A good plan, like I said.
But because Gaea had decided to keep me out of the loop, I had started making my own plans as well.
The way I saw it at that time, since the amount of blood Little Iron consumed seemed to determine the speed in which the partridge discovered clues, I figured I could fast-track the whole process, have him jump from Point B to Point-Exactly-Where-We-Can-Find-Our-Thief by giving Little Iron as much blood as I could.
And what do you know?
My pet actually drank a freaking liter!
A liter!
I'd be dead if I were still human, but since I was a goddess, Little Iron only made me anemic and unconscious.
In the meantime, Cheiron had actually been following my trail since I left home. I was determined to protect you from the Gorgon, the centaur had admitted rather dryly, but instead I became another victim.
As Little Iron flew off like a bird on steroids, Gaea had been torn: if she left, something bad might happen to me, but if she didn't leave and follow Little Iron, something bad might happen to the entire world.
To this day, the earth goddess maintained that she had no idea what she'd have done if she were forced to make a choice, but...yeah right. We all knew she was lying. She'd totally choose saving the world or even choose saving a cockroach over me, just to ruin my day.
So anyway, it was a rather good thing Cheiron was there, and knowing that the centaur was the honorable sort, Gaea had dashed off without a word of explanation. She believed him capable of keeping me safe while I was unconscious, and the centaur did manage to do that...for about five seconds.
Cheiron had been about to lift me onto his back when Mira had struck his head with a spell, and it was a blow mighty enough to knock him out cold.
You know what happened after that, but what we'll never know was what Mira exactly planned to do with me or the SR-41.
All the secrets Mira kept, everything that we hoped to persuade her into revealing—-
All of it was gone.
Permanently.
Irrecovably.
Because last night, Mira had drowned herself in the waters of Lethe, and as with all objects and creatures that drowned in the river of forgetfulness...
There was no way to rescue her...lest you wanted to risk forgetting yourself as well.Chapter ThirteenMy days of Big M were over. It had been so since last week, and Hadrian and I had been celebrating it the way I had always dreamed of.
A moan escaped me as Hadrian thrust inside of me.
He made me feel so, so full.
And good.
Just so impossibly good.
And now...just like it always had been...
Another moan slipped past my lips as Hadrian pulled almost all the way out—-
Perfect.
My husband of two days thrust back inside of me just as I started to cum.
Perfect.
I threw my arms around his neck.
Perfect.
His hips moved furiously, his thrusts becoming wilder and more savage, and then he, too, was cumming with a growl.
Perfect.
Our bodies rocked and slammed against each other on the cold, tiled floor, our orgasm lasting so long that by the time his load was completely spent, I was deliciously limp with exhaustion, and all I could do was gaze up at him...
With or without menopause, my thoughts about Hadrian still hadn't changed.
My husband was so, so hot, and I was so unbelievably lucky—-
I saw his lips twitch, and I was immediately entranced...and distracted.
"You're looking at me that way again," he murmured knowingly.
"Do you have a problem with it?" I asked coyly.
"Not as long as you're always ready to face the consequence..." He lifted me up into his arms as he rose to his feet, and I absently cast a glance at our surroundings. This was the en-suite of Guest Bedroom #11 on the third floor, and with this, we had officially made love in every room (en-suites counted separately, natch) in the south wing of Hadrian's manor.
Hadrian helped me put my nightgown back on but didn't bother dressing himself.
Huh.
Instead, he took my hand and led me to the balcony.
As always, the skies were a blazing shade of orange, and under it were the mesmerizing rainbow swirls of the Underworld's secret river. It was crazy, how peaceful and serene I felt, even though Hadrian and I lived in a place that was otherwise known as Hell.
His arms wrapped around me from behind, and I found myself trapped between the balcony's waist-high walls and the powerful hardness of my husband's form.
"Hermes sent an invitation..."
"Nuh-uh." I couldn't help but giggle. "That's not how you pronounce it."
"Nuh-uh," Hadrian retorted mockingly in the same tone. "That's exactly how to pronounce it—-"
"No, it's not—-"
"When you're talking about a certain Greek god."
"Err...oops?"
Hades laughed.
"Please don't ever tell Gaea—-"
Too late.
I looked down, and there Gaea was, "half-dressed" in Gorgon flesh, which basically meant she still looked like herself - her original self - except for the fact that she also had snakes for hair and eyes that she had to cover with sunglasses.