Page 46 of The Death God
“Could you make any of us believe we were in love with someone? Regardless of orientation, I mean?”
He grimaced and glanced at Amell. “Not now. I need recovery time.”
Made sense. “But if you hadn’t exhausted your resources, could you have made me fall in love with a person I’d never met?” Gregory put a hand on his knee under the table. Thanatos jumped at the contact but did nothing to shake it off.
“No, you have to be close when I…eh…create the connection. Physically. You don’t need to know the person, but when I form the connection, you can’t be more than eight or nine feet away. It depends on how many others there are around. The easiest way is if you stand next to each other, better yet if you touch.”
Nodding, Thanatos tried to piece together what he knew. “Why not take Alaric then? You were found out because Amell never would’ve mated a woman—”
“No, I was found out because they found me.” Himeros glared at him as if it was his fault.
“Yeah, okay, but perhaps no one had suspected anything if you’d picked Alaric instead of Amell, so why?”
“It was a mission. I don’t know why. The woman bought the service from the superintendent, and I was sent out into the field. It’s how it works. I know nothing about them.” He gestured at Alaric and Amell.
“So the woman who wanted Amell for a mate hired you?” Thanatos glanced at Amell. Maybe they already knew this.
“Yes. I can’t work a two-way connection. I make one person believe they desire someone, but I can’t make two people believe they desire each other or have two connections going at once.”
The god of unrequited love. Thanatos should’ve known it was a one-way thing. “How close do you have to be to keep the connection up?”
Amell peeled his lips back, revealing sharp teeth, but Thanatos ignored it. He was pretty used to sharp teeth by now.
“The connection keeps strong up to fifty-sixty yards, I can keep it from breaking to up to a hundred. If the gap isn’t long, I can reinstate it once I get back into contact, but the time away will allow the person to think clearly.”
“Sleep?”
Himeros made one of the tiniest headshakes he’d ever seen, and Thanatos winced. “You don’t sleep.”
“Can’t. The connection will break.”
“How do you keep awake?” Thanatos had almost forgotten the others. Everyone was quiet and allowed him to ask questions without interruption.
“The…eh…emotions of the bond help keep me awake, but I’ll crash soon.”
Thanatos nodded. “We’ll get you to a room as soon as you’ve eaten.”
“We will?” Amell didn’t look pleased.
“Yes, we will.” Thanatos glared at him. Perhaps not the smartest thing to do, but he felt a kinship with Himeros. He focused on Himeros again. “How could they send you into werewolf country? Did they want you to get caught?”
A look of confusion slid over Himeros’ face. “No, of course not. I’ll get punished for failing. The superintendent will have to refund the client and…eh…” The color drained from his face.
“You’re not going back. But the superintendent has to have done her homework. Sending someone onto pack land—” He grimaced a little. Was it the right term? “—was bound to fail, was it not?” He turned to Alaric and Amell. “Fifty yards. You’d have scented him. They had to have known.”
“No one told me they were shifters.”
“But you knew shifters existed?” Thanatos studied him, looking for signs of lies.
“Maybe. I mean, people talk about shifters and vampires, but I’ve never seen one.”
“Do you think it could be ignorance?” Thanatos aimed the question at Alaric and Amell.
Alaric shook his head. “Considering the one who hired him is a shifter, she knows how scents work.”
“Maybe she didn’t know the details. I don’t think the warden explained our skills to our clients.”
Jaki snorted. “No, he did not.”
