Page 40 of Another Damned Storm
“You are aggravatingly unhelpful.”
“I only know what I know.”
As did all creatures, but it still took significant effort not to toss him overboard. With a sigh, I set two of the pouches on the banister in front of him and pocketed the last one. “For my travels.”
“Is that it then?” Criton asked, staring out across the water.
“It would seem so. I appreciate your assistance.” It was only half a lie. If he was telling the truth about Thrain covertly watching Never while no one else was taking notice, there was more going on than met the eye.
He snagged the satchels of dust off the railing and straightened. “Watch your back, Atlas.”
Tension tingled up my spine and along my nerve endings. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me everything?”
He watched me for several silent seconds. Then, with a double-snap of his fingers, he dematerialized into the smokey shape of a man that was whisked away on the warm breeze.
He was most certainly holding something back, but there was nothing I could do about it now. If the other gods wanted to come for me for attempting to leave the Nassa to find Never, let them come. Maybe then they would also see that something was very wrong.
It took a matter of minutes to collect a pitcher of enchanted seawater and gather my things. The last time I’d found myself in Never’s world, I’d stood out. This time, I donned a pair of the blue jeans she’d had made for me, a simple black t-shirt, and boots. Instead of my sword, I looped a dagger onto my belt.
William looked concerned when I handed him the proverbial reins, but it wasn’t as if I was leaving for good. Even if I did manage to break free of this realm, it’s incessant pull would try to drag me back.
Was it trying to pull Never back as well? It followed that a curse on me might amount to a curse on her, given what we shared, but she was holding the demon blood wild card. There was no telling how the human realm might mix her blood and my power to warp her fledgling abilities.
Once I was alone in my quarters, with the warded copper bracelet she’d left behind tucked safely in my back pocket, I stared at the pitcher and the leather pouch lying beside it on the table. I was tempted to dump the whole thing into the water for good measure, but without knowing what the potential side effects might be, I started with just a pinch in the bottom of my goblet.
As I poured the enchanted water into the cup, the silvery, turquoise dust turned into a brilliant, seafoam green concoction with a gentle mist resting on top. A promising sign. I swirled the contents of the goblet a few times.
“Bottoms up.” With Never’s face clear in my mind and our connection tugging at my bruised heart, I drank it down in one swallow.
The drink itself wasn’t unpleasant. Sweet and salty with a twist of mint. But I was braced for all manner of ill effects.
Except nothing happened. I waited. And waited.
I’d just reached for the satchel of dust to try again, convinced I hadn’t used enough, when an invisible force ripped me backward so violently that I fumbled it. The world around me went black, with just a few specks of light spinning wildly. I was tossed side to side, up and down, like a rag doll caught in the turbulent waters beneath a fall.
Then it stopped as abruptly as it started, leaving me stumbling and disoriented. Dead brush and dying trees surrounded me, but before I could do so much as gauge which way was North, I was struck hard from the side and taken to the ground.
My instinct was to throw my attacker off, anger already boiling in my veins. Until a sense of elation overwhelmed everything inside me and a deliciously hot mouth was crushing my lips.
Never.
I wrapped my arm around her tight and rolled, pinning her beneath my weight. “You reckless woman,” I growled. “I could have killed you.”
Her hand slipped between us, cupping me through my jeans, no doubt finding me hardening for her. “You already did that once, remember?” She smirked up at me.
Oh, I remembered. Bringing her up out of the water and notbeing able to rouse her after I’d driven Petra’s shadow out was the single most excruciating moment of my long life.
She must have felt the pulse of pain bleeding from me because her expression turned apologetic. She opened her mouth to say something, but I smothered her words with another brutal kiss. How was it possible that I felt like I was seeing her again for the first time in decades?
A thousand thoughts flickered through my mind, all the things I wanted to say to her, to do to her. But wherever we were, it was the wrong place and the wrong time.
We were not alone. I couldn’t see who was there, but awareness crept along my senses.
I shifted my attention to Never’s neck, nipping the sensitive flesh before whispering, “We are being watched.”
She went rigid beneath me. “Demons?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
