Page 63 of Immortal Sun

He leans in.

Breath gets caught in my throat. He smells like the sea, like sweat, like war. I finally gaze into his eyes. Ships burn across the sea, darkness descends as fire falls from the sky.

I jerk away from him.

He takes a step back. “Why don’t you take the day, grab some warmer clothes, and enjoy yourself?”

My jaw drops. “But last night, I thought?—”

“Sorry. Like I said, it was a rough day. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. Go downtown,” he suggests as he tosses a company credit card onto the table. . “It has no limit. Grab some clothes, grab some food—“ He jabs a finger in my direction. “Whatever you do, don’t go to Apep, that’s the only rule.”

Ah, lovely, he’s controlling me with money. Can’t say I’m surprised. Clearly, his lecture didn’t work so now he’s trying with a black credit card.

I grab it and stand. “Yeah, I think I’ll do that.”

I try to walk past him. He grabs me by the arm, holding me next to his massive body. “Be careful.”

“What’s going to happen to me?” I shrug away from him. “I’m just a visiting college student.”

“Exactly,” he whispers and walks out of the dining room.

I run to my room and grab my purse then start my walk toward town.

A car pulls up next to me once I’m a few minutes from town.

The window rolls down to reveal Enki. “Need a ride?”

“Are you going to feed me bad wine and killer cinnamon rolls?”

He bursts out laughing. “Do you want me to?”

“Nope.” I grin. “But I will take that ride.”

“Yeah, you will.” He winks. “Get in.”

I roll my eyes and get in his black Escalade. It’s warm. I hold my hands up to the vents and rub them together. “Apparently I need warmer clothes.”

“Ah, Cyrus sent you out shopping, that’s new.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” he says quickly. “I know just the place. That is, if you’re adventurous enough to go up there.”

“There?”

He points to the middle of the village as we pull up and park. “See that trail on the opposite end of the small café?”

I lean in and look at where he’s pointing. It’s clearly marked“The Trail of the Dead”in English. I glance at him, one eyebrow raised.

“Don’t worry they just label it that way so tourists don’t go up there, but at the very top of the hill there’s a local store that sells just about everything. The owners like to keep to themselves. They built it in an old house of worship.”

“What did they worship there?”

His face falls. “The Egyptian gods.”

“Do they still worship there?”

“During the winter, sacrifices are made up there to prepare for the following harvest, it’s tradition. But human sacrifices? They did away with those a long time ago.”

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