Page 148 of Devil's Doom

He shakes his head indolently, looking up at the black ceiling of the cave that glistens with perspiration from the lake.

“You’d be broken if he were cruel. He’s capable of horrible things. No, I meant others, like Perun, of course, but Mokosz, too. Swarog, oh, that one would torture you for years. I hate him as much as Dadzbog. Woland is… conflicted. He wants to be good, he’s just… bad at it.”

I snort fondly, not believing a word he says. The things Woland did to me, beginning with Bogna’s murder, ending with his latest betrayal, are horribly cruel. That I’m not broken isn’t a testament to him being good but to how hard I’ve fought him.

It doesn’t matter, anyway.

“Do you stay in Nawie when you’re not watching from the sky?” I ask, wondering if I’ll keep meeting him. I want Chors to be in my life, in whatever capacity he’ll have me. He’s just so easy to be with. So honest, if a little confusing.

“Sometimes,” he says with a shrug. “We’re in Nawie now. I sleep here often. Just lie down on the water, and it holds me up until I wake up. It’s restful.”

“I want to keep seeing you,” I confess. “To talk, or maybe more. Whatever you’ll want. I won’t push you, I just want you to know that I’ll miss you terribly if we’re apart.”

He smiles, his eyes soft as they take me in. “I’ll miss you, too. And we’ll keep meeting. We have a lot of time to talk, don’t we? An eternity.”

I shrug and don’t correct him. He has an eternity, but I? I’ll be lucky if I live until eighty, but if my life persists to be as interesting as it was till now, I won’t see old age. Death doesn’t scare me any more, though. As long as I do the one thing that I was supposed to do from the start, and rescue my younger self.

Maybe it will happen tonight.

I shiver and get up, brushing sand from my skin. Chors watches me as I dress, finally raising himself to put on his trousers. When we’re both ready, I brush my fingers over his nape, bringing him down for one last kiss.

It’s gentle and chaste. When he pulls away, I smile. “Thank you for spending time with me.”

He nods and closes his eyes with a frown. “Oh, he’s not in Nawie any longer. Doesn’t matter. I know where he is.”

I frown, confused. Weles, not in Nawie? But he must be. Everyone says he can’t ever leave his domain, because Perun attacks him instantly. I open my mouth to ask about it when Chors puts his arms around me in a warm, gentle hug.

“I’ll take you to my father, but I won’t stay. It will just enrage him more, and I know you’ll be safe. He cares for you very much.”

“What?”

But my question gets lost in a sudden breeze of wind, the silver light of his magic bathing us. The sandy floor falls away, and I clutch Chors, my insides tight with fear.

Something isn’t right.

When we stop, and the light vanishes, he slips from my embrace. One moment, he is there, warm and real, and now, it’s like I’m hugging smoke. I lose my balance and fall to my hands and knees, the air around me thick with gasps and murmurs. It smellswrong.

Utterly too familiar.

When I open my eyes, the first thing I see is a pair of black hooves.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Woland asks, his voice low and threatening.

I look up. There he is, towering above me in his naked glory, eyes glittering with rage.

Chors betrayed me. He brought me right back to the rebel base. Back to my worst enemy.

Chapter fifty

Doom

Woland

I’m halfway through a speech mobilizing the rebels to look for Jaga. She ran again, and I can’t stand the sick, pain-like feeling in my chest, so I focus on my rage.

“Whoever finds her will be rewarded!” I shout, not caring how that makes me look.

I am a man desperately looking for a woman who ran from him, and it’s humiliating, but I need her found more than I need my reputation to last. Let them think what they will. If only they bring her back to me.

---