It would kill them.

  I glanced at Gesai and shook my head. The older woman had a complete seal on her chest, which would give Klix what she needed to wake up Astrid, but there were a lot of things that I wanted answers about before I let her start pushing forward.

  “I want to know more about what Pixie said.” I tried to follow Klix as she moved behind me but stopped before I turned far enough to see her daughter.

  “If you want to keep going into the Dungeon, you’re going to have to forget that concept of modesty you have.” The Goddess laughed. “You’re getting embarrassed over nothing!”

  I risked a peek and saw that the pink-haired woman had on a white tube top. The color was so close to her milky skin tone that I hadn’t noticed it in my haste to turn around.

  “Okay…” I was a little irritated that she was getting so much discomfort out of my embarrassment. “I’ve been with you when you’ve talked to Trent since you set up this meeting. So I want to know…”

  In all of the excitement that had happened over the last couple weeks, I’d forgotten who had actually set up this meeting. It had been Trent’s brother, the God Iver.

  Trent’s mother was the Goddess Vowler and his father had been a Mundane, which was how my teacher had ended up with a regular Adventurer class. His brother, Iver, was also the son of Vowler and one of the other Gods. After their mother had been Desolated by the Primus, Iver took over his mother’s mantle and her former city.

  Before we had arrived in Mive, Trent had told me that his brother had practically begged for the two of us to meet with Klix because she had a Healer candidate for us. For Pixie to be a Goddess, she needed to be the daughter of a God and Goddess. If Klix was her mother, then that would make Iver her father.

  “Why are you so sure that we’re going to add Pixie to our team?” I gestured at the woman. “She’s Iver’s daughter, so you want her to pass as my sister? For what? Why do you think my dad is going to go along with that?”

  Klix sighed and pinched her brow. “Did you know that Trent and Tres were together at the Cathedral, but Tres started outleveling him to the point that there was too much of a power difference between them to keep fighting together?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, so?”

  “As you…” She motioned at Ether, Rix, Pixie, and me. “Go up in Tiers, you’re going to start noticing that you gain experience faster than the others.” She looked at Ether. “It won’t be as much for you…” She paused and looked at me. “Maybe…” Kllix shook her head and waved her hands. “That’s years away. Anyway, by the time you’re Tier Three you’ll notice the level difference. By the time you’re Tier Four, you’ll be fighting things so far below your level that you won’t get any experience, but things at your level will be out of their range.”

  Klix walked over to a bench and sat down. “Each Deity is allowed to back one child.” She held up a finger. “One. Only one child can have a public tie back to their parent if they want to have a city.” Her shoulders sagged. “Any more than that and they’re fair game. If a mother or sibling tries to help an undeclared who is under attack.” There was a single tear in her eye as she looked at me. “The Primus step in.”

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  “The Primus…”

  “Elite group of Godhunters who appointed themselves the keepers of the status quo. They NEED to be stopped.” Rage rolled off her as she clenched her fist. After a moment, she got the crushing aura under control. “Anyway, the level disparage is the easiest way for the Primus to track down hidden Godlings.”

  “I’ve already used my one declaration and…” She shook her head, then waved like she was pushing away the memory. “I don’t get another.” She nodded at Pixie. “A group of my friends and I decided that we had a plan on how to circumvent that. We would each get pregnant at the same time, then have all six of our kids level together.”

  “If the whole party is leveling up faster, but together, then it wouldn’t be noticeable.” I chuckled. “That’s genius.”

  “It would have been, if it had worked.” Klix nodded at her daughter. “It was at the Adventurer Games. The Fane team had won, so Iver was in a good mood. Harror, Roth, Covanus, Ekah, and I got him drunk and went back to his room…” A smile crossed his face, which quickly turned into a frown. “Gar backed out at the last minute, but we know where she went.” She gestured at me. “But I guess that worked out.”

  “You did..?” I shook my head. “Why did you do that?’

  “Siblings.” Klix took a deep breath. “Each one of us had a different focus, which would have made a team of siblings the same age that would have been able to level up together. There would have been a sibling bond that would have made all six of you even stronger when you were together. We were hoping that would make you strong enough to beat the Primus when they eventually came for you.” She let out the breath. “But only Covanus, Ekah, and I got pregnant that night. Iver wasn’t in the mood for a round two, so Roth went to Nevah, since that old goat will mate with anything and he’s Iver’s grandfather. We hoped that would be enough of a blood tie for the bond. Gar kind of shut herself off, so we assumed she was out and Harror was too upset at being left out that she didn’t try again.” Klix looked over at Pixie. “I was debating about whether or not to send her to the Chapel when the news broke that Trent had a son.” Her predatory eyes focused on me. “It didn’t matter at that point if you were a Godling or not, you’d still resonate as a cousin.”

  I started to get where she was going. “You want to put Pixie on our team because it will help hide her?”

  “It’ll help all four of you.” The Goddess looked at the three of us. “You’re going to notice at Tier One that things are different. Actually you may have noticed it already. Extra loot drops, better loot drops, rarer monsters, more monsters, weaker monsters for the level they are?”

  “I haven’t noticed anything different.” I shook my head.

  “It would change for you, it’d be different compared to the other teams.” Klix sighed. “But just four of you, even with the Hunter, will become so powerful.”

  “You’re not going to help us unless we agree to this, are you?” I saw where the conversation was headed.

  “We’ve got time to put that seal on Pixie AND change my granddaughter’s to an anchor.” There was a wicked smile as the Goddess reveled in her victory. “While we wait for Tres to get here.”

  I looked over at Gesai. There was no way to ask Trent. “Are you okay with this?’

  The young teacher was still trying to take in all the information that Klix had dropped on her. “Whatever you want.”

  I was hoping for something a little more tangible, but it worked. Klix had backed us in a corner.

  “Go ahead, but we don’t need Tres.” I gestured at the silver teacher. “Gesai has a full seal.”

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