Free The Way of the Brother Gods by Stuart Jaffe Page B

the first thing you must grasp is that the rules don't apply to us. We're smarter. We're better. We can rule and create peace everywhere."
    That strange sensation returned to Malja — a feeling that there was more underneath Harskill than she could discern. Yet his words held some truth. It wasn't something she thought of often, and when she did, she shoved the thought away, but the thought never left her — I'm better. Just as she knew she was a better fighter than most any opponent she ever faced, she knew she was smarter than the countless self-titled Mayors, Governors, Chiefs, and Kings. They all fought and bullied to maintain power over one little town or one large city. They terrorized and cajoled, threatened and bribed, and did whatever low thing needed doing in order to keep control. She was better than that and Harskill confirmed it. The Gate ruled not over towns and cities but entire worlds — and they did it by helping the people save themselves from events like the Devastation. To Malja, that made sense. It felt right.
    Harskill moved closer to Malja. He smelled as clean as he dressed. "Don't let Ms. Watts upset you. It's been my experience that people often lash out at the one who saved them. Mostly it's fear striking at whomever is closest."
    She had intended to stay silent, but her mouth opened anyway. "I know. I've gone through it before. But living the life I have, I don't have many close friends. And while I don't think I can consider Cole Watts a friend, she wasn't an enemy."
    "It feels a bit like betrayal, doesn't it?"
    "Maybe. Mostly, it makes me feel alone."
    Harskill put out his hand as if she had said something profound. "Then all doubt is gone. You are of the Gate. We're lonely. We live apart from each other, never permitting more than one of us in a world at any time. We leave messages for each other in religious texts or monuments or even deep in a cavern somewhere. It's like a game and it's the main contact we have with each other except for mating. Every other year we meet on Mullgolus for several months — it's the closest world to the one we lost, and we mark our time by its revolutions. There we court and pair off and mate."
    "I thought there were no rules. Why can't more than one of us be on a world? Why —"
    "It's a self-imposed punishment for the crimes of the Gate that existed long before I was born. And as far as I'm concerned, that rule doesn't apply either. I want to change things from this lonely existence. Why should we suffer for the sins of generations ago? We don't have to continue to do things their way. You're evidence of that. You are of the Gate yet you don't act like us, you don't think like us. Yet you'll always be one of us." Harskill opened his hand. "Join me. Forget all these petty rulers fighting and dying over little chunks of land. Let me show you world upon world."
    "Will you show me how to create a portal?"
    Harskill's lips curled into that odd grin. "I'll show you how to be a god. Take my hand. Be my Goddess Queen. Help me rule the worlds and bring peace to all."
     

 
    From the Journal of Malja:
     
Loneliness is only part of what I keep buried within. Harskill understands that. He does it, too. But he also understands me in ways that I don't even understand. He knows who we are. He can teach me so much. He's smart, handsome, and seems to desire me. So why do I hesitate? Why did I leave him standing there with his hand reaching out for me? He asked me to be his bride and I stared at him for a long time until the pressure of my silence became too much to hold. I didn't run away like a little girl, thank Kryssta and Korstra and any other god that's out there. But I did turn away. I did walk off without a word. Why do I like the idea of Harskill but not Harskill himself?
     
Maybe I'm just scared. Well, no maybes, I am scared. How could I not be? I've spent my life learning how to survive in a world bent on destroying me. The things Harskill talks of are so