Page 99 of The Blood of Gods and Monsters

“Correct.” I reach up and circle his wrists with my fingers, squeezing harder and harder until I feel the creaking of his bones under my grasp. Azai releases me. “I won’t be your spy, Father.” I spit the last word at him.

“You think to deny me?” He gapes at me as if he truly cannot believe that anyone would do such a thing. I know that it’s likely the only reason I managed to get him to release me. I also know that it’s likely a poor idea to provoke him further.

Therefore, it’s to my own surprise as well as his that I do so. “What are you going to do?” I ask. “Punish me? Who are you going to kill? My mother? Wait, you already did that. Scar me? Oh, yes, you’ve done that too.” I bare my teeth at him in a feral smile and shove up the sleeve of my tunic, brandishing the scars there for him to see. “And I’ve got more where those came from so that won’t do you any good.”

Azai’s shoulders swell as he sucks in a breath. Never once does he look at the scars on my arm. I lower it again and let my sleeve fall back into place as I stare back at him.

“I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with a girl who is no more than another bastard child of the Gods.” My words may sound casual, but my insides riot with nothing but fury.

“My reasons are not to be questioned by you,” Azai snaps.

“I’m not questioning them,” I reply. “But I can’t help you.” I won’t help him.

“You are making a mistake, boy.” Azai’s words are cold, despite his anger.

I straighten my tunic and brush off a piece of invisible lint just to feel as if I’m showing him I don’t care.

“Master Ru—” I don’t move at the sound of a familiar almost breathy male voice, not even when it, along with the footsteps I hadn’t heard approaching, cuts off abruptly. “I’m so sorry, my Lord.”

I know without looking that Niall is bowing to Azai, likely straining his back to get as low as he possibly can without falling to his knees. All it would take is one flick of Azai’s fingers, though, and that’s exactly what this boy, this human, would do. I refuse to look at him lest any interest in the Terra that Kiera considers her friend results in punishment from Azai.

Thankfully, Azai merely ignores Niall and steps closer to me. “There will come a time, Son,” he emphasizes that hated word, “when you realize that the choices you make will define you. I hope that you will see that any power you think you wield is bestowed by me. You would not be without me and should you continue to defy and fight me, you will cease to be any further.”

He lifts a hand and when I would step back, I find that I can’t. His fingers grip the sides of my throat and I’m forced to look into eyes the color of beaten gold. “You breathe because I allow it,” Azai states. “Right now, you are drunk on the thought that you are protected. That is an illusion. If I wanted to, I could kill you right here and now.”

Breath ragged, I bare my teeth at him. “Then why don’t you?” I growl.

His lips curve into a bemused smile. Azai’s hand on my neck eases back before dropping away completely. It is not time. It takes a moment for me to realize that those words weren’t spoken aloud. I was staring at his mouth, but his lips never moved.

“Get me information about the girl by the end of the week, Ruen,” Azai says, taking a step back. “Or suffer the consequences.”

As the God of Strength prowls away, I distantly hear the sound of Niall’s panting breaths. I close my eyes. Suffer the consequences? Every step I’ve ever taken is a consequence made by his choices.

No matter what I do, there will be consequences. In my words and in my silence.

Reopening my eyes, I cast my attention back to Niall and frown at what I see. Dressed not in his usual Terra attire, Niall is covered in a thin layer of dust over what looks to be a robe similar to those of the librarians.

“What—”

Niall jerks his head up as if realizing we’re finally alone. He looks one way and then another before he leaps forward and latches on to my arms. Never before has this human acted with such impudence that I’m stunned silent as he drags me down the hall and into a quieter alcove just out of the way of anyone who might pass through the corridor.

“Master Ruen,” he says, eyes searching around the corner, “I’ve found something.”

He turns to me and then from his robes, he produces a small leather-bound book. “I know you ordered me to stop searching—please don’t punish me—but I?—”

I hold my hand up, cutting him off. “I won’t punish you,” I promise him. “What did you find?”

Eyes similar to that of a pup, wide, brown, and trusting gaze up at me. “The records of Mortal Gods’ deaths over the last thirty years.”

Chapter 42

Kiera

They were the eyes of dead men.

Regis’ words echo through my head as I leave him in Kalix’s room.

Things are not right. If Regis believes that the men following Carcel are dead then I believe him. The two of us have seen more than enough dead bodies, open unseeing eyes gazing into a world no one living can ever know.

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