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9
A short time later, Aron and I are led down the winding stone halls of the temple. They descend into the earth and I’m reminded of the pyramids back home, but we only go down a few floors, where the stones are cooler and overall the humid heat from above is nonexistent. The temperature change makes the place pleasant for all that it’s endless carved stone and torchlit halls. At the end of one of the long hallways, double doors are opened and we’re led into a sumptuous, enormous chamber. There are more torches along the walls, so the room is a little smoky, and straw is scattered over the stone floors, which seems like a fire hazard to me.
There’s a large circular bed in the center of the room, ornate draperies hanging above it like a headboard. Anchored on one wall is a massive ornate axe, the symbol of Aron himself. The bed looks big enough for four people. This is a nice room…but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re not safe.
The prelate’s nowhere around, though. There are serving girls, all dressed in the short linen skirt and nothing else, and they bow and simper and wait for Aron to address them.
He stands in the room and it’s clear he doesn’t know what to do next. Poor guy’s pretty lost. I suspect this is all very new to him. I also think he wouldn’t want them to see how he doesn’t have basic knowledge of things like sleep or clothing. So I step forward and gesture at the serving girls. “You can all leave now.”
They look surprised and hesitate. A few of them glance over at Aron, as if waiting to see if he contradicts me.
The god gives them his best imperious look. “Did you not hear my anchor?”
“Of course, my lord,” one murmurs breathlessly and then they’re all bent over, bowing and scuttling from the room like frightened crabs.
I wait patiently until they’re gone, and then I shut the heavy wooden doors to the room behind us. After that, I move around the room, pulling up wall hangings and looking for secret passages. I find one behind an ornate tapestry in front of a statue, and push the statue back against the door there so no one can get in. And then I shove one of the heavy wooden chests against it, barricading us in. That done, I look over at Aron.
He stands in the middle of the room, watching me with a curious look on his face. Still naked. I realize a moment later I’ve more or less locked myself into a room with a naked man who can do anything he wants to me. God, I’m dumb. I hope he’ll realize now is not the time to get freaky, though. “We need to talk.”
“I thought we came to this room to sleep. Is that not what humans do?” Incredibly, he manages to sound as imperious in private as he does in public.
“You and I need to get some basic groundwork established so we can work together as a team—”
“We are still not a team,” he snarls at me, and I can hear distant thunder rumble overhead.
“Fine, whatever,” I exclaim. God, he’s still pissypants even in private. What the hell? But that doesn’t mean I can’t work around this. I have to because I can’t shake the feeling that the prelate is up to something bad. But I need to know more about Aron for starters so I know what I’m working with. “Can I ask you a few questions? I just want to know a bit more about this you and me thing.” I gesture between the two of us. “I’m not used to being an anchor or whatever it is I’m called. I’m not entirely clear on what that means.”
“You had to clear everyone out of this room so you could ask me what an anchor is?” He crosses his arms over his chest, stance arrogant as if he’s not buck naked in front of me. It takes everything I have to maintain eye contact, because every time he moves, the jiggle of his hog is distracting.
“No, I cleared everyone out of the room to protect us. The less they know about you and me, the better. They’re probably spying for the prelate.”
He grunts. “I would be surprised if they are not.”
“So let’s pretend I’m new here. What does an anchor do? Something tells me it’s more than just fetching your slippers.”
The god’s eyes narrow at me. “How can you not know?”
“Do you not know either?”
His mouth thins into a firm line and he’s silent. “There are some things I seem to have forgotten.”
“Well, shit.” It’s the blind leading the blind around here. I can’t blame him, though. It sounds like there’s a lot that’s new to him and he wasn’t the one that came up with the whole “anchor” thing. It’s obvious that the prelate knows what’s going on, but I’m also pretty damn sure he’s the last person we want to admit a vulnerability to. “Okay, first things first, we need to find someone that will tell us what we need to know. Is there any place you can think of where they’d be loyal to you and open to telling the truth?”
His ice-pale eyes narrow and he looks furious. “Loyalty? This is my temple. Why would they not be loyal to me?”
I move closer to him because he’s getting loud. “Look, just between you and me, the prelate? That expression on his face was not loyalty. You embarrassed him in front of his people. He doesn’t know what to do with you, and I worry it’s going to be something bad. He doesn’t like you. I think he only obeyed you because it was in public.”
“I am a god.” His eyes blaze with anger.
“I thought you were mortal? Or an Aspect, right? That’s what it is.” I snap my fingers. “Do you have all your powers as an Aspect?”
His jaw clenches and he glares fire at me.
“Any of them?”
“Mortal,” he says in a warning tone.
I raise my hands in the air, determined not to get frustrated. “I’m asking because I need to know what we’re working with. You’re a storm god, can you call down thunderstorms and shoot lightning at people? If you can, then all my worrying is for nothing.” And really, I’d feel better knowing he’s got massive loads of power and is just choosing restraint and pissy attitude to keep people in line.
Aron’s jaw clenches, the scar on the left side of his face flexing. “I…” He shifts on his feet and then gives me his fiercest scowl. “I do not think I can.”
My spirits plummet. I suspect he’s just as wimpy as me in this form, with only a cool thunder soundtrack to make him seem impressive. “Can I ask why you were booted out of heaven?”
“The Aether,” he corrects.
Apparently he knows that much. “Okay, the Aether. How come you were kicked out of it?”
His mouth flattens. “The High Father was not pleased with how I handled my duties. I am being punished.” He says the words as if they taste bad.
“But there’s a way to get back, right? If there’s a way for you to get home, there’s a way for me to get home, too.” He doesn’t answer me, and I wonder if he knows any of this. “Okay,” I mutter to myself, twisting my hands as I think. “Okay, as long as we know our limits, we’ll work with it. I gather you don’t know much about sleeping, either. Or eating or drinking. Are you hungry? Thirsty?”
He shakes his head.
Well, that makes one of us. Despite the fact that I pigged out in the main hall, I could still eat. Probably stress related, I suspect. I ignore it for now. “Have you ever been mortal before—”
The look in his eyes flares like I’ve given him a grave insult. “I am not mortal. I am an Aspect.”
“Okay.” I clasp my hands together, because I’m being patient, I really am. “Narrow down for me the difference between an Aspect and a mortal.”
Aron glares at me. “I owe you no explanation.”
Probably because he doesn’t know himself. “You’re right, you don’t. But it would really, really help me out if you told me, because I’m flying blind here.”
He narrows his eyes. “I am a god. That has not changed. I am just…a god who has been stripped of his powers and forced to walk the mortal plane with you at my side.” Again, he says it like he’s spitting nails.
So flattering. “Is this your first time being an Aspect? The way they talked about it in the temple, this holiday’s a recurring thing. The Anticipation. I assume it’s happened before.”
“It has happened before,” he says slowly, gazing around the room. “But not to me.”
Oh. “Think it’s happened to anyone else at the same time? Right now? Should we try praying to the other gods and asking to get you home?”
The look he gives me is withering. “You think I am the only disobedient god?” He snorts with amusement.
All right. So Aron’s a bad boy and all the other bad boys and girls have also been kicked from the heavens? Got it. “Can we find some other gods and have a chat with them?” He gives me a dirty look that’s so irritated I go silent. Jeez, what did I say? “All right then, meeting up with other gods is out.” Maybe they’re the gods that booted him out of the heavens and that’s why he doesn’t want to find anyone else. “It’s just us, then. We’ll figure things out as we go.”
Doesn’t seem like Aron’s going to get me home anytime soon if he doesn’t know anything about what’s going on. All right, then. This will just be a long haul. Fighting back disappointment, I consider our surroundings. The room’s opulent, but I don’t see anything we can use to defend ourselves if someone attacks, and that worries me. Even the food tray doesn’t have a knife on it. I rub my brows, tired. It has been the longest of days. “So is it okay if I turn in?”
“Turn in?”
“For sleeping?”
“Ah, sleeping.” Aron nods slowly. “This is where mortals lie in bed and close their eyes for long periods of time. I always wondered about that.”
I’m starting to wonder if the transfer to being mortal—excuse me, an Aspect—scrambled his brains. “Yes. They sleep. The brain goes quiet and your body refreshes itself. Everyone has to do it.”
“What if I do not want to?” The arrogance returns to his voice.
“It’s sort of a requirement for humans, like breathing and eating and drinking.” I pause, because he hasn’t done the eating and drinking thing. “You sure you’re not hungry?”
“I am certain.” He looks around and then nudges one of the thick rugs on the floor with a bare, pale toe. “Do I sleep here?”
Dear god, he is helpless. “How about the bed, champ?” I even point at it, because I’m a nice person.
Aron grunts and then moves toward it. He places a hand on one corner and pushes on it, testing. How did this man know to sit in a throne but doesn’t know how to use a bed? Maybe the gods have chairs but not beds, then. Wonder what else the gods don’t have.
A sense of humor, I mentally tell myself as I watch Aron scowl at nothing in particular. He gingerly sits down on the bed and then lies back, and then frowns up at the ceiling. “How long does it take to refresh yourself?”