Page 128 of The Seducer
“Yes,” she said, her expression growing serious. “From the time I was twelve, I’ve been taught about love and kindness. As a priestess it’s my mission in life to spread that message around the world. It’s easy to be kind to people who are kind and loving to you; anyone can do that.”
“Uh-huh,” Zeus agreed.
“It’s much harder to be kind to someone who is mean to you.”
Zeus raised an eyebrow and gave me a pointed stare, before he asked Athena. “Are you referring to someone who kidnaps you or keeps you a hostage?”
“It doesn’t have to be that bad, but yes, a situation like that puts you to the test.”
Zeus leaned back and blinked a few times. “I’m not sure I follow. If someone kidnapped me, I wouldn’t want to be nice to them. Why would I? They would be my enemy.”
“What the hell?” I threw my hands up. “You’re an Nman and you’re supposed to be on my side,” I reminded Zeus, who sat spellbound by Athena. “And for the record, I was a goddamn gentleman with Athena.”
She raised an eyebrow and I shrugged a little and added, “Most of the time, anyway.”
“The point is,” she continued, “that being kidnapped was an eye-opener and I realized that I had room for more spiritual growth. When Finn came to the Motherlands some months later, I rose to the challenge and not only did I forgive him, but I invited him into my house for five days.”
Zeus scrunched up his face. “I’m sorry, Athena, but many Northmen will question your intelligence at this point. Why would you invite your enemy into your house?”
I leaned forward. “That’s a dumb question. I wasn’t her enemy, and only idiots confuse kindness with stupidity.”
“Is that a quote from someone famous?” he asked with his brows lowered.
“Yes, you can quoteme!” I said with a firm nod and leaned back again.
Zeus returned his focus to Athena. “How about if you share with us what attracted you to Finn in the first place?”
She squeezed my hand again. “To be honest, I was blinded by all our differences in the beginning. Once I began opening my eyes to the good side of him, I saw how wonderful Finn is. When I got severely hurt in the earthquake, Finn saved my life.”
“How did he save your life?” Zeus asked Athena, once again ignoring me. This time Athena didn’t let him get away with it.
“Finn darling, will you explain?” she asked and looked at me with love shining from her eyes.
I squared my shoulders a little. “Well, Athena’s house collapsed and she got trapped under a large beam that cut her shin deep enough for her to almost bleed to death. All I did was move the beam, close her wound, and fuel her up with some strong Nman blood. I’m not some hero. Any Nman would have done the same.”
Zeus agreed. “Sure, nothing special about that.”
I gave him the stink eye because although I agreed with him, he did nothing to make me look good in this interview.
“Athena,” Zeus said and smiled at her. “Can you mention a situation where you knew you were falling in love?”
She blushed red as if recalling something sexual, and it brought back my good mood. “Finn has a great sense of humor and he’s good at making me laugh. I appreciate that about him,” she said, sticking to a safe topic.
“I’m also really well hung,” I grinned and completely embarrassed Athena, while Zeus looked like that was a valid point.
“Did that have anything to do with your feelings for Finn?” he asked in a serious tone.
“Nooo.” Athena looked into the camera. “Let me point out to my fellow countrymen that you shouldn’t judge the Nmen on their crude sense of humor. It’s just one of the cultural differences between us. The truth is, Finn is very intelligent and he is fully capable of having deep and serious conversations. He even participates in many of my spiritual practices.”
Zeus lowered his brows again, and asked me, “How do you feel about these so-called spiritual practices?”
“Athena calls me her spiritual teacher so I think I’m pretty good at it. To be honest I like to think of myself as more of a spiritual gangster, you know?”
“A spiritual gangster?” Zeus frowned. “I’m not sure what that is.”
I laughed. “It’s someone who doesn’t take life too seriously. I shake up Athena’s world and make it less predictable and more fun. We spiritual gangsters sneak in playtime a lot.” I laughed and gave her a heated look. “Like that Bugga guy, just with better abs.” I smacked my belly.
“He means the Buddha,” Athena corrected me and showed her white teeth when she smiled back at me.
