“Sorry, Torr, we should have done that first,” I admitted. “The snake god told me not to interfere and he called me Godhunter. Oh, and he also said it would only be a little longer. So, he has a goal and he's almost achieved it.”
“What did he look like?” Torrent asked as his gaze went distant and then started to flick back and forth.
“Black. Big and black,” Trevor said.
“That sounds like a Cards Against Humanity answer,” Finn whispered to Morpheus, who chuckled.
“I caught a glimpse of him before he shifted,” I added, ignoring Finn and Morph. “He was black then too. I only caught an outline and the gleam of an eye. At first, I thought it was because he was in the shadows, but he was darker than the shadows.”
“Oh! That helps!” Torrent exclaimed. “Black as sin. That narrows it down to—”
“It's Adro,” Odin declared as he strode into the room.
“Son of a cocker spaniel!” Torrent cursed. “I was just about to say that! You utterly ruined my big reveal, Odin.”
“My apologies,” Odin said absently to Torrent as he made his way to our end of the room. He leaned his fists on the table to triumphantly add, “I finally found the story I was looking for—the one about snakes and not looking back. It's the Adroanzi, the children of Adro.”
“Who's Adro?” Karni Mata asked.
“Adro is the God of the Lugbara of Central Africa,” Torrent rushed to explain before Odin could beat him to it. “He's half good and half bad.”
“Aren't we all?” Re drawled with a wicked grin.
“Yes, but this is literal,” Torrent said crisply. “The myths say that the god Adroa split himself in two to separate the evil in him from the good. His good half is called Adroa and lives in the sky.”
“The God Realm,” I translated.
“Yes, likely,” Torrent agreed. “Adroa is described as tall and white. His bad half is called Adro. He is short and black—as in sin-black—and he is bound to the Earth.”
“Bound to the Earth?” I sat up, an idea tingling to life.
“That's what I was going to tell you next,” Odin took over. “Adro can't trace. Human belief has split him in two: one half bound to the God Realm and the other half to Earth. Neither can leave their realm.”
“You said that every god can trace,” I reminded him.
“I didn't know that Adroa couldn't trace,” he said defensively. “I'd read about him being separated into two—not as brutal as it sounds, if the accounts are to be trusted—but I didn't realize that it hobbled him as far as tracing went.”
“Talk about a split personality,” I noted. “But he's not literally half a person, is he?”
“I've never met him but according to the first-hand accounts I've read, he is,” Odin said as he finally sat down. “The only time he's whole is when he's in snake form. It's also the only time when he can copulate, which is how the Adroanzi line began.”
“He had sex with snakes?” Re asked in horror. “I'm Egyptian and the kinkiest person I know, and I would never have sex with snakes.”
“Even if youwerea snake?” I asked with a lifted brow.
Re considered this. “Well, obviously if I were a snake, I'd be having sex with other snakes. Which might not be so bad—some snakes have two penises after all.”
“What?” Viper nearly shrieked.
“Yes, they're called hemipenes,” Re delighted in notifying us. “The females—”
“That's more than enough information on snake genitalia, thank you, Re,” Thor cut him off.
“I'll tell you later,” Re whispered to Viper.
But Viper wasn't as interested in female snakes as he was the anatomy of males. He looked at me accusingly and announced, “I don't have two dicks, Vervain.”
I lifted my brows and blinked at the vehemence in his voice. “I know that, Viper. Nearly everyone who lives here can attest to that.”
