Page 22 of Patron of Mercy

Marty had never been one for faith, but she knew Lach well enough to know that if anyone were going to surprise Roger, it would be him. She had to get to Greece, and she fully expected to find Lach alive and well when she got there. She wondered if she could say the same of her brother.

She squared her shoulders to head back in, to where Jim was no doubt still blustering about human sacrifice. First things first, she had to tell him she was going.

To Greece.

To Santorini.

Santorini, where the king of the titans had been defeated by his traitorous children.

Santorini, where he was to rise again.

A Boat with Only One Bed

Amistake and a waste of time—Lach had been called worse. As long as Thanatos was traveling with him, he could improve on that. The bar was so low there was nowhere to go but up.

“I should give you the grand tour,” Lach said once Thanatos was on board. His hand in Lach’s was warm and soft as ever. He would never call Thanatos lazy, but labor hardened, he was not. Lach had always appreciated the smoothness of those hands. Now, he hesitated to let it go, offering his own as a steady place to hold onto until Thanatos got his footing. Too soon, Thanatos pulled away.

“This”—Lach swept out his arm over the ship—“is Misericordia.”

Lach expected awe. Thanatos might be a god, but magic ships weren’t common. Instead, Thanatos stared at him flatly.

“Seriously? Misericordia?”

For a second, Lach had forgotten what her name meant: an act of mercy. Heat swept up the back of his neck and turned his ears red. He’d never been gladder for his longish hair.

“Well, yeah. That’s how I got her—a merciful act. I helped Nerites save some whales off the coast of Norway a couple decades back. Got him out of a bit of a pinch. Poseidon was grateful.”

Thanatos raised his eyebrows and wrinkled his forehead. He crossed his arms, but the boat rocked under them, and a second later he held them out to catch his balance. Lach offered his own; Thanatos didn’t take it. When he recovered, he still looked unconvinced.

“Oh,” Lach said. “You think it’s for you, ’cause you’re the god of merciful death?” His laugh was high and tight. He wanted to lie about it—save face—but the whole reason Thanatos was there was so Lach could convince him that he wasn’t a lying piece of shit. Lach dropped his hand and shrugged, trying for nonchalance. “Oh, um, well... yeah, I guess. I guess you might’ve crossed my mind.”

Okay, Thanatos was definitely not swooning over the idea. Lach rubbed the back of his neck. “Or something,” he added. “I don’t know. Let me show you around.”

He showed him around the deck, but other than some benches and a place off the back where Lach fished, there wasn’t much to show. He pointed out things that moved, places to avoid that might prove dangerous. Then he took him down below.

“It’s tight quarters down here, but there are two bedrooms,” Lach said as he made his way down the narrow, steep stairs. He’d have let Thanatos go first, but he thought it was the more gracious thing to do to be there to catch him, even if he didn’t need it.

Before he’d gone to DC, he’d prepared for a trip with Thanatos. That meant stocking up on better food than Lach usually ate and asking Mis to arrange a second room. She wasn’t just magic; she was impossible. Changing from one bedroom to two, or even from sailboat to megayacht was nothing to her.

“This is the mess. There’s where we eat,” he said when they were both downstairs and able to stand up straight. “Up here’s the—”

Lach led the way to the front cabin. It was a small guest bedroom and would have suited him fine if Thanatos didn’t want to stay in his room surrounded by his stuff. It wasn’t like Lach was a hoarder or anything, but those DVDs, the side-table bottle of rum, all his clothes—Thanatos might want his own space.

But when he pulled open the door to the new bedroom, it opened on a closet. He shut it, laughed breathily.

“Just a second,” he said to Thanatos. Then he leaned in toward the door and lowered his voice. “Come on, Mis. Don’t play me like this.”

He opened the doors again. Still no bedroom. “Uh... this is the closet.” It was piled full of board games, knickknacks, things Lach had forgotten he had that’d been stored away wherever Misericordia put things Lach didn’t need anymore.

“It’s a very nice closet,” Thanatos said dryly.

“Yup! Sure is. Why don’t we go back that way?” He indicated the narrow hallway that cut around the engine room toward the back. Thanatos led the way, but at the door, Lach sneaked around him. It was a tight squeeze, and he couldn’t help brushing against him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s fine,” Thanatos said, looking up at the ceiling while Lach opened the door.

“This is the master bedroom,” Lach said. Thanatos stepped in and looked around. “The restroom’s through there if you need to freshen up.”

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