Chapter Three (Part 1)

Idris hovered after the visit to the temple. He appeared to think that I was seconds away from some sort of mental break. As a result, he was simultaneously walking on eggshells around me, while also shattering them to bits underfoot, because he just wouldn’t leave me alone.

“Have you ever thought of using your universe-given powers to transform yourself into a dog? That way your sniffing and whining at me would at least be cute enough to tolerate,” I spat. Idris just huffed and continued to follow me down the steps of his enormous palace, right on my heels.

“If I did, I would turn you into a cute little black kitten so I could carry you around in my mouth,” he retorted, his tone not as joking as I would have liked it to be.

I shot him a dirty look over my shoulder, but he just returned it with his eyebrows raised challengingly. Gods, he was annoying. And hot. Ugh.

Idris finally broke our staring contest with a sigh. “Don’t you want to at least talk about it?”

I scowled. “What is there to say? The people are clearly delusional, as I’ve been telling you all along. It’s only a matter of time before they collectively slide off the deep end and storm the palace to force me to make their love stories come true. And when they realize I can’t, they’ll probably kill me. Sorry to widow you so soon, babe.”

With that, I spun back around and stormed off to find Gabriel and bother him. That always made me feel better. Or at least, I tried to.

Strong arms wrapped around my waist before I even got a few steps away, hauling me off my feet – pretty fucking impressive given that I was seven feet tall – and into a warm embrace. A rapid heartbeat thudded against my own while warm lips pressed against the back of my head, whispered words following right after.

“I won’t let that happen. It won’t happen. Nothing is allowed to happen to you.” He paused, nose ruffling my hair by my ear. “I would level the city before I let them touch you,” he added quietly, like it was a secret, and I snorted, because I knew he would never do that. He was Idris, god of light and creation, the universe’s number one baby, guardian of the balance. He would go to great lengths to protect me, I’m sure, but he would never take innocent lives to do it. It was a comforting exaggeration, nonetheless.

“Sure, you would,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “But let’s think of some real solutions before we resort to mass genocide, alright?”

He didn’t respond for a moment, which was weird. I thought he would at least do that little huff-laugh he did sometimes when he found me amusing but didn’t want to encourage me, but he was silent, arms tight around me.

He let me go after a moment, turning me to face him gently. “I need to go take care of something,” he said cryptically. “Why don’t you call Peace and Wisdom to stay with you while I’m gone?”

My lips twitched. “I don’t need a babysitter, asshole. I’m fine. I don’t even want to leave the palace right now, so you can calm the fuck down.” I resisted the urge to stomp my foot like a child and further cement the idea that I needed to be protected like one. “…But I would like to see my kids. I’m not doing it because you suggested it, though.”

Idris smiled and nuzzled his nose against mine. “Of course not. I’ll be back soon.”

I narrowed my eyes curiously. And a little suspiciously. He hadn’t been this cagey about what he was doing since he’d been planning to propose. “What do you need to do?”

Those blue eyes slid off to the side before coming back to me with a thin smile. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Yeah, that’s not suspicious. Whatever. If it’s illegal, just make sure you don’t get caught. I don’t have time to break you out of jail right now.” I turned on my heel, ignoring his snicker behind me.

He caught up a moment later and walked next to me, close enough that our arms brushed. Annoyed by the tickly touch, I swerved sideways and slammed my shoulder into him. He barely faltered, continuing as if nothing had happened.

“Oh yeah? Your schedule is just too jam-packed to rescue your poor husband?” he teased.

“Yep. I have my daily afternoon nap in a couple hours, then I’m going to eat a light lunch, take another nap, bother Gabriel, tend to the garden, and then another nap. And after that probably some havoc-wreaking. I’m thinking of finding those new little guards and chasing them around a bit. I might even have time for a little vandalism, as a treat.”

“And what are you going to vandalize?”

“Dunno yet. Probably your office. Might spray paint a giant penis on one of the walls outside. We’ll see.”

Idris hummed thoughtfully. “Well, clearly, you’re much too busy. I’ll make sure to stay out of trouble.”

“Good. Now leave me be. I have a lot to get to today and I can’t be distracted.”

“Of course.” He pressed a kiss to my temple, lips curving into a smile against my skin. “I’ll see you later.”

With that, he vanished, taking my lightheartedness with him. It was easy to banter and forget about my problems when I was with Idris, but now that he was gone, taking the safety and comfort of his presence with him, I was left with an ache in my stomach and a strange tightness in my throat.

How much longer would the people pray before they got tired of wishing for blessings that would never come? How far would they go to get my attention? What methods would they use?

Would they actually try to sneak into the palace to get to me? Maybe they would accost the people I love while they were out and about. Worse, maybe they would escalate their private worship, believing all the while that I could somehow hear them, even though technically I needed to be in close proximity to someone to hear their prayers. The idea that gods could hear all prayers regardless of distance was false, and I cursed whichever idiot started that rumor. The only being capable of hearing the realm’s prayers at all times was the universe itself, and it ignored pretty much everyone, leaving gods like Idris and I to deal with the smaller fish.

But the smaller fish were many in number, and I had never had to deal with something so intricate and potentially catastrophic. I was walking the edge of a knife in bare feet, praying I could keep my balance. But I wouldn’t be able to do that forever. Soon enough, the small acts of worship would escalate, desperation driving them to madness.

Would they hurt others to get my attention, justifying it as a ‘sacrifice’? Would they hurt themselves, cutting themselves bloody over an altar in my name, hoping the gesture would be powerful enough to summon me?

This whole situation had all the makings of a disaster waiting to happen. Simple godly worship could turn cult-like very quickly.

When this whole thing started and rumors started floating around Esen about me being a ‘god of love’ it had been a lighthearted affectation, I’m pretty sure. A joke among the people, probably to make me seem less terrifying. No one actually seriously considered me a god of love.

So, when did that change? How? And why?

I needed answers. But where to get them? Stepping outside to ask random pedestrians would just get me mobbed. I could always ask Ren to disguise me again and snoop around asking, but what were the chances that the average person knew exactly how the ‘Love god’ title started being taken seriously?

The temple, I thought. That temple we visited was the first one ever built.

So, whoever built it probably took the joke a little too seriously, and made the temple, leading everyone else to believe it was true, too. After all, why build a temple to a god of love if they weren’t actually a god of love? That was ridiculous. So the only explanation would be that I really was a love god, right? At least, I presumed that was the thought process they had.

I needed to talk to the owner of the temple.

But first, a little snuggle time with my kids.

I called Peace and Wisdom, and they showed up fifteen minutes later, finding me sitting in the garden feeding my blood-drinking vines. The cute little green vines twined affectionately around my wrist, gently slurping blood from my palm.

Wisdom spotted me first, coming over and petting the vines. They writhed in pleasure at the touch. Peace came in right after her, bouncing up to me so he could collapse against my side like a baby monkey clinging onto its mother. Wisdom sat gracefully on my other side, quiet but knowing as always, those gray eyes searching me.

“Something is troubling you,” she murmured after a while. Peace looked up at this, spiky blond hair tickling my chin.

“What is it? Is it Idris? I’ll kick him for you,” Peace offered, which was a nice gesture, but I knew he wouldn’t. Peace, as his name suggested, was incapable of violence, especially towards someone he cared for. Idris’s children had become my own, and similarly, he’d adopted mine as well, and they both looked up to him.

“It’s not him,” I said. Well…it wasn’t totally him. I hadn’t told them about Idris not being able to hear the universe on our wedding night. In fact, I’d been trying to forget about it entirely, passing it off as simple excitement and nerves drowning out everything else. Idris had been acting exactly the same as before, so I figured I was probably overreacting. And even if there was something wrong, it could wait. I had to deal with one problem at a time, and the threat of rabid worshippers was considerably more urgent right now.

“You guys know about my new temples, right?” I said, and they both nodded. “Well, all this new worship is getting kind of out of hand, and I’m thinking about what to do about it.”

Peace squinted adorably. “Why do you have to do anything about it? Isn’t it good that they’re worshipping you now? You must be bursting with power!”

I smirked. Always the optimist, and full of enthusiasm. It was refreshing as usual, but Peace’s innocent way of thinking wouldn’t let him see how all this could turn ugly very quickly.