“I’ll go see if I can find what the servants use to keep their mouths fresh,” he says, and off he goes.
It’s his first mention of servants in this place, even though I haven’t seen any. Did he send them off before going through the doorway?
I wander around the room and over to the fireplace where the mantel is filled with little metal figurines, much like the metal in the jewelry he wanted me to sell for pizza. These are made into animals: dragons, horses, and whatever that creature is that’s in the garden. He seems to favor that one the most because there are six of them in this area alone.
I move over to his massive bed, the size of about three of mine, and find a book sitting next to it. I flip it open but before I can see what it’s about, he’s returned.
He holds a strange paste out to me. “Simply rub it on your teeth and presto!”
After the meal I was served, I’m not quite sure what to think of it but decide that it shouldn’t hurt me… too much.
“So this is now my room. Where will you sleep?” I ask.
“This is our room to share. There is only one bed. One palace, one bed scenario.”
“Ah, I see. So if I… oh, I don’t know, open the door across the hallway, there will be no bed?”
“That is someone else’s bed. We don’t want to be rude and take their bed, now do we?”
I suppose that’s true. And I guess if something happened in this foreign world, I would prefer to be near the god.
After considering this for some time, I sigh and nod. I wipe the paste on my teeth and then realize I have no idea what to do now, but he doesn’t seem to know either, so he just gives me a thumbs-up.
Internally grumbling, I decide rinsing and spitting it into the sink in the bathroom is good enough. Using a pot of water, I rinse my mouth out while hoping my teeth don’t fall out or something because this god of war and love doesn’t really appear to know what’s going on. Then I head back to his room that is lit up by candlelight. There are other lights in the room that seem more likely to run off magic, but since neither of us has a fire-type magic, they remain unlit.
Torin is sprawled out on the bed in this weird pose that I believe he thinks is sexy. I frown, climb in on my side which is as far from him as possible, and close my eyes.
“It is customary in my culture to hold people when we sleep,” Torin says. “When we were in your land, we did your customs. In mine, we should do mine.”
“Nah.”
He sighs before crawling over toward me. “It’s been so long since I’ve touched another that I’m deprived of love.”
I set Kit on his chest. “You can borrow her for the night.”
Torin stares at Kit. Kit stares back at him. Then she yawns, stretches, and flops down on his chest before ramming her foot in his mouth while she flips and flops to get comfortable. He sighs again but wraps his arms around her. Seeing it through hereyes makes me feel oddly like he’s hugging me, so I disconnect from her eyes, dropping myself into darkness.
“We’re going to find that text, Riley. I promise,” he says.
“Yeah…”
I clench my fingers tightly as I close my eyes and try to find peace in this foreign land. I really don’t know what I’m doing or what I plan to do. But I lie awake for a very long time while I question where my life is heading.
When I wake, I’m wrapped around something warm. I try to mentally nudge Kit awake, but she’s more than happy to sleep through my stealthy extraction. I attempt to pull back without Torin knowing, but I’m practically riding the god’s leg. Like what the hell am I doing in my sleep?
And I can feel the way he’s ramrod straight, probably afraid that if he engages, I’ll blame it all on him. I plan to anyway.
“Riley, your body knows what it wants,” he whispers, like he could maybe hypnotize me into believing that.
“I got cold and you were convenient,” I lie as I push away from him.
Kit finally wakes up, and the first thing she decides to stare at is Torin’s smug face. Then she pulls in the fact that he’s as close to the edge as humanly possible while I migrated all the way across this expanse to ride his leg like a pony. I want to ignore his happiness and hastily slide the covers back, but before I can get out completely, he latches on to me and tries to pull me back in.
I press a hand against his face and climb out. “Let’s get going. I’m heading to the library. Bring me food there.”
“You can’t go out dressed in night clothes. Let me dress you,” he says.
“I can dress myself,” I declare.
