by Tessa Cole
Hunh. Was that something that transcended our worlds? Had the kiss-on-the-lips in our world just come to mean something less?
“Rion, I didn’t know.”
“How could you not know?” he demanded. “It’s part of your bonding ceremony. We just saw it.”
And now I had no idea what to say to him, because, fuck, he thought he was my husband.
Chapter 16
Aethan
I hated my man-legs.
Del had insisted I change to them when we went out, even though they’d be covered by pants. I suppose I could understand. Everyone here seemed to have man-legs and I’d have stood out with my equine legs, even with pants on.
Still, I was as awkward as a newborn foal.
Add to that my inability to fully control my new speed, and I was a literal walking mess.
Thankfully, most people on the street were ignoring me and looking at Keph.
And Gods, was he a sight! Those gray stretchy pants and the white shirt with the blue and red crest barely fit him. They were pulled tight over his massive frame, and the large man was hesitant and apprehensive of everything around him despite the urgency of his vision.
He’d always been careful around others, afraid of hurting people, and there were so many more people here than back in our world. He wasn’t so much walking down the street as carefully shuffling along when we should have been running.
Which only made me more agitated. I couldn’t walk right, and the fear that we’d be too late to save Goddess Annie from the darkness made my chest tight. Not to mention everything around me was fascinating, drawing my attention from trying to control my body to stare at the wonders around me.
To top it off, I didn’t know what to make of everything that had happened. A part of me could understand why the goddess had seemed so out of place in our world after seeing hers. This was a truly fantastical place. It was a confusion of oddities and I was the quickest among our group to take to new things. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like for the rest of them. Keph had seemed overwhelmed the moment we’d stepped into her world and still did.
Except that didn’t excuse the goddess’s behavior toward Rion. Much as I hoped it meant she might be open for other options, I also didn’t want to hurt my friend. These three men had been good to me. They hadn’t shunned me for my quick wit, as most of my clan did, and they didn’t care about my sexual awkwardness when we were carousing.
They were more like brothers than friends, a distant family I saw far too infrequently. And I didn’t want a brother to suffer.
And as much as I hoped I could be healed by the goddess, her behavior had been odd since we’d returned.
“Do you think something is wrong with the goddess?” I asked as the three of us stopped behind a group of other people waiting at a large intersection that, like many intersections, had a strange set of lights.
I’d observed the correct interactions at such a crossing during our trip to the goddess’s home. Symbols lit up with a walking figure or a hand, indicating when a person could cross the stream of self-propelled carts, something which I found absolutely fascinating — the goddess had called them… cars?
Del glanced at me then turned his attention back to sweeping the area around us as if he was searching for trouble. “I’m afraid we might be seeing her true colors.”
The light changed and the group ahead of us crossed the intersection and the cars rushed past in the other direction, but Keph didn’t move.
“Come on,” I said, but Keph tensed and the walking figure was replaced by the flashing red hand, indicating that we were running out of time.
And we weren’t just running out of time with the light. Even if Keph’s vision hadn’t specifically told him when the darkness would attack, at his current pace there was no way we’d make it in time to protect the goddess.
I grabbed the big guy’s sleeve to get him to move but the red hand stopped flashing and the direction of the cars changed.
“I’ve read—” Del said as two men reached the intersection and waited behind us for the light to change again. He glanced back at them then shifted closer to me and dropped his voice. “I’ve read many tales of the ancients.”
“Like Zeus and Heracles?” I asked, my voice just as soft. I knew some of the folklore on the gods, those tales passed on through stories by minstrels and storytellers, but I hadn’t actually read any of them.
Del nodded. “Those same, yes. But the stories I read were not glorious tales, not for the most part. They portrayed the gods like men, petty, selfish, and often cruel. They were rarely benevolent. So, when I met Goddess Annie and she’d been so kind and giving of herself to help the sick—” Del ran a hand through his long blue-black hair, pushing it out of his eyes and sighed. “I’d thought she was different. Now I’m not so sure. And if she is as petty and cruel as those gods of old, I don’t know if I want to anger her further.”
Del was right, she’d been kind and giving in our world, and now she was erratic, one minute a seductress, the next furious. So, what did that mean?
I could foresee two outcomes to our current course of action. Either we’d rescue the goddess and she’d be grateful, perhaps taking us back — though we’d need to figure out how she felt about Rion. Or, she’d be furious we’d disobeyed her command to stay at her home and we’d have sealed our fates, banished from this world. Both seemed just as likely in my mind.
The walking figure appeared and I started across the intersection, but Keph still didn’t move.
“Keph,” I hissed, standing a quarter of the way across. We didn’t have time for this!
The men behind him hesitated, waiting for him to go, while a woman and her child, both bundled up against the chill, walked past me in the opposite direction toward the big guy. Except they hesitated as they drew close to him, their eyes wide as if they were afraid of him, then scurried past.
“Come on,” I insisted as the light changed to the flashing hand. People were staring and we needed to get moving.
One of the men said something under his breath and both of them shot Keph a dark look before hurrying around him and crossing, and I returned to the big man’s side to wait for the light to change. Again.
At this rate we were never going to get there, and we were running out of time.
I bit back a yell of frustration and yanked my gaze to the massive buildings towering around me. I was certain now that not all of these people were gods. Most of them must be the servants to the gods, like the men who’d waited with us to cross the intersection. It made sense that Gods would have many servants. I just hadn’t realized how many.
The light changed again and finally — finally! — Keph decided it was safe and we continued down the street before stopping at the next intersection with its red hand telling us to wait our turn.
“You’re crossing when the walking figure appears,” I ordered. “If the darkness has found Rion and the goddess then we don’t have time for you to hesitate at every intersection.”
“Unless his power of foresight knows just how slow he’s going to move through this strange land and has given us enough forewarning,” Del said.
I glared at him. “You’re not helping.”
The light changed and much to my surprise, Keph started shuffling across the intersection without any more hesitation, as if having spent all that time at the previous intersection to figure out the lights had been enough to quell his concerns.
But then one of the cars that was turning toward us gave a blaring horn sound.
Keph jumped, clearing a good dozen feet, and making Del’s mouth drop open in surprise — and I had no doubt my mouth was hanging open as well. Stone titans weren’t known for their leaping ability, they certainly couldn’t jump that high, and Keph had done it as if were nothing.
He landed and stumbled into the car that had made the shocking noise waiting for us to cross. The self-propelled cart made the blaring sound again and the big titan, clearly reacting
on instinct, put a hand on either side of the car. I hadn’t thought Keph’s arm span was that wide, but he easily boxed in its front then lifted it clear off the ground.
Off. The. Ground!
By Zeus and all the gods!
I knew Keph was strong, but those cars looked heavy and he’d lifted it like it was nothing.
“Keph!” Del shouted — and a good thing too, because I was too stunned to react. “Put that down.”
Del’s voice snapped Keph out of his shock and he set the contraption back on the ground. The three of us hurried across the intersection and back onto the designated walking area, but now everyone was looking at us. Not the least of which were the people in the car Keph had picked up, who’d forgotten to go when the light had changed.
“Ah… sorry,” I called to them, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the massive hand prints crunched into the metal on either side of the thing.
So much for avoiding too much notice. I should have known Keph would be a liability, but it was too late now, so we rushed onward to our destination.
Chapter 17
Delphon
We found the hall and rushed in. Keph, as much as he’d been slow and hesitant at the beginning of our journey was now in such a hurry that he forgot to duck and banged his head on the doorframe. Luckily, he had a hard head. Legend was that stone titans were partially made of stone. I didn’t know if that was true, but I’d never seen the man bleed. Though, to be fair, he was a soft-hearted fellow in general and rarely joined us in our recreational fighting… which was probably a good thing, given how strong he was.
But once inside, the three of us stood in a large opulent foyer not knowing which way to go. The long entry hall had two sets of double doors along the left side, two on the right and a single set of double doors at the far end. There was a desk in front of a single door, just inside and to the right, with a young woman and older man behind it. Only the man had looked up at our arrival and his eyes were now bulging, his expression filled with shock.
“You there,” he said to us, then turned to his female companion and whispered. “Call nine-one-one.” Then back to us. “You can’t be here. Get out. We’re calling the cops.”
I got the feeling from his tone that these cops would be some sort of city guard or watchmen, which wouldn’t be good.
“We don’t want any trouble,” I said, raising my hands, palms out to show I didn’t have a weapon and meant him no harm.
“We don’t keep money on site,” the man replied, his shock shifting into fear.
“That’s… good?” I took a step toward him not sure why he’d brought that up. “We’re just looking for some friends who’re at a… wedding?” Was that the right word? Annie had said it several times in relation to this event, so I was pretty sure that was the word I wanted. “They’re in danger and we need to get them out of here.”
“Yes,” Aethan continued. “A goddess in a red dress with a tall man who has blond hair. Have you seen them?”
The man standing behind the desk seemed confused and was eyeing the set of double doors to his right, while the woman spoke softly on a small square device that she held to the side of her face. Goddess Annie had one of those things, and she’d spoken into it as well.
“I’ll block the door,” Keph said then stepped outside again, right in front of the large main double doors, and turned to stone.
I’d only seen the transformation a couple of times since it wasn’t common for Keph to shift, and I still only partly sensed the change by how stiff he went, but there was also a tell-tale sound that came with the transformation, a sort of subtle grinding and cracking sound, like pebbles under the wheel of a particularly heavy wagon.
Blocking the door wasn’t a bad idea, but it made the man behind the desk even more nervous. The blood drained from his face and he started to tremble.
“Where are they?” Aethan pressed.
The man shook his head and the woman’s grip on her device tightened, turning her knuckles white.
Aethan waited for a response, but none came.
“Zeus’s balls,” Aethan huffed. “He’s not going to help us.” Then he vanished.
There was a grunt and the sounds of someone falling from farther into the large reception area to the right, and I glanced over to see Aethan tumbling across the floor, almost at the set of double doors at the far end of the foyer, cursing his man-legs for tripping him up.
“Holy mother of—” the man at the desk gasped and darted for the closest door to his right, quickly slipping into the room beyond. The woman ducked behind the desk, still urgently speaking to someone in a whispered voice.
This was not going well.
“Poseidon help me!” I didn’t usually curse by the gods, but this seemed appropriate.
Aethan was up again. “I’ll find her,” he called back, then was off again at his incredible speed.
The doors at the far end of the hall burst open, then slammed shut and there was a crashing sound from the other side.
What was the word the goddess used when upset?
Fuck.
I didn’t know what it meant, but is sure seemed appropriate now, and I really hoped we weren’t about to make more trouble for her.
I went to the first set of double doors on the left side of the foyer and carefully opened one to glance inside.
The space was large with a second story balcony that ran around the circumference of the room leaving the center open to both floors, and there were a couple hundred people, all dressed like the goddess and Rion had been. A good number of them, somewhere between twelve and twenty, stood in a long line along the far right wall from where I’d entered. They were chatting with others, who moved past them in another line like some form of ritual conversation. The moving part of the line seemed to be coming out from a different room, through a door at the far end of the same wall as the door I was peeking through.
I slipped inside and hid behind one of the pillars supporting the second floor balcony to get a better look and search for the goddess.
The line of unmoving people had a woman in a white dress who stood out. Next to her were five other women in identical cream and purple dresses, and to the other side of her were six men in… what had Goddess Annie called them? Suits. Then there were five older people — a mix of men and woman who looked to be elders. Everyone seemed to have a quick conversation with the person in front of them, then the person in front would move to the next one in the line and have another similarly short chat.
What boggled my mind, however, wasn’t the oddity of this strange ritual, but the number of people who seemed to be casually kissing other people as they moved down the line. One older woman embraced and kissed every member of the unmoving line fully on the lips be they man or woman — and all those people couldn’t have been her bonded mates — while another older man also kissed his way along the line, though when he got to the men it was on both cheeks instead of the lips.
My thoughts tripped, the casual kissing was so different here than in my world. Could it be that kissing means something different for these people?
If so…
Then Goddess Annie may not have been claiming a bond with Rion as we’d all thought. If kissing was something much more casual here, then…
I needed to tell Rion immediately.
I turned to the double doors to go back into the foyer, but as I did, a couple who’d already left the strange ritual-line headed toward the doors as well. Hurrying, I tried to get there first, hoping they wouldn’t notice me, and slammed into a metal bar between the two doors. The impact stunned me and I staggered back, half turning toward the couple, a hand on my face where I’d hit the bar.
The lady’s eyes widened, her gaze swept down me, and she took a quick step back instead of going through the door, while the man stepped in front of the woman and glared at me.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded. “Who are you?”
Balls. I’d forgotten I wasn’t s
upposed to draw attention to myself and with my clothes looking different than everyone else’s, it was obvious I didn’t belong.
Right. I hurried back — through just one of the doors — into the foyer, realizing too late that there was a blaring noise coming from outside, blue and red flashing lights, and four men in matching clothes trying to get past Keph to open the front doors.
“You there!” One of the men shouted at me. I could only just hear him through the glassed-in front of the foyer. “Halt, you’re trespassing on private property.”
He drew something from his hip, a metallic object and pointed it at me.
This… wasn’t going well. So much for not drawing attention to ourselves.
But in the end it didn’t really matter. Goddess Annie was in danger and I would do everything in my power to protect her… even if I did end up upsetting her.
I ran from the men in uniforms, toward the doors at the far end to find Aethan. Two sharp bangs and the sound of shattering glass rang out.
Sharp pain bit the side of my leg and I stumbled toward the door.
We needed to find the goddess and Rion. And we needed to find them now.
Chapter 18
Hyperion
I couldn’t take it anymore.
Annie kept trying to apologize for the kiss, saying she didn’t know what it had meant, but how could she not? This ceremony she’d brought me too was obviously some elaborate bonding ritual for the people of this world — which I was starting to believe weren’t gods at all — and it had ended with a kiss… on the lips.
It was clear that even here a kiss of that nature meant something similar to what it did in my world.
I had to get away, but the hallway seemed far too narrow with her standing in the middle of it, and it was hard to get past her without touching her. And that was a problem. As much as my heart was torn by her casual dismissal of our kiss, I still ached to grab her, push her up against one of these walls, and slip my hands under her dress. My lips burned to be on her skin once again, or even better, between her thighs.