Meta Gods War 3 by B. Miles (the ebook reader txt) 📕

Cam took her hand and turned to face her. He touched her cheek with the back of his hand then leaned forward to kiss her.

“I feel like you’ve been gone for ages,” he said.

“I’ve been following leads,” she said. “Trying to figure this out.”

“I know.” He squeezed her fingers. “I’m only frustrated. This hasn’t gone like I hoped.”

“It never does.” She stepped closer and he could feel the heat of her body. “Why do Humans hate us so much? I understand why they hate the wolves… but the Elves?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Godlings are different. I think it scares them.”

“If they knew what I was—”

“Don’t talk about that,” Cam said.

“They’d kill me,” she said, her expression flat. “You know it as well as I do. I’m not just a godling, I’m a wolf.”

“I know, Fel.”

“They’d rip me to pieces. Even though I’ve been trying my hardest to help you and all the other Humans, they’d still kill me.”

“I know.”

She let out a breath. “It’s exhausting.”

“But you’re doing the right thing.”

“I know.” She tilted her chin up. Black bags hung under her eyes. “I just wish it were easy.”

“Nothing’s easy now. But hopefully one day, it will be.”

She pulled away from him and turned to follow her soldiers.

Cam watched her go. She had a long, loping walk. Her dark hair shimmered in the moonlight. He wished he could bring her back to his tent and keep her for the night, but he knew she had work to do.

Even if Lagon was the source of the godling rumors, this wouldn’t be the end. Lagon wasn’t the source of hate that flowed underneath the army’s underbelly.

Cam had to hope that he could hold things together long enough.

24

General Lagon sat at a low wooden table with a mug of warm beer and a plate of stale bread in front of him. Cam pulled up a chair and sat down, legs crossed, hands flat on the table.

It was late, past the normal evening meal. He’d meant to come earlier in the day, but he’d been sidetracked with duties.

“Tell me why,” Cam said. “And I’ll make this easy for you.”

Lagon didn’t look like he slept well. He picked up his beer and drank. His clothes were rumpled and dirty from lying on a dirt floor all night. His hair hung in oily strands. Bits of bread were stuck in his beard.

The tent was lit with several lamps. Arter stood just outside the flap.

“I think you’ve already made it hard, General,” he said.

Cam watched Lagon put his mug down and eat the stale bread. He ate methodically, picking it into smaller pieces, dunking it into the beer to soften it, then chewing. When he finished the bread, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his large chest.

“You don’t strike me as the kind of man to think about the godlings much,” Cam said.

“Really?” Lagon’s expression didn’t give much away. “What do I strike you as, then?”

“Careful,” Cam said. “You were my logistics leader. And by all accounts, you’re quite good at it.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“But I don’t understand why someone as careful as you are would spread lies about the godlings. You know as well as I do what the stakes are here.”

“I do,” Lagon said. “Of course, I do. The stakes are larger than anyone truly understands.”

“Enlighten me then.”

Lagon grunted. “You don’t want to listen,” he said. “You’ve made up your mind. But there are men within this army that know better.”

Cam didn’t move. That was confession enough for him, but something still didn’t sit right. Lagon wasn’t irrational, he wasn’t foaming at the mouth, he didn’t seem filled with hate. And yet, he still held these strange beliefs.

“I’m willing to listen,” Cam said. “I want to try and understand.”

“The godlings aren’t like us,” Lagon said. “They’re not from the Urspirit. They don’t have the same beliefs, the same values.”

“That’s true,” Cam said. “But the same could be said of a man from Medlar and a man from Waters.”

He waved that away. “Minor differences in dress, in burial customs. We’re still men in the end. We’re born, we live, we fuck, we die. But the Elves? They walk this earth as long as they wish and never fade away.”

“They’d say that’s both a blessing and a curse.”

“Easy for them, they don’t have to die. They have a choice.”

“This is about death, then?” Cam asked.

“No,” Lagon said, shaking his head. “This is about autonomy.”

“Explain.”

“This war will end,” he said. “And when it does, the world will be remade. That’s how wars shape things. Men rise and fall, fortune favors some and casts others down, and when the dust settles and the shield walls return back home to their families, those that ended up on top get to choose the new rules. When this is over, I want to make sure Humans are the ones on top.”

Cam grunted. “So it’s political for you?”

“It’s always political.”

“But surely you have to realize that stirring the men up against the Elves doesn’t serve our greater purpose.”

Lagon leaned forward. “Which is what, exactly?”

“Beating back the wolves.”

A small smile slipped across his face. “Not just the wolves. All the godlings. The world wasn’t always the way it is now, Camrus. When the wolves are gone, we need to be ready to move on the Elves, on the Shifters, on any other godling that decides to stand up against us.”

“But why?” Cam shook his head. “I don’t understand. The Elves have their territory, we have ours.”

“You think they’ll be content to stay behind their walls forever? The wolves weren’t, and they had more lands than the Elves ever did.”

“I don’t think you know the Elves well.”

“And you do? You think fucking one gives you some great insight?” He leaned toward Cam. “Tell me, does her pussy whisper Elven secrets up along your cock?”

Cam clenched his jaw but refused to take the bait. “Actually, yes, being with an Elf does give me insight,” he said. “I’ve actually