to go home.” I decide I’m going to ignore the insults or we won’t get anywhere. “How do we do that?”
“You are my servant. My ears on this earth. My link to this world. Are you not supposed to be the one that knows?”
I sit up and scowl at him. “I’m pretty sure I’m your servant because no one else was beating down your door to volunteer and it was either you or dying, and I’m still not sure I chose correctly.”
He snorts again.
“I’m not from here, in case you didn’t notice. I’m from a place called Earth, thanks for asking. And it’s nothing like this.” I gesture at the room, then at him. “I’m just as clueless as you about a lot of stuff, but I know the basics. You know, eating, drinking, sleeping, basic human shit. So if you want to be completely on your own, just say so and I’ll leave—”
“You cannot leave. You are bound to me.”
“Then work with me, buddy.” I want to throw something over at him on the bed, but there’s nothing but my pillow, and I need that. “I’m happy to help out, because I want to go home, too. We’ll get you home and maybe we’ll figure out how to get me home.” Heck, I figure if anyone knows how to break the time-space continuum and send a girl back to Earth, it’d be a god. “So how do we get you home?”
There’s a long pause. “I am not certain.”
Well, at least we’re getting somewhere other than just insults. “That’s all right. You said this happened to other gods, too, right? Did they get back home?”
“Yes.”
“So someone knows how to get you there. We just have to find that person.”
Aron makes a noise that might be assent, might be annoyance. “I will speak to the prelate in the morning.”
I bite my lip and think of the intense conversation the men were having in the shadows. How they tried to get me to “help” them. “Just between you and me, I don’t think you should trust him. In fact, I think we should get out of here. Like, as soon as possible.”
The god sits up in bed, his long, dark hair spilling around his shoulders. He narrows his eyes at me. “Why?”
“I overheard something.” Quickly, I sketch out the details and then add, “I don’t trust them not to pull something. I don’t like it. They tried to turn me against you.”
“A fool’s task,” he says condescendingly.
I arch an eyebrow. “We’ve really got to talk about your self-confidence. How do you know they wouldn’t turn me?”
“Because they can’t.”
“Why can’t they? For the right price, I think anyone can be bought.”
The look he gives me is downright incredulous. “You are my anchor. My servant on this earth—”
I wave a hand as if brushing aside all that. “And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re not the most huggable and loveable of guys. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m trying to tell you that if they approached me, it stands to reason that they approached other people and we need to be careful.”
He stares at me for so long that I almost wonder if he’s figured out how to sleep with his eyes open. Maybe we should have a conversation about blinking, too. But then he shakes his head slowly. “No. We will speak to the prelate. This is my temple. Aventine is a city dedicated to my name. It is my kingdom to rule over. I see no reason to leave.”
I bite my lip again. Eesh. “See, it’s that whole ‘your kingdom’ thing that the prelate is going to have a problem with. You came in and stole his thunder, no pun intended.”
“What is a pun?”
“It’d take too long to explain. Stay with me.” I shift on my seat, realizing I’ve been giving him a Basic Instinct flash for the last few minutes. Luckily it doesn’t look like Aron is interested in that sort of thing at all. “You swooped in and now he’s not top dog. He’s not in charge, and he has to basically bow and scrape to you, and I get the impression he’s not a bow and scraper. We need to get out of here before he tries something bad—”
“Bad,” Aron restates, interrupting. It’s a question, I’m pretty sure.
I plunge ahead. “We can maybe get some money and clothes on the sly in the morning. Get some food. We won’t tell anyone what we’re doing and