“No, but she's been watching Narcissus, and she told me that his father gave him a portion of his territory.” Morph scowled as Re casually followed his hands beneath the covers. “I'm still here, Re.”
“I know,” Re muttered angrily before he sucked in my nipple.
“Re!” I pushed him away. “I may have lost all my inhibitions but that doesn't mean I've suddenly turned into an exhibitionist. Cut it out!”
“Fine.” Re grimaced and got out of bed. “I'll be in the bathroom taking a shower if you want to join me.”
Re walked to the bathroom completely nude, and Morpheus averted his eyes. I averted my eyes too but for a completely different reason. One glance at Re's nudity, and I'd be hopelessly distracted.
“Go on, Morph.” I sat up and tucked the blankets firmly around me.
“Aunty Nem said that she tried to get into Narcissus' territory and couldn't.” Morph sat heavily on the edge of the bed. “We were meeting today to talk about it.”
“That's not unusual,” I said. “Gods ward their territories.”
“But once Nem has cursed a god, they can't ward against her,” Morph said grimly. “Narcissus should not have been able to keep her out. Something's wrong, V. I can feel it.”
“Okay. Give me a few minutes to get dressed,” I said. “I'll meet you downstairs.”
“Thank you.” Morph sighed in relief and hurried out of the room.
I glanced at the bathroom door and sighed too. I didn't have time to indulge in a shower with Re. I went to my dressing room instead and pulled on a pair of jeans and a tank top. Normally, I'd put on a dress but since I'd be investigating Nemesis' disappearance, I thought I'd better wear something more practical. I glanced at my full-length mirror on the way out. It was back in its proper place and all of the dust from Narcissus' mirror had been vacuumed up and taken out of my territory for disposal. I didn't want any part of it near me.
I poked my head into the bathroom to tell Re that I was leaving with Morpheus, but I didn't even glance toward the shower. I knew better than that.
“I'll go with you,” Re called back. “Just give me a few minutes.”
“I'm just going to Nemesis' territory with Morph,” I said in exasperation. “I'll be fine.”
“You're not going alone, Lala,” Re declared as he climbed the steps out of the pool-like tub and started drying off. “Where are the others?”
“Trevor's at Moonshine, Kirill is with Lesya, Toby's gone home, Az is at school, and Odin's upstairs sleeping, I think.”
“Why don't you tell Odin we're leaving while I get dressed?” Re walked by me, rubbing his dark hair briskly with his towel. When his hair was wet, I could barely see the golden highlights in it.
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes and headed for the stairs to Odin's tower.
“I see where Lesya gets it,” Re's voice followed me up the stairs.
I grimaced and grumbled all the way to Odin's room. I couldn't help acting like a child if I got treated like one.
“Odin?” I knocked on his door but there was no answer. “Odin?”
I went into the room and smiled softly when I saw Odin passed out across his bed. The room spanned out in a near circle from the doorway, the bed's square bulk leaving an odd hole behind it even though it was pushed up against the far side of the tower. I'd made Odin a table curved on one side to fit the space precisely. He had set family pictures on it; him and I together, our sons, Thor, and Ull. I hadn't realized it before but there wasn't a picture of Thrud there. Not that I blamed him; from my experience, Thrud was more like her mother than Thor; cold, unyielding, and unreasonable. Odin may love her, but he probably found it difficult to like her.
I went to the bed and gently shook him awake. “Odin?”
Odin blinked his eyes open and stared up at me sleepily; his peacock-colored irises glittered a deep, iridescent purple. He smiled after he focused them on me.
“Hey.” Odin pulled me down beside him.
The scent of crisp mountain air surrounded me, and I sighed. Odin always smelled fresh, even when he shouldn't. I snuggled in against him and just breathed him in for a second.
“Morpheus is here,” I told him. “He says that Nemesis is missing. She was supposed to meet him this morning to talk about Narcissus.”
“What about Narcissus?”
I told him what Morph had told me, and Odin sat up, got out of bed, and started putting on his clothes. I admired his thick, muscled body and the perfect curve of his ass while he did. I started to wonder if I might spare a few minutes to appreciate that divine display when it occurred to me why Odin might be getting dressed.
“You don't have to come along; Re is already insisting on joining us,” I said.
“I want to go.” Odin glanced back at me. “This whole situation feels unfinished to me, Vervain, and I don't like leaving things unfinished.”
“Neither do I.” I sighed deeply and stood. I had promised myself I'd be more careful so I didn't have the right to complain about backup. “All right, come on.”
Odin followed me downstairs where we found Re ready and waiting. He nodded at Odin in approval, and we took the elevator to the first floor where we met up with Morpheus. His eyes widened at my escort.
“Is this a family outing?” Morph asked.
“This is family security,” Odin corrected with a pointed look at my belly. “She's not leaving this territory with only one husband.”
Morpheus nodded. “Fair enough. I don't mind the extra help.”
“Alan,” I caught one of my lions as he went walking by.
“Yes, Tima?”
“Could you let Kirill know that I've gone with Odin and Re to help Morpheus find his aunt?”
“Of course.” He frowned. “Do you need some lions to go with you? I can
