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I half-expected the floors to be of moving lava as well, similar to the cave that made up the second portal leading to the Underworld. But instead it was just good old stone.
As Mira took us down into a small, narrow side hall, I couldn't help sighing silently at how my house tour was turning out. I didn't even have time to savor the sights, with Mira forcing me to half-run just to keep up.
But it's fine, I told myself. Like Mira said, we had a problem, and as LOTUS, I needed to get used to putting my private concerns aside and prioritize the greater good.
So that secret fantasy I had of Hadrian's house tour including sex in each and every room in his home?
Already forgotten.
And the realization that Mira's laboratory being inside the manor could also mean we were housemates?
A matter of discussion, I told myself. Tonight, I'd ask Hadrian about it, he'd explain, I'd show him why it wouldn't work, and he'd see it my way. That's how discussions worked.
But all of that aside...
I deliberately slowed down a bit, and as Hadrian automatically matched my pace, I waited until there was a proper amount of distance between Mira and us before saying hesitantly, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but...I kinda imagined you'd have more people around." The place was beautiful...but gigantic, and the upkeep of it had to be just as gigantic. But so far, we had yet to encounter a single soul, living or not.
"There usually is," Hadrian agreed, "but when the Underworld is on lockdown, our SOP includes making the manor and its grounds off limits to visitors."
"So that leaves..."
"You and me, Gaea and Cronos, our personal security, and the rest of the live-in staff—-"
"Back up a bit," I blurted out. "Did you just say...Gaea and Cronos?"
Hadrian looked at me warily. "If you say you know them from Hercules..."
I rolled my eyes. "No, I don't actually, but even if I did, I don't see anything wrong with that."
"I beg to differ," Hadrian muttered under his breath.
Pretending not to hear anything, I asked, "So Gaea and Cronos...it's really them?"
"Is there a right or wrong answer to this?" Hadrian's tone had become rather careful, and I wondered if it was because he was worried his next words would have me throwing a menopausal fit.
And honestly, who knew?
"How exactly are you guys related?"
"We're their direct descendants."
Sheesh. It was amusing and exasperating at the same time, with how terribly casual he was when dropping facts like that. You'd imagine a Greek god like him to be beautiful, sexy, and lofty, but Hadrian, well, he was beautiful, sexy...and not lofty.
And as for the two other immortals...
Cronos was the god of time and Gaea the goddess of the freaking planet, and if Hadrian was their direct descendant...
"Does that make them your grandparents?"
Hadrian shrugged. "I guess."
Gaaaah.
His grandparents were Cronos and Gaea, and he was still being so casual that I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or kiss him because he was being too exasperatingly cute for words.
"Do you think they'll like me?" I asked nervously.
"It doesn't matter if they do or don't. You're married to me, not them."
"That doesn't—-" Mira called to us then, and I forced myself to stop speaking. LOTUS, I reminded myself. We could discuss this later, but for now we had Mira's problem to take care of.
Hadrian's so-called distant cousin was waiting for us in front of a vine-colored wall, and she started singing the moment we reached her. At first I thought she was just showing off, which of course begged the question: how did she know that I couldn't carry a melody to save my life?
But then I saw the vines start to crawl, and I realized this wasn't about Mira poised to win next season's The Voice Factor. Apparently, that was some kind of chanting spell I heard, and as the vines receded from view, the door hidden underneath it was gradually revealed.
Terribly cool, but no way was I going to tell her that.
Inside, Mira's workplace looked a lot like Dr. Ace's lab. Or any other scientific facility for that matter. Specimen bottles kept behind glass cabinets and air-conditioning that made me feel like I had been thrown back into the Ice Age. Dissection tables on one side, a complicated set up of chemical apparatuses on another...
Huh.
Since the deification process was a gradual thing, Dr. Ace had advised me to expect my senses to heighten by increments as well. That had been the case back in the human world, but here in the Underworld, it seemed to have grown by leaps and bounds.
Like earlier, with how I had heard Mira's footsteps, and now...this.
I took another sniff, just to be sure.
Definitely floral.
A rather interesting scent, considering I couldn't see any botanical samples around.
"Your workplace smells really good, Mira." My tone was all casual, but to my surprise, it had Hadrian's so-called distant cousin paling, with her face now whiter than her lab coat.
