"See!" Cimil pointed at him. Or the chair. He wasn't sure. "She inherited your gift of love. And once she learns to use her power correctly-'cause we all know how easily love can go sideways on ya-she's destined to do many great things for humanity. Personally, I'm hoping she can turn Valentine's Day into a global holiday. And rename it hump day. Wednesday doesn't deserve that title."
"But my powers have been taken away; I have none," Máax argued.
Cimil wagged her finger. "Uh-uh-uh. Your powers weren't taken away. We just fixed it so that you couldn't use them, but they remained inside you."
"But I am not the God of Love, I never was. I am the God of Truth," Máax said.
"Really now?" Cimil smiled. "Think carefully, Máax. Was it truth that drove you to come to our rescue over and over and over again? Or break our laws to help us and later take the punishment? Was it truth that got you to take an oath to Fate to keep her lie a secret? No. It was love, Máax, your love of your brethren. Truth was simply another way of expressing your love-being honest, keeping your word, those are all symptoms of love. Once you lost it, you started lying like a fiend."
"A fiend? I lied once," he protested.
"And broke your promise to me!" Fate barked.
"Shut up, Fate," Penelope said. "Or shall we call you, Fake?"
"I'm not a fake, I'm just … " She sighed and sank into her chair. " … Just not like you."
"So it's true," Penelope said.
"I had powers," Fate said, "at the very beginning, but then they vanished. I don't know why. I don't know what I did." She sobbed. "And there you were, all of you, complaining about your lives, how hard it was to be the Goddess of Suicide or the God of Death and War. Wah, wah, wah. You're all a bunch of spoiled rotten deities. You have everything. Some of you even have mates and children on the way." She pointed at Ashli. "And now that little bitch has the gift of love! I hate you all! I wish nothing but death and suffering on all of you!"
Cimil chimed in, "Shouldn't that be suffering and then death? It's really hard to suffer once you're dead."
"Cimil!" Máax screamed. "Be quiet!"
Cimil shrank into her chair, crossing her arms. "I save your ass, and that's the thanks I get?"
Máax turned toward Ashli who looked like she might keel over at any moment. "Ashli? Can you tell us if this is true? Do you have my gift?"
Ashli's gorgeous turquoise eyes seemed to glow against the backdrop of her light brown skin and her wild dark curls flowing past her shoulders. "I-I don't know. I mean, I didn't know that chairs could speak, let alone have magical powers of love."
Máax refrained from laughing. "You think … I'm a chair?"
Ashli shrugged. "You're not?"
He stood, walked over to her, and then reached out and touched her hand. Ashli yelped and jumped from her seat, scrambling back. "What the hell was that?"
"Ashli," Penelope said, "that's Máax. He's invisible."
Chest heaving, Ashli's head dropped, and she closed her eyes. Several silent moments passed while everyone waited for her to answer. Did she truly have the gift of love?
Ashli's body began to shake, and she laughed toward the sky. "Well, thank goodness for that. I know I've totally lost it, but I was really freaking out there when everyone said I'd mated with a chair."
Máax gently touched her arm. "No, my love. I am not a chair. A stupid asshole, yes, chair, no. And you are everything to me."
Ashli's eyes shifted from side to side. Clearly this was overwhelming her.
"Penelope," Máax said, "why don't you take a vote now, so that Ashli and I may be on our way."
Penelope looked at the faces stretching down the table. "Sure. Just as soon as Fake is removed to a holding cell."
The Uchben soldiers approached Fate, and she left quietly. Perhaps she had grown tired of hiding. Perhaps she was already plotting her revenge. Who knew? But it was time for the truth to be out. Máax had protected her secret for thousands of years. All because he pitied her, loved her. She was family. Still was. But it was time for Fate to accept her own fate and grow up. Just as it was time for himself and the other deities. But growing up is hard to do when everything is handed to you on a silver platter. The gods, himself included, needed a reason to evolve, a reason to be better. His reason was Ashli.
Penelope sat back down and grinned. "I don't even know where to start."
"Start at the beginning, Penelope," Kinich said lovingly and placed his arm around her shoulders. "We must change the laws, just as you said."
She glowed triumphantly. "Right."
Penelope took a vote to change the rules that governed the modification of their sacred laws. A unanimous vote by all fourteen gods would no longer be required. Ashli was the fourteenth vote to approve this change.
Next, time travel would no longer be banned or a crime, specifically for Máax. He would become their official traveler-the Keeper of Time Travel, although missions would need to be approved by a majority vote.
"And finally, Máax," Penelope said, standing from her chair, smiling with tears in her eyes, "I move to lift any and all punishments that have been cast upon you. Your powers will be restored-whatever remains, obviously-and your physical form returned to you." Penelope looked across the table. "All in favor?"
The gods raised their hands, smiles on every face.
"It is a majority vote." She burst out crying and turned to Kinich.
Máax took a triumphant breath. The air swirled around him, and his body surged with light, power, and strength. It was finally over. He won, and Ashli had saved him. She'd been the key all along.
There is no such thing as an accident. It was all meant to be.
Ashli stared at the chair, her mind spinning with so many questions. For starters, being near this man made her feel so safe, as if she were home. And strangely, it didn't bother her one bit that she couldn't remember anything. She felt so full of love. Who was he?
The air kicked up around them, and she expected someone, him, to appear.
Nothing.
"Why can't we see you?" she asked.
"I must return to the cenote for a new body. Will you come with me, Ashli?"
Was he kidding? As weird as it sounded, the only thing keeping her sane right now was him. "Can we bring the chair? I've kind of grown attached to it."
"Uh … sure, my love." An invisible hand reached out and dragged her from the rowdy courtroom. She didn't know where they were heading, but she didn't care. She'd never felt happier. I think?
Twenty-Two
Standing outside of the Court of the Gods under the warm winter sun, Ashli felt relieved to leave the strange place. That scene left her wondering why she would do something so silly as have her memory removed. Clearly, she needed her faculties to deal with … all that. Whatever that was.
And a goddess? Of love? They must be out of their minds. Máax had attempted to explain their world, how powers resided inside a deity but could be transferred from one being to another if they were connected. He told her how she'd changed his life and how they had spent the night together. He apologized a thousand times for leaving her like he had that morning. Not that she was mad, because that would require remembering. However, he said that the moment he realized what he had to do, it couldn't wait. He'd left her in order to expedite the trial, but he never imagined she wouldn't find his note.
"I love you, Ashli. And I will fix this. No matter how long it takes, I will make things right again." He threaded his warm hands through her hair and kissed her hard, sparking erotic images in her mind. Were they her memories or his? Máax explained how their bond allowed them to feel each other's emotions, how it connected their souls for all eternity.
She slid her hands around his waist and enjoyed the warmth of his naked body. She couldn't actually believe the guy just ran around without any clothes.
Nice. How cool was that?
The sound of a man clearing his throat caused Máax to abruptly break the kiss.
"Ah, Sentin. Thank you for volunteering to take us to the cenote," Máax said.
The man wore a dark suit and looked like he had just walked off a modeling runway. She recognized him as one of the men who'd been hanging around outside her bedroom door in the morning.