Chapter 16

After wandering all morning they came upon the temples. The square where the temples were located was quite busy as people moved up and down their businesses. Some were entering different temples to present their offerings and offer their prayers, some priests were moving around to attend to the people seeking to make offerings to the gods and some other simply sold things outside different temples. There were temple prostitutes who lingered around calling out to passersby. Helena gazed at the tall, beautiful buildings in awe. There were many temples and she was deeply awed by the beauty of the temples but not surprised because mortals were known to spend their precious possessions pleasing the gods and if pleasing the gods required them to give up their gold and silver they would happily do it because they wanted favors from the said gods. Back at Camelorn, there were temples for her, Robos, Termla, her daughter Ashterah and many other gods of Camelorn. During festivals, the gods were known to come down and live among men so they would partake in the feasts and declare blessings on the people.

Demeus pulled her to a stop in front of the temples. “These are the temples of the gods of Eyrotia. Very impressive as you can see.” But not as impressive as the temples the gods had in their pantheons because no matter how much mortals gave and how many skills they possessed, they could never have more than the gods nor can they possess more knowledge than them.

Helena nodded. “Truly impressive indeed.” She linked her arm through his. Demeus resisted the urge to run his fingers over the part of her hand where the ruby bracelet rested. “Tell me, Ramus, Helena continued, “ about the gods of Eyrotia.”

Well, he couldn’t quite tell her about the gods of Eyrotia without first talking about himself. He was the god of gods of Eyrotia but he couldn’t very well tell her that for fear that he would scare her off. Instead, he veered her in the opposite direction and found himself headed towards the temple of Oya. His heart tightened in his chest as he recalled Oya’s betrayal. How could she have betrayed him and how could he have been blind to see that she and Lofus, the god of the sea were involved in an affair. He could have forgiven her the affair if she had not run back to Lofus the night before their wedding feast. He and Oya had grown together and it was assumed that they would end up together and the assumption had been backed by the fact that the both of them had actually fallen in love with each other but along the way of their journey together Oya and Lofus who shared her domain with her.

“Who is this?”

They were inside the temple of Oya and Helena was looking up at the statue of a woman placed at the center of the temple’s nearly empty space. The statue captured Oya as well as mortals could sculpt her. She was beautiful with thick black hair that rested on one shoulder, her breasts and hips were full and though carved out of stone Demeus could feel the softness of her skin in his mind. Her eyes in real life were as blue as the ocean and burned a bright sapphire when she was angry but since this was a statute it was simply blank.

“Oya, the goddess of the sea.”

“She is beautiful,” Helena said as she touched the toes of the statue.

“Yes, she is.” But it was a pity that her heart wasn’t as beautiful as her face.

Helena looked up at the strained tone of his voice. In his face was something that looked like pain and it was a look so raw that she felt he knew something he wasn’t saying.

“Are you alright?”

He jerked and glanced down at her. “Yes, why not?”

Helena shrugged. “You looked like you were in pain.” She looked back at the statue and back at him with a puzzled look on her face. “Do you not like her?”

He raised his brow at her question. Did he already suspect that he wasn’t who he said he was? Was she already suspecting him to be a god?

“Why do you ask that?”

She shrugged. “It is no secret that some mortals are not particularly fond of gods, they find them partial and too demanding. They love some and hate the others so it would not be uncommon for you to not be fond of the goddess of the sea after all.” She took his arm again. “You’re a fisherman, isn’t it unwise to not honour the goddess of the ocean since she decides whether or not your boat capsizes or whether or not the fishes swim into your nets?”

The woman was too smart. He shrugged like she had done to appear nonchalant. “And how would you know that this? That mortals do not fully love the gods like they claimed to?”

Helena started. She had spoken too soon and gotten rather comfortable. Too comfortable apparently, for she had left her mouth and thoughts run ahead of her. She scrambled in her head for a way to cover up her tracks, it wouldn’t do for him to know she was a goddess. “Hmm…well, perhaps because…because I do have my own lists of favorite gods.”

“And I suppose the god of excess of whatever country you’re from must be your favorite because you tend to do too much of everything; eat, ask questions and talk.”

Helena narrowed her eyes at him but there was a smile on her face. “This is the second time you’ve hinted that I talk too much, I shall have to find a punishment for you if you do that again.”

He laughed, relieved that he had successfully diverted the conversation from himself. “So, Helena, you still haven’t told me where you’re from.”

Helena almost faltered in her steps as they went around the statue and began to join the line of those who had come to give their offerings. “Well… let that be a mystery for you.”

They stopped talking as they took incense from bowls held by priests and put them in a large bowl of fire that was set up at the altar for it was customary that anyone who came visiting the temple should present an offering to whatever god resided in that temple. As Demeus put his own incense in the bowl he hoped that Oya was not watching him. The last thing he wanted was to have her reveal his identity to Helena. That could be big trouble.