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"It will be demanded of her to prove that she is legitimate. Her word alone will not suffice. To be an heir to the throne, Annani has to be the child of Ahn's official wife and be able to prove it. But for now, we should not worry about that. First, I need to ascertain whether she has what it takes to be the next leader of Anumati. Tell me everything Aru told Aria about her."
The cloudy look in Sofri's eyes was troubling. Hopefully, she was still lucid enough to relay the information factually and not embellish or mix it up with visions and fantasies.
Being the most powerful oracle on Anumati came with a price.
Sofri squinted as if she was trying to see in the dark, and perhaps that was precisely what she was doing—looking into the vast fabric of the universe instead of trying to remember what she had been told.
"I took great care to memorize what Aria told me." Sofri lifted a hand to clutch the Supreme Oracle's amulet as if it could ground her in reality and prevent her mind from wandering. "Annani is benevolent, and she leads her clan of immortals with wisdom and care. They call her the Clan Mother, and they all love and respect her. The clan is only several hundred people strong, but even though their numbers are small, they have done a lot of good for the humans throughout the millennia since Ahn and the gods were lost. Not only that, they have done so while fighting their archenemy, who has a stronger army of immortals and whose goals are opposite to theirs. Annani and her people want humans to become an enlightened global society that promotes equal opportunity for all and meets all the basic needs of every person on Earth. Their enemy encourages infighting and wants humans to remain dumb and ignorant so he can easily subjugate them."
That sounded a lot like what Ahn would have done if he had been allowed to live. It seemed that his daughter was continuing his legacy.
But what was that about immortals?
Had Sofri gotten confused?
"You said immortals. Did you mean gods?"
Her friend shook her head. "There is more I need to tell you—things that Aru told Aria before, and I did not share with you."
"Why didn't you?"
Sofri tilted her head. "Until Aru found out about Annani, I did not want to upset you by telling you what Ahn had allowed."
Ani had a feeling that she already knew the answer to that.
"He allowed the gods to procreate with humans."
Ani knew that such unions would not result in abominations like most believed thanks to the propaganda, but despite her sympathy toward the created species, she was not in favor of gods procreating with them. Why dilute the genetics they had perfected over countless years and numerous generations?
Sofri nodded. "He had no choice, Ani. The few gods on Earth did not have enough genetic variety for viability. Once the contact with the colony was severed, Ahn knew that no more gods would be coming to fortify their genetic pool and that their only chance of survival was creating a new hybrid species. Part god and part human."
The irony was not lost on Ani. "Humans were created with the genetic material taken from the gods. Ahn just took it one step further by ignoring the taboo and allowing the creation of immortals."
Dagor
As Dagor slowly stirred to wakefulness, he was greeted by the warm morning sunlight filtering through the gaps in the curtains and casting a soft glow on the room. He'd dreamt about home, about being with his family, his neighbors, his friends, and for a moment he thought that he was still on Anumati, but the illusion didn't last long.
Anumati's sun cast a red glow, not yellow.
Blinking rapidly to dislodge the cobwebs of dreams, he became aware of the woman sleeping beside him.
Frankie.
He was in her cabin, in her bed, and it was morning. It was also the second time he'd spent an entire night with a human female and had woken up beside her.
It was against the rules that he and his teammates had adhered to throughout the five years they had been on Earth, but if Aru could break them for Gabi, Dagor could do the same for Frankie.
It was nice to spend the night with her and not sneak out to go back to the cabin he shared with Negal. There was something special about waking up next to someone he cared about—a sense of belonging, a sense of connection, which Dagor had not felt with any female before, not even with the one goddess that he'd thought he loved.
What was it about Frankie that made him feel that way?
They weren't even from the same species.
Shifting to his side, Dagor propped his elbow on the mattress and supported his chin on his fist. As he watched her sleeping, he wondered why her forehead was scrunched in a frown.
Was she having a bad dream?
That shouldn't happen after a venom bite. She should be calm and blissed out.
