“Well, you ruined my first plan with all of your 'We're not having sex' stuff, but I may have a few other suggestions.”
“I'm waiting with bated breath.” I smirked.
“If only,” Sin declared dramatically.
Chapter Sixteen
Sin took me shopping at a souq, where all of that cash came in handy. The Middle Eastern mall exploded with color and intricate patterns as if the people of Bahrain needed all of the stimuli to make up for the dull landscape. Exotic aromas permeated the air; spices, sweets, and cooking meat, along with a barrage of voices haggling over prices in multiple languages. I loved it all.
“Godhunter,” a voice whispered in my ear; low and male.
I straightened from my inspection of a scarf and scanned the crowd around me.
“What is it?” Sin asked as he went alert.
“I heard something.”
“Come to the back of the shop. Leave the Moon God behind,” the same voice urged.
Do it! Star exclaimed excitedly.
“What did you hear?” Sin prompted.
“Nothing.” I smiled at him. “My ears are playing tricks on me.”
“This place can confuse the senses.” Sin grinned. “There's so much going on.”
“I'll be right back; I see something I want to check out.”
“Okay, I'll be here.” Sin went back to perusing a display of knives as I headed deeper into the shop.
I stepped around a display of trinkets and a shape condensed out of the shadows. A man stood swathed in black, only his eyes showing. Those eyes gleamed like a cat's, magic shining like a beacon across their surface before fading away.
“I've seen you rise, Dragon Goddess,” his voice, deep and raspy, filtered through the cloth veiling him.
“Are you talking about the future? That's impossible; I have no destiny anymore.”
“You've indeed broken your ties to Fate, but you still have a future, and my people are very good at seeing the future. It's a gift our goddess gave us when she died.”
“Your goddess?” I asked warily.
“Tiamat.” The name shivered between us. “She who made us.”
“You were in her army?” I stepped forward with wide eyes.
“We were. We are children of the Great Dragon.”
“Are you a dragon?”
“No,” he whispered and held up a gloved hand. “Do not ask me what I am. I cannot tell you. Not yet.”
“The monsters,” I whispered. “You're one of the monsters.”
“That's what they called us, but it's not what we are.”
“What a shame.” I smiled softly. “I love monsters. Some of my favorite people are monsters.”
He chuckled, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners. “Yes, we've heard.”
“Will you join my army? Help me, and I'll give you justice for Tiamat.”
“I will help you, but my kind will not fight this war with you,” he said gently. “Not this one.”
“Another war then?” I lifted a brow. “I intend for this war to end all others.”
He made a noncommittal sound and then held out his hand again. His fist turned and opened, revealing a ring. Crimson metal swirled up into a loop that surrounded a matching gem. Within the facets of the jewel, something sparked. I took the ring and slid it on to replace my wedding ring.
“Smash this stone when you need us, Dragon Queen, and we will come to your aid.”
“I need you now.”
“Not yet. You'll know when,” his voice faded along with him until I was left staring at a faded poster of Arabian movie stars.
I looked down at the ring with a shiver of trepidation. “What was he, Star?”
I have no idea! She exclaimed gleefully.
“That excites you?”
Doesn't it excite you?
“Maybe a little.” I chuckled and headed back to Sin.
“Find anything good?” Sin asked as I stepped up beside him.
“Just a little bauble.” I flashed the ring at him, not wanting him to look too closely.
“Pretty,” he noted absently. “Care to do some more shopping or are you ready to head to that fort I told you about?”
“Let's go. I think I've gotten everything I need from here.”
I glanced back at the shop as we left and caught a shimmer of magic in the air.
Chapter Seventeen
After we explored the Qal'at al-Bahrain, an ancient fort and archaeological site just outside of Manama, we returned to the city to have lunch in one of the hotels. Sin was charming, funny, and very knowledgeable about the region. He had lived in Bahrain for over a thousand years so it would have been more surprising if he didn't know its history.
“So, the Mesopotamian Gods don't have a territory in the God Realm?” I asked as we drove away from the hotel.
“We were some of the first gods in the game, as it were.” Sin winked at me. “While the rest of them were still wandering about, trying to figure out what to do with themselves after the Fall of Atlantis, we came here and immediately made ourselves known to the humans.”
“You got lost, didn't you?”
Sin burst out laughing. “That's rather spot-on, actually. We sort of stumbled into the desert and were found by the locals. They helped us. In return, we showed them what we could do.”
“And they called you Gods.”
He nodded. “We tried to explain that we were another race from a faraway land, but they took that to mean outer space or heaven or what have you. When they started offering us food, clothing, and temples in exchange for our magic, we stopped protesting and quickly saw the potential.”
“And then Jerry showed up with Luke and Holly,” I muttered.
“Jerry?” Sin glanced at me.
“Oh, sorry. Jehovah. Or maybe I should call him Al here; short for Allah. Although, I already know an Al, and he wouldn't be pleased by the comparison.”
Sin started laughing again. “It figures that you'd know those three. Yeah; they showed up with a bunch of friends.”
“Angels and Demons. Not to be confused with the Demons from your pantheon who got their names from the Greek 'daimon' which means 'spirit.'”
“Very good; you know our history.”
“I did mention the documentary, right?” I winked at him.
Sin laughed. “You did. Anyway, the God Realm wasn't created until after the
