Page 61 of Immortal Sun

Would it be so bad?

Yes. It would.

She licks her lips and walks over to stand next to me. Shit, she still smells like him, a mixture of salt and burnt firewood. “Did you want to talk about why your day was so hard?”

Never have I felt so humbled and low that a human college student would ask me if I want to talk about my feelings.

Well sure, here’s the thing, I’m going to torture you in order to complete the human trial I’ve been in for over a thousand years. Then, I’m going to sacrifice you to the gods in order to earn my place back on Mount Olympus oh and in the meantime you’ll know nothing but fear until the very last part of the eclipse but don’t worry, Anubis will hold your hand while you descend into the underworld and back to the Nile. More wine?

“Ah, that.” I fold my arms to keep from touching her. Instead it’s her who touches my arm. Nobody touches me. I touch them. I seduce them. I keep them warm.

But who keeps the sun warm at night? Who?

“Yeah, that,” she repeats still touching my arm.

I rock back on my heels and strive for honesty. “Got in a fight with an old friend, argued with a new one.” Her. “Got jealous of an enemy.” Apep. “Felt sorry for myself for some decisions I have to make in the near future.” Her life. “And then decided to day drink even though it’s nearly impossible for me to get drunk, and well, that was all before dinner.”

She nods slowly. “I got my hand stuck on your spear does that count as a bad day?”

I go completely still; I swear my heart even stops beating. “I’m sorry, you what?”

Cleo holds up her right hand, her little charm kisses her wrist. “This got stuck to Ra’s spear in the warehouse. Anyway, that’s when Apep found me screaming in terror, trying to get the stupid spear off. He said something about a conduit and got it off me.”

How dare she! I have words for that spear. The hell was she thinking?!

“I’m going to bed,” I say abruptly, leaving her in the dining room by herself. Everything in my body has gone cold. Everything.

I take the steps outside and to the warehouse and grab a torch then set it in its spot, more lights flicker on down the darker hallways, but I stop at the spear and stare at it.

“Two hundred years,” I whisper. “And you choose to attach toherof all people?”

The spear gleams, blue fire erupts down the handle making it glow. With a trembling hand, I pick it up with ease. “It’s too soon, though.”

The spear shakes in my hand.

“She’s not ready,” I whisper.

You’re not ready.My heart reminds me.

The spear continues to shake uncontrollably in my hand. It thirsts for final blood while warring the way I am. It’s an extension of me. It craves Olympus—but it feels for me and it feels for Cleo.

I need more time, time to figure her out, time to figure out why for the first moment in centuries—I’m hesitating. Am I just that tired of it all?

My gut says no.

I grip the spear hard in my hand and curse. “We still have days until I send her to the caves.”

The blue fire curls out from the tip of the sword and presses against my chest. I have a sudden vision of her holding the spear as if I’m watching a movie. She panics and then she gets annoyed. The spear itself doesn’t want to let go.

“Enough!” I snap. “Saving them is not your purpose. Ending them correctly is your destiny now.”

The Spear of Ra moans and shakes in my hand. I quickly slice the palm of my hand to appease her with blood and carry the spear out of the warehouse. If it says it’s time, if its fire is showing…

Then I have been wrong all along.

The time is more than near.

The eclipse is here.

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