"We should leave this day," Aron tells me in a low voice, so low that Omos won't overhear. "Overnight. Travel in darkness."
"Yeah, sounds like fun," I tell him absently and study another page. This chapter's about Aron and I admit, I pause a little longer than I probably should to snoop. "Except he's being awesome to us and carrying a letter is the least we can do."
Aron stalks away from his maps and moves to my side. No, correction, he moves to come loom over me. "And if we stay behind, it gives assassins that much more of a chance to find us if we remain in one place."
Assassins? Damn. I hesitate. "Won't they just as easily find us in the dark, then?"
He grunts and rolls his eyes at me. "Are you done learning?"
“Done” learning. This man, I swear. "No. In fact, it'll probably take me all night to finish cramming." I carefully flip the page back so he doesn't see that I was reading about him. I don't want to seem like a creeper. "So it's a good thing we're staying. Besides, I'm hungry anyhow."
"You should eat," he agrees, moving to the supplies that Omos just packed and pulling out a small wheel of cheese. "Here."
"Er, okay." I take the cheese but don't chow down on it. Not yet. Feels strange to gnaw on something the size of a plate anyhow. "In all seriousness, let's think about your other selves for a second. You know you the best, right? So let's consider how your other Aspects are going to react. How they'll strategize. And then we can determine the best way to go forward."
Aron stares at me for a long moment and then grunts approval. "A good idea."
I feel like I was just awarded a trophy.
He merely gazes at me, watching, and I can't tell if he's trying to figure me out or waiting for me to talk. My skin prickles with awareness at his stare and I rub my arm absently. "So? Let's think about this. We know the three Aspects that are left because you’re, ah…”
How do you delicately tell a guy that he’s arrogance personified?
"Arrogance." A thin smile curves his mouth. "You can say it. You think I am unaware? There is no hiding what an Aspect is, no more than Tadekha could hide her nature."
I blush at the mention of Tadekha, thinking of how I rubbed up against Aron like a kitten in the middle of her audience chamber. A really, really horny kitten. "Oh, I remember." I toss my hair and avert my gaze, staring at the cheese wheel to try and collect my scattered thoughts, because now I'm remembering how he touched me…and how very detached he was. Gah. "So okay, let's think about the slutty Aspect, then."
"Hedonism," he corrects. "Gorging oneself on all the pleasures that the mortal world has to offer."
Splitting hairs, but okay. "So the biggest things are food, drink, and sex."
"And battle."
I frown at that. "Why battle?"
"Because I am a god of battle and war. The spilling of blood pleases me." His smile is rather chilling. "Another Aspect of me would seek out pleasure—any of them. Preferably all of them at once."
I try to picture what it would be like if I'd met that Aron instead of this one and for some reason, my stupid brain goes back to when I slid my hands under his kilt and caressed his dick. Something deep inside me clenches pleasurably, and I can feel my cheeks heating. When I meet Aron's gaze, he's studying me and I wonder if he's thinking the same thing.
I clear my throat and gesture at the map in front of him. "You're the expert on this world. You tell me where you think you'd head."
He glances down, his dark hair spilling over one hard, muscled shoulder. All that pale skin and long hair should make him look gothy. He's anything but. There's a powerful air about him that makes one sit up and notice, and he's so muscular and imposing that there's no way anyone would think he's old. Ageless, sure. Withered? Never. Not with those cheekbones and piercing eyes. His colorlessness just seems menacing instead of ageing, and the scar on his face stands out that much more.
Aron's gaze flicks to me, and our eyes meet. For a moment, I feel flushed again, but then his eyes narrow at me and I realize he must have said something and I'm just sitting here, creeping