Sample Sunday ~ 12.30.12

For the last Sample Sunday entry of 2012, I'll put up an excerpt from Book 30:. The Wayward GodKing since it is the last book in the Assassin Chronicles series.

Meredith snapped her head around and glared at him.
“What right do you have coming here and making light of our sorrows?” She asked. “My daughter is gone and my son lies dead. The world is destroyed and we linger on and on! To what purpose? Answer me that, O Great and Magnificent Lord! And you taunt me with memories of Mark Andrew when you know perfectly well that we can never… never be together. It’s not fair and it’s not funny and I’m not here for your amusement.”
Anu crawled back to Luke’s side and ran his fingers through the streaked hair. He pulled the braid from its place on Luke’s head with ease and held it in his hand. Meredith gasped at the sight of it. Anu placed it against his own head and it remained there, just above his right ear.
“You also fought with the Italian. Your nature is very volatile. Much like Semiramis, no doubt. You would have made an excellent warrior queen. Your face would satisfy the desolate and wasted ground moreso than water. I know many things, Meredith,” he smiled slightly at her. “I have been there for my son and my grandson and even you. You do not hold exclusive rights to love, my daughter, though you would rival Venus’ radiance. My daughters have become many and lovely they are, but you must remain the crowning glory. Surely you know that it was not your brain that attracted my son? Nanna knew exactly what his uncle would want when he put his plan in action. Did he never explain to you what it was all about?”
“Of course, he did. You make it sound as if he used me,” Meredith was still highly perturbed. “John Paul wanted to save the world. He didn’t want the cataclysm to come. He said that it didn’t have to happen. That it was up to us, but we failed.”
“You failed because it is written in the stars that now is the time for a new beginning,” Anu tossed his hair over his shoulder and his earrings jingled in unison with her own silver ones entwined in the braid. “Some things can be changed or prevented while others cannot. Nanna made a good attempt. An honorable effort. I am quite pleased with his motives though his methods are a bit questionable. I think he must be punished. As for your defense of him, it is only natural for a mother to defend her son. That is how you still think of him, Meredith, as your son. He is not your son. He is your alter self. Your masculine half. You persist in these human delusions. I’m going to take you into the depths of the ocean and show you wonders you never dreamed of.”
“John Paul? Punished? Who could punish him? What has he done wrong?” she asked in alarm, ignoring his obvious romantic overture. “Who can condemn him?”
“Condemn him? No. Punish, yes,” Anu said. “He is an errant child. You know that and you… what of your antics, Meredith? Are you not a part of him? Does he not reprimand you for your transgressions?”
“I am responsible for my own actions, and John would never presume to redress me. He treats me with the greatest respect. Punish me, if you must,” she said defiantly. “Leave him alone.”
“I have left him alone too long, it seems, and I will truly leave him alone when I go,” the Lord of the Moon stood up “for I will take you with me, and he will appreciate more what he has done when he can no longer see you. If he has placed an attachment on you as you describe, then it needs to be eradicated. It is unnatural and unhealthy. He has a mother! And so do you, though you never knew her.”
Meredith’s mouth fell open in shock at his words. She would not go with him. She simply would not go with him. He held out his hand to her and she took it. She would not allow this creature to take her from her family. She could not allow it. She stepped up and out of the bed to stand beside him on the marble floor. If Mark Andrew were there, he would not let it happen, but this was his father. How could he oppose one as powerful as Anu? He wrapped one arm around her shoulders and kissed her lips. She would not kiss him! She would not go with him.
“John!” she shouted when he let go of her. “John Paul! Lucio!!”
“There is no need shouting for help, my daughter,” Anu spoke into her ear. “You will like where we are going. I give you my word. If you do not wish to stay, you can come back here anytime you wish it.”