Eternity Glass

XXIV: Ask the Right Questions

During Fallon's princess obsession phase, neither Ms. Anya nor her mother dared to make light of the situation. With their paper tiaras-a paper crown for little Fallon, as she insisted that there could only be one queen-and neon boa scarves, her two ladies-in-waiting would talk about politics as best as a child could understand.

The mermaids and sirens are fighting over territory and food. The sirens want a physical border to separate them. What should we do, Your Majesty?

Borders are no fun and hard to build. Why are they fighting for food?

There is a shortage of fish.

Then we will stop fishing. Let them have their share, and we will trade. Whatever fish they can sell for... what do mermaids and sirens use as money?

It came to no one's surprise that Fallon knew how to compromise and stop disputes and petty fights. When in school, she'd rarely got into any disputes with the other children, and when she did, she knew when to hold her ground, when to strike a deal, and when to just walk away. Because of that, there'd been no wars in the Kingdom of Buchanan. All thanks to the two women that brought her up.

Fallon wouldn't admit it, however, that she wished for her father twice in her life. The first was more of a fleeting thought of "what if," almost eight years back when Sydney struck her for the first time. Her mother and nanny raised her under the notion that violence was never the answer, so Fallon never retaliated even if she wanted to, and by God, she wanted to.

She wondered what could have happened if she had that father figure in her life. Perhaps he'd teach her how to throw a punch behind her mother's back.

The second time was right at that moment, with her enemy a few feet in front of her and absolutely not confidence in her ability to outperform him in the strength department. Even if their magic was the same, as Kamalita had mentioned back in the Eclipse Ritual, Eyal had centuries of experience to his advantage.

"What's the matter? You didn't actually think that this place was only accessible by our little lizard boy, did you?"

Fallon just started at him, her jaw clenched.

Eyal barked out a laugh. "Come now, Fallon, you must have known that your little boyfriend reported to me every night. I know everything that went down between you two." He took a step forward, but shrugged. "Not like much happened."

"What do you want?"

"Tsk. You're supposed to be smart, asencir. Come on, now, ask the right questions."

She felt his anger flare in his chest and realized that she was dealing with a god whose desperation ran like a ticking time bomb rather than rotting fruit. She had to keep him calm to live, much less execute the rest of her plan.

Let him think he's right. It's easier that way. Fallon played into his lead, turning her palms towards him with a shrug. "What's in it for me?"

Eyal cocked his chin up, as if with pride. "Well done."

Jesus, it felt like looking into a mirror. Her magic didn't even need to reach out that far to understand that the person in front of her could learn from his mistakes. A human bested him once; doing so again wouldn't be so easy. At least, Fallon's plan involved nothing like making him fall in love with her so she could break his heart and steal his powers away.

He pinned his eyes on her. If he weren't already half a foot taller, that much wouldn't be so intimidating. She hadn't seen him this close back at the lake house. That sharp gaze and the rehearsed grin mixed with the absence of warmth-how the hell was he considered a lower deity?