“But whydon'tI have two dicks?” He demanded.
Every eye watched us.
My face flushed. “Probably because I already have enough of them to deal with. The last thing I need is a man with two.”
“You weren't with the others when you made me.”
“Yes, but, as I told you, I was not the one who—”
“Okay! Okay!” Viper held up a hand before I could divulge the fact that I hadn't made his body so his lack of an extra penis wasn't my fault. “Fine. I get it. I'll deal with the deficit.”
“Honey, there is no part of you that could possibly be considered deficient.” I grinned lasciviously at him.
“If we could get back to the snake god?” Thor asked with his I'm-tired-of-your-crap-Vervain look.
I gave him my I-didn't-start-it look.
“As I was saying,” Odin began again. “Adro can only procreate in snake form and he did so. A lot. The Adroanziarehis family. Since they're demigods dependent on his magic, they, like him, are bound to the Earth and cannot trace.”
“That's why they had to tunnel everywhere,” Trevor concluded. “And why they didn't simply trace away to escape us.”
“Bound to the Earth,” I repeated Odin's words. “We were right, he's an earth god.”
“Yes,” Odin confirmed. “Adroa is the God of Heaven and Adro is the God of Earth. Besides his shapeshifting trick, he can also move soil and stone.”
“I don't remember him being only half a man,” I murmured. Then I reviewed my memory. “On second thought, I did only see half a man. I thought he was hidden behind the trunk of a tree but maybe he wasn't. Maybe he was simply standing beside the tree.”
“How does he get around with only one foot?” Hades frowned pensively.
“He probably hops like the Fachan do,” I hypothesized.
Morpheus snorted. “Hopping faeries.”
“She's right,” Odin vindicated me. “That's evidently how he gets around.”
“How humiliating,” Blue murmured.
“Do the halves share thoughts? Or do they each have half a brain?” I lifted an eyebrow at my husband.
“I don't know if they can communicate with each other, but Adro seems to have no problem with his brain,” Odin said. “You heard him, he sounded rational.”
“Magic can be so crazy,” I whispered in wonder.
“You were going to tell us about the Adroanzi,” Karni Mata reminded Odin.
“Yes, the Adroanzi.” Odin smacked the table with his palm. “They follow people home at night. If their targets don't look back, the Adroanzi will protect them and see them home safely. However, if they do look back, the Adroanzi kill them.”
“That explains why that snake-shifter didn't kill the woman,” Trevor noted.
“The Lugbara believe that when they die, they'll be turned into Adroanzi unless they sacrifice a child to Adro,” Torrent said brightly.
“What?” I growled. “I thought Adro fathered the Adroanzi?”
“He did,” Odin assured me. “Adro used the threat to encourage sacrifices.”
“Of children?” I growled again.
“Oh, they don't do it anymore,” Torrent assured me. “Nowadays, they kill a ram instead.”
