Page 32 of Immortal Sun

“Yes.” I deadpan. “That’s exactly what we’re doing here, keeping all the secrets of the world in that one fountain.”

“Ah, so if I dig beneath it I find treasure?” she teases.

I force a smile even though there would probably be a bit of truth to that, though I doubt the things she wants are cursed artifacts Mars left for some poor human to find. “Possibly, you never know. Old areas of cities hold secrets and magic.”

A woman and her small girl pass us quietly, the woman stops briefly and inclines her head, then stares at Cleo long and hard. The daughter is human—the woman isn’t, thus her greeting. She knows exactly why Cleo is here and who she is.

I’m ready to tell her not to, but I’m too late, as the woman reaches for Cleo’s hand and presses a silver coin against her palm. She closes Cleo’s fingers over it.“Mubarekt.”

Blessing.

“Thank you.” Cleo obviously knows a bit of Egyptian. “That was kind.”

The woman tugs her black scarf over her head and rushes past us with her little girl. It won’t be the last time Cleo sees her.

“Shall we?” I offer my arm.

Cleo nods and takes it. She looks up toward Ken’s island and the rugged Olympic Mountain Range in the distance. I miss it. I’m full of longing and desperation.

“It’s beautiful.” Her clear voice interrupts my thoughts.

“It really is.” I say honestly pulling my gaze away from home. “They say the forests still mourn the loss of the gods.” I point at the mountain range. “It’s just a myth but at night locals still see fires up on Mount Olympus, they say the gods rest there waiting for worship.”

She glances back at the range. “If they were real, they’d do a better job, don’t you think?”

I shrug. “If humanity deserved it, maybe they’d feel the need to step in more often.”

“Touché.”

We reach the other side of the street.

“What’s this I hear about gods and Mount Olympus?” Apep winks at Cleo, refusing to even look in my direction. Bastard. “You telling silly stories again, Cyrus?”

“Apep,” I say his name like a curse. His hands are shoved in his impeccably sewn navy three-piece suit, and his smile is so smug I want to strangle him. With an icy smile and equally frozen gaze in his eyes he tilts his head toward Cleo.

“Back from your quick trip?” I ask in annoyance as Cleo and I stop to talk to him. Ignoring Apep is just as impossible as Apep ignoring me. People give us a wide berth as they pass us by and then suddenly the sidewalk on our side is completely empty.

The townspeople know what Cleo doesn’t. Nothing good ever comes from an encounter between me and Apep, at least right now we have a buffer.

“Yes.” He looks to Cleo. “Ah, the girl from the ferry. Glad to see you made it into our sleepy little town safely.” He leans in. The last thing I need is for him to smell his own power on her.

I immediately shove her behind me, something I’ll probably regret because it shows weakness, protection, and the last thing I will be doing is protecting her; quite the opposite actually.

That’s new, normally he stalks them until the time is up and then he chases them until the sacrifice before we go our separate ways. The fact that he’s even speaking to her is strange. Then again, he always does like to taunt me. This could be a new hobby of his, taunting the last sacrifice because he knows I’m more powerful and can do nothing to stop me. He can only annoy me to death.

If I could kill him right this second, I would, but that pesky balance exists still.

I look back at the flames lining the pub wall, they start to flicker. People look up from the streets and walk quickly by.

Maybe one day I’ll find a way for his death without ruining the balance of the sun and the moon.

“Thank you,” Cleo says cheerfully diffusing the situation. “For the talk on the ferry. You were right about it eventually being okay. And you were very kind.”

“Kind,” I repeat. Is she on drugs? Kind is the last thing he is. “Yeah, well, Enki’s father has the potential to be nice I guess, though he just rarely uses it. A little rusty, hmmm, old man?”

Cleo frowns up at me. “He can’t be over forty.”

“I assure you he is,” I say low in my throat, while Apep smiles down at her, teeth clenched.

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