章 5: CHAPTER 5
The small fairy giggled when she saw that she had successfully gained my attention.
"Hello Azul." Her voice was very high-pitched and sounded like she had never been sad in her life.
"Leilai. It's been quite a while since I last saw you. How have you been these days?"
"Where's Ayoki?" Of course, that was all she cared about. Leilai had taken a strong liking to my husband since the first day she set eyes on him and had always been vocal about her feelings for him. I always found the situation amusing, seeing as she was as small as a child's fist and never stood a chance with him.
"You have to answer my questions first."
The little fairy groaned and, with a shrug and a very obvious eye roll, answered. ''I've been doing very well, Azul." Her voice picked up again. "Now, back to Ayoki. Where is he?"
"He's with a few gods, handling some issues that need urgent attention."
Leilai looked very intrigued. "Ayoki is winning and dining with gods? He's amazing, isn't he?"
"Yes, Leilai, that's why I married him."
The fairy flew off my shoulder and glowered at me. I knew that reminding her that the man she wanted so badly belonged to me would get under her skin, and I enjoyed doing it. "You don't have to rub it in my face, Azul."
I laughed. "Oh, but if I don't, then talking to you won't be any fun."
"You are a mean, ill-mannered woman, Mrs. Zenin."
"You forgot to add rich." I laughed and tried to touch her, but she flew out of my reach. "Don't be like that, Leilai. I was only messing around with you."
"I would love for you to cease messing with me. Thank you very much, madam."
Annoyed and not having much else to say to me, Leilai flew away, most likely to complain about my manners to her other fairy friends, and I continued on my way. I knew she was going to get over her current mood and be back to badgering me with more questions about Ayoki.
A few more workers that I came across bowed their golden heads as they passed by me, and I bumped into three Amazons. I had seen a few of them before, and those women never ceased to amaze me. They were just like the stories books and movies had depicted them to be. And the more I saw them, the more I saw that they were a lot better than the books, movies, and artists had painted them out to be.
They were tall, magnificent women with an incredible amount of strength and beauty and an intimidating amount of confidence in what they were capable of. They looked at me and smiled; one even tapped the top of my head the way a celebrity would do to a young fan. I always envied the Amazons and wondered what it would be like to be as they were. But each time I thought I had summoned enough courage to speak to them, I would usually end up too awestruck to voice my admiration.
The Amazons walked past me brandishing their swords and exchanging combat strategies. I kept staring at them until they were out of sight, and just before I turned to continue my journey, I felt something sharp poke the small of my back. Surprised and letting out a yelp, I turned quickly to meet an unexpected sight. Standing right behind me was an obsidian-colored unicorn with a mane that would put the most expensive horse on my uncle's ranch to shame, and he had a lot of exquisite horses.
"My goodness, little one." I reached out slowly and began to pet it. "I almost thought your horn was a sword. Although there really isn't much of a difference, " Over the years, I have come to fear unicorns less. They may have been known for impaling people at some point, but the ones at the hotel appeared to be well trained, and as long as I had yet to hear reports of them causing bodily harm to anyone at my establishment, I had no reason to fear them.
"Hio, Hio, Hio." As soon as his name had left my lips for the third time, the golden man in his usual red suit appeared before me, looking ready to provide assistance.
"Madam Zenin," he bowed and looked at the unicorn. "Well, this is a surprising occurrence. I assume this is the reason I was summoned.""Yes Hio. Aren't unicorns meant to be at the stables?"
He nodded. "Unicorns have the ability to teleport a short distance. We usually train them to not do that without being commanded to do so.
"It looks like this one wasn't paying attention during training lessons."
"On the bright side, it didn't find its way into the buffet area. I couldn't imagine what would happen if it got its hooves on the pastries." I chuckled and rubbed the side of the fairly large-horned horse. "Unicorns have a sweet tooth?"
"A lot more than you can imagine, madam."
"It almost poked my spine. I wouldn't want it doing that to the other guests."
"Yes, yes, it's always good to prioritize the safety of one's clientele."
"I'm actually more worried about the safety of the animal. Gods are usually short-tempered and I wouldn't want this poor thing struck by lightning."
Hio nodded and grabbed hold of the reins around the neck of the animal. "I'll do well to have this one returned to the stables."
"Good. And do have a talk with the stable master about this not having to repeat itself, please." ''Will do, madam Zenin?" He gave me a curt nod, and with one last goodbye to the horse, I was on my way. I had decided a while ago not to take the hotel's elevator, which always changed form with each passing day, so I could soak in the beautiful interior decor. I never got to see who was responsible for how the hotel appeared, but whoever it was was a truly gifted artist.
I had made my way up six floors before I got to the floor that housed my office. Just as it was the first time I had seen it, it was incredibly breathtaking. The golden pillars seemed to glimmer as though they had been polished a hundred times every minute, and the carpet was so soft that it gave the impression that my feet were sinking. Taking intentionally slow steps, I made my way to the entrance of my office, turned the knob, and threw open the door.
I walked into the familiar room occupied by the ghost of a young, red-haired woman who flew from shelf to shelf, a stack of books atop her arm, and who was yet to notice my presence. I watched as she phased through objects in an attempt to find something that she had apparently lost.
"A good morning to you, Rhael. The red-haired ghost let out a startled squeal and immediately spun around to face me. Her face brightened up, and she floated over to where I stood.
"Good morning to you as well, madam Zenin. Did you sleep well?"
"I slept well enough." I let her take my coat and made my way over to my desk and seat, which were a lot more comfortable than the office seats in the human realm. "Any new developments?"
"Nothing too new. There are new guests coming in today, however."
"New guests?"
"Yes," she said, placing my coat on the hanger and floating over to my side. "A few demi-gods."
"Children of Zeus, I imagine."
"The latest ones, yes. I don't think Hera is too happy about their existence."
I chuckled at the mental picture of an angry Hera. "What woman would she be?" I opened the file that Rhael had handed me and glanced at the picture of the demi-gods I was to host. "It says we are to keep them here until the lightening god can guarantee their safety from, of course, his very angry wife."
"He can guarantee their safety by not getting human women pregnant."
As true as Rhael's suggestion was, I doubted the safety of his offspring was a good enough reason for Lord Zues to put a hold on his promiscuous ways. My ghostly assistant peered over at the file and smiled at the picture of one of the demi-gods.
"You know, madam Zenin, if I were still alive, I would have loved to get to know that one." The person she was attracted to was a brown-skinned boy with unbelievably amazing hair and eyes that seemed to hold you in place. I suspected he had Middle Eastern blood in him. He was, as all demi-gods are rumored to be, very good-looking and, according to his file, had just turned eighteen. I found myself wondering if Rhael was the only being who would find herself smitten with the boy and his siblings.
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