Chapter 16
POSEIDON
The god realm had always been a peculiar mix of all of the pantheons mashed together, but there was a charm in it, especially when the world had gotten to a place where we could all coexist fairly peacefully.
Laila yawned and leaned her head against my arm as we walked through the streets. "I know you said that it was going to run late, but I didn't expect it to be nearly dawn."
"The gods like to party."
"No wonder Jinx is doing so well," she responded. "You all just want an excuse to gossip, drink, and eat."
"Pretty much," I agreed. "You'll get used to it."
"I'm looking forward to it. I love good food."
"There's a lot of it here," I said. "I have a few ideas where we can go for breakfast."
"You're not making it for me?"
"Not tomorrow. Or today, I suppose. You haven't had an opportunity to experience the god realm before, so I thought we'd do that," I said. "But I can cook for you if you want."
"No, I think wherever you have in mind sounds fun."
The way she smiled at me made my heart constrict. I hadn't necessarily meant to talk to her about the future of our relationship earlier, but I had intended to now, so it was nice to know that the two of us were on the same page on that front.
"You haven't told me where we're going yet," she said, a curious note in her voice.
"I wanted to show you my favourite place in the god realm," I said.
"Intriguing."
"I don't want to ruin it," I admitted. I wanted to see her face the moment the sun rose over the ocean. Or I assumed it was the ocean. Like most things in the god realm, it felt like an echo of the human realm, but it wasn't quite the same.
The beach appeared in front of us, crisp and clean, and an odd greyish yellow in the pre-dawn light. It wasn't going to be long before the sun rose, which was perfect for what I had in mind, but I had to admit that I wished it looked a little more special the first time I was showing her.
Laila paused and slipped off her shoes. "Do you think I can leave them here?" she asked, gesturing to the low wall by the entrance to the beach.
I nodded. "The only person who might steal them is Loki, and you'd get them back eventually."
"Reassuring if I ever do lose something in the god realm."
I held my arm out to her, and she took it, wobbling a little as she found her footing on the sands.
"It's the perfect temperature," she marvelled.
"That's the god realm," I responded. "It's purely made of magic, it can do all kinds of things."
"Impressive."
"All right, here we are," I said, gesturing to a piece of wall sticking out of the sand.
Thankfully, Aphrodite had done exactly what I'd asked her to, and provided us with a blanket, along with some refreshments.
It was technically outside her remit as an event planner, but the most consistent thing about love gods was that it was easy to appeal to their romantic side, even if they were Aphrodite.
"You set this up?" Laila asked, looking at me with wide eyes.
"I had help. I was actually going to ask you to be my girlfriend here, but you beat me to it."
"We can pretend I didn't," she responded as she took a seat on the blanket and leaned back.
"No, this is just as perfect without that," I responded as I sat down next to her and started unloading the picnic basket. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
She laughed. "Your food was delicious, but those were some tiny portions you served."
"Luckily, I planned in advance." I handed her a loaded ciabatta and got one for myself. "There's nothing better than a sandwich after a fancy event."
"I'm still a salty chips person, but I don't suppose that's possible pre-dawn on a god realm beach?"
"I can see what I can do next time," I promised.
The horizon grew lighter as the two of us ate, the promised sunrise coming.
"Why is this your favourite spot?" Laila asked. "Don't get me wrong, it's nice, but what makes it favourite nice?"
"The sunrise."
"You brought me to watch the sunrise with you?"
I looked back at her, surprised to find her watching me with an adoring expression on her face. "I did."
"That's very romantic."
"I wanted to share it with you."
"Yes, that's why it's romantic." She took a drink and crinkled up the wrapping of her sandwich. "Thank you for inviting me tonight. I had a great time. My friends did too."
"I'm glad." I reached out and took her hand. Her face was illuminated by the warm orange light of the sun, and her lips parted. I couldn't help but lean in and cup her cheek in my hand.
The kiss was tender, sweet, and full of the promise of what was to come. That Laila was going to be beside me for more events like this, and that she would give me what I craved the most.
We broke apart as the sun rose higher, and she watched it with awe-filled eyes.
"It's beautiful," she murmured.
"Yes," I responded, looking at her.
"The sunrise," she corrected.
"I knew what you meant." I shuffled around so I could put an arm around her, glad when she rested her head against my shoulder. It was comfortable and felt right.
"I hope to see a lot more sunrises with you," I murmured.
She met my gaze, her eyes full of emotion. "I'd like that."
"I'm glad." I reached out and threaded my hand through her hair, pulling her close so that I could press a deep kiss against her lips.
This was perfect. An evening of good food and entertainment while helping the seas, followed by a sunrise at my favourite place in existence.
And all of it with an achingly beautiful woman by my side who didn't see my desire to be in the kitchen as something to be tolerated, but something to be celebrated.
I looked forward to seeing where our lives took us, be that on land, sea, or in the kitchen.
* * *
Thank you for reading Dining with Poseidon, I hope you enjoyed it!