Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
But still, it’s exciting to dream about.
And I will dream about it. Probably for the rest of my life.
“Here.” Eros tugs on my chain, leading me over to a shop with the word ‘apothecary’ painted across the front of the large picture window. “We need acetic acid, sharptongue, and goldberry.”
“Is that what the book says?” I ask.
“Yes. It’s a simple recipe, but it requires a custom spelling using a celestial décima.”
“Please tell me that’s your job. Because I have no idea what that even means. Complicated spellings are not my thing. I do a little bottle magic, and nothing more.”
“I can do the spelling, don’t worry. It will take a little concentration to come up with the right pattern and rhyme scheme, but I am nothing if not an excellent speller.”
I smile. “This spell is going to be something for the history books.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Those ingredients you listed? Even I know they are powerful. Alone, for sure. But in that combination?” I nod my head. “Very, very powerful. Together, they are definitely going to do something big. Especially with this bottle.” I pat the crate.
“Good. Because I want to leave this place as soon as possible. Wait here, I’ll be right back. And then we’re going home. People are starting to stare at us.”
I look around and realize he’s right. People are staring. And it’s not just curious children, either. It’s… everyone.
But then I notice something else. When Eros goes inside, a few of the gawkers linger, but mostly they hurry away on their business. Everyone loses interest.
That’s when it truly becomes clear that it’s really not me they’re looking at. It was never me.
It was always him.
A few minutes later, he comes back out, handing me a paper bag and taking my lead once again. “Let’s go.”
“Right.” I fall in step behind him, leaning forward a little so I can say, “They’re looking at you, Eros. Watch.”
He doesn’t turn around and talk to me, but he does scan the crowd. And sure enough, the gawkers are back. Everyone is looking at him. Whispering. I even catch the word ‘god.’ Several times, actually.
And what did we expect? He rode into the city astride a near-mythical beast—even without the wings, the pegásius is so obviously not a horse—and I was sitting behind him, his slave. I am a lioness from the House of Fire with bloodlines that took thousands of years to perfect and everyone can see this.
“They know what you are,” I whisper to his back.
“Just walk faster. We’ll collect Ire and be on our way. Do not look at anyone. Just ignore them.”
Thankfully, the stable is not far away and we reach Ire in a matter of minutes. Eros mounts. But when I take hold of the bridle, ready to lead him on the long walk home, Eros shakes his head. “Get on.” He holds his hand out and I grab it, swinging my leg up and over as Eros effortlessly lifts me off the ground, settling behind him.
“Won’t we be drawing attention to ourselves?”
“There’s no way out of it now. We just need to leave the inner sanctum of this godforsaken city and it’ll be OK. The ordinary people and the peasants, they don’t have time to worry about strange gods. They barely have time to worry about themselves.”
We leave the Sphere Market at a trot and we continue that pace all the way back to the inn.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - EROS
It’s true that we get fewer looks as we get further and further away from the Sphere Market and the Science and Glory Buildings in general. But a god-like man such as myself with a royal beast sitting behind him and both astride a pegásius is an easy thing to take notice of.
But while in the Sphere Market the looks we got were antagonistic, the looks we get out here are much more scornful than hostile. More like the three of us are gonna be trouble that common folks just don’t have the time for, and not like we’re gonna break the whole fabric of elite society by merely existing in the same space.
So Callistina’s theory that they are looking at me is probably a little bit right and a little bit wrong. I can admit that it’s probably me who’s garnering the most attention simply by the fact that it is obvious and clear that I am the one running the show here.
But even admitting to that kind of authority, it’s not just me. It’s all of us. Not simply the fact that we all exist, but that we all exist as a kind of trio traveling together.
We’re exuding power here. It’s coming off us like a fine mist, permeating the air in every direction. I mean, I’m a god. One of the originals. I’m being shaped into a proper little minion up in those buildings in this very moment. And Callistina was queen of one of the biggest empires the world has ever seen. She might not have been born for that role, but she had it. And she took it by the fuckin’ horns and made her mark. Regardless of what the history books will say about her in the future, she made her mark.