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

“I want to be the Lord of this Mansion.”

She let out a little laugh. “What do you mean? I’m the Lord.”

“I know that. But I’ve been thinking about our future.”

“You don’t think I should be Lord?”

He held up a hand. “I didn’t say that.”

“Then what are you saying?” She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes.

He took a minute to compose himself. “What I saw out there on the battle field shook me to the core, Galla.” His voice was strained and tense. “Those two goddesses could have destroyed our army if they wanted. Lycanica was in the process of doing just that, and she would’ve succeeded if it weren’t for Danua. I tried to hold her off, but I was just too weak.”

“You’re not a god, Cam,” Galla said, softening just a touch. “You can’t blame yourself for that.”

“I know. But for a moment, I did hold her back. Just for a moment, my magic was strong enough. Ever since then, I keep thinking, what if I hadn’t been alone out there? What if there were ten others just like me? Or two hundred?”

Galla laughed a little. “Two hundred shaman? Is that even possible?”

“Theus learned,” Cam said. “He learned much, much faster than I did. He’s getting stronger every day. I think I can train more shaman, and I think if we work together, our magic might be strong enough to protect our people from the gods themselves.”

Galla stared at him and shook her head. “That’s insanity.”

“It’s not. I did it, even if it was for just a second. With a hundred like me, we could’ve taken her down.”

“Cam—”

“I know this is a lot,” he said, interrupting her before she could call him crazy again. He didn’t need to hear that from her, he’d been thinking it enough about himself already. “If you let me share the Lordship with you, I’ll use my position to train an army of shaman. We’ll have enough power that nobody in the region will be able to threaten us ever again.”

She stared at him and slowly shook her head. “Nobody will accept it.’

“They will. These are strange times, Galla. Nothing is conventional anymore. They’ll accept it.”

“Share the Lordship… It’s never been done.”

“I know that. We’ve also never defeated a horde of wolves in battle before this.” He held out his hands. “Please, work with me. Give me this power and let me do what I need to do.”

“Why do you need to be the Lord to train shaman? Can’t you just… do it?”

“I need the power,” Cam said, his jaw tense. “If I’m going to give magic to a hundred men, I need to be able to control them. If I’m going to take on that much responsibility, I need the symbolic strength of the Lordship behind me. It’s the only way I’ll stay in charge no matter what happens.”

Galla stood and turned her back on him. She walked off, shook her head, and turned.

“I don’t know,” she said. “It just sounds… you could do it without being the Lord.”

“It won’t work. Not for long, at least. Someone will use their power to do something stupid, and I won’t have the authority to stop them.”

“We’ll come up with a new position for you. We’ll make being the Mansion’s shaman an official position, second only to me, and—”

“Then they’ll always look to you,” Cam said, “and my position will only exist because of you. It’d be a false power, one without the history and weight of the Mansion behind it. I need this, and the Mansion needs it.”

“Are you sure the Mansion needs it? Are you sure it’s not just you?”

Cam took a step back, like she’d punched him in the gut. “I don’t want to take anything from you,” he said. “I want to do what’s best for everyone.”

“And you think I can’t handle it.” Her laugh was bitter and harsh. “Of course you don’t. Nobody does.”

“Galla—”

“It’s fine, Cam. I understand.”

“Look at what you’ve done. Of course you can handle being the Lord. This is just about something bigger than politics. This is about gods, and power, and magic.”

She waved her hand at him. The tears in her eyes sent a dagger down his gut.

“You can have your Lordship,” she said. “I’d give you anything you asked for and you know it. I just hoped you’d never ask for something like this.”

Cam opened his mouth to tell her that he made a mistake and he was sorry and he loved her and she was a wonderful Lord.

But he shut his mouth again and nodded.

“Thank you. We’ll make the announcement soon.”

Without another word, he left the room.

Galla’s soft crying made him want to break his own arm over a rock. But he knew it was necessary. Galla would forgive him and she’d retain all of her powers.

And Cam would have the authority and the power to begin building his army.

43

“Shut your eyes,” Cam said.

“If you kick me in the back, I swear I’ll light you on fire.”

Cam laughed and nudged Theus with his elbow. “Just do it.”

Theus grunted and shut his eyes. Cam put a hand on his shoulder.

“Raise your fist,” he said. “And call on your fire.”

Theus took a deep breath. Cam began to channel his own power, drawing in as much of the priori as he could, but held off on shaping it. He felt Theus’s body stiffen as flames ran down his hand and rolled across the empty, rocky plains in front of the Mansion. The flame died out after a few feet but the heat was almost unbearable.

Cam imagined pushing power into Theus. He pictured it in his mind and pretended like he was stuffing a shirt full of wool. The energy inside of him crackled and roiled like an angry ocean but nothing happened.

“Cam,” Theus said through clenched teeth, the fire still burning. “What are we doing here?”

“Just hold it.” Cam squeezed his eyes shut harder and concentrated. He grabbed hard on