A second later, I’m given a pottery bowl with veggies, shredded meat, and a hunk of bread. A goblet of the sour-smelling wine is set down next to it, and the waitress crosses her arms, looking at me expectantly. “What do you want to know?”

My mouth waters at the sight of the food and drink. It’s impossible that I’m hungry again, because I ate like a pig a short time ago, but I could eat. I sop the bread in the juices from the meat and take a big mouthful. Heaven. “This is so good. Thank you.”

Her impatient expression eases a little. “Long day, eh?”

Oh my god, she has no idea. “The longest.” I take another bite and glance back at the corner, but Aron’s just sitting, arms crossed and hunched over the table. So far so good. “So uh, if I need to leave the city tonight, what’s the best way to do so?”

She picks up her bar rag again and shrugs. “You’ve got two options. Docks or south gate.”

Ah. I consider this even as I shovel food into my mouth. We don’t have a boat, and I don’t know anything about sailing, so the docks are out. “So the south gate, then. That’s the safest place to go?”

“Only place to go,” she corrects. “All the other gates are controlled by the army. South gate’s the only way in or out of Aventine.”

I nod thoughtfully and take a gulp of wine. It’s strong enough to make a shiver go through me, but I drink it anyhow. “What’s there?”

“Past the Dirtlands, you mean?”

Dirtlands. Interesting. That explains the fine grit that seems to catch the wind constantly. “Yeah, past the Dirtlands.”

The woman eyes me skeptically for a moment and then swipes at the bar. “Not much out there but a few temples and outposts. It’s a long, long road to Katharn.”

She assumes I know where Katharn is. Or what it is. But a long, deserted road with only a few temples and outposts sounds better than staying here. It’s a start, and I can work with that. “So tell me more about—”

There’s a crash at the back of the room at the same time thunder crackles overhead. My head shoots with sudden pain. Oh shit. That’d be Aron. I grab my coin bag, shove my last bite of food into my mouth longingly, and then race to the back of the inn, where Aron has a man by the collar and pinned to a wall.

I can’t leave the guy alone for five minutes.

“Hey Grover,” I hiss as I move to his side, crossing the crowded room that’s now completely focused on him. “Can we not?” His hood is slipping off of his head and I hitch it back over him before it falls back and exposes his pale skin and jet black hair.

He turns and glares at me. “This mewling mortal wanted my table—”

“This nice man,” I correct, peeling Aron’s fingers from the shocked man’s clothing. I ignore the sparks that touching him sends through me. Maybe if I ignore it, this other guy will too, since he’s bound to feel it as well. “Can have this table since we’re leaving.”

“We are?” Aron frowns at me, and it’s visible even through the depths of his hood. “We just got here.”

“We got what we needed,” I tell him and pull him away from the man. The “mortal” staggers, staring at us with more than a little fear. I brush my finger over my lips, indicating silence, and shake my head. “Let’s get out of here and no one gets hurt.”

Aron makes a huffy sound but allows me to drag him out, and the thunder gets quiet once more as we emerge into the night. “These people have no respect—” he begins.

“That guy was probably drunk,” I interrupt. “And again, we’re working on keeping a low profile. We just need to let that go and move on.” At Aron’s indignant sound, I’m guessing that “moving on” and “letting shit go” aren’t high on the priority list for a god of battle and storms. I might be over my head here. “I found out where we need to go next,” I tell him to distract him. “The next big city is called Katharn and it’s down the path once we get out of here.”

I don’t point out that it sounds way, way down the path. It’s all going to be the same to a god, I suspect.

“Katharn. Yes. I know this name.”

I look over at him, surprised. “You do?”

He nods even as we head through the dark, twisting alleys of the nighttime city. “Indeed. That is a city claimed by no gods, but if one is there, I will force their priests to welcome me.”

“Forcing priests to welcome him” sounds a bit like we’re going to end up in the same situation we are right now—on the run for our lives. But maybe he’s right. Maybe someone else is having a better experience with this whole “Anticipation” thing, because it sounds like a bunch of gods were dropped out of the heavens. “Great. So we just need to head in that direction. The girl at the tavern said there’s a couple of small temples along the way. We can avoid them if we need to and just do our best to hide out.”

Aron says nothing. I’m not sure if he agrees with my plan, but he’s not offering one of his own, so that’s as close to agreement as I suspect we’re going to get. We hurry through the muddy streets, and the air feels heavy with humidity, as if warning me that Aron’s just barely keeping his shit together.

I guess I can’t blame him. We’re sneaking out of the city like a couple of thieves and I suspect he expected to be greeted with naked dancing girls and riches since he was a god. He was, but not the way he wanted. Instead, he got me—a salty Earth woman who has no time for his bullshit, and a midnight run out of Dodge. Definitely not what he expected.

I don’t know the layout of the city, but I keep us heading toward the long city wall that encircles the place. I vaguely remember this gate from days ago, and when I see the large, guarded portcullis, I breathe a sigh of relief. Almost there.

It looks the same as it did when I first saw it, the walls tall and made of smooth river stone mortared together. The portcullis is another iron gate, this one big enough to let two elephants through, side by side. Two guards stand on each side of the gate. Four people. Not a problem.

“That’s the south gate,” I tell Aron unnecessarily. “That’s the way out of the city. From there, it leads through the Dirtlands and toward Katharn.” I mean, I don’t have a map, but I’m guessing that’s how it’ll go. If it doesn’t, we’ll pivot and figure something out from there. Any place that’s not “here” works for me.

Aron pauses and we both stop. I realize I’m still clinging to his arm and I let go, and for some reason, I feel a sense of loss. Maybe because those tiny electric shocks aren’t rippling through me any longer. He fingers the sword at his belt. “It’s guarded.”

“That’s easily handled,” I tell him, sounding more confident than I feel. “We’ll bribe them to let us out. I’ve seen it done before.” In the movies, but hey. He doesn’t need to know that. I pause and dig through my coin pouch, pulling out a few of the smaller, more valuable coins and clutching them tight. Pretty sure that bribing the guards might just bankrupt us, but we’re low on options and can’t stick around to see what happens by day. We need to be out of this city before the prelate realizes that Aron’s escaped, because something tells me that if he finds out that the god is gone, he’s going to do his best to make Aron disappear entirely.

And I have a sneaking suspicion that my fate is now tied to his in all kinds of bad, bad ways.

As we get closer to the gate, I can see even in the dark that the two men guarding each side are armed. I would really prefer to just deal with one easily bribed guard, but if this is what I have to deal with, so be it. I’m just ready to leave Aventine and all its issues behind.

Time to be brave and get shit done.

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