Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
“Well, the agreement was to help each other escape the building. You had no obligation to protect my ass after we got out of there. Besides, we both know I’ll slow you down.”
Tyche twisted to the left and then to the right, cracking his spine and loosening up stiff muscles.
“Maybe I’m keeping you because I find you amusing.”
Tyche glared, and a low chuckle tumbled from his companion. He leaned against the opposite wall, his dark clothes stained with blood and mud. His pale hair was a long, loose mess, but his face was relaxed, and that made him so damn handsome. The few times he’d seen Shey’s face, it had been full of harsh lines and angles, pulled tight by rage and frustration. But for the first time, he seemed almost at peace. Even the long scars on the left side of his face didn’t detract from his beauty.
“Gods, I’d kill for a cup of coffee,” Tyche announced with a heavy sigh.
Shey threw his head back, his deep belly laugh echoing through the cave. Birds cried and took to the air, rattling the tree limbs as they launched skyward.
“I was sure that was going to be your first words when you woke up.”
“Pfft. Whatever. Nothing is still better than the swill they served us,” Tyche muttered. He’d even consider selling Shey for a cup of the good stuff. Consider. He wouldn’t do it, but he’d at least think about it.
Tyche looked at his hands and frowned. The constant rainfall had washed the blood away long ago, but he could still find dried bits stuck under his fingernails.
Yesuntei.
She shouldn’t have died that way. He shouldn’t have had to leave her there. She deserved to be handed over to her sister, assuming Cirina was still alive. Part of him couldn’t imagine a world where Yesuntei could be captured and Cirina was alive somewhere. He would have thought that Cirina would die before anything happened to her sister.
But the world was changing and moving in directions he couldn’t predict. Most of the old gods were dead, and new ones were being born. The best he could do was find a place to hide and escape all notice. It’s what Yesuntei should have done.
Tyche picked at the dried blood under his fingernails, all too keenly aware of the ball of power warm and pulsing in his pocket. It was something all the gods possessed. Like a sarira, the pearl-like object was the condensed form of their powers. It was how their powers could be stolen in death. It was how Zyros rose to power. She spent years hunting and killing hundreds of minor gods, stealing their powers so that she had enough to rival even Tula.
Most tried to fight her. Why not? She was human, and they were gods.
But she had been a powerful fighter with Tula and the other major gods whispering in her ear.
It was only too late that many of them realized that their best option was to hide. Disappear. Blend in with the humans and live quiet, mundane lives.
Tyche didn’t want Yesuntei’s power. He barely wanted his own. He couldn’t get rid of this pearl fast enough, but it wasn’t like he could chuck it into the river. Yesuntei deserved better than that. The one place that could protect it was her shrine in Brightspire.
“I’m sorry about Yesuntei,” Shawn murmured. “She seemed like a sweet, kind person. I wish we could have saved her too.”
Tyche grunted. “Yes. She was a sweet person. It wasn’t in her nature to hurt people. Not intentionally, at least. It…it was complicated. I’ve known…” He paused and frowned, his fists tightening into balls. “I knew her for a long time.
He shook his head and shoved against the ground, pushing until he staggered to his feet like a newborn deer. Everything ached, but he felt more in control standing. “So, what am I supposed to call you? Is it Shawn? Teitei called you Shey at the end.”
“Shey is fine with me.” He raised a brow and smirked. “And you’re Tyche?”
“Yes, but I don’t mind Ty.”
The silence stretched, becoming loaded with unsaid things and questions begging to be asked. It was easier to hide things in the prison. There were more important things—like survival—on their minds. Secrecy became the key to that survival.
Yet, they were free of the prison, and survival felt a little more likely. Tyche was already putting some pieces together about the man still sitting in the cave entrance, but he struggled to believe some of the answers he was coming up with. He wanted to hear the words from Shey’s mouth.
Of course, asking questions of Shey meant being willing to answer some of Shey’s questions. And it was likely that he would need to answer them honestly. He liked to tease Shey about being simple and slow, but that was only because he was sure the man was quite smart.