“Thank you.” She hugged me.
“Emma?” The man was baffled.
“I'm sorry, Clay,” Emma said to him. “I've had these dreams recently and they're all centered around this man named Fenrir. I think I'm meant to be with him.”
“Dreams?” The guy gaped at her. “We're finally free, and you want to find some guy your drug-induced mind created?”
“We're going to get all of you back to where you belong,” I said gently. “Don't worry about the little things right now, okay?”
The man looked from Emma to me and then nodded. “Okay. Fine.”
“Pathetic,” Demeter huffed. “You think that you love her because I made you fuck her? Ridiculous. You bonded over a shared, sexual experience; nothing more.”
The freedmen closed in tighter.
“Hold!” I said, and they froze. “I can't let you kill her. I need her for a battle, and then I get to kill her.”
“As long as she dies, I'm okay with that,” one of the men said, and the others nodded in agreement.
Demeter rolled her eyes.
Chapter Thirteen
Demeter led us to her palace and—at my insistence—found some clothing for the freed prisoners. She wanted to do some research in her library while we were there, but I was getting nervous. I knew that Thor would be worried, and I started pacing the library while she read. Kirill had taken the humans to the kitchen to find them something to eat, but he returned with a mug of coffee for me; fixed precisely the way I liked it.
I smiled and shook my head in wonder as I lowered the mug. “You're, like, the perfect man.”
“Hardly,” Kirill whispered as he glanced at Demeter. “I'm a bit worn.”
“No; you're not.” I took his hand and squeezed it. “You are not the sum of things that have been done to you. Instead, measure yourself by your own actions.”
Kirill smiled softly at me. “How did I know you vere going to say zat?”
I stared up at him and let out a shaky, sad breath.
“Vhat is it?” He asked softly.
“She's married,” Demeter looked up from her book to announce gleefully. “So, don't get your hopes up, pretty boy. You can't have her.”
“Shut up, Dementor,” I snapped.
“What happened to being a one-man woman?” She asked.
I started to growl, but Demeter just smirked and went back to reading.
“You're married?” Kirill asked in shock.
“Yes,” I admitted.
Kirill seemed to think about it, and then shrugged. “I don't care.”
“My husband will,” I said. “Look; you know that there's something between us that has been there for awhile. I can't explain this all to you, but I need you to trust me. This will work itself out; we just need to give it time. I can't tell Thor about you yet.”
“I understand,” Kirill said steadily.
“Time,” Demeter huffed, and then her eyes narrowed. “We're dealing with a god of time.” She lifted her stare to mine. “What aren't you telling me, Vervain?”
Go on, Al said, explain it to the rapist.
“I believe that Aion and Nyx have changed the past,” I said.
Both Demeter and Kirill's eyes went wide.
“And it has altered our present,” I finished.
“Our present,” Demeter murmured as she began to look unsettled. “I have the oddest feeling that I'm not supposed to have a present.”
And you're right, Al said.
I really did kill her, didn't I? I asked him.
You really did, he confirmed. Boy, did you.
“And ve are supposed to be together,” Kirill said as he pulled me against his chest. “Aren't ve, Tima?”
“I think so,” I whispered. “You and...”
“Your other husbands.” Kirill nodded. “I know zat I don't get to have you to myself; I can feel it. But it doesn't bother me. I love you, Vervain; if I have to share you, I am content vith zat.”
“How sweet,” Demeter muttered.
“One more word from you, and I'll roast you now instead of later,” I growled.
“Roast?” Demeter's eyes went round and distant. Then she whispered, “You're the reason I'm afraid of fire.”
“Yeah, well; I don't have that ability this time around,” I admitted. “So, that's not what you have to fear.”
“No; you'll just drain my magic,” she said bitterly.
“Do you really think that you're innocent?” I asked her. “That you don't deserve to die?”
“I behave just as I was taught to,” she said flippantly. “I am a product of my race; a being of magic and power. This is the way of the Gods.”
“Not all gods,” I corrected.
“Whatever.” Demeter rolled her eyes. “You may be interested to know that I found some information on Aion.”
“What? Will it help us kill him?” I asked as I went over to her desk.
I glanced at a framed picture of Persephone as a little girl that was set facing Demeter. An ache took hold of my chest, and I knew for certain that just as Demeter should be dead, my friend should be alive. I looked down at the book Demeter held; vowing to myself that I would fix things.
“Aion can only change an aspect of history once.” Demeter tapped the page. “So, whatever he's done; if we undo it, he cannot go back and try again.”
“That's reassuring,” I said as I scanned the page. “An hourglass? Really?”
“Vhat about hourglass?” Kirill asked.
“It's his weakness,” Demeter said with a vicious smile. “Aion is the God of Cyclical Time. An hourglass is the perfect representation of that; the way you can turn it over and over. Break one and cast the sands over Aion, and he freezes; as if his time has been stopped.”
“How long does it last?” Kirill asked.
“An hour,” I said as I looked up at him. “The same amount of time that is cast upon him.”
“More zan enough time to kill him,” Kirill pointed out.
“Or
