Page 35 of In Death's Hands
Nathan, damn him, steps closer to me, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. The knowing gleam in Thalnus’ eyes tells me that my friend just revealed a little too much, to someone who looks inclined to use it against us. Although it does allow me to breathe more easily, it’s a rookie mistake. Again, I’m not sure where that knowledge comes from, but it’s so deeply ingrained that I’m forced to heed the warning. I don’t know what we’re doing here, what Nathan has planned or what he wants from this man, butwe’ll have to be extra careful from now on not to reveal anything that will come back to bite us both in the ass down the road.
“Here we all are, boy,” Thalnus says. “Now talk.”
I don’t know why he insists on calling Nathan “boy”, but the disrespect is clear. Despite that, Nathan doesn’t blink or show anything of what he’s currently feeling. Instead, he dips his head my way and answers the man. “What do you think?”
Excuse me?My outrage must be clear because Nathan locks eyes with me for a second, and I somehow know exactly what he’s willing me to understand with that one look:Trust me.And for a fraction of a second his eyes soften enough for me to catch hisPlease. It’s all too easy to trust the man who’s been saving me nonstop lately, but I must be smarter than that. Therehasto be a reason for him to have done that. He works for Death, for fuck’s sake—saving people doesn’t seem like it belongs in his job description. What’s his motive? No matter how much I long for someone to justcare, no matter how my heart is all too happy putting my life in his hands, I need to listen to my head. And my head reminds me loudly that Nathan clearly lied to me and promised something to this man.
Thalnus turns to me and takes a greedy step forward. One look from Nathan is enough to stop him, however, which is a point in the Nathan-may-have-lied-but-I-can-still-trust-him column. The big man lets his eyes roam all over me, and though I feel inclined to shudder and hide, his expression stops me from doing either. His expression, which was all asshole confidence a moment ago, quickly turns to doubt and then shock.
But it’s his step backwards that sends my heart in a hurtful race. When I look questioningly at Nathan, his face shutters, and my gaze ping-pongs between the two men. “What’s going on?”
“Who is she?” Thalnus asks, suspicion and… fear tightening his handsome features. That fear is enough to pause my outrage at being ignored again.
“No one to you,” declares Nathan, his jaw tightening.
“Can you two ass-twats stop talking like I’m a bloody plant andanswer me?”
Suspicion wins over fear, it seems, as Thalnus suddenly gets brighter and drops of water rise from the ground to gather around his body. Uhm…What?!I’m so busy gawking that it takes me a second to feel the now familiar cooling sensation of Nathan’s temper. Sure enough, when I look his way, shadows have already grown teeth and claws. Some are even wrapped like a second skin around Nathan’s fists. His swirling, dark eyes are sending an obvious message to Thalnus, who in the space of a few heartbeats has managed to gather a real-life wave at his back.
I’m dreaming. Imustbe.
“Who. Is. She?” repeats Thalnus, doing some fancy hand movement that seems to be mirrored by the water behind him.
Goose bumps erupt all over my body as Nathan’s energy ramps up and a dark aura lights his own body, reflecting on my too-light skin. “I’ve already answered that.”
The man doesn’t seem to appreciate Nathan’s answer, and his right arm goes up, bringing the wave even higher over his head. I’m no expert, but I don’t think amassing so much water in a cave where I see no exits is a good idea for the mortal that I am. Before the two idiots can kill me with their pissing contest, I step between them with my hands raised.
I ignore Nathan’s choke to tell the water god, “I am no one! So, could you two just relax the fuck off and talk like normal people? Er…” I wince. I’m so not good at this. “Normal,divine, fairy-twats, whatever you may be.” The smaller man next to Thalnus is clearly amused by my ridiculous attempt at deescalating the situation. He crosses his arms and smirks at me, the idiot. If he could get popcorn, I’m sure he would.
When neither twat moves, I start yelling. “Put. The wave. Down!”
There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say…
Thalnus cocks his head at me, confusion stark on his gorgeous, gorgeous face. He looks back at Nathan with questions bursting from his deep blue eyes, but my friend doesn’t notice as he’s currently frozen stupid, looking at me like I’ve plucked a bunny out of a hat.
No one moves for a few seconds, and I have no idea what to do. At least they’re not killing each other. Or me, as I don’t know if they can actually die. Wait.Canthey? Are they immortal? Nathan said they woke up here, not that they were born here. And how long ago was it, exactly?
So many questions. It’s exhausting. The desire to remove my brain and put it on a shelf for a few days is strong. Imagine the quiet, the calm, thepeace!
A loud clap tears me away from my brainless daydream. When I turn towards the noise, I see the smaller man is still amused, slow-clapping his way to my side. “That was mighty impressive, girl. And mighty stupid,” he says with a wink.
His eyes are a sea-foam green that spells trouble. His face is thin, all angles and sleek. He’s slightly taller than me but not by much, and his body, though he’s smaller than the other two men in a stand-off on either side of me, is still impressive in its definition.
He sees me looking and his lips stretch into a shit-eating grin. I can’t help but roll my eyes at him, which makes himlaugh. When I look at Thalnus and Nathan, they are both gawking at us. I can’t help but feel ridiculous, standing between all these men with ridiculous bodies and powers and their heaping pile of alpha bullshit.
“Atys,” says Thalnus sternly.
The man at my side turns to him and nods once. “All right, now that we’re done with the introductions—and payback,” he adds with a wink at Nathan, “let’s get down to business.”
“And what business is that?” I ask, my gaze turning accusingly to Nathan, who has the decency to wince.
“I asked Thalnus here to take a look at you and see if he could feel anything out of the ordinary,” he tells me. Then, turning to the tall man in question, he adds pointedly, “Lookonly.”
I’ll kick him in the shin for that later. Right now, I’m more interested in what this big surfer dude has to say about me. I raise my eyebrows at Thalnus expectantly. “So?”
Shaking his head, the man finally puts his hands down, and the water immediately crashes to the floor to quickly disappear in rivulets through the cracks in the rock.Huh.He steps closer, but Nathan’s growl stops him quickly.
Goodness gracious… The mangrowled. I ignore him, refusing to acknowledge his possessive behaviour and what it does to me, and keep my gaze on Thalnus’ face. The puzzled expression from earlier is back.
