AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Professor,” Bael greeted me in that deep, sexy voice of his.
“Charlie, please,” I insisted. “Or Charlotte,” I added, dropping my books on the table, then putting my purse on one of the free chairs.
“Long day?” he asked as I spilled into another chair.
“No. I mean, yes. But no. All days are a little long. But I’ve had the worst run of clumsiness today. I feel like all I’ve done is ram into things and knock over things and drop things. And each time, there is this weird twinkling laughing sound. So, clearly, I probably have a brain tumor or something. We better get all this information out of me before it progresses,” I added, reaching for the mug he passed me with both hands, feeling a bit of warmth even through the insulated walls.
“We can reschedule,” he suggested, but everything in his tone suggested he didn’t want to have to do that.
A real go-getter, I guess.
He wanted to get his app going.
I had to respect that.
“No, really. Once I get some of this in me, I’ll feel better,” I told him, popping the top of the travel mug and getting a whiff of something sweet and caramel-scented.
Maybe I should have felt weird about accepting a drink from a stranger. But the library was my safe space. And unless he had a giant duffle bag in his back pocket, there was no way he was going to get my unconscious body out of the building without someone seeing.
“Salted caramel oat milk latte. The woman at the coffee shop said it was the most popular drink on their menu.”
“It smells like dessert,” I said, taking a sip, careful not to scald myself. “Okay. So. Your app. What is it you need to know?” I asked as he stood behind the seat across from me, his big, scarred hands holding the top of it, but not moving it to sit down.
“I guess, first of all, it would be important to know who are the most dangerous gods.”
“Oh, now, that’s a loaded question, isn’t it? I mean Zeus is the god of all gods. And he was sure dangerous to just about every attractive woman he came across. But he was usually too busy doing all that skirt-chasing to create any real issues.
“No, if we are looking at the gods to create the mostproblems, I think we can look at Eris, the goddess of discord and strife. She was so disliked that they never created a temple for her.”
“Did she create issues for the humans? For other gods?”
“Both, actually. She was, in a complicated way, at fault for the whole Helen of Troy and Trojan War debacle. There’s also Enyo, the goddess of destruction. She loved war and bloodshed. She was really well known for the destruction of whole cities. Oh, and we can’t forget about Erinyes.”
“Who was she?”
“They,” I corrected. “They were a trio of crones. Always depicted as really hideous. The antithesis of Aphrodite. Anyway, they would bring vengeance against anyone who wronged people who should be honored and respected. Like parents, city officials, or even just the elderly.”
“Are all the worst gods women?” he asked, shooting me a smirk.
“Does that surprise you?” I asked instead of answering. I mean, there were a ton of terrible male gods too. But I always found it telling when someone had an opinion on strong, somewhat wicked, female characters.
“Actually,” he said, thinking for a second. “No. No, that doesn’t surprise me at all.”
“Why not?”
“Because, historically, women get the shit end of the stick, right?” he asked.
“I mean, if you consider mass rape, forced marriages, being burned alive, and early death from childbirth, then yes.”
“Fair enough,” he agreed, finally pulling out his chair.
“You could also argue that some of the ‘bad’ gods being women as less to do with women seeking revenge for the crimes committed against them and more to do with society vilifying women. And often just things like women’s pleasures or their independence. But we are probably getting a little too philosophical,” I said.
“I can get a little carried away sometimes. I blame my childhood.”
“How’s that?” he asked, leaning back in his chair, and it was intimidating just how large he was, even when he was seated. Didn’t men that large typically go into things like the military or sports? Not academics. At least, not in my experience.
“Oh, I was raised by my father and, by extension, all of his scholarly friends. Our house was always full of debates of the philosophical kind.”
