The Kingdom Of Gods

Unconditional love: childhood’s greatest magic.

Magic is merely communication, after all.

Communication, and conduits.

I’d come down sick. (I had. It was called adolescence, an evil, evil disease.)

Those with power would always find some way to exert it over those who didn’t.

Unreasoning optimism is a fundamental element of childishness.

Fear was like poison to mortals; it killed their rationality.

“When things are bad, change is good, right? Change means things will get better.”

Peace is meaningless without freedom.

Mother always said that if one must do something unpleasant, one should do it wholeheartedly and not waste effort on regret.

That was the way of things, after all. Children had to grow up. They did not always become what others wanted.

Sky’s forecourt had been designed by my late sister, Kurue, who had understood two key elements of the mortal psyche: they hate being reminded of their own insignificance, yet they simultaneously and instinctively expect their leaders to be overwhelmingly dominant.

I think you’re just so gods-damned certain of your own importance that you haven’t figured it out. So let me make this clear: I don’t care about you. You’re irrelevant. It’s a waste of my energy even to hate you!”

It is a massive palace, each spire of which could house a village; its chambers contain dozens of entertainments. All of these become tedious to the point of torment after two thousand years. Hells, after twenty.

It takes great strength to compromise, Shahar. More than it does to threaten and destroy, since you must fight your own pride as well as the enemy.

There was no point in making myself suffer unnecessarily. As a mortal, there would be pain enough in my life, whether I sought it out or not.

This was what I’d asked her to give me. I had no right to complain just because it wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

At least I’m done with adolescence. Never could stand it; if I don’t want to kill someone, I want to have sex with them.

“Even our mortal courtesans have been with gods enough to have acquired a certain ethereal technique.” He smiled a salesman’s smile, though it never once touched his eyes.

“That’s what you’re selling. Not sex, but divinity.” I frowned. “Gods, Ahad, at least worship is free.”

“It was never free.” His smile vanished. It hadn’t been real, anyway. “Every mortal who offered a god devotion wanted something in exchange for it—blessings, a guaranteed place in the heavens, status. And every god who demanded worship expected loyalty and more, in exchange. So why shouldn’t we be honest about what we’re doing? At least here, no god lies.”

If they will not love me, fear is an acceptable substitute.

The child in her wanted to do as she pleased, cling to impossible hopes. The woman in her wanted to make sound decisions, succeed even if it meant sacrifice. The woman would win; that was inevitable. But the child would not go quietly.

Well. Adolescence is all about making mistakes.

“We will continue to serve you, Lady, whether you’re here or not. What prayers shall we say for you at the dawn and twilight hour?”

She threw me an odd look, as if checking to see if I was joking. I wasn’t This seemed to surprise and unnerve her; she laughed, though it sounded a bit forced.

“Say whatever you want,” she said finally. “Someone might be listening, but it won’t be me. I have better things to do.”

She vanished.

It was the oldest of tricks, to sow dissension between groups that had common interests. Good for deflecting attention from greater mischief, too.

Funny thing, employment. If you keep doing it, you keep getting paid.

“Well, isn’t that what fathers do?” He had no idea what fathers did. “Love you, even if you don’t love them? Miss you when you go away?”