The next day things had calmed down. Rhia was the only one to join me in bed the night before, surprisingly enough. I honestly figured I’d be by myself, given the general reaction of the women towards my accidental marriage to Persia. Linda and Shu took the second bedroom and barricaded themselves in there after dinner, while Su and Hannah had gone off to Su’s room for the night. Persia, as I expected, still wasn’t ready for that level of companionship and stayed in her room, however Rhia told me that she was in a good mood the rest of the day.

The next morning I was thinking about Persia’s new look as I sat down to breakfast. Her black hair had developed a blonde streak, while her facial structure had taken on a more human appearance, less feline than it was yesterday morning. I knew what had happened when I saw the feathers on Rhia’s wings had developed a gray tint around the edges. Rhia had told me that bonding with someone shared traits between them. Persia had evidently taken some physical aspects from Rhia, which secretly pleased me. I had been wondering how one might enjoy her company with a mouth full of needle sharp teeth and a catlike mouth, but her lips were closer to those of a human now, and the teeth weren’t quite as deadly looking. It looked like her bust was closer to Rhia’s size now as well. I found myself wondering what might happen if Rhia were to bond with the other four women in our circle.

Rhia smacked me on the back of the head as she and Persia took their seats at the table for breakfast.

“Unbelievable,” muttered Rhia.

“Is that all My Lord thinks about?” asked Persia.

“Hey!” I said, rubbing the back of my head. “You got that ability too? I’m starting to feel a little shortchanged here.”

“You are a god, My Lord. What more would you like?”

“Persia, you can call me John, you know. One of the perks of being married is being able to use your husband’s name.”

“I shall do my best, My… John.”

Linda started giggling into her coffee, then nearly spilled it when Shu elbowed her.

“Don’t mind her,” Shu said to Persia, trying to ease her embarrassment. “She may look like an adult, but she’s still very childish.”

As Linda stuck her tongue out at Shu, I changed the subject.

“What’s the word on our friends upstairs?”

Shu was gripping Linda’s tongue with her fingers. She released it and turned to me, wiping her hand on a napkin. “I contacted President Chin and told him there’s an unexpected meteor shower heading this way. He tried to have me ask you to take care of it, but I reminded him that you were here to guide us, not do everything for us, and that you were already taking care of the asteroid. So, you might want to conjure up a meteor shower unless you intend to make a liar out of me.”

“What kind of timeframe did you give him?” I asked.

“Three days. That’ll give them time to meet up with the command module and head back home before it hits.”

I nodded. “Alright, I’ll be sure to give them a hell of a show.” I turned to the two ladies standing at the end of the room. “I wish you two would sit and eat. You’re engaged now. You can hand off your maid duties to someone else and play housewife if you want.”

“I’m still your maid until the ceremony, My Lord,” said Hannah.

“Daytime TV was never my thing, dear. I can be your wife and your head maid at the same time. Makes for wonderful roleplay,” Su said, winking.

I glanced at Persia. “And you thought I was bad.” Turning back to the maids, “alright, what have you got for me? Business related, Su.”

Looking disappointed that she couldn’t toss out more innuendo, she started her report. “Everyone is at ‘yellow alert,’ as you call it. The armory is manned around the clock now, and everyone knows where they need to be in the event of a fight. Of course, there’s only thirty of us, including myself, Hannah, and Persia, as you’re aware, so if the enemy’s numbers are much higher than that and you’re indisposed somehow, then we may have some issues. Every girl here is willing to die for you, but I’m sure they’d much rather continue living for a second or third opportunity for quality time with their Lord. For that, they’d storm the gates of Hell itself.”

Linda and Shu both narrowed their eyes and looked at me.

“Now ladies,” I said, holding up my hands defensively. “That was before Rhia and I started dating, let alone you guys.”

A curious expression came of Persia’s face. “I was not aware of this.”

“That’s because you wouldn’t go near him, dear,” said Su. “I got the idea for everyone to get closer to him one night when Hannah and I were with him. He made a comment about wanting to try more of the chef’s dishes, since he always asked for the same dishes out of habit. We convinced him to try the chef instead.”

Rhia looked thoughtful for a second. “I remember that. The food was especially good that week. Su, put that on the calendar again.”

“Done, ma’am!” Su cheerfully replied, pulling a notepad out of her apron.

I stared at her. “You guys have a calendar? And you’re adding extra women to it?”

Rhia levelled her gaze at me. “John, you’re still thinking like an Earthling, not an all powerful deity. Did you assume that the six of us were it for all eternity? Same with you ladies,” she pointed Linda and Shu. “You guys can’t be tied down to your little planet’s rules anymore. Not as they’ve been written until now, that is. Those were man made rules and judging from the state of your planet and all the petty wars that are still occurring for stupid reasons, they aren’t working anymore. So, we’re rewriting the rulebook to include the best of your laws, and the best of the galaxy’s, and the number one rule is my personal favorite. Love is love. As long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, then let nothing hold them back.”

Linda shook her head in disbelief. “You do understand you just gave your husband, our fiancé, carte blanche to fuck anyone he wants, right?”

Rhia nodded, as did Hannah, Su, and even Persia. “Indeed, and just as he has that right, so do we. I don’t personally see myself having that urge anytime soon, at least not with a man, but fair is fair, isn’t that right?”

I actually couldn’t argue that point. While keeping these six women happy all the time was a tall order, I was sure that even I would grow bored with the selection, just as they’d get bored with only me and each other after a while. Allowing everyone to do as they pleased seemed like a fair trade for a lifetime commitment. It wasn’t like we had to worry about anyone getting pregnant. A couple years ago, at their request, I’d “turned off” that ability until they told me otherwise and had done the same for myself.

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, yeah,” I agreed. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of another guy eating off my plate, but if they were going to let me taste a sampler every now and then, I couldn’t really hold the moral high ground. Not that I expected any of them to start looking elsewhere for the jollies anytime soon. I’m a god, after all. Why trade down?

Linda, however, kept eyeballing Rhia. “I think we’re going to need to convene a Council of Wives or something, so we can be sure we’re all on the same page in the future. I’ll let the chef thing slide though, because I can’t wrap my head around the idea of this food tasting any better than it already does.”

Rhia smiled. “Oh, you haven’t known bliss until our chef takes to the kitchen after a night with this man. In fact, it’s almost better than a night with this man.”

Eyebrows raised and staring at Rhia, Linda spoke out of the side of her mouth towards Su. “Su, dear, she can have my spot on the calendar.”

“It looks like you and Mistress Shu were penciled in for tomorrow night. Are both of you cancelling, or just Mistress Linda?”

I buried my face in my hands as the ladies hashed out their schedule. There seemed to be a hiccup when Shu refused to give up her spot and insisted that Linda keep hers as well, as it wouldn’t be as much fun without her. Hannah saved the day by reminding everyone that she had requested a solo tomorrow morning and was willing to share with the chef if they didn’t mind a smaller breakfast in exchange. I suddenly realized why no one ever interrupted me and whoever I was with. All the girls had free access to the room, as I considered it just as much theirs as it was mine, and heaven knows that bed was massive enough to fit us all comfortably, but whenever someone or multiple someones crawled into bed with me, no one ever wandered in while we were at it. Just how long had they been doing this?

I lifted my head from my hands and looked around the room.

“Are we finished now? Did we get the fuck plan straight?”

Su managed to look offended and cheeky at the same time.

“This is very important, My Lord. As much as we all love each other, some of us just aren’t as compatible as others. Mistress Shu won’t let me get away with half of what Mistress Rhia does, and Mistress Linda is too freaked out by Hannah’s flexibility. Mistress Rhia is also very selfish, as I’m sure you’re aware, and likes to give you all of her attention, which leaves any other partners that night bored and neglected. She’s got more solos scheduled than anyone. Really clutters up the planning. When Mistress Persia decides to throw her hat in the ring, we’re due for a whole revamp of the planner! Planner? Hmm. Planner. Day Planner… Lay Planner! Yes! That’s what I’ll call this from now on! It’s the Lay Planner!”

I groaned. When Su got on a roll, she was difficult to stop, especially when it came to sex. Ladies, would you please help me out here? I thought, looking at Rhia and Persia. Persia was shifting nervously in her seat, her red cheeks showing through the thin fur on her face, while Rhia looked equal parts exasperated and amused. She did give me a brief nod though.

“Ok, ladies, we’ve had our fun with him this morning. That should make up for yesterday, right?”

Heads nodded around the room.

“Are you serious?” I asked. “Was this all a setup?”

Rhia smiled. “Not at all. Everything we just talked about was the real deal. There’s a schedule, I’m selfish, and tomorrow morning you’re sleeping with Hannah and the chef. I couldn’t help but let you suffer a bit, though, after what you put us through yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to call Persia here family, but you deserved some sort of payback. It seems everyone else agreed with me.”

I groaned again. “Some god I am. All this power and I’m still getting browbeaten by my wives.”

“Not browbeaten, dear. Lovingly harassed. Back on topic, you already know the results of my mission yesterday. I’ve explained to Linda and Shu what you did, how you did it, and what happened to me afterwards. Oh, while you and Su were busy in the shower this morning, President Roberts called again.”

“Oh? You’re just telling me this now?”

“If it was an emergency, don’t you think I would’ve said something already? He just wanted an update on the asteroid, and to know why you hadn’t done anything yet.”

“I really shouldn’t have given him that hotline. I think I miss the days when everyone assumed only the Pope had a hotline to God. What’d you tell him?”

Rhia shrugged. “Just that we weren’t worried about it and that we’d get to it in time. Now that we’re actually talking about it again, though, did you two manage to discuss anything yesterday at all before the big moment, or did your plan go out the window when I did?”

“Unfortunately, things went completely the opposite of what I planned, exactly how I told you it went down. And you know how things went after you got back. You and Persia locked yourselves away till dinner, Linda and Shu lectured me for a solid hour before securing a wedding date for each of them, then they locked themselves away until dinner. Su and Hannah continued drilling the battlemaids until dinner as well, leaving me alone with Ryo to ponder just what the hell I’ve gotten myself into. All in all, it was the most fulfilling yet least productive day I’ve had in years.”

Smiles surrounded me at the table, and I returned every one. Even Persia, who was still adjusting to being around so many people at once had a small grin on her face. Linda had scared the hell out of her last night at dinner by freaking out over a real life catgirl, and Persia had hidden behind me upon hearing the screech and seeing the grabbing hands coming her way. Shu was much more subdued on their meeting, remembering that Persia was the skittish type. They’d taken some time after dinner to speak a little and get to know each other, which was how she was able to eat in their presence this morning.

“However,” I continued, “we have to make up for lost time, or rather, I do, since the rest of you completed your tasks like I asked.” I projected a model of local space over the table for everyone to see. Above us hung Earth, the moon, and the asteroid. A line represented the flight path of the asteroid ship and where it would make landfall on Earth in five days’ time, which looked to be the outskirts of Moscow. “If we were to allow them to make landfall, this is where their current course would take them, provided they don’t alter their speed or trajectory. I’d prefer they not land there. Russia hasn’t exactly been friendly towards me since I eliminated their chemical and nuclear weapons and drove their president from office a few years ago. I forgot to consider that nearly everyone in Russian politics was like that asshole, and all I ended up doing was kicking over an ant hill. Should whoever is on that ship decide to make contact instead of conquering outright, the Russians would be more than happy to help them.”

Heads nodded in agreement around the table. Persia offered her best guess at the ship’s intention.

“It’s possible, My Lord. A ship that size will either carry the goddess and a small group of her most loyal followers, or a recon force that would investigate if the world was worth conquering and the best method for that. Using one country’s animosity towards others is a tactic I’ve heard of them using before.”

“It would be much easier to conquer a destabilized planet than a unified one, and let’s be honest, there’s no way you’re going to unify the planet in less than a week,” Rhia added.

“I don’t suppose you aware of a way for me to feel or sense if there’s another god nearby?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “That’s not something I know about. Gods are beings above our plane of existence. The extent of your powers and abilities I can’t even comprehend. In truth, I’ve only taught you what I’m aware of. There are likely no limits to what you’re capable of except your imagination.”

I sighed and nodded. Rhia had done an excellent job of helping guide me to this point in regard to learning my capabilities, but we knew that we’d eventually reach a point where I’d have to start experimenting on my own.

“Well, now is as good a time as any, I guess,” I said, finishing my thoughts out loud. Rhia and Persia nodded, while the other four women had confused looks on their faces. I closed my eyes and imagined being able to sense those around me. Nothing happened at first, and all I saw was the backs of my eyelids, but soon various colored shapes began to form around me. Each of these shapes had vaguely humanoid forms. To my right, where Rhia always sat and was currently sitting, there was a blue and gold form that reminded me of a lava lamp. Probably not the most accurate way to articulate how it looked, but it’s the closest I can manage. It was so mesmerizing I couldn’t take my eyes away.

“Um, John,” came Rhia’s voice. The gold and blue form shifted. “I’m not sure what you’re seeing right now but being stared at with closed eyes is kind of unsettling.”

I opened my eyes to find I was indeed staring right at Rhia.

“That was pretty cool,” I said. I tried to describe what I was seeing but found it difficult to put into words. I tried the lava lamp analogy, but that only netted me some raised eyebrows.

“So, you saw a glowing form where Rhia was sitting?” asked Linda. “Like an aura, or her life energy, or some anime shit like that?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” I nodded. “I wonder if I can do it with my eyes open. Sorry if this makes you uncomfortable.”

“Wait, me? I’m not sure I want you seeing my life energy. I’m not the most scrupulous person, you know,” Linda objected. Ignoring her, I tried to focus the same way I did when my eyes were closed. I was rewarded with a more subdued version of what I saw with Rhia. It was just an outline this time, and it was more reminiscent of an anime depiction of an aura than Rhia’s glowing form. Linda’s was more yellow, with hints of purple and gold. I saw a faint purple thread floating off of her and followed it over to where Shu was sitting, calmly drinking her tea and observing me. Shu was mostly purple with hints of gold and yellow. Curious, I looked down at my hands and closed my eyes.

My hands, and the rest of me that I could see, was a radiant gold. Not blindingly so, but more like I was painted gold. I could see different colors swirling over me. Yellow, purple, orange, pink, black, and blue. Lots of blue. Looking around the room, I put two and two together. Rhia was no longer just a glowing form, but a more solidified figure. I was looking at a roughly half and half blue and gold form with hints of black and just a touch of pink that weren’t noticeable before, her colors swirling around like a Van Gogh painting. Next to her was the black and blue form of Persia. She was mostly black, with traces of Rhia’s sky blue mixed in. I could make out ephemeral strings attaching the two women, just like I saw with Linda and Shu. Looking up the Su and Hannah, their pink and orange forms clearly standing out, the same strings binding them. All six hand strings connecting back to me, although Persia’s was the weakest looking, while Rhia’s was the thickest. I understood what I was seeing. I was seeing the bonds and energies shared between everyone.

As I expanded my senses to include a wider area, I could feel everyone around me. Here in the dining room. The maids working around our home. Ryo begging in the kitchen. The astronauts currently packing up their mission around the lander. This little area of the moon became a swirl of colors moving to and fro as they completed their individual jobs, strings of energy connecting everyone to someone. The astronauts had strings extending away from the moon, so I followed them, tracing their path back to Earth, where everything was a kaleidoscope wrapped in tie-dye spinning in a blender. More shades of color than I’ve ever seen in my life, all moving about, all connected. If the world could see what I did, it might be a very different place. As my vision passed over certain areas, the occasional flicker of silver would catch my attention. Four or five at the most. As for gold like mine, none. I assumed this was because I was a deity.

I moved my vision out to where I knew the incoming asteroid to be, but it was difficult to distinguish. I could make out its shape by the swirling movements inside of it. Everything seemed smoky. Various shades of gray in vague humanoid shapes, like Rhia first appeared to be. I could only assume this was because they fell under the influence of another god, which might explain why Persia had appeared black in my sight. She had spent so long keeping everything and everyone at arm’s length, not believing or trusting anyone, her energy had turned black. It was a theory, at least. Since I’d just discovered this, I wasn’t sure how someone’s personality affected their color. Shaking my head to get back on track, I focused back on the asteroid. I estimated about a hundred different smoky shadows on board. One seemed particularly light, almost silver, like the silver I spotted on Earth. Might be a leader or something, I thought.

“John?” I felt a hand touch mine and brought my mind back to the table. Rhia was holding my hand while everyone was staring at me, eyes wide.

“What?” I asked, looking at everyone.

“You were glowing, My Husband,” Persia answered. I cocked an eyebrow at her curious form of address but was more interested in what she said before that.

“Glowing?”

“It was so cool! Your whole body just turned gold and you started emitting this glow! We almost couldn’t look directly at you!” Hannah excitedly answered, everyone nodding in agreement with her assessment.

“Huh. Neat,” I said. “So I looked to you like everyone looks to me when I use that sight, my life energy sight or vision or whatever you want to call it.”

“Life Sight?” Su suggested. She was clearly still proud of her “Lay Planner” idea and wanted to add another naming to her achievements for the day, I guess.

“Sure, we’ll go with that. My life sight. I was just using it, actually. I saw everyone here, I saw their bonds with each other, I saw the whole moon, Earth, even the asteroid ship. While here and Earth were a tapestry of colors, the asteroid was more smoky and gray. I’m betting it’s because I have no influence over them as I do everyone here and on Earth.”

“It’s a possibility if they’re followers of this Kamiki Persia was telling us about,” said Shu. “Were you able to get an idea of how many are on there?”

“About a hundred. All shades of gray,” I said, hastily adding “Whoever makes the obvious joke gets to help the Chinese clean up the mess on our roof.”

Hannah and Linda’s mouths snapped shut while Shu and Su looked on in amusement. Persia looked confused, but Rhia leaned over and told her she’d explain it later.

“I did see something curious. One was almost silver. Near the center of the asteroid, separated from the rest.”

Persia’s ears twitched. “Alone?”

I nodded. “Alone. It seemed like everyone was giving them a wide birth.”

“It might be an oracle,” she said thoughtfully.

“An oracle?” I asked.

“Oracles are highly respected. None but the most devout can even approach them, and all must obey them as if they were Kamiki herself. It’s said that Kamiki hand picks them due to their devotion.”

I thought for a moment, then supplied my own theory.

“Maybe, or maybe there’s something already there that she’s taking advantage of. When I was looking at Earth, I saw four or five points of silver, not too dissimilar to what I saw on the ship. Maybe investigating them would shed some light on what we may be facing?”

Rhia shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt. Where did you see them?”

I quickly activated my life sight and took a pass over Earth again.

“They’re pretty spread out around the world. Looks like one is in Manhattan, another is in Tokyo. There’s one smack dab in the center of Australia, one is in Moscow, and the last that I can see is in, um, Antarctica? Weird.” I opened my eyes again. “Linda, you’ve still got that office and apartment in Manhattan, don’t you?”

She scoffed. “Of course I do. I’m not giving it up just because you’ve got this sweet pad here.”

I smiled. “Perfect. Finish up your breakfast, we’re going on a trip, and Persia, I’d like you to come with us.”

Persia’s eyes went wide.

*

It was a couple hours before we finally managed to get to New York City, mostly thanks to Persia having a panic attack after my decision. We finally managed to calm her down by promising that we’d alter her appearance, so no one would freak out like Linda did when they saw her. It didn’t take a lot of work, really. Simply removing her fur and adjusting some facial features to appear a bit more human. The end product of that was a young woman with naked cat ears sticking out of her black and blonde hair, a naked tail sticking out of some jeans I snapped into existence for her, complete with tail hole, walking shoes, an NYU sweatshirt, and a Mets hat to cover her ears. Of course, we couldn’t have a naked tail freaking everyone out, so I made it look like it was clipped on to the back of jeans and gave her back her fur there. We’d tried removing the tail, but it turned out to be critical to her balance. I’d assumed since she was walking upright it wouldn’t make a difference, but her stumbling around after we tried proved otherwise. I also gave her a slight tan. Living on the moon for a thousand years had done nothing for her complexion.

“Why the Mets?” Linda asked, a slight look of disgust on her face. “Why not the Yankees, or the Red Sox?”

“The Red Sox?! Are you trying to get the poor girl killed? We’re going to New York City, for Christ’s sake!” I responded incredulously. “Besides, any jackass can claim to be a Yankees fan. It takes true dedication to be a Mets fan. I figured a Cubs fan would understand that much at least.”

Linda held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Sorry. Didn’t realize it mattered that much.”

“Hell yes, it matters. Everywhere you go around the world you’ll find someone who claims to be a Yankees fan, even if they’ve never seen a game. The Mets need all the support they can get. Especially this season. Holy hell. What a tragedy they’re turning out to be.”

Rhia was just putting the finishing touches on her look as Persia examined herself in the giant mirror in the bedroom. Having only ever seen Persia in her maid uniform and the few seconds she had exposed herself to me yesterday, I had to admit that the cat could really rock a pair of jeans. That ass looked amazing. She caught me staring at it in the mirror and quickly turned around, attempting to hide it while simultaneously completely forgetting the purpose of a mirror, turning her face away shyly. With no fur to get in the way, her blushing cheeks were obvious to everyone around. She glanced at me again from the corner of her eye, and a hint of a smile touched her lips.

Rhia came up from behind and rested her chin my shoulder, smiling at Persia’s coyness. She kissed my cheek and asked if I was ready. A silly question, really, since I could be ready at the snap of my fingers, which I did. Suddenly Rhia and I were back to our date forms, as we’d come to call them. This is what we looked like for our first date, up until we got to our hotel room that is. For our first night we wanted see each other. The real her. The real me. Not my god form that the world knew, but the me she discovered naked and confused one morning six years ago. For the actual date portions of our nights out, however, these were our favorite looks. Rhia was surprisingly sentimental about it.

I looked at the three ladies here with me. “Are we ready?”

Rhia said she was while Linda gave me a thumbs up. Persia still looked nervous though. Things were happening too fast for her. In the space of a day she’d gone from paranoid recluse to married, and then married again when she and Rhia bonded, and now she was about to hit the streets of New York just in time for rush hour. She was like a child that was just learning how to walk only to be suddenly tossed into a marathon. I felt bad about rushing her like this and would do my best to make it up to her later, but my instincts told me I needed her with me today.

“Alright, ladies, let’s be about it then.” I snapped my fingers.

-

We were standing in an upscale apartment that overlooked the city. In the distance we could make out notable landmarks like the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and, of course, Freedom Tower. Screw whatever the official title was. Freedom Tower sounded cooler. Persia moved to the window, planting her hands and forehead against it, marveling at the site. Rhia moved up beside her and answered any questions she had while I reacquainted myself with the apartment. I’d been here before, of course, before Linda had moved to the moon, and I noticed very little had changed. Each room was partitioned with glass, in the way that rich people liked to show off everything they owned. I caught site of her bedroom area and chuckled.

“Never fixed the headboard, eh?”

“Are kidding me? That’s a badge of honor right there. Who else can say they pleased a god enough that he ripped an oak headboard in half when he came?”

I laughed. “That was a great night. Didn’t you have lamps on the end tables though?”

Linda smiled and winked. “That was Shu. You know she’s a thrasher. Took both out within seconds of each other.”

“Impressive.” I clapped my hands together. “Right, enough reminiscing. It’s time we got down to business. Rhia, let’s show Persia what everything looks like from street level.”

“Coming,” she replied, then took Persia’s hand and followed Linda and me out the door.

-

“Why is everyone staring at me?” whined Persia as we made our way east.

I chuckled. “One of three reasons. One: you’re clinging to Rhia like everyone is a possible kidnapper. Two: you’re outrageously beautiful and people can’t fathom it.”

She blushed. “And three?”

“You’ve got a tail. Even in New York City, that’s bound to attract attention. And, of course, when they follow that tail to its source, they can’t help but be enthralled with that delicious ass of yours.”

Persia let out a little squeal and tried to cover her rear end with the hand that didn’t have a death grip on Rhia. Linda smacked the back of my head, while Rhia shot me a dirty look.

“Can you stop teasing your wife long enough to find our target? It may not look like it, but I’m actually a busy woman,” Linda said. “Billion dollar businesses don’t run themselves, you know.”

“Right, right. Gimme a sec.” I closed my eyes and activated my life sight. Instantly the city turned into a Jackson Pollack painting. Splashes of color everywhere I looked almost overwhelmed me for a second.

“Is that guy glowing?” I heard someone say, reminding me that the girls had told me about this side effect. I immediately stopped what I was doing and gave an apologetic half smile to everyone around me. Persia was looking even more nervous now that I had drawn more attention to our little group. Linda was pretending not to know us as she wandered away a little bit, and Rhia was pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.

Well, I’ve already gone this far. May as well go whole hog. Girls, I thought, brace yourselves. We’re about to attract a whole bunch of attention now. Rhia quietly muttered “shit,” while Persia looked up in sheer terror.

“Wait! You don’t mean-”

Falling back on my theatrics, I transformed back into my god form in blinding radiance, forcing everyone to shield their eyes for a second. I used that opportunity to activate life sight covering the city, quickly locating our target. A silver shape in Central Park, with two red shapes on either side of it. Something felt off about those red shapes to me. The hints of black swirling within them weren’t helping. This wasn’t like Persia’s black, which seemed to indicate her lack of belief in anything. This red and black combo just felt… wrong. I dropped my life sight and spun to face the girls, whom I’d forcibly returned to their original forms. Rhia stood there, tall and regal, golden blonde hair cascading down her back, her white and grey wings spread majestically behind her. Persia’s fur and facial features had returned. The crowd around us grew and cell phones were pointed at us from every direction.

“My friends! It was my intention to enjoy your wonderful city today as a guest of Ms. Nelson here, but I’m afraid something has come up and I must depart early.” I could hear the crowd chattering around me, remarking on Rhia’s beauty and Persia’s, um, catness. As expected when presented with a beautiful woman, some men forgot themselves.

“Hey, kitty kitty. I got a mouse you can play with!”

I snapped my fingers and the cat caller, no pun intended, was standing before me. It took a second for him to realize just what had happened, then his gaze climbed up my broad chest to finally meet my eyes.

“A mouse, you say?” I growled at him. “I can make that happen, if you wish. I’ve never turned someone’s junk into a rodent before. I’m curious as to what would happen. Would you like to be my first test subject?”

The color drained from the man’s face and he rapidly shook his head no.

“I’m not generally one for forcing apologies out of people who aren’t actually sorry for what they’ve done, which is what you’re also guilty of. Right now you’re just sorry you got caught. However, if you offer her a sincere sounding apology for the benefit of all these cameras and phones pointed at us, I may let you off the hook with a simple reminder to never treat women like this again. Do we have a deal?”

Mutely the young man nodded, then turned and faced Persia, who half hid behind Rhia.

“You have my deepest apologies, ma’am. I was so taken with your beauty that I couldn’t contain myself. I promise to never speak to a woman like that without thinking again.”

Persia’s eyes shifted between the young man, me, and back again. She then looked at Rhia, who gave her a comforting smile and a small nod. Persia slowly stepped out from behind Rhia, surprising me. She tried to mimic Rhia’s regal stance, not doing too bad a job of it, and hesitantly gave her response.

“I-if My Husband forgives you, th-thensoshallI!” The last half of her sentence tumbled out of her mouth in a rush, like she was reaching her limit on bravery for the day and just wanted this to be over. The crowd was silent. It seemed everything in the city had stopped momentarily. I felt an internal kick in my gut as her words registered, then looked around at all the cell phones pointed at our little party. Linda was in the back of the crowd, desperately trying to hold in her laughter. Her face was beet red and tears escaping down her cheeks. The young man, who was merely scared before, now had a look of abject terror on his face as he slowly turned to face me.

Persia had just announced to him, the crowd, and, through their phones the world, that we were married.