"She would save his people if he would agree to spend a week with her once the battle was won."
"Horny little booger, wasn't she?"
Ren cast her a glare so malevolent that she actually took a step back from it. "She loved him."
Okay, she'd struck a nerve there. She'd ask him more about Sterope, but decided it might not be the wisest course of action. Better to get the scary immortal man off his sensitive topic, especially while he held a war club that still had the blood of demons on it.
Kateri cleared her throat. "So she made her bargain and he agreed to it?"
Ren returned to his hacking, which made her feel a whole lot better.
Yeah, kill the bushes. They didn't care about living.
She did.
"After the agreement was made," he said, "she convinced her sisters to help her save his people. Because they were family and they loved her, they agreed. The seven goddesses came down together and chose the seven strongest warrior-priests among the Keetoowah to fight with them. They were the ones who drove the seventy tribes back and then divided them up so that they couldn't attack the Keetoowah ever again. When the fighting was finished, Sterope claimed her fee, not knowing that the chief's son was already married to a woman he loved dearly."
Kateri gaped. "Are you serious?"
"Very much so."
"That dog. How could he do that?"
Ren shrugged. "In his mind, he was making a sacrifice for his people. One week of servitude seemed like a small price to pay for everyone's life."
Okay, so when put in those terms, it made sense. Still ...
What a two-timing bastard.
"For the record, I'd absolutely kill my husband if he did that to me."
"Believe me, his wife wasn't happy about it. Especially since her husband impregnated Sterope during that same week."
Ouch! Kateri cringed with dread. Something told her this wouldn't have a happy ending. "I imagine it wasn't exactly the highlight of Sterope's life, either."
"Actually, they say she was thrilled to be pregnant with his baby. But because the father was a mortal man and she was a goddess, the other gods shunned her for it. Zeus, driven by jealousy since she was the mother of two of his children, ordered the mutant baby killed. The last thing he wanted was to suffer the humiliation of having the mother of his children prefer the touch of a mortal man over his."
Kateri cringed for the poor woman and the baby. "That is so harsh. So did she kill it?"
"No." Ren led her deeper into the forest. "Instead, Sterope went to the goddess Artemis."
"Why?"
"At one time, she'd been Artemis's most trusted handmaiden and had kept the goddess's secrets. To repay her, Artemis saved the baby and lied to Zeus. They both swore it was stillborn. Zeus wasn't happy, but he didn't hurt Artemis over it. Off the hook, Artemis then took the infant to his father, who was furious over it. The last thing he wanted was to have a permanent reminder of his infidelity around the wife he loved-a wife who was, at that precise moment, in labor with her own child. Not to mention, he didn't want a half-breed mutant son that wasn't good enough to be kept by its own mother."
Kateri flinched in sympathy. Poor baby boy, but it made sense. If the Keetoowahs were matriarchal like her people and the mother didn't keep the child, it would be viewed as seriously defective and lacking. Unworthy.
To this day, all babies born to her tribe were presented to the grandmother, if she was still living, to be inspected and named. If the grandmother wasn't alive, then it fell to the mother.
For that child to be rejected ...
"I'm surprised they didn't kill it."
Ren snorted. "I'm told he tried and couldn't."
Well, that made her feel better. "He loved the baby too much to hurt it?"
"Hardly." Ren returned to hacking a path for them. His strokes were more brutal and sharp. "The first time he left it to die, an old woman found the babe and brought it back to town not knowing it had been intentionally abandoned. When Artemis learned about it, she struck down his beloved wife in retaliation."
Kateri winced at that. How awful for all of them. But even worse ... "'First time' implies he tried again."
Ren nodded. "The second time, a crow-demon found and nursed the baby. When he was a year old, she returned him to his father and warned him that if he didn't raise it to manhood, she would return to kill his cherished son for his neglect, and then make him live with the pain of knowing he killed both his beloved wife and treasured child."
In a sick way, that was almost touching. "Why did the demon care?"
He sighed heavily. "Honestly? She couldn't have cared less. But she didn't have a choice."
"Why not? And where was the baby's mother during all of this? Why didn't Sterope bitch-slap him for his cruelty?"
Ren fell silent as bitterness swelled inside him. "For her sin against Zeus, Sterope had been banished back to the stars. To make sure that she never shamed him again with her human lover, Zeus turned her into a comet that would only pass over the earth every seventy-five years-his way of guaranteeing that she would never see her son. That the boy would most likely die prior to her return. But before she was punished, Sterope had made Artemis promise her that the goddess would ensure no one killed her son before he had a chance to become a man. Artemis promised, however she was too afraid of Zeus to see to the baby herself. So she sent a demon in to protect the boy and make sure that his father didn't kill him."
"Poor kid. So did the demon stay with him after that?"
"No. She kept him only until he was weaned and didn't need a mother's milk anymore. Then, after threatening the father, who had no more love for the boy than she did, she left the child and walked away. The boy cried himself sick for the only mother he'd ever known, but the demon never returned and he never saw her again."
Kateri shook her head at the horror. "How could even a demon leave a little baby with a father who hated him?"
Ren shrugged with a nonchalance that defied her comprehension. "After a while, the boy didn't mind his father's hatred. The feeling was quite mutual. In fact, most days, he hated his father more."
"Oh, but it had to be horrible for the little guy. Growing up like that ... can you imagine?" Tears welled in her eyes as she felt so bad for the innocent baby who had no part in any of it. Her emotions overwhelmed her. Anger, pity, grief.
Most of all was a tsunami of indignation on the boy's behalf. She wanted to hurt all of them for treating him that way.
How could people be so selfish and cruel?
Ren turned to stare at her with a puzzled scowl. "Why do you cry?"
She wiped at her eyes, then waved her hand over her face in an attempt to stop any more tears from falling. "I'm sorry. I can't help it. I'm being a girl. I know. I just can't stand the thought of a little boy going through something so terrible. Alone. It's just not right. Please tell me that he grew up to be a ruler or happy or something really good."
When he didn't speak, a bad feeling went through her.
"His father didn't kill him, did he?"
"No. He lived."
She waited for him to say something more.
When he didn't, she reached out to touch his arm. "C'mon, Ren. Finish the story. You can't leave me hanging like this. What happened to the baby? Did he grow old? Did he father a boatload of kids and shower them with all the things he didn't have? Please, tell me after all of that evil misery he found someone who loved him and treated him right." She knew she was babbling, but she couldn't help it. Something inside her was desperate to know the baby's fate. "Well? Did he?"
His gaze searched hers with a probing stare she couldn't fathom. When he spoke, his tone was low and incredulous. "No. While he was in the fullest bloom of his manhood, his brother tricked a spirit into killing him. Then the boy sold his soul to come back and make right a wrong against the only real friend he ever knew."
It took a full minute for her to grasp the meaning of his words. For her mind to put all the pieces together into the only conclusion she could make.
"You're the baby."