Page 37 of Definitely Dead

“Your knight in shining rage bear isn’t allowed to cross the river,” Charon answered with a cheery smile. “Big no no. Zero stars. Would not recommend.”

“What will happen if you cross?” he demanded.

Tyr didn’t offer him platitudes or white lies about how everything would work out. Instead, he tugged on Sunne’s hand, pulling him into the boat and wrapping an arm around his waist.

“What will happen if I don’t?”

Sunne knew he couldn’t do this on his own, and he really didn’t want to be stuck in Aster’s body for the rest of eternity. He also had a little voice in the back of his head whispering that this wasn’t over. The real reason Aster had switched places with him had yet to reveal itself, and that thought alone terrified him.

Still, he couldn’t ask Tyr to risk everything for him.

“Maybe there’s another way.”

“Maybe, but there’s no time.”

“But Hades—”

“Will get over it,” Tyr interrupted. His eyes softened, and he reached up to cup Sunne’s cheek in his big hand. “You would do it for me.”

Without hesitation. Without claws or fangs or magic. If someone had taken Tyr from him, he’d wage wars to find him and bring him home.

“Then let’s go get my body back and make that little witch pay.”

His mate chuckled and cuffed him gently on the side of the head. “Now you’re speaking my language.”

“I’m coming with you.” Orrin lifted the hem of his robes and prepared to enter the boat.

“No,” Tyr and Sunne barked in unison.

Sunne appreciated the prince’s willingness, but he wouldn’t put anyone else in danger. Not for him.

Tyr, however, had other reasons for keeping the prince on that side of the river. “I need you to get a message to Hades. Let him know what happened.”

Taking a step back, Orrin dropped his robes and answered with a sharp nod. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Oh, we’re breaking all the rules.” Charon laughed and rubbed his hands together. “I knew I liked you guys.”

Tyr rolled his eyes and shoved the guy toward the back of the boat. “Just go.”

“Lighten up, my dude.” He held his hands up in a pacifying gesture when Tyr snarled at him. “Fine. I’m going. I’m going.”

Without warning, the boat slid away from the pier and started gliding back across the river. There was no sound, and no waves broke against the hull. In fact, if Sunne hadn’t seen the shoreline shrinking in the distance, he wouldn’t have guessed they were moving at all.

Disembodied souls floated past, their eerie glow the only light that illuminated the way as they crossed the River Acheron. And as the pier disappeared behind them, swallowed by the darkness, Sunne felt something shift inside him, something cold and penetrating.

His vision blurred, and a high-pitched hum rang in his ears. Aching pressure built in his temples, then a wave of dizziness washed over him, forcing him to grab onto Tyr’s arm or risk toppling over the edge of the boat.

“What’s wrong?” Tyr demanded, holding him upright with steady hands.“Lelien, what is it?”

“I don’t know.” Shaking his head to clear the fog, he stared up at Tyr, his body taut with anxiety. “Something’s happening.” He could feel another consciousness pressing at him from all sides, creeping, slithering, searching for a way inside. “I think…we’re changing back.”

Chapter ten

Aster’seyesrolledbackin his head, and he sagged forward, his body wilting against Tyr’s side. While concerned about what this meant for his mate—wherever he was now—he couldn’t stop the feral grin that split his lips.

Aster had thought himself clever, able to fool even the gods, and that hubris would be his downfall.

Tyr suspected the spell reversal had been intentional. He doubted, however, that Aster had expected it to happen on a boat in the middle of the river. The little bastard had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and he had just delivered himself right into the hands of the one person in the Underworld he most wanted to avoid.

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