Page 40 of A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness

“Kiera.”

I walk faster, reaching Theos and Kalix in under ten strides. “What do you suppose the Cleansing rite will entail?” Theos is musing aloud.

Kalix’s green eyes cut towards me as I come up between them. With my back straight and my head positioned forward, I answer Theos’ question. “No doubt, the Gods think of us as contaminated goods,” I state coolly. “They likely want to wash us of our taint before they consume our powers.”

Theos’ hand snaps out and grips my wrist as Kalix does the same on my other side. “Kiera.” Theos hisses my name, glancing both in front of and behind where we’ve come to a standstill in the main hall. Several curious gazes land on us as Mortal Gods dressed in the same garments as us pass by.

“What?” I yank at my wrists, attempting to pull them free. Theos releases me, but Kalix doesn’t.

“Mind where you speak,” Theos says, his expression conveying surprise that I’d bother to even mention the darkness we’ve yet to address beyond the one and only time I’d revealed the great and terrible taboo that the Gods have partaken in—the very reason our lives are both important and irrelevant to our powerful tyrants.

I tug once more at my captured wrist, trying in vain to withdraw it from Kalix’s implacable grip. “Why does it matter?” I snap. “It’s not like they aren’t planning to kill us.”

Kalix’s free hand claps over my mouth and he nearly lifts me off my feet as he drags me against his chest and backs into one of the shadowy alcoves along either side of the great hall.

“Kiera!” Theos’ responding whisper-hiss follows me as both he and Ruen trail after Kalix. Of all the Darkhavens I expected to do this, it was never Kalix.

Tipping my head back against his bare chest, serpent green eyes meet mine. He arches a brow and removes his hand from my mouth.

“Why do you care if I say it?”

Kalix remains silent for several seconds, long enough for Ruen and Theos to both reach us and then launch into their own tirades and scolding.

“—can’t believe you would be so irrational,” Ruen is saying.

“Do you think someone else might have heard?” Theos asks.

My gaze remains fixed on the man still holding me against him. The corner of Kalix’s mouth quirks upward as if he’senjoying the singular attention I’m paying him. At my back, I feel the evidence of something big and solid prodding at me.

I scowl. “Are you fucking serious?” I glare up at him.

His grin only widens. “Not that I mind your brand of chaos, little liar,” Kalix replies, bending down until his mouth hovers right over mine, “but perhaps you should save your reveals for more opportune moments.”

My mind goes hazy as his scent invades. Does he mean to reveal what the Gods plan to do to their children at a different point? I consider that. It’s not a terrible idea. It’s not like we’d be able to keep it from them forever. Even if I manage to kill Tryphone—and that’s a fairly generous ‘if’—who’s to say that the rest of the God Council won’t simply pick up where he left off?

“Do not encourage her,” Ruen growls.

Kalix ignores him and continues to stare at me, our eyes locked in ... not a battle, but something else entirely. Every time I look at him, I feel as if I’m falling deeper and deeper into a forest of teeth and bone. Dangerous creatures lie around every corner and one wrong move will send me careening off a path into their waiting arms.

Yanking away from him abruptly, I stumble a few feet towards the opening of the alcove, stopping with a hand on a wall. I suck in a few lungfuls of air before turning to look back at him. Kalix hasn’t moved. His eyes remain locked on me as if daring me to run from him.

A shiver steals over me, sweeping through my limbs and down my spine. His eyes are the same as a creature that has known only darkness. He’s comfortable bathed in blood. He doesn’t care about the lives stolen in this war we didn’t even know we were fighting. Somehow, though, I can’t bear to hate him for that. In fact, I have the strangest inkling that if we are going to win this fight, we will need someone like him. Someone for whom right and wrong do not exist.

“We should get going,” I hear myself say as I straighten. The weight around my middle tries to drag me down, to make me bend. I resist the urge to let it and instead, raise my head higher. The waves of my hair cascade over my shoulders and down my back—just as Iysa had arranged them with her pins and instruments heated over a candle’s flame.

I know what we’re supposed to represent. I suspect the elaborateness of our dress, themors pallium,and the Terra that attend us are all leading to one thing.

To the Gods we are nothing but offerings to their longevity. We are sacrifices to be slaughtered on the altar of their reign.

Kalix’s responding expression morphs into one of utter delight. He moves forward, practically flattening his brothers in an effort to get to my side. A callused palm comes up to cup my cheek as he leans down and takes my mouth in a harsh, surprising kiss. It lasts for all of a moment before he’s pulling away from me.

“Yes,” he says. “We should.”

His hand finds mine, the backs of his knuckles brushing over the bared skin of my side in a movement that would normally have felt casual. Unfortunately, due to my lack of dress, it feels anything but.

The curious gazes of both Theos and Ruen follow as Kalix urges me back out into the great hall, and together we head towards the corridor that will lead into the garden of statues.

Chapter 20

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