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Chapter 17
" Good-bye! Thank you!" Lina waved to the Limoniades as the glowing spirits faded into the distance, taking their shining golden drops of nectar with them. Their farewel coos tumbled musical y on the wind.
"That was wonderful to watch, Persephone." Eurydice was al smiles as Lina rejoined her at the edge of the gardens.
"I'm so glad they cal ed me. It was an amazing experience," Lina gushed. She felt giddy and energized, like she'd bad too many double-shot cappuccinos before breakfast. "Oh, Eurydice, this world is incredible." She grinned, slinging an arm around the spirit and hugging her. Lina glanced around them. "Hades left?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"He had to attend to the business of his realm. But," she added quickly as the Goddess's shining face dimmed, "he commanded me to request your presence at the stables on the morrow."
"Riding Orion again." Lina's smile turned dreamy as she thought about the black stal ion. She would definitely look forward to the morning ride - almost as much as she'd look forward to seeing Hades. Her mind skittered around, jumbling images of the God's sweat-beaded body, the sensuous song of the Limoniades and the way Hades' lips had burned against hers. Lina's young borrowed body tingled erotical y.
"That horse frightens me," Eurydice said.
Lina blinked, refocusing on Eurydice's pale face. Merda! She needed to stop letting her mind wander.
"He's nothing to be frightened of. Real y, he's like a puppy in my hands," Lina said breezily, trying not to think about Orion's master, and how unlike a puppy he felt under her hands.
"I think I'l just stay away from him," Eurydice said.
Lina told herself that's probably the attitude she should have about Hades. He was too damn dangerously attractive. She should just stay away from him. But the low ache in her body murmured that she wouldn't.
She definitely needed to get her mind off Hades.
"Hey, how about we go find me something to drink?" Lina wiggled her eyebrows at Eurydice. "Al this nectar-gathering has made me thirsty for ambrosia."
Eurydice tittered, "It has also made you sticky."
Lina glanced down at herself. Shiny speckles of golden dots were sprinkled like dew al over her body. She touched one of them and then put her finger to her mouth. It tasted like sugarcane mixed with honey mixed with something like caramel or maybe butterscotch. It was delicious. But Eurydice was right, she was a mess. And she certainly was not going to think about how it would feel to have Hades lick the sweet drops off her body.
"I need a shower. A cold one," she muttered.
"You wish to be caught in a cold rain?"
Lina laughed. "Not exactly. A shower isn't just rain from the skies. It's kind of like bathing, only you're standing up and water is being poured over you."
"Oh, that sounds like my mother's bathing ritual, although she did not like her water cold," Eurydice said.
Startled, Lina asked, "Real y, what kind of bathing ritual did your mother have?" Eurydice grinned impishly. "I could show you. It would probably be an easier way to get the nectar off of you." She touched one of the drops and it trailed long, gooey tendrils from her finger back to the Goddess' skin. "They might make your bathing water a sticky mush."
"Eurydice, you are a genius. Tonight I put myself in your capable hands."
The little spirit had turned into a mini dril sergeant. From the second they reentered the palace she had been firing orders and directing a bevy of flitting servants. She wouldn't al ow Lina to do anything except sit on the edge of the vanity chair and sip ambrosia.
"The Goddess would prefer to bathe on the balcony."
Mid-gulp of ambrosia, Lina sputtered. Bathe on the balcony? What was Eurydice thinking? The spirit was using the voice that Lina was rapidly coming to recognize as her formal, she's-myGoddess-you-better-mind-me tone as she tapped one slender foot thoughtfully against the marble floor. Without giving Lina a chance to speak, Eurydice barreled on.
"Yes, mother always used our inner courtyard. No! Not there!" She snapped at two male servants who were struggling to carry a large basin into the bathing room. "She pointed to the door in the middle of the wal of windows. "Take it through there."
"Um, Eurydice, why are we going out on the balcony?"
"You are not to worry, Persephone. Al wil be perfect." She frowned at one of the servants who jostled the basin a little too roughly against the marble floor of the balcony.
"Goddess," Iapis entered the room and bowed politely to Lina before turning his attention to the spirit. "You have need of me, Eurydice?"
"Yes," Eurydice said, hooking her long, wispy hair behind her ears. "The Goddess is going to bathe on her balcony, and - "
Here Lina had to interrupt. "Wait, I think it's a lovely idea for me to bathe on the balcony - I mean, the view is spectacular - but I'm real y not comfortable with, wel ," Lina dropped her voice so that the daimon and Eurydice had to lean forward to hear her. "I don't want a bunch of guys seeing me naked." Even if they were dead guys, she added silently.
Eurydice squinted at her as if she didn't fully understand what she was saying, but Lina was relieved to see Iapis nodding his head.
"It is also true of the Goddess Artemis. She wil not al ow her nakedness to be glimpsed by any mortals except for her handmaidens. But that problem is easily remedied, Persephone. I shal simply command that al spirits stay away from your wing of the palace and the surrounding grounds."
Eurydice gifted the daimon with a smile fil ed with warmth, and Iapis looked inordinately pleased with himself. Lina felt like she had been caught in the middle of a wel -meaning tornado. It was whirling her around and around, and was determined to spin her clothes off.
"I real y don't want to cause any trouble," Lina said helplessly.
"It is no trouble at al ," the daimon assured her.
"You are the Goddess of Spring," Eurydice said.
Apparently, that was the final word on everything.
Resigned, Lina settled back, deciding not to care if she got nectar al over the silk-lined chair. She was, after al , the Goddess of Spring. She watched the whirlwind of preparation for her bath. They appeared to like cleaning up after her. Eurydice shook her head severely at an insubstantial servant who had failed to retrieve the correct number of towels from the bathing room. Or maybe they were just scared of Eurydice. At least the little spirit didn't seem to have been traumatized by the day's events. Lina sipped her ambrosia, considering. Had it only been that morning that Orpheus had descended into the Underworld? It felt like it had happened so long ago. How could she only have known Hades for a couple of days? What was it that Demeter had said? Something about the passage of time being measured differently by the gods. Her instincts told her that Demeter's words rang true. The passage of time was different in the world of the gods, as different as her borrowed life. Her heart felt different, too. The veneer of cynicism that had muffled it the past several years didn't seem to have transcended worlds. Lina's stomach tightened. To lust after a god... wouldn't that be the ultimate stupidity?
"Goddess, I wil leave you to Eurydice and the maiden servants. Let your mind be eased - no mortal male wil gaze upon you." Iapis bowed to her.
"Iapis!" A sudden thought made Lina cal him back. "You said no mortal male would see me, but what about Hades? Where is he?" Lina pretended that she didn't know her cheeks were blazing with hot color.
lapis' face remained impassive. "The Lord of the Underworld has gone to the Elysian Fields. He spoke of seeking out Dido and escorting her to the River Lethe." Even though Lina was pleased at the news that Hades had fol owed her advice, she frowned and pointed out the open glass doors to the balcony and beyond.
"Aren't the Elysian Fields that way?"
"Some are, Goddess." Then his eyes flashed with understanding. "I wil go to my Lord and guide him back to the palace by a different route. Rest assured, Persephone, Hades would not wish to disturb your privacy."
"Oh, no, of course not," Lina said nastily.
"Enjoy your bath, Goddess." Iapis bowed again.
Eurydice fol owed him to the door.
"If your Goddess requires anything else, you need only send one of the maidens for me, and I wil see it done," Iapis said.
Eurydice tilted her head in acknowledgment. "That is most gracious of you, Iapis," she said, stepping into the hal . There she lowered her voice so that Persephone could not hear her. "Did Hades real y go to Elysia?"
"Yes," Iapis whispered.
"But you wil not stop him from returning through the gardens?" Iapis answered with a slow, knowing smile and a wink. Eurydice had to clamp her pretty lips together to keep from giggling.
