Page 48 of Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones

“Shift?”

I hummed. “Like everything slowed down. I was moving but it was… treptat.” I couldn’t think of the right word in English. It was as if not everything I’d learnt had come back with me when I left the Depths. Hopefully it would come back eventually, but I’m sure I could always relearn the knowledge I’d lost.

“Sluggish?” Korbin supplied.

“Yes. This is the right word. It was like walking through honey.”

“And you say this was Raevyn? Not the witch?”

I looked back at Raevyn, sleeping peacefully and I struggled to reconcile this version of her, with the powerful, vengeful goddess I’d seen earlier.

“It was definitely Raevyn.” I described to Korbin what I’d seen and how she’d looked.

He stroked his lip as he mulled over his thoughts. “I’ll be honest, I have no idea what this is. It’s like there’s something buried but the surface is cracking and whatever this is, it’s starting to bleed through the cracks.”

“Perhaps she’s not a Raathmore at all.”

“Perhaps indeed,” Korbin mused. “I’d like to pay the mother a visit.”

“You think she’ll talk?”

Korbin cocked his head to the side, his lips pursed and an eyebrow raised. “We just won’t give her a choice.”

Naiba. Fuck. There was something quite unnerving about him being so… wicked. That there was so much violence sitting just below the surface of his skin.

It always was the quiet ones you had to watch.

“I’ll ask Rook to lie with Raevyn to keep an eye on her while he regains his strength. While the rest of us go and pay a visit to Raevyn’s mother.”

Whatever that witch had chucked at Rook had completely depleted him of all his power and energy leaving him basically an empty husk. Korbin had managed to restore some of his energy, but I had a feeling he’d need an immense power boost if he wanted to regain his strength quickly.

Casimir had come back and disappeared into his apartment. He hadn’t been seen since. I had a feeling that it was a mix of shame, anger and pain that was keeping him behind his walls. When Raevyn waked, I hoped she would be able to do something to help him. Fuck knows why, the guy was a nemernic.

Korbin nodded towards the door. “Come on, let’s go get some answers.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Casimir

Emerging from the darkness always took its toll on me. Like I was shedding a dense shadow and escaping a fog and learning to breathe again all at the same time. I hated Deimos. No, that wasn’t quite accurate. I hated myself for the deal I’d made but it was easier to blame him than it was to accept him as a part of me.

I don’t think I’d ever come to terms with being bound to the God of Fear. It wasn’t something that was easy to accept. The man was a God and an asshole. Not exactly easy to like. the runes branded onto my skin should be keeping him at bay, but recently, there were moments where I could feel him seep into my emotions and that terrified me. Would there be one day that I’d wake up and there’d be nothing of me left?

What would I do then?

“Nice to see you back to your usual grumpy self,” Nox said, slapping my shoulder as he walked past. I wouldn’t say I was quite there; I could sense Deimos lurking in the back of my mind. Like if I looked to the side, he’d be there, waiting. So, I was just ignoring him. If I couldn’t see him, he wasn’t there, right?

“Are we there yet?” Hawk asked as he swung an axe through the air. I mean, where did he even get the axe from? The guy looked like a heathen. He’d ripped the sleeves off his coat and he didn’t even have a shirt on under it. All I could see were tattoos and runes and —

“Are you staring at me, vulpe?”

“What?” I said.

Hawk smirked, a sinister curl to his lips. “I asked if you were staring at me. Your eyes are focussed here.” He dragged his hand down his bare chest.

“Just wondering why you aren’t wearing clothes. It’s odd.”

“I don’t like the feel of it against my skin. It feels unnatural.”

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