“Au contraire, mon angel.” I waved a finger at him. “One of the worst beaches in the realms is here; a super depressing place along the Acheron, where souls who can't pay the Ferryman's toll must wait forever. Then there's the Vale of Mourning, where souls carry on eternally about people they loved who didn't love them back; talk about not letting it go. All that sounds like torture to me.”
“I have just been schooled,” Azrael said as he bowed.
“You're rather modern with your speech for an angel,” I noted.
“I spend a lot of time around humans,” he said softly, and then transferred his gaze to Odin. “Ask your husband; he knows.”
I looked at Odin in surprise; he was grimacing at Azrael.
“Do you two know each other?” I asked Odin.
Odin sighed deeply. “You had to bring that up now?” He huffed at Az.
Azrael just shrugged.
“We're all here,” Toby came up to us to say. “Shall we find Hades?”
“Yes; we shall,” Odin started off in the direction Hades had went.
“Odin?” I hurried after him. “You didn't answer me.”
“We'll talk once this is over, Vervain,” Odin said. “It's too long to get into right now.”
“I will tell her, if you don't,” Azrael threatened.
“Damn you, Azrael!” Odin roared as he spun around to face Az. “You did me a favor, and I repaid it; she has nothing to do with you.”
“I couldn't put her into Hvergelmir with the scythe, Odin,” Azrael said softly. “I had to extract her by hand.”
“What?” Odin went still.
“The Hvergelmir?” I asked in shock. “Are you the angel Odin got to put me into the Well?”
“I am.” Azrael turned to me with a gentle smile. “Don't you remember me, Vervain?”
I tried to; but all I came up with were visions of Azrael and me together intimately. Then there were the ones of him vowing to love me forever. Neither was appropriate to share. I blushed and shook my head.
“I'm sorry,” I murmured. “I don't remember the Well.”
“But you remember other things.” Azrael grinned sensually.
“Not now,” Odin growled at Az. “This isn't the time.”
“No; time is evidently not on our side at the moment,” Azrael murmured.
“We'll tell Hades you're on your way,” Horus said as he ushered the rest of our group past us.
“You go ahead, Naye,” Toby said. “I'll meet up with you in a few.”
“What? Why?” Nayenezgani asked as he gave his brother a baffled look.
“I need to speak to Vervain,” Toby said. “I'll explain it to you later.”
Nayenezgani frowned but finally gave in and followed their parents toward a gate in the garden wall.
“All right; it's just us now,” Toby said. “Can we get this out in the open? It seems that Azrael and I have a connection to your wife, Odin.”
“I know,” Odin said; surprising the men. “We think our past has been changed; the two of you have ties to Vervain that were altered. I can accept that, but in order to fix this, we must kill Aion. Now, are we going to stand around and talk about our feelings, or are we going to put time into correct alignment again?”
“In light of that, there's just one thing I need to do before we head into Tartarus,” Azrael said.
Odin cocked his head at Az, and the angel pulled me into an embrace and kissed me. My arms slid around his shoulders automatically, and I latched onto the muscles of his wings; using them to pull Azrael closer. My own wings unfurled and curled forward. The scent of vanilla orchids filled the air as Azrael's black wings intertwined with my white ones, and we blocked the world out as we sank into our kiss.
There goes your vow not to kiss any more men, Alaric said. No; wait. That was the last time. Dang it; I'm getting confused, and that can't be good.
I ignored Alaric's ramblings as I continued to kiss Azrael. I felt as if I were a puzzle with pieces set incorrectly, and Azrael had just snapped a piece into its proper position. Then Az eased away and stared down at me.
Az rubbed his thumb across my lips and said, “Now, I can face all the demons of Tartarus.”
“I don't believe they call them demons here,” Odin said dryly. “Although, there is a giant, three-headed dog that smells a little like sulfur.”
“Odin,” I whispered in horror as I pushed Azrael away.
Feathers rustled as Azrael's and my wings folded back and Odin was revealed. Amazingly enough, my husband didn't look furious. I would have been pissed if he'd kissed another woman in front of me. But Odin had always been a pragmatic man; a man of knowledge and reason. He hadn't lied when he said that he could accept this. But that didn't make him patient about it.
“If you're done making out with my wife, maybe we could save our futures with her?” Odin asked Azrael.
Azrael had the grace to look ashamed. “I'm sorry, Odin,” he said. “That was selfish of me.”
“Can you just tell me if we're supposed to be together too?” Toby asked me. “I feel as if we are.”
“According to my visions, you are,” Odin answered for me.
“I don't fully understand this, but at the same time, it's as if my life has just started to make sense,” Toby said softly as he took my hand.
“You've met me at a very strange time in my life,” I said with a smile.
“Okay, Tyler Durden, are we good now?” Odin asked dryly.
“I'm sorry.” I went to Odin and took his hand. “We're good.”
“And it's also good that I took this hourglass from you,” Odin huffed as he
