Page 59 of In Death's Hands
“What?” she insists when he lets the silence grow uncomfortable. “Nothing to say? Weren’t you the one cursing us for what you’re clearly enjoying yourself now?”
“We came to see what all the fuss is about,” I tell her, sick of her attitude.
“You lethertalk for you?” She curls her lips in disgust.
With Nathan still too quiet, I don’t dare break out of the stupid character Atys moulded me into. I turn around in his arms and run my hand up and down his torso—partly to erasethat woman’s touch on him. “I do whatever he tells me to,” I answer, making sure to lower my eyes slightly as I bite my bottom lip. I feel sticky, and yet my chest warms at my own words. At the insinuation behind them.
Impossibly, Nathan stiffens further and, my head arriving at his throat, I hear the distinct sound of his gulp. My eyes run to his. His shock, and further than that, the heat hiding deep beneath his dark irises, sparks an inferno inside me. When his eyes dip to my mouth, I nearly whimper in a reaction so unlike myself it keeps me in check. I’m thankful for that unexpected self-control when I turn around to face the woman and see that we have gathered a lot more attention. I guess that part of the plan is going well enough.
She glares at my proprietary touch on Nathan, and when the blue of her irises finally hits me, so does a deep cold. My breath struggles inside my throat and goose bumps spread like dread on my skin. I suddenly feel lost and alone. Like the sun has abandoned me and I don’t know up from down. My legs soften, but like a fish on a hook, I stay upright thanks to Nathan’s hold tightening around me.
“Enough,” he grinds out, forcefully dragging this woman’s eyes away from me. When she looks at him, I can breathe again. The sun is back to its soft hues in the darkening sky, and I feel alive once more. I shudder, utterly unable to hide this reaction from her. In the corner of my eye, I see her smirk and am suddenly glad to have disliked her at first sight.
What a horrible presence she has. With a start, I understand what that was. She’s part of the Blue Depths Crown, so when she looked at me, I felt like I was at the bottom of the ocean. Cold, dark, dangerous. Without thinking it through, I curl up against Nathan’s body, soaking up its warmth and steadiness.
“Oh, it looks like this one’s got attached.” She sneers. “You have a lot to learn, my friend.”
“We are not friends. Leave us.” Nathan’s voice thunders across the garden, and the greedy gazes that were trying to be discreet are now fully on us. Many faces are frowning, looking back and forth between us. I am not sure why, but I can suddenly feel danger pressing down on me. Whether from his clear rejection of someone in their Crown or from his protectiveness, I don’t know. Instinct screams at me to shift their focus and the narrative being written despite us.
“I’m not sure I want to play with her tonight.” I pout, moving away from Nathan. “Hate-fucking has never been my thing.” I shrug at the baffled crowd. Everyone is silent and I’m terrified of having miscalculated. What if the humans here don’t get to choose? Rage burns down my throat at the thought, and I’m about to either run out or start a fight when I feel Nathan’s big palm on the back of my neck.
“Stay here, love. There will be no hate-fucking tonight.” He pulls gently and I stumble back against his body. His arms wrap around my middle almost tenderly, making all the screeching and screaming in my head come to a halt. I am safe again.
“No?” I ask, tilting my head to look at him. I cannot read his expression, but his arms tighten even more around my body.
“No.” He winks, a playful smirk on his plump lips. “I’ve never been that good at sharing my toys.” His voice is a grumble that echoes through my body all the way to my curling toes. This is pretend, and I’m glad it is, but boy is he convincing. So convincing that a few laughs rumble around us and tension lifts from the assembly.
I hold back my relieved sigh and focus back on the female’s face. It’s all tight and red, and a petty part of me rejoices at the sight. She sneers at us and turns around, quickly findingan eager man to shower her with the attention she so clearly desires.
I want to relax in his embrace but know this isn’t the space for it, nor is it real. Since meeting Nathan, all semblance of normalcy I’d fought so hard to create in my life has vanished as quickly as the sun in winter. Then, I had to be careful of everything that could harm me, but I just had to blame poor luck and distract myself with a good book. Now, no distraction will work on the fact that there are people out to kill me, and there are beings calling themselves Origins more powerful than I ever dreamed could exist. And I am still not sure what Nathan’s intentions are. He clearly wants to protect me, there’s this thrilling electric current between us, and our goals seem to match for now, but they won’t always. As Death’s assistant, I expect him or his boss to come for me sooner or later. And for it to stick this time.
“Stop fidgeting,” murmurs Atys against my ear as I tug the lace out of my butt for the tenth time.
I stifle the urge to send my elbow into his ribs by sheer fucking will I was unaware I possessed. It would ruin our ruse if I were to look anything but blissful at being handled by the oh so powerful men surrounding me. Atys innocently reappeared after that dreadful woman all but fled the scene. He wrapped his hand around my hips to get us walking lazily around the garden.
I’m still not sure I understand the complexities of their world and politics. To be honest, I barely grasp the politics ofmyworld. But what Atys explained in quick whispers against my neck was that word has already spread about our meeting with Celestina, so we need to show everyone what we showed her. Mainly, how I’m just a tool to be used.
I don’t know how much the Origins here know about our visit and our goal to capture one of the Novensiles, but the looks range from curious to outright hate. Which isn’t really an issue since we only need to seem like we fit in with this strange party and hope the Novensiles find me—the way they always seem to find me—and think us utterly oblivious to their presence.
It’s almost too easy to forget that goal here, my brain fuzzy as I walk through increasingly scandalous scenes with Nathan and Atys stuck to my sides like Velcro.
The cold shyness I felt as I looked at myself in that bedroom mirror is long gone, heated by Nathan’s wide eyes and the lack of fucks given by everyone else.
I see them staring at him, and me by extension, but no one focuses on my body.
I am not usually too self-conscious. I know I look okay enough to have people flirt with me as I pour them their daily dose of caffeine at The Muddied Waters. And when I make an effort, I am confident I look more than good enough to have men proposition me when I go out clubbing with Joana. That doesn’t mean, however, that I am used to parading my body for everyone to see. Although with the amount of skin on display under the bright moon here, it’s easy to forget that I wouldn’t normally wear sheer lingerie out in public.
I stumble in my too-high red heels, Nathan’s arm around my shoulders the only thing keeping me upright. I let myself grab hold of his shirt, needing to feel something solid to fight the increasing buzz in my head, but the shirt disappears in a blazing fire.
Gasping, I hurry to check on Nathan only to find perfectly smooth skin. Not a burn in sight. I gape, wondering how that’s even possible. When I look at Nathan’s face, I don’t find the fearful agony I was expecting, only a long-suffering look as his eyes settle on the other man at my side. Atys’ laugh has me swirling, fist ready to pummel his lovely face, but Nathan’s hand catches my own before it can connect and quickly tucks it around his own waist as he keeps on walking.
“You’re a prick,” he mutters.
Atys chuckles and winks at me, but there’s a twinkle in his eyes that makes me wonder what his true motives are.
My head is too heavy though, and I let the questions drop. It seems our little scene has barely raised any eyebrows, but Nathan’s chest on display does attract a lot more stares than before. I would judge if my own eyes weren’t betraying me, if myown hand wasn’t using every movement to learn the softness of his skin and the firm muscles underneath.
“You need to blend in, remember?” Atys whispers. I snort, and ignore their questioning looks. Nathan could never blend in. He seems taller than most. Deadlier in the way his eyes prowl around, looking for any hint of danger.
