Well, forty-two years until their birth, since all the new deities were twenty-one years old now, they’d been born after a forty two year gap.

  The Egyptian gods were even more fractious than the Greeks, so while they wouldn’t offer a monolithic threat like the Norse gods could, they’d be a pain in the ass on an individual level. Skirmishes and so forth.

  The Hindu gods… well most of them were pretty cool, actually. Or could be. Most of their mantels were primordial in nature, so their mantels didn’t really change the person they grew up as, or influence them. Like Gary or Kaya that way, really. Like I’d mentioned earlier in the account, Shiva had been a hell of a partier in the past, and he’d thrown a hell of a party in his day.

  Oh, he’d taken his mantel very seriously, but he wasn’t as quick to go to war or take offense by the other pantheons. They were a lot more peaceful, save of course the gods of a negative mantel. Kali was a cold bitch, for instance.

  I waited for the others in the room to catch up, even as I half listened to the reports which were confused and partially conflicting. It was obvious the humans had no idea what was really going on, or the significance in the different colored powers.

  I started, “My first instinct is to give them three, maybe four days to find their feet, before I make contact with the new Indra, Odin, Isis and Osiris. I’d like your thoughts though, this can turn really messy really fast, if things start to go wrong.”

  “Messy?” Lianne asked.

  I nodded.

  “Think about it. Back in the past all the Pantheons were born in their area, the world was split up and we were the gods of the local countries, kingdoms, or societies. But the world has grown smaller, and there’s been a lot of mixing of tribes so to speak, especially here in America. Even back then, with our own people and areas, we still butted heads often.

  “But in this new age the Greek gods are spread all over the world in their countries of birth, and the other pantheons won’t be any different. If any of those idiots decide to start marking out their old territory, well it’ll be chaos from several angles.

  “We need to come up with an agreement that the pantheons stay separate, but that we share the entire world. I know for a fact Odin would’ve rather been pegged by Isis than do that, which is to say it would never happen.”

  They all snorted.

  I added, “Hopefully the new one is as enlightened as me, the new Zeus. But we can’t count on it. That solution is still really problematic, because the troublemakers in all four pantheons are bound to start shit with the others that live in their city or country.”

  Lianne said, “Three of four days, I can agree to that. That long will let them get their bearings, but it will be before they can decide what course to chart.”

  Cerise nodded, “It’s a good plan as far as timing. I’m not sure what else we can plan for, until you know where they stand on the issue. As to the other you’d have to cooperate on a way to come to fair rulings, some kind of cross pantheon group. I assume they won’t let you discipline any of theirs, any more than you would ours?”

  “Yes, that’s the root of the problem. A small skirmish could devolve quickly into a full-blown war if the aftermath isn’t handled carefully. It’ll require trust and cooperation rarely seen within a pantheon, much less between different ones. Faith?”

  Faith blinked in surprise, “You want my advice?”

  “Yes. That’s why I called you here, instead of just giving you a heads up and letting you watch on the implant in your office.”

  Faith blushed, “Right, I just didn’t think...” she trailed off and shook her head, “It all sounds good, what you have so far. I have no idea how to solve the bigger issues, that’ll depend on how you get along with the other leaders. If they even meet with you in a few days.”

  That last was true point I hadn’t considered yet, I might not even get a chance to present my ideas. There was no guarantee they’d answer my invitations when I sent them in three days, to meet up on the fourth for a discussion.

  They might decide they were too busy dealing with internal matters and establishing their authority over the others in their pantheons, and how they’d set things up for their pantheons, to spend time on the bigger picture just yet.

  I knew Nate had a lot of trouble with that. Yet, Nate was an idiot, and he hadn’t had an example to work with of a pantheon using a modern government structure. The last forty some odd years, the world had its eyes on the Greek gods and what we were doing, so they wouldn’t have to completely reinvent the wheel like we had.

  I wasn’t surprised by Faith’s insight, but I was surprised by the seductively warm tones she’d spoken in. As if my soliciting her advice had made her forget to modify her normal speaking voice, which of course was the speaking voice of the goddess of persuasion and seduction.

  I ignored the rise in sexual tension between us, maybe I hadn’t blown it after all.

  “That’s a good point. If at least one of them says yes however, that will put pressure on the rest to show up. At least, I’d be too worried not to show up in their shoes, in case two or more pantheons came to a support agreement without my knowledge.”

  Faith nodded, “If that’s the case, invite the one that you think will say yes first, so you can drop that fact on the others while inviting them. Otherwise, they may be too stubborn to change their minds, and might send a spy or something instead.”

  That made sense, I’d invite the new Indra first then. I was also a little disappointed that she’d recovered and found her professional voice again, but I pushed that down.

  “Last thing for now, before I call a council meeting to set the initial laws and policy for cross pantheon interactions. My first impulse is to be purely defensive right now, if any of the new gods start trouble, do not intervene. Let their pantheon deal with it, and only defend yourself if attacked. Any troublemakers on our side should be dealt with severely if attacking another pantheon’s gods.

  “The problem with that sound policy, is that we need to maintain good relations with the human governments as well, who are a threat to us that can’t be dismissed. If Kali starts to skin humans on the streets of New York, and we ignore it, the humans will not understand why. Even if we tell them that it’s because interfering with another pantheon will just make it worse, that won’t hold moral equivalency in their minds. Rightfully so, from their point of view, and honestly mine. It’s just… interfering and causing a war would cause far more human deaths in the long run.”

  Lianne sighed, “I think I’m starting to understand why you wanted to take it back.”

  I laughed.

  Cerise said, “Some things can’t be borne. I think in that case you would have to take a stand. Not punish them perhaps, but stop them, capture them, and turn them over to their pantheon’s leaders, yes. When human life is on the line.”

  Faith nodded thoughtfully, “That’s where you should draw the line, even if it has a cost. Thievery, even being idiots or breaking other laws, it should just be reported to their law enforcement through channels. Only interfere to preserve life.

  “I mean, if you intend to share the whole world, that means sharing responsibility for protecting the humans in it, everywhere.”

  I ran all that through my mantle, even though my first inclination was to accept their advice. It felt right to me. My mantel told me I ruled the gods, and that saving humans wasn’t my concern, but that avoiding the potential threat of angered humans was my concern.

  A slight shade of different intent behind it, but both my moral reasons and political reasons through my mantel lined up to say the same thing. We had to intervene to save human life or defend ourselves, no other reason was good enough to take that risk.

  “Okay, that’s what we’ll do. Misty, let the council know we’re meeting in an hour, and what it’s about. Establishing… let’s call it foreign policy and rules of engagement, in relation to the other pantheons. Include my current intentions as bullet points, so they have an hour to think of an argument if they don’t agree with it or would like to add more exceptions. If nothing else, I suspect Nadia will want direction on how far to take spying on the other pantheons. Add anything goes in public, but that we will not be bugging their personal abodes or even hotel rooms.”

  Misty winked, “Done.”

  Cerise and Faith headed back to their offices, while Lianne and I burned that hour wait in a very pleasant fashion in the bedroom. I wasn’t sure what did it, and I’d stopped asking, but something in all that had just happened, had triggered her crazy manic need to rock my world. I sure as hell wasn’t going to complain as she rode me hard and put me away wet, with a fervent devoted love that was mesmerizing.

  Chapter Five

  The hotel meeting room was tense as I sat down, and most of that was down to Gary’s obvious anger.

  I raised an eyebrow in question, wondering what I hadn’t done this time to piss him off. No, that isn’t a typo, I was quite sure my transgression was only in his mind, because I hadn’t done anything.

  Gary said, “Why bother calling a council if you’ve already decided on policy.”

  Right, did he think I did it to lord the changes over them? I had to admit, Zeus totally would have.

  I turned to Nadia, “Would you like to explain?”

  I picked her because if I picked Natasha it would’ve made things worse, but I was sure she knew the whole point of it. Nadia was safe, because she was both my enemy and Gary’s.

  Nadia flinched, then sighed, “He sent us a starting point, for us to look for shortfalls and to be ready to argue if we disagreed. It also gave us an hour to ponder it all, rather than putting us on the spot by doing it here in this meeting.”

  I touched my nose, “So, the floor is open for comments and ideas, before we solidify this. Once it is solid, we’ll need to get word out to everyone, every god needs to understand the consequences of violating our policy in regard to the other pantheons.”

  I turned to Gary with a frown, “I also only sent out that our people would be punished severely for starting trouble with a god outside our pantheon. I never defined what that severe consequence was, so I hope the justice team over there has been considering that. No second chances on this, no two warnings, they’ll immediately be punished with…” I waved to prompt them.

  They just stared back.

  I closed my eyes and bowed my head.

  “You mean you haven’t asked Amelia that very question before you came here?”

  Natasha blushed, “I was at work, and I couldn’t abandon my client mid-session. It’s bad enough I had to cancel the next one to make it here.”

  I nodded, “Right, that’s fair, and Gary was far too angry at what he believed to be me playing games to think straight. Kaya?”

  Kaya fidgeted, then said, “She didn’t know, because she doesn’t fully understand the risks of it.”

  I hated that I’d just made his mate make Gary look stupid, but this time I’d had no choice in it. At least she’d asked the obvious questions.

  I considered that, then nodded, “That’s fair. Interference between pantheons in the past often led to battles, and on a few occasions extended war. So, you could describe it as inciting a war, which is why I limited acting against a god of another pantheon to self-defense or in defense of another life. Either a fellow god, or a human. A god of yet another pantheon, well they’d be on their own. Now that you know the stakes, you can tell me her decision, and I’ll have Misty add it to our briefing for all the gods. They really need to know what the severe punishment is to that kind of troublemaking, so it at least cuts down on the number of times it will happen anyway.

  “Anyone else have anything?”

  Freda asked, “What about cooperation. I have a lot of health programs and other things that benefit humanity. I’m assuming some gods from the other pantheons will want to do the same, whatever their equivalent is to hearth, home, and government mantels.”

  Another thing I hadn’t thought of. I’d been too focused on seeing the points of conflict that I’d missed the other side of the coin. It was why I really did need a council, and advisors. I could be a good ruler on my own, but too many things would fall through the cracks. Intentions mattered little to the gods I ruled, results mattered far more.

  “I plan to contact the rulers of those pantheons in three days, for a meeting on the fourth. To decide such things and hopefully agree on not starting to stake territory, like we’re gangs or something. Anyway, I’ll bring that up with them too, good thought. I wouldn’t mind seeing it happen, but before I green light it I need to make sure it won’t offend one of the others. I hate to leave you hanging like this, but if I had to answer now then I’d err on the side of caution and say no, even if it is a good idea and opportunity in my mind. I don’t want to do that.”

  Freda nodded, “I’ll wait, and if I’m contacted sooner then I’ll politely tell them I’ll need to get back to them on it.”

  “Perfect. Anyone else?”

  Nadia spoke, “I don’t like the limitations you added to spying. I can’t guarantee I’ll see it coming, if I can’t keep an eye on them and hear their plotting.”

  I nodded, “A large battle with multiple gods will trigger Mark, and he should pass on the warning, when and where a war is starting. If that warning comes, I will authorize you to do whatever you have to in order to get details. But until then the limit stands, and it can only be violated with my approval.”

  Nadia smiled, “I see. That will work, and Mark changes the risk verse reward equation, making it not worth the risk. Does he work for me?”

  “He works with you, a rule unto his own, and he likely won’t tell you everything he sees, when it applies on the human level for instance. I also trust him, he won’t let us down.”

  Nadia didn’t look happy about that, but she accepted it. She also wasn’t plotting anymore, at least not in that moment. Her original plotting to ingratiate herself with Bruce was obviously discarded, now that Bruce was put away for fifty years and I was in charge. I was sure that would change, she’d come up with a new approach to seizing power, but so far, she seemed to be in data gathering mode.

  Honestly, it was a worry off my mind. No one on the council was plotting in the moment, which let me focus on the new external dangers and possible threats. Well, Gary would love to kill me, but he wasn’t serious enough about it to actually do it. Yet.

  That covered all the groups save our law enforcement, so I turned to Mandy.

  Mandy said, “I’ll be adding to our standard operating procedures, including rules of engagement for taking down another pantheon’s god alive. Also, emergency measures just in case the worst does happen, and we go to war. I’d like to be given the ability to recruit gods if required to meet such a threat.”

  I nodded, “I’ll have to approve it, if there’s time. We’ll add that to the packet as well, just in case. That any god can be recruited in the case of war. Just off hand, Lianne and Mark would be devastating on the field of war, but not so much law enforcement and they have their own lives and priorities.”

  Gary and Kaya as well, would be devastating in battle.

  Mandy nodded, “Yes, and several gods of war that don’t have the temperament for law enforcement, just… killing.”

  “Anyone object to that? I’ll do everything I can to avoid it, but if another pantheon declares war on us, we must pull out the stops and answer in kind and as one.”

  Gary sighed, “I don’t like it, but even I can see it’s necessary.”

  Mandy sat back, indicating she had nothing else.

  “If that’s it, we can end the meeting on that rousing endorsement of my rule.”

  Gary snorted.

  I grinned, “To quickly sum up the loose ends. Once I hear back from one of you three on the exact punishment, I’ll have the updates sent out to everyone in e-mail. All our gods. I’ll leave it up to you if you feel the gods under your command should also receive a verbal briefing on the matter to stress it’s importance, and of course any gods released from Tartarus need to be updated on the new situation and foreign policy at their time of release.”

  Natasha nodded in agreement.

  That was it, so we all started to get up, and teleported out one at a time, save the love and darkness trio that left as one.

  The next few days passed quickly, and not all that much happened save a few things I’ll gloss over.

  There were no fights between my gods and the other pantheons. I’d like to take full credit for that, but I couldn’t. Even if the new harsh punishment of twenty years in Tartarus, which would be added to the nickel for assault charges, would and did cut down on it a whole lot. I mean, most wouldn’t want to risk it, the troublemakers would just focus within or on all those humans and supernaturals out there.

  But there were always a couple of morons in the crowd.

  No, the big fat zero incident number was also thanks to Mark. He’d kept an eye out for it and stopped two of ours from starting trouble after receiving visions of the future, while stopping a third from being a victim of a god in another pantheon. Without violence, he’d just shown up at the place and time and started glowing like the sun next to the victim. The idiot from the other pantheon had run off at that point, abandoning his plan of attack. Which was priceless.

  None of ours were plotting against me or the council. A large part of that was probably Steven being dead, Bruce being in Tartarus, and Nadia’s plan having been ripped out from under her in a way she hadn’t seen coming. The queen of the gods was being cautious as a result, I was pretty sure she hadn’t even considered it a possibility and it’d shaken her certainties.

  The rest of the council was hard to herd, like cats, but none of the others held ambition to rule.

  On the home front things couldn’t have been better between our core triad. The ladies awed me on a daily basis, and we were growing closer and closer.