“My axe. It's very important to me.” Shango shook his head. “I don't understand how anyone could have taken it. It's either with me or in my vault.”
“The thief has been gazing into the Aether. They've seen our secrets. They know where we hide the things we treasure. We've just come from confronting them.”
“You were with the thief?” He leaned forward. “Did you kill them?”
“No, she's powerful. She tossed us out of her territory before we could do anything. Tossed us here, actually. You have very good timing.”
“It's a woman?” Shango's face rippled, as if that made it worse. “Take me to her. I will do what you failed to do.”
“The battle isn't over yet, so we haven't failed.” Odin stepped between us. “And I don't think it's a good idea to attack her without a plan.”
Shango flinched. “Allfather, I didn't see you there. Greetings.” He inclined his head and then frowned from Odin to me and back. “Why are you with the Godhunter? Did you have something stolen too?”
“Yes, but I'm with the Godhunter because she's my wife.”
“Oh.” He looked at Trevor. “I'm sorry. I thought you were her husband.”
“I am.” Trevor waved his hand to include my other husbands. “She'sourwife. All but my father, Fenrir, Wolf God, and Torrent, God of the Internet.”
Shango's gaze slid from man to man. I could see his mind spinning faster with every look. They were powerful gods, each one impressive in their own way. He hesitated over Azrael's wings and then shook his head as if to free himself of insanity.
I chuckled. “You're one of the few gods I've met who hasn't heard about our family.”
“Family?” Shango cocked his head at me. “What spell did you cast upon them to get them to agree to this?”
I laughed harder. “There is a spell that makes them comfortable with the situation, but it's not mine. Or rather, I didn't cast it. I inherited it when I killed Nyavirezi and took her Lioness Magic. It gave me dominion over her pride of werelions and a magic that required me to take multiple lovers. Eventually, my lovers became my husbands.”
“You are the one who killed Nyavirezi?” Shango raised his eyebrows. “Impressive. She was a powerful goddess and a horrid bitch.”
“Ah, you knew her well.”
He snorted a laugh. “Not well, but well enough. I didn't like the way she treated her lions.”
“Neither did I. I freed them, and we became a true pride—a family.” I motioned to Kirill. “One of them has even become a god.”
Kirill inclined his head to Shango.
Shango stared at Kirill. Then he stared at me. Finally, he nodded. “We will make a plan and kill this trickster bitch together.”
“I don't know about killing her, but we will get your axe back.”
He shook his head. “You are a lioness now. You know it's kill or be killed.”
“I'm also the Goddess of Love and the Moon. I know when to show mercy. This woman has helped my family and saved my husband's life. My brother is in love with her. I can't just kill her.”
“Entanglements.” Shango grimaced. “Very well. We hunt her and take back what she's stolen. If she attacks us, though, we'll kill her.”
I looked at my men. They shrugged.
Fenrir smirked and came over to shake Shango's hand. “I think I'm going to like you, Shango.”
“Yeah, yeah, remember to puff out your chest when you beat your fists on it.” I rolled my eyes. “We need to talk this through. We can't face her in her territory. All gods are more powerful in their territories, but Agwusi is especially so. If we gain the advantage, she can just toss us out. We need to draw her to us.”
“Uh, V?”
“Yeah, Torrent?” I looked over to see him holding the jewel. It was glowing.
“This is still working.” He lifted it.
