Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
“That is the question, isn’t it?”
“Is it possible he’s working with an Aspect of Belara?”
The sour expression on his face would be comical if we weren’t in such shit now. “The last time I spoke to Belara, I demanded for her to wed me. She laughed in my face and so I liquified the innards of her priests. That was two millennia ago. She hasn’t forgotten, but apparently this lot has.” He indicates the door. “Or else they wouldn’t be so quick to invite us in.”
I clutch my throat. I don’t know which part of that statement makes me more sick—that he proposed marriage to a goddess, or he slaughtered a bunch of people simply because of who they worshipped.
He sees my face and sighs heavily again. “And now you loathe me, too.”
Shaking my head, I try to form my thoughts. “I…I know it’s different when you’re a god and you don’t see people as people. I know we don’t think the same. I just…”
“I’m not proud of it. I was young and petulant and wanted to hurt her. I should have blessed the lot instead of killing them, because I’m lucky that my decision saved me from falling for her charms all over again.” He crosses his arms and stares out the window. “They weren’t people to me, not then. I think that’s why the High Father sends us down here over and over again. You forget so much over the course of the years as they pass. Time drifts by and you lose touch with reality. Here, we’re forced to come to terms with the world we’ve created.”
“And…?”
“And right now I’m thinking I should have been a bit more benevolent, because a temple full of devoted followers would come in very handy.”
“We’ll think of something,” I say automatically. “I’m not sure what, yet, but there’s bound to be a solution.”
Kalos pushes away from the wall, moving towards me. “You never give up, do you?”
I shake my head. “I can’t. All that’s holding my brain together is optimism and a bit of duct tape. Giving up unravels everything.”
He kneels on the floor next to the cot and puts his head in my lap. His arms go around me, and he pulls me closer. “Do you know, I have hated every single Anticipation that I have ever participated in. I have loathed them more than I loathe my brother, and that is saying a lot. And as Apathy, I should be completely and wholly miserable.”
My hands find his soft, tousled hair. “And…?”
“And I’m not even remotely miserable,” he says. “Not even a bit. The only part that makes me miserable is thinking that this has to end with your death.”
“We’ve always known that’s the deal,” I say softly again, even though it aches to think about. I agreed to do this to save my brother, not knowing if I’d get one day or a thousand. I’d make the same choice all over again without question, but I hadn’t planned on falling in love.
I hadn’t accounted for aching every time Kalos loses himself to the fugue, or the way my heart thrills when he smiles up at me.
If I had, I’d have never made the deal with Lachesis to bring me to the Afterlife on my home plane. I’d stay here with him forever, but my thread remains anchored to my world. There’s no undoing anything.
“My brother,” Kalos says in a slow, thoughtful tone.
“What about him? Do you think he’s coming? Is that why they want you alive?”
He lifts his head, meeting my gaze. “It’s not him. He’s already returned to his plane. But he’s the lord of death.” His arms tighten around me. “I can debase myself to him, demand that he release you to me after we’ve been parted. I’ll deal with him, find something he wants or needs. I don’t care if I owe him my throne, if it means I get you at my side.”
Oh god. I can’t tell him about my deal with Lachesis. Not now. I give him a small smile. “Can we hold off on thinking about my death?”
He swears. “I’m an arse, Elsie. Of course.” Determination makes his eyes narrow, and for a moment, he looks cold and hard and unholy. “Just know that I don’t intend on letting you go.”
“I believe you.”
“Because you believe in everyone,” he says with a wry smile.
“Not everyone. Just you.”
Kalos groans and buries his face in my lap again. “You make me want to dive between your thighs and lick you for the next thousand years, but I’ll restrain myself. I need to have my wits about me when my other Aspect arrives.”
A chill goes up my spine. Another Aspect. We’ve avoided the other two and so I haven’t had to see this other doppelganger of the man I love, one with no attachment to me in the slightest. It throws me off just thinking about it. What’s going to happen if Kalos re-combines with his other aspects and finds he no longer feels as intensely for me as he did when he was only Apathy?