As we walked out of the marketplace, I couldn’t suppress my joy of witnessing something so spectacular.

"God, that was so so so… amazing. Like I can't even, you are just… such an amazing king, Ju- my Lord," I said breathlessly, wanting to pour everything in one go. He listened silently, all while a secret smile hovering over his lips.

"Can I write it? In the name of Zeus, I have never seen anything so fantastic!" I squealed. I'd thought I would be intimidated by his brutal temperament, but oddly enough, I was floating in happiness.

"Sure," he chuckled.

We entered a different path that had a much serene atmosphere, with trees lined on either side. Walking silently, I felt a little flushed. I was talking with him so… coolly. As if it was the most natural thing. And then I realized,

I sounded like a childish girl, yet again.

That single thought poured water all over my excitement.

Ugh.

I shook my head. There isn't time for thinking stupid stuff. I'll make use of every second.

I decided to ask how Romanos came into existence when he stopped in the middle of the way. From here, it was divided into two marble paths.

The left side had a series of pillared box-like structures. Five of these monuments of about fifteen feet stood side by side. Each a beautiful golden cream coloured.

The right lane had vertical rectangular structures sans the pillars. Coated with a reddish sandstone colour.

Not knowing where we were, he clarified, "A place where we should've come before visiting the marketplace. House of Gods," He motioned to the cream-coloured structure, "Greek gods here, and the right one of Egyptian gods."

"You allow both religions?" I asked, surprised. Usually, a king who conquers other lands imposed his religious beliefs on the captured people.

"If a ruler wants to rule without conflict, he'll never impose a belief on his people," He looked at either of the temples, "We allow both. Which one would you like to go to?"

Was it possible to get more impressed by him than I already was? I smiled, "The Greek one. I've already visited the Egyptian one in Queen Cleopatra's kingdom."

But I didn't know he would take my hand to lead us up the Greek God's temple.

It was such a gentle and unhurried action. He engulfed my hand in his and started walking up the stairs. Maybe it was a custom, but I didn't know.

I lowered my head and followed. Gripping my book in one and keeping the other as less disturbed as possible in his big, warm ones.

My eyes widened as I took in the place's grandeur. Wall to ceiling, all golden. At the end of this gigantic room in the centre was a statue of a God, sitting on a golden throne with a long trident in his hand. The statue was huge enough to touch the fifteen feet ceiling.

We had removed our footwear at the stairs and walked barefoot on the cool marble floor. It seemed like the personal room of God, instead of a worshipping place.

Flowers, fruits, and many offerings lay near the idol's feet. They had placed bowls with a sweet burning substance at every corner, engulfing the room in mind pleasing aroma.

"Zeus may be the God of gods, but we worship Poseidon first." Julian explained as we walked in, "Wouldn't want to anger the God of the sea when he's next to our empire."

That was possible, given his empire was close to the Mediterranean sea.

"You mean he is stronger than Zeus?" I asked, intrigued by the mythology.

"Poseidon is considered the strongest, and the only God powerful enough to shake the entire Earth. The reason he's also called God of earthquakes."

He left my hand to walk around the statue once, then bowed on his knees to pray silently. I observed him. How devoted he looked like this. When the priests gave me a sceptical look, I too bowed like him and prayed.

Dear Poseidon, how do you feel about us modern people making movies and stories out of you and your family tree?

For instance, how do you feel about your son, Percy Jackson?

I asked it all in my prayer, trying not to crack up. It makes me wonder if these Gods are mad at us or just amusing themselves up in the heavens.

Eating the sweetened bread, the priest had given us; we walked out to the next one, but Julian stopped on the steps.

"People come to worship only on special occasions because these temples are like God's home. The priests are there to serve them all day," he said, watching me as I nibbled on the bread.

"Each temple interior is so vast. Isn't it possible to house all the Gods in one, instead of making five temples?" I questioned.

"They prefer privacy," he remarked, "It's a rule to house only one God in each."

As far as my eyes could take, I noticed this temple to be of a goddess.

"This one is the temple of Aphrodite," he informed, leaning against the pillar.

Now, I can’t leave this opportunity. In the modern archaeological sites, all we found were few standing pillars in the name of Greek Gods temples. Without another thought, I made way for the temple, but he held my hand.

"She'll be upset if you don't offer her anything," he mused, "Collect some myrtle from the nearby bushes."

A wide smile came over my face, and I quickly went to collect the flower.

I couldn't take my eyes off the enormous marble structure of Aphrodite sitting in the far centre. A screen door of equal length was behind her, causing sunlight to enter and illuminate the goddess’ idol.

"Apart from being the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite is believed to have influence over the seas too. So we worship her along with Poseidon," He took some white myrtle from me as we neared the beautiful sculpture.

They had dressed her in fine rose pink clothing, starting from her shoulders till feet. Fifteen feet cloth, the colour being similar to mine. Noticing it, Julian shifted his gaze to my outfit.

"You are challenging the goddess there," he grinned, "You know what happens when goddesses are jealous of mortal women?"

I shook my head in dread.

"They convert them to cows."

"What?!" I gasped. Me challenging Aphrodite? I'll happily offer my head at her feet and go home, instead of turning to some cow.

He controlled his laughter at my horror, "Easy Mila, worship her heartily and you'll be safe."

I did what he said. It was unreasonable though, but according to past happenings, these Gods really lurked around.

As I prayed, I felt the constant gaze of a particular priest on me, which was unsettling. Whenever something like this happened, I didn’t bother looking back at the person.

Julian went to talk with another priest while I wandered around and wrote my experience.

Going to stand before the screened door, I gazed at the scenery in awe. As they'd built the temple on some height, I could view the vast sea in the distance. Before it was a lush green field stretched till the sea. Some people were busy cultivating crops.

A secret passage just below the temple's exit caught my attention. I tried figuring which area it was when I felt that priest's gaze again.

Slowly I turned around, only to see him walking towards me with a determined expression. I gasped and rushed as far away from him as possible.

In the split second I'd seen his face, he was bald, like all the priest's here. But the fat lines of kohl running around his equally dark eyes made him the most creepy priest I'd ever seen.

"Uh, excuse me, can I ask you something?" I caught the nearest sane looking priest when the creepy one didn't look deterred in approaching me.

"Of course, gracious lady," he acknowledged. I took him to the screened door.

"It would be an honour if you could tell about Aphrodite's famous rituals," I started conversing, making sure the creep wasn't nearing me.

"Aphrodite is famed for her beauty, her ability to bless humans to be charming. As for the ritual, gracious lady, if you ever go to Babylonia, visit the temple of Ishtar.

"Offering services there is the best way to please Aphrodite," he beamed.

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind," I smiled back, "By the way, what is that passage leading to?" I pointed below the screen door. It would be good if I make the most of my trip.

"Ah, it's the funeral ground. That passageway leads to the underground room where the dead are readied before the funeral."

Another treasure trove to dive in!

"Am I allowed to go there?" I asked sweetly. The priest didn't raise his head, just gaped at the book in my hand.

"Yes, you would be," he nodded in approval, "Remun Ra, would take you there."

"Oh, alright. But who is Re-"

"I am Remun Ra," A priest came to stand in front of me.

The creepy priest.

My nerves spiked up to a maddening height. His name is just as creepy as him!

I tried not to shake. Goodness, where have I stuck myself into? I willed myself to peek at him again.

While the priests were mostly round and fat in stature, he was tall. More surprising was his athletic build, that was rarely seen in a priest.

He looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes, one which implied the prey-is-finally-caught undertone. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

I withdrew my gaze, shuddering. Should I refuse? But I just asked I wanted to go there.

Oh yes, Julian.

He was still talking with the priest, his back turned to me. I shifted to the saner priest, "I- I need to ask His Honour first," I gave him an uneasy smile and dashed towards Julian.

I was hoping and had almost made myself believe that he wouldn't allow me to enter the funeral grounds.

"Yes, you can go. But don't take much time," Julian smiled at me, much to my disbelief.

He's never there when I want him. Be it when Armonia and Olympias tortured me, or when I had to go with this creep of a priest! I cried inwardly.

"Won't you… come?" I begged.

But he couldn't decipher the pleading in my voice, "I… don't think so," His brows furrowed, then he looked at the creep who now stood bowed like a docile priest that he wasn’t!

"The priest could explain better than me. I'll be waiting here, have to attend some issues," he ushered to the priest he was talking to. After passing me an encouraging smile, he resumed his conversation.

I followed Remun Ra quietly as he opened the huge screened door and guided me to step down the stairs. Closing the door, he walked in front when we entered the gloomy passageway.

It reminded me of the secret chamber in Julian's palace, only this was narrower, with bizarre drawings etched on the rugged walls.

"Won't you talk to me?" The priest's chuckle resonated in the thin passage, causing the reverberation to raise goosebumps on my bare arms.

"I will when I want to ask- something," I heaved, trying not to stammer.

After a few turns, the narrow lane gave way to a much wider corridor, stretched afar. Adjacent sides of the walls had square screened windows, letting the afternoon sunlight in.

Before us was the scary, jackal-headed Egyptian God, Anubis' statue.

Remun Ra crossed his arms and stood beside the God of the dead, facing me with a smug expression.

"You look like a Greek goddess in this lithe clothing, lovely lady," he grinned slyly.

I swear if he nears me, I'll go mad ninja on him! I was questioning my sanity. Was I so hungry for knowledge that I followed him here? Alone?

Till the time he was being civil, I had to be too, "Ah, I think it's rude to compare a human with God. You should know that… as a priest," I said without making eye contact with his horrible face.

Cold sweat trickled down my neck when it did nothing to faze him. Instead, he smirked. A seductive one.

I looked at him, flabbergasted. He only wore a linen draping around his waist that came till his knees. An animal skin slung around his arms.

Embarrassed, I looked up at his chest. Too well defined to be of a priest's.

"Checking me out?" He raised a brow, amused.

"I-" Holy Zeus, what a shameless priest.

His face scrunched crazily as he burst in a full-blown laughter. It was as if he was controlling it all this time. Any more and he'd be rolling on the floor.

"Yes!" He punched a fist in the air in a sense of achievement.

I stood there, shell-shocked. His laugh seemed too familiar. There was only one person who'd laugh in fits of increasing pitch until he sounded like a toucan.

"Dunkin?!"

"God…" he backed against the wall, still shaking with laughter, "your face… Why were you running away from me?" he slapped the wall, calming himself from his laughing high.

"No offence, but you look like a molester," I deadpanned. I walked beside him to hit his bald head with my book, but he snatched it away with a cheesy grin.

"Blame this makeup and my bald head,"

He plopped down and began going through the pages, "The three of you are lucky. I and Aarmen have to go into the depths of a forest to even take a piss," he grumbled.

"Aw," I giggled, "But why did you scare me so much? You could've called." I asked, settling beside him.

He closed the book, "When I figured you didn't recognise me, I thought why not play a little? Results came out as Dunkin 1 Coretta 0," he grinned.

"Congratulations on concealing your identity like a pro," I poked his bald head, "What about me? Do I look like an ancient woman?"

He gave some thought, "You look way too… gentle. I can't believe you don't exude one per cent of Coretta Hayes."

"Is it a good or bad transition?" I huffed.

"I guess you've gotten way too deep in the ancient woman docile character. Woman up a bit. Otherwise, men here would keep thinking of you as a thing to eat."

"Eat?!" I asked, baffled.

"According to my ancient man training, yes. You look edible." He glanced down my dress, then back to my face, "Like a perfect ancient housewife. Innocent, submissive."

"Heck no! The last thing I want to look is submissive!" I glared at my rose pink dress, "Should I wear bold colours then?"

"I'm no woman. Ask Cheryl," he mumbled.

I sighed. It was helpful knowing his view. I must work up a bit.

"Now tell me, what are you up to?"

"First thing first, you won't write anything about temples and mummification. That's my topic. Sooo, I won't be explaining anything." He walked over to the statue of Anubis and removed the jackal-faced headgear to wear it.

"Fair enough," I chuckled.

His face looked like a savage wolf now, "Part-time job preparing dead bodies for mummification, part-time serving Aphrodite," Removing it, he tossed it over to me, "The latter cause I want the Goddess of beauty to make me more attractive," he smirked.

I inspected the gigantic mask used in one of the funeral rituals, "You should learn some lessons from what's going on with attractive people," I snickered.

"I thought Lorenzo had gone back. But he's still connectable."

"Remember the princess infatuated with him?" he asked.

"Princess Ira?" I asked back.

"Yep. When she knew what her queen mom was up to, she came sprinting to the court and had a serious catfight with her."

"Oh. Then?"

"Both of them decided to marry Lorenzo."

Gosh, I shouldn't laugh, but I couldn't help it either. I waved for him to go on, clamping my mouth to control a hideous laugh.

"The last decision went to him, and he said he'd marry none. Got demoted from his post of warrior general, aaaand…

"He'll have to take part in the battles he'd been avoiding. Guess he'll have a painful death." We winced together.

"I assumed since we both were facing this marriage issue, I should marry him," I wondered aloud.

"Cheryl and Lorenzo are actually… sexting each other through voicemail," he said dryly.

"Whoa," That was news to me, "If there's something going between them, I'll cancel this plan," I laughed awkwardly, "But how do you know?"

"He must be drunk and sent me the sext meant for Cheryl. When I forwarded her, she said they were just playing Friends with Benefits to avoid catching feelings for any ancient peep here.

"More like, if we are invested in each other, the probability of that love shit happening with someone else lowers," he shrugged.

I gave some thought to that. My teammates are definitely more intelligent than me.

"I was wondering if we could… you know, do the same thing?" He rubbed the back of his head.

I narrowed my eyes playfully, "And who is distracting you, hm?" I wiggled my brows.

"Oh, no one literally," He gave a short laugh, "Priests have to lead a life of celibacy but I was wondering about you..."

"I mean, the big guy up there." He finished lamely.

"Big guy?"

"Yeah, that dude, Julian," He walked to the window behind us, from where the screened door of Aphrodite’s temple was visible, "He looks smitten by you."

My cheeks flamed. Smitten? Him? My stupid self may be a teeny tiny bit smitten by him, but vice versa? "Not possible, Dunkin," I argued.

"That's what inexperience does to you," he flicked my forehead, then faced the window again.

"Think about it, a king doesn't have time flocking around with a writer, but he made time. Obviously, when he didn't have to," He turned to face me,

"What I want to say is, a guy making time for you is the biggest sign, and

"You are blushing."

No. This can't happen. I couldn't deny that Dunkin's analysis was on point. He had somehow, shook me back to reality.

I need to hold myself together, instead of distributing parts of me,

That'll leave me broken.

"Friends with benefits, it is," I concluded, "But… but what about Aarmen? We will leave him alone?"

"Don't worry. Dude's doing dope at his job. As long as he has a fetish with maths, he'll be good."

Dunkin was the only one who'd make us laugh till our stomachs were aching. If not for his love for history, he could've easily been a stand-up comedian.

"How about the department's advice?" He started slowly, coming to sit cross-legged beside me, "We can get married and you'll be a priestess. Obviously, a king won't bother with a priestess because of her virtue," he proposed.

His idea… isn't bad.

When I nodded for him to continue, he spoke, "Coming to writing about his kingdom, you can do it being a priestess as well a writer in his court. I'll teach you the rituals and all."

"That's perfect! But…" I lost confidence,

"Why would he let me marry?"

His eyes narrowed, "You are an Egyptian woman. And as far as I know, they are allowed to marry on their own will."

"Not now, Dunkin," I sighed, "After the Greeks invaded, they've taken this right away. The new rule states taking the permission of a guardian to get married. And," I sighed again,

"Julian is my guardian."

"Ah fish," he muttered, "He'll definitely not allow you to marry. But beware Cors," he said seriously,

"To be honest… you are gorgeous. No doubt there. Just be sure he doesn't marry you off in a political alliance or something."

He looked at me with sympathy, "You know how their world works. Marrying off young women to important generals for alliance."

"Yeah…" I murmured, "People of this century have an itch to get others married. I'll see how I can marry you."