?”

His low chuckle tickled her neck. “Not quite.” He stepped away from her but held her hands in his. “Sumarimis found a way to imprison us as humans. We don’t age, and we don’t grow ill, but we have many of your weaknesses and almost none of our power.

“We’ve been able to hide from my brother for many years.

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