Mantle of the Gods [LitRPG / Slow Burn / FTB Harem]

I didn't know what to say.

As I looked at the older man, I knew that in this instance saying nothing was a bad idea.

"Why do you say that?" I glanced over at Mive. "And is this the best place to be having this discussion?"

"He's not going to rat you out." Whisper didn't take his eyes off of me. "He's helped to hide more Godlings on the planet than there are Gods." The blonde shook his head. "Part of his deal is protecting the identity of those children from anyone else…" He waited for me to put that together.

"Which means that he's the one who helped hide me, so anything we say in front of him falls under that?" I REALLY did not like where this was going. But maybe that meant that Mive would protect me to an extent. "But that doesn't explain why you don't think…"

"Trent has only ever loved one woman and he hasn't been with anyone since she died." He eyed me. "If I had to bet, I'd say you were one of Nevah's since this one told you that your mother was a Goddess."

"When did he..?"

"Mive only deals with Gods and Goddesses. If he knows who your mother was, but not your father, then your mother was a Goddess, besides I don't know of any Goddesses who have been Desolated within the last twenty years who had the Infatuation passive."

"Why only the Desolated ones?" My heart started beating faster. I had been starting to plan a reunion with my mother. I'd been thinking about what I'd ask my parents if I ever got the chance to meet them. I'd started refining the list in my head since this morning, but now it felt like all of that was fading away.

"When you told Ether, the first time you said was." Whisper looked over at the Kitsune. "Details matter to him and you wouldn't have used that if he hadn't."

I thought back to our conversation and realized that he was right. Mive had only used past tense when talking about my mother. Suddenly it was like half of me had been ripped away.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"So I'll ask you again. Who are you and why are you pretending to be Trent's son? Because he hasn't spoken to his grandfather in fifty-six years and I seriously doubt he'd do that sextoy a favor after the way they ended things." Something shimmered in Whisper's hand for the blink of an eye, then vanished.

"Let's leave the weapons where they belong." Mive shook his head. "But if you want to hit something…"

A dozen different items appeared in between myself and Whisper. The blonde scowled at the God. "This is serious."

Mive waved his hand and they all disappeared. "Then be serious, not punch-y."

I could see the agitation in Whisper's eyes as he turned back to me. "So who are you?!"

"I'm just an orphan from Zeb. I don't know who my parents are or anything." There was so much in his previous statement. "Nevah is Trent's grandfather…"

"Be amazed later." Whisper looked over at Mive, then back at me. "Why did he agree to go to that length to protect you?"

I opened my mouth to tell him the plan, but no words came out.

Whisper pinched his brow. "Of course there's a seal…" He looked over at Mive. "Would you be entertained enough to remove it?"

Mive thought for a moment. "I think the entertainment has almost run out."

"How do you know so much about Trent?" I was hoping that I could learn something about the bandit. "And why are you so upset that he'd claim his…" I tried to do the math. "Uncle..?" Okay, that was definitely weird, but it would explain why we could pass as father and son. "As his son?"

"How many Godlings do you think Trent has seen in his lifetime?" Whisper glared at me, "How many do you think he's stuck his neck out for?" The blonde man stomped over to me and poked me in the chest. "ONE! YOU!" I could see the veins in his neck bulge. "What makes YOU so special?!?"

"I don't know." There had to be other children of Nevah, or even their children, which would be Trent's cousins, that he could have helped. But he'd agreed to help me before he'd known about my infatuation ability. There had been something he'd seen within seconds of meeting me that had convinced him that I was worth all this. Or maybe it had nothing to do with me at all.

"I think I was in the wrong place at the wrong time with no other options." I saw something in Whisper's eyes and knew that he had experienced a 'take-the-deal-or-die' situation.

I waited for him to say something, but he just stood there in awkward silence for way too long. His anger seemed to have dissipated though.

"The entertainment is gone." Mive clapped his hands. "I believe you have your answer?"

Whisper just nodded.

The darkness enveloped us as Mive expelled us from his mind.