Page 95 of Kept to Kill
As they traveled, there was a pervading feeling that they were on the cusp of something, that this was some sort of limbo and at any moment they would be thrust into the middle of a battle or some other perilous event.
By unspoken agreement, Bastian, Mal, Quin, and even Lily kept their eyes on the trees. Every rustle made Bastian tense. He wished they hadn’t been forced further north, but it was the only way to get south again. He hadn’t heard much in Kitore about what was happening up here, and that worried him. There were always stories, tales, rumors, yet all he’d been able to glean was that of the few who’d traveled this way, none had returned.
They made camp by the roadside in the evening, deciding that it was too dangerous to venture into the forest in the dark. Gods only knew what lurked. So they made do with hard biscuits instead of hunting for meat.
Thankfully, Mal had resupplied them from the cache in Kitore, so they weren’t lacking in necessities. They huddled closely by the fire, and, although Bastian had heard Mal telling Lily all of the salacious delights that he had planned for her earlier, a somber mood had settled over all of them and it did not lend itself to carnal diversions. The most they would be doing tonight would be sleeping, he suspected.
Instead, he sat next to Lily, putting his arm around her. She tensed for a moment before leaning into him. She enjoyed a cuddle, he knew, after all those years without. So did he, in point of fact. On the Mount, the gods were always a tactile lot, embracing each other, touching, snuggling, fucking. But here it was different. He missed that about the Mount. He even missed some of the other gods, which he wouldn’t have imagined possible, having spent so long in their company.
In the flickering light of the fire, he unrolled his bed of blankets and put Lily’s next to his. She didn’t say a word, simply climbed in next to him and closed her eyes. He settled down for the night. Mal would take first watch. He pulled Lily closer, put his arms around her, and heard her sigh contentedly.
The next Bastian knew was a sharp pain through his skull. And then nothing.
The first he realized that anything was amiss was an all-around feeling; a smell, an aura; and when he opened his eyes, he knew already that he was no longer in the Mortal Realm but on the Mount. He looked around, finding himself in the old throne room. This was where everyone appearedor reappeared. He saw Magnus lounging on one of the daises. His friend looked surprised to see him.
‘Thought you were off living a mortal life,’ he said with a roll of his eyes.
Bastian shrugged. ‘I was. Where the fuck is my body?’
Magnus looked at him as if he were a fool. ‘Dead, probably. How else would you have got here?’ He gave a chuckle. ‘Unless you found a witch to fuck you with one of those stone cocks.’
Dead.What if Lily, Mal, and Quin were also …? His heart began to quicken. He had to get back to them. Now.
‘Where’s Gaila?’ Bastian asked, beginning to ascend the white steps to find her. She was the only one of them who could do it.
‘You haven’t heard? No, of course, you wouldn’t have … Gone.’
Bastian stopped in his tracks? ‘Gone? Where? She’s practically trapped here, Magnus. She can’t fuckinggoanywhere we cannot find her.’
Magnus looked uncertain for the first time. ‘We don’t know. She’s not on the Mount; she’s not in the small realms she’s permitted in. She’s just … gone.’
Bastian left his friend, making his way through the many rooms of the Mount, feeling the familiarity, seeing those he’d known for so long and yet wishing he was back in Lily’s arms. He didn’t belong here anymore. Even in the short time he’d been away, he had changed.
He heard Magnus laughing in his wake. ‘Where are you going so quickly? All you have is time.’
He rolled his eyes. Had he truly been the same – without focus, without any sense of urgency?
He took the portal to Gaila’s Realm and found it open and dark, which didn’t bode well. It was always locked, whether she was in residence or not. He walked into her bower. Her window to the outside was blank, showing nothing.
Surveying the rooms, he saw nothing out of place. It was as Magnus had said; she was just gone. On his way back out, he spied a box on the table. He’d been in her chambers often enough to know that he’d never seen it before. It was new.
He opened it carefully, a small spark of power showing that he was the only one who could have. She’d left it for him. Inside was a small vial of liquid and a note written in the old script.
‘Idiot. I knew you’d not last a season in the Mortal Realm.’
Bastian barked a laugh. He could practically hear her caustic tone, but he frowned as he read the rest of her message.
‘They’re coming for me. By the time you’re back, I’ll be gone. Use the vial to get back to the Mortal Realm. Don’t be foolish enough to die again, or you’ll be stuck on the Mount without a body.’
Bastian sat down hard on one of her ridiculously plush chairs. He looked again at her blank window. It didn’t even flicker. Her magick was no longer here either.
He examined the vial she’d left. Using his fingernail, he picked off the wax seal and drank it down in one. Gaila would turn up soon. She had to. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be. She was the Goddess, the first of them. He frowned. They couldn’t really have got to her here … could they?
* * *
Lily wept quietlyon her horse, Mal and Quin riding on either side of her. It had been two days. Two days since that thing had come into their camp and killed Bastian while the others slept.
Mal blamed himself. He was on watch yet hadn’t seen anything. Quin hadn’t either. But Lily had.
