Page 37 of Tangled Threads Of Fate

But in all the time we’d been in exile, I could honestly say, we’d never had a situation quite like this.

The little human kept darting her eyes in my direction, one hand protectively on her rounded stomach. The God behind her—because there was no doubt in my mind that’s what he was—hovered behind her protectively, keeping us all in his vision. He was a bloody God; I could tell that too. It was written in the violence of his aura.

Before she could start, I stared at him. “What Pantheon are you?”

He tilted his head at me, his eyes narrowed. I stared back. If we were going to have a battle of dominance, I wasn’t goingto lose in my own home. “Celtic,” he told me, his hand flexing around the handle of his giant ax.

I nodded. Given the runes in his tattoos, that tracked. I pushed my luck. “Battle God?”

He curled his lip. “God of War. Néit.”

The girl sucked in a breath and looked up at the man I’d assumed was her lover, given how he curled his body protectively around hers. Did she not know she was being protected by an ancient war God?

Interesting.

The God of War raised an eyebrow in my direction. “It’s polite to introduce yourself in return.” His voice was menacing, but I was beginning to wonder if that was just the natural pitch.

“Demke, Minoan God of Renewal.” I pointed to Teron. “The Great Gryph.” I pointed to the two lion-headed men. “Erastus and Tryphone. They are Genii.” The woman, Wren, opened her mouth to ask questions, but I interrupted before she could get the words out. There would be time for questions later. First, I needed answers. I pointed to Milo. “Milonos. The Divine Bull.”

“Divine Bull?” she asked before I could continue, and I gritted my back teeth.

But it was Milo who answered. “Fancy name for a Minotaur. Which is just the human way of saying a bull-headed Demigod.TheMinotaur was actually my cousin. Long story.” He smirked at her, and for the first time in a century, I realized I was seeing my longtime friend and confidante almost sober. As supernaturals, it took a serious amount of dedication to be drunk all the time, but it felt like that was the only thing Milo had been dedicated to in a long time.

She was frowning and nodding at the same time. She had long, dark hair and skin so pale, it looked like milk. Her eyes were the color of the sea before a great storm. She was beautiful,if nothing else. But all temptations sent our way had been beautiful.

Sucking in a deep breath, the girl pointed to herself. “Wren Mahone. Goddess of coffee.”

Néit snorted a laugh, and I got the impression she was making fun of me. I couldn’t be sure, though—it had been so long since anyone had dared to tease the God of Renewal.

Tryp laughed. “I don’t think we have a Goddess of Coffee. I vote we make it canon.”

Erus nudged him with his elbow, trying to keep his easily distracted lover on track. Some days, I looked at their closeness with envy in my heart. What would it have been like to go into this isolation with a lover, someone to keep me warm in the darkness of the night?

That old pain of loss, like a gaping hole in my chest, made me impatient. “Now we have introductions out of the way, I believe you might need to go further back in your explanations, human.”

She blinked in my direction again, her face annoyed, like I could turn down the imaginary lights that only she could see.

Teron also threw me an irritated expression, his tone soft as he asked the same thing I did, but in a gentler tone. “Before the Oracle, when did you notice things starting to change?”

She bit her lip, and I wanted to suck the full, pink flesh between my own. I might have kept my face neutral, but inside, I balked at the random thought. Where the hell hadthatcome from? I hadn’t felt desire in… too long to remember.

“I started to see the streaks about five months ago, I guess? Just one or two, like when the sun hits your window just right. Then it was more and more, until I went and saw a doctor. I thought I had a brain tumor.” She huffed a laugh that didn’t sound particularly mirthful. “What I actually had was a bad case of pregnancy.”

“The father?”

“I don’t even remember getting laid.”

Tryp groaned. “Man, that has to suck. Imagine getting knocked up and not even remembering getting off. Unless…” He paused. “You didn’t get frisky with any swans, did you? Maybe a cuckoo?” He shot a grin at Milo. “Or a bull?”

I knew what he was getting at, and it was a valid question, even if he was making it sound like a joke.

Wren, though, looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “You’re asking me if I fucked a swan? Am I getting this right? And what the hell does a cuckoo even look like?” Tryp went to answer, but she waved a hand at him. “No, I don’t want to know. I haven’t fucked any animals.”

“Would you like to?” Tryp teased, letting his glamor slip on purpose, because the guy was a whore, despite having a sexual partner.

Erus rolled his eyes as he picked up Tryp’s line of questioning. “Did you stand in any golden rain? Perhaps eat some funky-looking lettuce or fruit?”

Tryp chuckled. “Golden rain. Heh.”

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