His features softened, and my heart skipped a beat. Whenever Hadrian looked at me with such tenderness, whatever worries I had simply faded away, and everything in my world felt right again...even if there always seemed someone new wanting to kill me.
Hadrian asked me if I was ready to talk, and a vivid memory flashed in my mind: a coin burning and melting into my flesh—-
My fingers uncurled involuntarily, and when I glanced down, I was stunned to see two Chinese characters tattooed on my palm in bright red ink.
Hadrian's lips tightened as he gazed down at my hand. "Do you know what this means?"
I shook my head.
"It's a name," Hadrian said flatly.
"Li Shang?" I guessed hopefully.
My husband's forehead creased. "Li Shang?"
"Um, never mind." If he realized Li Shang was another Disney character, I had a feeling Hadrian might kill me for real this time.
"These characters spell the name Yan Wang. He's the Chinese god of death—-"
My brows shot up. "Are you saying Chinese ghosts aren't allowed in your Underworld?" Because if he was, that was kinda—-oh, good, he was shaking his head.
"He is who I am in his realm."
"Ah." I totally got it now. "We're talking Spiderverse, right?"
"Parallel universe," Hadrian corrected.
"Exactly. Spiderverse."
Hadrian's lips curved, and I automatically smiled back, knowing that we had just silently agreed to disagree.
"How did you know to look for Yan Wang?"
I dug into my pocket to show him Little Iron, and Hadrian nodded in understanding. "He had me a little worried in the beginning," I admitted ruefully. "I asked Little Iron to show me the coin's owner first, and it just kept hopping—-"
Hadrian nodded thoughtfully. "As it should've."
Should have?
"You were the coin's owner, milady. Little Iron could only hop on your hand since it had nowhere else to go."
Oh, so that was what the hopping was all about!
Hadrian's gaze gleamed. "You didn't realize what it was doing?"
"Of course I did!" Not.
"Then—-"
"Anyway." I changed the topic in a rush and saw Hadrian's jaw harden noticeably as I relayed to him everything Yan Wang had said. He looked murderously grim by the time I finished...but not surprised.
"If, on the other hand, someone succeeded in taking your life over there, it would've been worse. Your soul would remain trapped in their world...for eternity."
I could only stare at him in silence for several moments, my mind still reeling from all of the risks that I had unknowingly taken. Lost immortality. Death. Trapped for eternity. I couldn't believe I had risked all of that...and all because I had this silly habit of picking loose change?
"I'm sorry," I told Hadrian morosely. His one and only wish was to keep my neck out of trouble for a month, and I hadn't been unable to last a day. With my current track record, I really wouldn't be surprised if I ended up being assigned the title of Goddess of People Who Always Get Themselves in Trouble for the Stupidest Reasons.
"You were lucky Little Iron took you to Yan Wang," Hadrian said gently.
"I know." I was lucky as hell, but...what if there came a time when I was no longer lucky?