The more time Elena spent with Jaime, the more her wound healed.
It was a quiet, unnerving truth, one she tried to ignore.
And she hated to admit it, to herself, to Guabancex, to anyone, but she enjoyed his company. He seemed to enjoy hers, too. Esperanza laughed with him easily, Phineus and Juan trusted him enough to spar, and Vera even smiled when he entered the room.
Just for the children, Elena insisted to herself.
Guabancex, however, stirred with something sharper: You think you can guard your heart from me, niña?
One night, after a smoke shared in the garden, they spoke of Juan's latest feat in the training ring. Elena smiled more than she meant to. Jaime's eyes lingered more than he meant them to. The kapok leaves whispered above them.
Then the goddess's voice slid through Elena's mind like warm rain:
They don't know the history… Should we show them?
Elena froze mid-laugh. Jaime tilted his head, an eyebrow rising.
From within him, another voice answered- rich, amused, and dangerous.
Mortals are so fickle, Coatriskie rumbled. I think we should.
Neither had time to protest.
A sudden pull wrenched their senses away. Their bodies sank to the garden grass, eyes fluttering closed as if overcome by sleep, but it was no dream.
They opened their eyes to find themselves standing, hand in hand, before three impossibly beautiful beings.
Elena knew them at once. Her breath left her in a whisper.
"Guabancex… El León Negro… Coatriskie."
She tried to pull her hand from Jaime's. It didn't move.
His fingers gripped hers just as tightly, his eyes wild, matching her own.
Guabancex stepped forward first. Her hair moved as if caught in a storm's updraft, lightning glinting in her gaze. She reached out, tilting each of the men's chins toward her with a single finger.
Without hesitation, she kissed El León Negro. His hands locked on her waist, claws pricking skin. She turned to Coatriskie, their mouths meeting with a slow hunger, his palms spreading across her hips.
Elena's body reacted as though it were her own lips being claimed, her own skin kissed. Heat gathered low and urgent. She bit her lip to keep quiet, but Guabancex's pleasure was hers, and there was no shutting it out.
The goddess let them guide her back to a throne carved of stormcloud and driftwood. El León's mouth on her neck as Coatriskie's hands slid down her thighs. One god inside her, the other tasting her, sometimes together, sometimes alternating until the air itself trembled.
Every touch echoed through Elena's nerves. She fought not to gasp- until she realized Jaime's breath was breaking beside her.
He felt it, too.
His lips parted in a soft groan, and her eyes found his. The intimacy of the shared sensation made her dizzy.
The gods reached their climax together. Elena cried out, her knees giving way as her mind drowned in white-hot lightning. She dimly heard Jaime collapse beside her, his breath rough and uneven.
For a moment, there was only the sound of their hearts and the heat of their closeness. Jaime's gaze flicked to her lips, and she leaned toward him-
The scene chattered.
They were kneeling now beside what Elena realized was the Wellspring of Coabey. She and Jaime quickly rose, hands still forcibly joined, averting eye contact.
El León Negro was there, in his lion form, pacing along the water's edge.
Coatriskie appeared from the mist, rain following in his wake. The lion's voice was measured, almost calm. He spoke of an anomaly in the water, a foreign god of rot and decay, perhaps a coming war.
Coatriskie leaned over the spring, trusting him.
The blow came fast, something hard cracking against the back of his skull. Jaime gasped aloud, clutching his head.
As Coatriskie reeled, El León struck. Jaws closed over the flood god's chest, fangs ripping flesh and bone until he tore free a still-beating heart.
Elena's scream tangled with Jaime's howl as the lion devoured it in a single bite, blood dripping from his muzzle. Then, with a contemptuous flick, El León cast Coatriskie's body into the wellspring, watching it sink.
She is mine, the lion growled. I will not share her.
Elena and Jaime jolted awake under the kapok tree, hands still clasped, both panting as though they'd run for miles.
Her chest ached sharply. Not from the wound, but from the flood of memories. Jaime's eyes were wide, stricken, the storm of Coatriskie's death still playing across his mind.
They exchanged one look: What the hell was that?
Elena sagged against him, her breathing ragged.
Guabancex's voice was soft now:
Now you see the truth.
Coatriskie's tone was different. Rough, desperate:
That's why she saved me again… and I'm never leaving her.
They both began to cry, raw and unguarded.
"W-we should go to Señora Behike," Elena managed between breaths, her body thrumming with a need that was not entirely her own.
Jaime nodded, helping her up- and hating how much he wanted to take her straight to her bed instead, to give her what his god ached to give.