Page 73 of Night of Death and Flowers

I push her hand away, then brush my hair out of my face. “What time is it? Where is Azkiel?”

“He stepped outside a half hour ago. He refused to talk to us,” she explains, and my muscles tense. I whip my head around to the window, and the impeding night outside. “But there is something else,” she whispers, pulling me out of the hundreds of thoughts racing through my mind. “The gods spoke to me in my dreams.” Her eyes widen under the orange hue of the candlelight, the madness in them still sparkling.

My heart stammers, rolling a wave of numbness from my head to the tip of my toes. “What?”

“They say they will return soon,” she explains, a desperate hope etching her tone.

“No, Ari. You cannot listen to them.”

“I must. They can save us all.”

“They’re monsters. Death says—”

“He is a liar,” she snaps, then lowers her voice again. “They told me he would lie to us. Cali, he wants us to believe the other gods are evil. He trapped them here.”

“I know, but it was for good reason,” I say and stare at my sister, hugging the crimson, silk robes around her tiny, breakable body. “What else did they tell you?”

She smiles, pretending all our problems have been solved, but this is far worse than I could have imagined. “Nothing, except I should prepare myself.”

I grab her forearms and she flinches. My wild eyes mirrored in her violet irises as I ask, “Did they say how?”

“No, why? What do you know?”

“Nothing,” I lie, knowing she would sacrifice herself to keep us safe. I need to get her off this damned island before the gods can lure her to whoever is helping them, or Azkiel finds out who she is. I rub my fingers over my temples. Good gods. What the fuck are we doing to do?

Cyna’s words float back to me. Death cannot keep you from us forever.

“Where is Drake?”

“He’s gone to find water.”

“With Death?” I ask, my jaw slacking. “No, no, no.” I race past her, then down to the door, finding Azkiel standing in the night as if he belongs to it, with Drake nowhere to be seen.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Azkiel

Challenge pulsates through me as I listen to my mortal admonish me from the doorway of the house.

“Where’s Drake? If you’ve hurt him, I swear to—”

“God?” I ask and bring my thumb to my lip, tilting my head as my amused smile grows wider.

“I mean it!” she shouts, and I take a step closer, her magic pulsating as a shadow threatens to escape her fingers.

Ah. She has them, too. The possibilities.

“I see you’re back to your poisonous self,” I say. “I was concerned when you were slightly less spiteful earlier.”

“Bastard!” She looks around, then calls the boy’s name into the rain-filled night. “Drake!”

“Calm yourself, Poison. The traitor walked into the forest an hour ago. Something about finding food and water. He’s still alive. I can feel his broody energy from here.”

Her eyes grow to almost twice their size. “He’s out there alone?”

I close the distance between us, my lashes flickering when I notice her breath hitch. “Think about this way,” I say, gliding a finger down her cheek, my stomach fluttering when she doesn’t stop me. “If he dies, then you won’t have to feel guilty about killing him so your sister can win. It will be out of your hands.”

She hesitates, only for a second, then bats my hand away. Her finger jabs into my chest and she hisses through clenched teeth, “Just because you have never loved, it doesn’t mean love does not exist. If he dies, I will blame you.”

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