It was already dark when I finished putting away the logs I'd gathered and patrolling the area, making sure that sneaky snake wasn't trailing me. Once I was sure I hadn't been followed, I hurried back inside my cabin.
I started manifesting again.
I pictured shampoo and conditioner — and instead, coconuts, flowers, and aloe vera appeared.
Okay… fine. I tried again and manifested a gun.
Nothing. Not even a shadow.
A phone. Still nothing.
I tried alcohol — and got grapes.
That did it.
Something wasn't adding up.
"Eriu, show yourself right now!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the cabin. "Are you really the Goddess of Abundance, or did you trick me? If you don't show up, I'll just let Vera take both of us — and I don't care if she has you!"
For a second, I thought she wouldn't respond.
But then she appeared in my mind, like a conscience slipping into place — playful, smug, and confident as always.
"I thought you didn't need me anymore," she said, patting my shoulder as if she were praising me. "You've been deciding everything since we left the mountain peak. But that's fine — I'm still enjoying the feeling Talon left us."
"Can you please not be lewd for once?" I muttered, blushing. "Let's not talk about Talon."
She rolled her eyes. "What do you want now?"
"You told me I could manifest anything I wanted — endless possibilities — but nothing is happening right!"
She burst out laughing. Hysterically.
My jaw clenched. Was she seriously playing with me?
"What is so funny?" I snapped.
Her laughter cut off. Her eyes sharpened, cold and dangerous. She drifted closer, and I instinctively stepped back.
"Are you mocking my power, weakling?" she said, gripping my chin hard, then letting go. "You should've listened carefully when I explained who I am — who we are."
Silence wrapped around us, like the world itself had stopped to listen. She floated before me, more like a fractured reflection than a whole being — the result of our souls being bound together.
"Say it," she commanded softly. "I am Eriu, Goddess of Abundance — in Bestia. Repeat it."
I whispered it a few times, confused. "I still don't get it."
"For someone who used to work in a library, you're not that bright," she sighed.
Wow. A goddess of mercy, joy, and love — with the personality of a snarky street fighter. Great.
"I can hear your thoughts," she reminded me. "And don't forget — you agreed because you're emotional. Like me. Stop blaming everything on me."
I inhaled slowly. The waterfall outside whispered, leaves rustled, the world calmed.
Then she spoke again.
"My power is infinite in Bestia — not in your world. Everything that exists here, you can manifest. But guns? Phones? Technology? They don't exist — unless you introduce them the way you did with fire. And fire nearly destroyed you."
"Then how did I manifest my sports bra and shorts? And the cabin? And the food? Why no seafood or meat?"
"Those clothes came with you — they're tied to you. The cabin is made from what exists here. And I won't give you anything that reminds me of the inhabitants — out of respect."
Slowly, painfully, everything clicked.
Her power was endless — but filtered through my human limits. And because the fire belonged to my world — not hers — my energy now split between us.
And the more I used it, the more drained I became.
Which meant…
Mating replenished the energy.
Basically, I was a rechargeable battery — and mating was the charger.
I stared at her, horrified.
"You could've told me everything from the beginning!"
"There's more," she said casually. "I need the inhabitants to remember me and give devotion again. Only then can I cleanse the world."
"And I'm supposed to do all of that?" I snapped. "While enduring unbearable emotional overload — while you sit back and do nothing?"
Her smile sharpened — eager, hungry.
"Then let me control everything. I'd be thrilled to lead."
A chill ran down my spine.
"No. Over my dead — gorgeous — body."
She shrugged. "Then handle it yourself. I'll be watching from the backseat."
I stared at her.
What. A. Bitch.