Chapter One (Part 2)

At that, every face immediately turned toward me. But this time, it was actually for a good reason. All poisons in the god realm originated in the venomous forest. Poisonous plants and the like simply didn’t grow anywhere else. And I was the ruler of the venomous forest, so naturally, anything related to poisons would fall under things labeled “Rook’s problem.”

This was even more concerning because the Dawn River was the main river of the realm. It flowed through pretty much every kingdom, except mine. Meaning, if it was poisoned, a lot of people could end up dead. Sure, we had filtration systems, but those systems couldn’t filter out every kind of poison. And if it was killing fish, it was killing off a food source, which was also not good.

So yeah, that was actually kind of a big fucking deal. The meeting could have probably led with that, instead of wasting time with a lizard. 

Speaking of lizards, Anastasia immediately took the chance to rip into me again.

“Why am I not surprised?” she huffed, sitting back in her seat with a sadistic smirk. “Figures you’d do something low down and dirty like that. As if you don’t cause enough death everywhere you go.”

I rolled my eyes, but I was secretly a little unsettled. How would a whole river suddenly end up poisoned? It would require a lot of poison. Like, a lot a lot. And I would notice someone coming into my forest to harvest enough plants to do it. Not to mention that it would have to be a clear, tasteless, and odorless poison if no one noticed it until the fish died, and there weren’t many poisons like that.

“I don’t care enough about any of you to want you dead,” I said, but it lacked force. I was lost in thought. Anastasia looked about ready to jump over the table and throttle me – as if she could – but Idris waved his hand, gaining everyone’s attention. He sat forward, uncharacteristically serious.

“Have any people been poisoned?” he asked.

Nen slowly shook his head. “Not that we know of. Once we discovered the fish, we switched everyone’s drinking water to the Mia River. We’ve been testing the water to discover the poison, but I don’t know enough about them to say for sure what kind it is.”

Everyone mulled that over for a moment. Ren bit his thumbnail nervously. “Are we sure the fish didn’t just die of a disease?”

“My fishermen know disease when they see it,” Nen said, expression grave. “This was the immediate death of an entire school of fish. That points to poison.”

And again, every face in the room turned to glower at me. I rolled my eyes. Yeah, like that’s going to help. I could practically hear their thoughts. There goes Rook again, fucking shit up for everyone else. We should have killed that evil jackass a long time ago. He doesn’t deserve to live, etc. The only reason none of it was coming out of their big mouths was the fact that Idris was sitting right there, even though Idris was probably thinking the same shit. He just pretended to be a decent guy because he was the king. But on the inside? He was probably killing me over and over.

Idris nodded. “In that case, I’ll go to Abdos today to assess the situation myself.”

Abdos was the name of Nen’s kingdom. It was bisected by the Dawn River and home to some of the largest fields in the realm. Most of the realm’s food came from Abdos.

Nen accepted that with a graceful nod and sat back down. It wasn’t obvious to the untrained eye, but his eyebrows relaxed just a bit at the news, meaning he was incredibly relieved to have Idris taking over the situation. It made sense. Nen was a god of prosperity. Death and disaster weren’t something he usually had to deal with.

“Rook,” Idris said suddenly, and I looked toward him, but not in the eyes. Instead, I focused my gaze over his left shoulder, at the coffee pot plugged into the wall on the counter behind him. No one else would really notice it, but Idris certainly did, if the way he paused was any indication. “You’ll come with me. If it really is poison, we’ll need your help to identify it and find an antidote.”

Great, a field trip. With my least favorite person. Spectacular. I nodded to show I understood and looked away, but I could still feel Idris’s eyes boring into the side of my face.

Anastasia scowled at me but reined in whatever comment she was itching to make. Idris was rarely this serious about the various issues we brought up, so it wouldn’t be a good idea to keep antagonizing me about it in front of him. Once he was out of earshot, though, I had no doubt she would rip into me like a rabid puma ripping into a deer.

“If there’s nothing else, this meeting is adjourned,” Idris said, and when no one else spoke up, he stood up, prompting everyone else to start slowly teleporting to their own kingdoms. I remained in my seat, waiting for everyone to leave before I walked over to where Idris and Nen were standing, waiting for me so we could go check out the river.

“This better not take too long,” I muttered to them as I came over. “I have hungry kitties to feed at home.”

Nen raised an eyebrow. “You keep cats in the venomous forest?”

I smirked. “I’m talking about my Sublime Ones. They get a bit, ah, rambunctious when I’m gone too long.”

There were six Sublime Ones in total, and I did, in fact, treat them all like harmless kittens. Because to me, they were. Not so much to anyone else. They were an unholy blend of panthers and snakes, and most people shuddered just to think of them, let alone meet one. Not that many gods had met them. The other gods gave my forest a wide berth, just the way I liked it.

Nen looked like he’d rather be drinking poisoned river water than standing next to me, but Idris just smiled pleasantly.

“We’ll try to keep it short. I know you can’t teleport home, so we’ll get you back before nightfall.”

I made a face at that. Night, day, the venomous forest was equally dangerous at all times, but I was an expert at traversing it, so it posed no real risk to me either way. I suppose it was the thought that counted.

He was right, after all. Teleportation was impossible within the venomous forest. You could jump all over the place anywhere in paradise, but the venomous forest had to be traveled by foot. No one was quite sure why that was either, not even me. The only loophole to that rule was the pool of silver water in my basement, but that was a one-way portal. You can use it to leave, but not to return.

I shrugged. “Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

Nen nodded and reached out to touch Idris’s arm. Physical contact had to be maintained when teleporting as a group, otherwise, we might all end up in different spots depending on what part of the kingdom we’re thinking of at that moment. Nen made no move to touch me, and I rolled my eyes, but I wasn’t mad. I actually just felt like laughing. It was kind of cute how far some people went to avoid me.

Of course, what little humor I found in the situation dissipated immediately when Idris grabbed my elbow. I sneered, my first instinct being to rip my arm out of his hold, but before I could, we were already teleporting.

Thankfully, teleportation only took a split second, so the instant my feet hit the hot soil in Abdos, I stepped back. Idris’s hand fell away, but his touch lingered on my skin, tingling oddly. Possibly flesh-eating parasites. I rubbed where he’d touched uncomfortably, not caring that he saw. He was probably thinking that I was rude, but if he was, then that was one of the nicest things anyone’s ever thought about me.

Well, except for one person. There was one person who only ever thought good things about me.

 A flash of pain tightened in my chest, but I bit the inside of my cheek and pushed it away.

“Rook?” Idris asked, voice soft with feigned concern. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” I snapped. “Let’s get this shit over with.” Without waiting for a response, I stormed toward the river, which glittered in the afternoon sun like millions of undulating coins. I heard Nen and Idris following after me a moment later.

I really couldn’t wait to get back home.