Strength (Curse of the Gods #4)(81)

“Oh yes!” Pica clapped her hands together beneath her chin, donning a whimsical expression. “It was so lovely.”

“You were unconscious,” Yael supplied.

“Oh.” I was officially terrified of Pica.

I made my way to the door and carefully edged past her, walking into the hall. Her residence was made of marble, as with most of the god-homes, but there was so much pink fabric hanging everywhere that it was a little hard to recognise our space as one of the typical marble houses that I had grown used to in Topia. Nonetheless, it wasn’t too hard to navigate my way out the pink nightmare. I opened the main door and stepped out into a small garden, surprised enough that I paused to look around. Soil had been piled into marble garden boxes, fruit and vegetable plants overgrowing from the sides. Everything looked so ... well-loved. I shuddered, hurrying out of the garden.

“Oh!” Pica called after me, causing me to turn around.

The Abcurses had followed me silently, Emmy right behind them. Pica pushed past them, making her way to me.

“I forgot to mention,” she said, linking her arm through mine and squeezing tightly. “You can go anywhere you like, just as long as you don’t leave my platform. I can’t protect you if you do, and I can’t let anything happen to you, Willy. I fear so badly that if I let you out of my sight, Staviti will snatch you up and destroy you as he did my beloved Rau.”

Suddenly, it made sense for Rau to have been with the Goddess of Love. She was just as crazy as he was.

“Staviti ... killed Rau?” I asked hesitantly, my eyes flicking to Rome for a moment. He shook his head, the barest of movements.

Pica doesn’t know.

“He has been jealous of Rau since the beginning of our creation. He created me, the perfect vision of love, but I did not love him, as he had intended. He made a few mistakes with me, being his first creation. He couldn’t understand why, but ...” she laughed, suddenly. “Whoever does understand love?”

“Right,” I agreed. “Nobody. Love is ...”

“Crazy,” she inserted. “It’s crazy, isn’t it?” She laughed again, the thought apparently delighting her.

“You said it. So, what happened when you didn’t love him back?”

“He got lonely, he created the others—new and improved companions, without the glitches—to keep him company. Rau, Abil, Adeline, Terrence, Lorda, Ciune, Gable, Haven, and Crowe. I knew I loved Rau from the moment I laid eyes on him.”

She sighed. It was a dramatic and dreamy kind of sigh. “He was such a contradiction. So caring, so cruel!”

“So cruel,” I agreed.

“He was everything good and everything bad, do you understand?”

“So bad.” I nodded. “Totally understand.”

Help, I called out in my mind.

I had intended to call for one of the Abcurses, but the last thing I expected was an actual answer. In my head.

What do you need help with, Sacred One?

I squealed, jumping away from Pica. I spun around, trying to figure out where the voice had come from.

“Whatthehellwasthat?” I rushed out, my words running into each other.

“What was what?” Yael asked, glancing around.

“Nobody said anything, Will,” Emmy added, looking confused.

I glanced at Pica: she was pouting, her lip quivering. Had I ... upset her?

“Uh,” I scratched my head. “Are you okay?”

A tear quivered at the edge of her eye before plopping down onto her robe. She sniffed once, twice, and then broke. Suddenly the crazy woman was sobbing. She threw herself at me, her arms wrapping around my shoulders, her head falling against me as she cried.

“You pushed me!” she wailed.

I had no words. I lifted a hand, patting her awkwardly while directing a look toward the Abcurses.

Did I really?

Did you really what, Sacred One? The reply was instant, and I jumped away from Pica once again, leaving her to crumple to a heap on the ground, still wailing.

“What the hell!” I exclaimed, spinning around again. “Who keeps doing that!”

“Doing what?” Rome strode forward, grabbing my arms, forcing me to still, to focus on him. “What’s happening, Rocks?”

“Someone keeps speaking in my head! You five can’t hear her?”

“Your thoughts are still a little tangled,” Rome answered.

“It’s a female?” Siret was beside Rome, a frown twisting his face.

“It was ...” I paused, realisation slamming into me. That voice had been familiar. I sucked in one breath, and then another. “Donald,” I finally said, my wide eyes travelling over to Emmy. “It was Donald. Where is she?”

“Pica sent her somewhere,” Emmy replied, moving to help the god up from the ground.

Pica allowed herself to be helped up, her crying beginning to quieten. She wiped away her tears with a section of her sleeve, before patting Emmy on the cheek.

“What a lovely girl you are. Where is my Willy? I must apologise to her. Willy?”

I cringed, shaking my head at the Abcurses. “I’m not here.”

Siret smirked. “She’s going to find you in about one-eighth of a click—”

“Willy!” Pica had peeked beyond the Abcurses, finding me huddled before them. She wrapped her arms around me again, and I wondered if I should just go ahead and push her a third time, because things were always better in thirds.