MTLNOVEL Chapter 129: [129] She Who Was Taken
Days later, Calypso still couldn't sleep. Not after how scared she felt earlier.
She paced across the plush carpet of her chamber in Hearthome, the borrowed body of Lady Selene moving less gracefully than her divine form. The wine-red hair that wasn't hers swayed with each turn, catching the light from the dying fire. Outside, thick, silent flakes spiraled down, building a rampart of white on the windowsill. The temperature hovered around thirty degrees—practically balmy compared to the bitter cold she'd heard about in the northern reaches.
The grip of anxiety had loosened, but the headache was a stubborn phantom. It tugged her attention northeast, an insistent child pulling at her sleeve, demanding she look. She pressed her fingertips to her temples, trying to soothe the throbbing.
"You should be resting," Margaret said from the doorway. Or rather, Margot—the name this world knew her by.
Calypso turned to face her friend, wincing as the movement sent a fresh spike of pain through her skull. "I can't. Not with this headache."
"Another one?" Margot's voice was laced with a familiar concern as she entered the room. "Calypso, that's five this week. They're getting worse, aren't they?
"It's worse tonight." Calypso sank onto the edge of her bed. "Would you... your cooling touch helps. Please?"
Margot nodded, climbing onto the bed and settling against the headboard. She patted the space between her legs. "Come here."
Calypso slid to the floor, resting her back against the bed frame as Margot's legs framed her shoulders. The position was undignified for Lady Selene, niece to the High Burner, but Calypso didn't care. She tipped her head back, closing her eyes as Margot's cool fingers pressed against her temples.
A soft blue glow emanated from Margot's hands, her Essentia manifesting in this world just as it had back home. The soothing chill spread across her scalp, a feeling like cool mint and winter air sinking directly into the bone.
"Breathe slowly," Margot instructed. "I need you calm for this to work properly."
Calypso inhaled deeply, letting the air out in a controlled stream. "I don't know what I'd do without you here."
It wasn't an exaggeration. After waking in this strange body, insisting that the talented apprentice healer Margot be her personal assistant was one of the few things Calypso had managed to control. In this whole mess, it felt less like a stroke of luck and more like a lifeline.
"Try to rest," Margot murmured, her fingers making small, cool circles at Calypso's temples. "Mistress Agna cornered me again. She's expecting you at the luncheon with Duke Haverford tomorrow." She paused. "I think she would have chained you to the chair if she could."
Calypso shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold. Agna. The name conjured an image of dark, severe robes and eyes that missed nothing. It reminded her of someone...
"Demeter," Calypso murmured, a thought suddenly taking shape.
"What was that?" Margot's fingers paused.
"Nothing, just thinking."
Calypso closed her eyes as Margot resumed the healing massage. The name had slipped out before she could stop it. Demeter—the goddess of harvest with her stern disapproval and judgmental stares. Yes, that's exactly who Agna reminded her of. The chamberlain watched Calypso's every move with the same suspicious scrutiny Demeter had shown when Calypso reorganized the soul processing system.
Gods, I miss having divine powers. One snap and I could've fixed this headache myself.
"The Duke is getting impatient," Margot said, her voice dropping to a whisper despite the closed door. "The servants gossip that he's already commissioned a jeweler for a betrothal gift."
Calypso groaned again, louder this time. "He can commission whatever he wants. I'm not marrying anyone in this world."
"Lady Selene is expected to make a political match. You've already postponed twice."
"And I'll postpone a dozen more times if necessary." Calypso shifted, turning to look up at Margot. "I need more time to figure out what's happening here."
The headache pulsed behind her eyes, drawing her attention northward again. Somewhere out there, Xavier was moving through this frozen world. She could feel him—the divine entanglement that bound them still functioned across whatever distance separated them. The pain meant he was alive, at least.
"What's happening?" Margot asked, noticing Calypso's wince.
"It's Xavier. The headache gets worse when I think about him."
Margot's fingers stilled. "You think he's in trouble?"
"I don't know." Calypso stood and walked to the window, pressing her forehead against the cold glass.
Snow continued to fall outside, dusting the rooftops of Hearthome with white. The city sprawled below her window, a collection of stone buildings and narrow streets all centered around the great cathedral where the Eternal Flame burned day and night. The massive volcano looming behind the city belched smoke into the gray sky, its molten heart keeping Hearthome warmer than the rest of this frozen continent.
A pattern was forming in Calypso's mind, pieces clicking together like one of those puzzle games Xavier enjoyed.
Wait... the Heart of Winter. The eternal cold. The Flame that keeps it at bay.
A story etched in the celestial ether, one she'd witnessed from the pantheon thousands of years ago.
Hades and Persephone. The abduction that caused winter.
In the old myths, when Hades took Persephone to the underworld, her mother Demeter's grief caused winter to blanket the earth. Only when Persephone returned each spring did warmth return to the world.
What if that's what happened here? What if the Heart of Winter isn't a place or an object, but a person?
A current of divine insight, a feeling she hadn't truly felt in so long, sizzled through her. The Winter Court, the eternal cold, the myths about the "King's wrath"—it all fit the pattern of a Persephone-like abduction. Someone or something had been taken, and its absence caused this endless winter.
Oh, I'm brilliant! If only Xavier were here to see this. He'd be so impressed.
She could almost picture his face—that reluctant half-smile when she did something clever, the way his eyes crinkled at the corners despite his attempts to look unaffected. The feeling when he holds her tight afterwards…
Where was he now? Had he found any of their other classmates? The thought of him traveling with Ashley or Naomi made her stomach twist uncomfortably.
Those girls don't have my restraint. They wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of proximity.
Regret, a bitter and uselessly mortal emotion, coiled in her gut. She had pushed him away to maintain a divine principle that no longer applied. Here, in the cold, she wasn't a goddess. She was just a woman who missed her man.
When I find you, she vowed, her own fire rising to meet the volcano's glow, there will be no more holding back.