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an Incarnation, his child to be one. But the skein is tangled.' More she would not say." Parry found his
voice. "And Niobe's son, the magician, did marry Pacian's daughter Blenda, the most beautiful woman
of her generation. Now Pacian, a widower, is marrying Niobe herself, the most beautiful woman of her
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generation."
"As I said, my Lord, they were true prophecies. So it seems there will be two daughters, highly talented,
and one may marry Thanatos-"
"And the other may marry Me!" Parry finished. "How can this be? I will never marry again!"
"Not while I'm with You," Lilah agreed darkly. "But there is a lot of leeway in that word may, my
Lord."
"Not enough leeway! This complicates the plot considerably!"
"The girls will stand athwart a tangled skein," Lilah agreed. "One to save man, the other to be an
Incarnation."
"The daughter of the man who loves an Incarnation," Parry agreed. "That would be Pacian. I must watch
out for his daughter."
"And for the other girl," she reminded him. "She is the one who will save man-which means You will
lose."
"I must be rid of both of them!" Parry snapped. "One is Niobe's daughter, the other her granddaughter."
"But each time You have tried to take out one of that line, You have failed. In fact, it was the last failure
that caused Pacian to become a widower, so that now Niobe can marry him. You played into God's
hands!"
Parry definitely did not like her attitude. She was enjoying this, in her covert way. "I shall be paying
closer attention henceforth," he said darkly. "This contest is not yet done." Still, he heeded the warning
of experience; with the amount of attention that was focusing on this matter, it would be extraordinarily
difficult to eliminate those girls. He would have to try other methods first, defusing this matter in some
more devious and effective manner.
His first chance was to prevent at least one of the girls from coming into existence. Therefore the next
time Niobe went to gather chaos from the Void, he intercepted her. That was the one place she had to
listen to him, because her other Aspects were damped out and she was alone.
"So you are quitting, cutie," he said, as if it were of no account.
"Go to Hell," she snapped back.
He tried to suggest to her that he was glad she was departing the office, but she was now too canny to be
deceived. "I am fated to produce a mortal child who will be a real pain in the tail for you." He could not
fool her and, oddly, he found he did not want to. She had fought him for decades, and he had admired
her for the same period. He decided to talk seriously. "There are currents of destiny that perhaps only
God comprehends. Our glimpses of the future are fleeting and imperfect, but I have taken a reading on
your daughter and see only a terrible storm perhaps forty years hence. I do not know the outcome."
"And one may marry Death, the other Evil," she said, recalling the prophecy.
"Why should I ever bind Myself to a mortal woman?" he demanded with genuine ire. Yet he knew that
had Niobe herself been interested, in her youth, he would have been sorely tempted. But she had the
answer. "She is to be an Incarnation."
"And what woman, whether mortal or Incarnation, would ever bind herself to Me?" There was a second
level to that question, because of their past interaction. Even at this stage, if Niobe were to change her
mind about him as a man..."Only an evil one," Niobe said. She looked no happier about it than he felt.
"You are indeed a good woman, as well as a lovely one," he said with feeling. "Yet the prophecy-"
"Satan, what are you getting at?"
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Now he spoke straight from the heart. "Niobe, there is a tangle coming in your skein that neither of us
understands. Something strange is brewing. Let's avoid the whole issue, and oppose each other on
conventional grounds. Keep your present office, O lovely woman! Do not generate that child."
"You're crazy!"
"No, I am evil, not crazy. You know Me-" he tried to stop himself, but was carried away by a surge of
emotion. "Therefore you will not do for Me what you did for Chronos."
She stared at him. "You-desire my favor?"
"I do desire it." He had not realized it fully until this moment. Perhaps Lilah had, though; that would
account for her creeping alienation. She tolerated his affairs with damned souls, but she realized that his
love of an Incarnation, particularly this one, was mischief indeed.
"You will never have it!" Niobe said.
"That I know," he said heavily. "Still, I wish you would remain in office."
She laughed in his face.
Now sudden wrath overcame him. He had spoken truth to her, and she had rejected it. That was the
humiliation that stung worst! "Then feel the brunt of My wrath!" he cried. "And your child will suffer
too. You and yours will rue this hour!" He departed.
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