Page 104 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

Persi took the last glass from him. “Are you kidding? We may not need to worry. We probably won’t survive Griffon.”

38

A Deaf Gondolier

Orion wasn’t offended when I refused to take food or drink from him, even when he offered an American cheeseburger and fries. Apparently, the lack of trust in Fairy was a common thing. So instead, we went to the mortal realm to share a meal—or rather, I had a meal and he watched me eat. Maybe God-wannabes didn’t consume real food.

I requested somewhere sunny. He popped us to Florence, Italy where my face and shoulders gulped up the vitamin D like a starving man. We negotiated over my plate of Michelin star pasta and a bottle of water I insisted on opening myself.

“I need a promise from you,” I said, after our waiter walked away.

“What promise?”

“That you will not use any of your current powers on me. If I think I’m being manipulated, Kivi and I will leave and not come back. And yes, I know what to look for. You used them on me last time.”

“Kivi?”

“My dragon, Jalokivi.”

“Fine. I will not use my powers on you, knowingly.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll know.”

He dropped the innocent face and a little of his beauty fell away as well, like the lighting suddenly went bad. He was still handsome but I was able to look at him head on and still think normally.

“Fine. No powers. And you promise not to run off without notice. If you have concerns, you must tell me. We will…renegotiate.”

I thought about it for a minute, tried to find a trick in his wording. He hadn’t said I could never leave, just that I needed to give him notice, but I had to clarify. “As long as I am able to leave whenever I want, you have a deal.”

He nodded, reluctantly, and stretched his hand over the table. “You may leave whenever you want, as long as you first explain why.” We shook. “Deal.”

I grinned and dug into my dinner. “I feel better already.”

“And why do I feel as though I have lost another point?”

“Because you have.”

* * *

After supper,he took me to Venice where we climbed into a gondola whose gondolier didn’t speak English. “So we won’t be overheard,” Orion explained. He thought it would be appropriate for us to have a view of the stars while he laid out his case. Privately, I thought it was a great idea to have quick access to my dragon if I needed her.

Our gondolier stood on a platform behind our red-cushioned, slightly reclined seats, and when we were comfortable, he pushed off. Our shoulders touched, but I reminded myself there were layers of gold robes between us.

Everywhere we went, people took one look at my dress and his gold robes and assumed we were newlyweds. In Italy, that meant whole crowds had no problem demanding we kiss. Each time it happened, however, I would turn my head at the last second and Orion would only skim my cheek with his lips. He didn’t act disappointed, seemed to understand I wasn’t interested in more.

“Too early for stars,” I said.

“There will be plenty of time. Now,” he patted my forearm. “Where was I…before you fled with your friends?”

“All I remember is that you were in love with someone who was stolen from you, and you wanted my help to get her back.” I omitted the part about not believing a word of it. “I don’t know why you’d need to be a god in order to do that, but—”

“If you are to have any hope of understanding me, I must start at the beginning, which might be difficult for you to hear.”

“All right. Shoot.”

“Very well. A very long time ago, in a place we call Hestia, our king had two sons, Gloir and Afi.”

Gloir and the Grandfather were brothers?

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