Page 145 of Grim
I slam her into the marble once. Twice. A third timeuntil the floor gives way and she crumbles beneath me. I rip her hand that’s still clawing my arm off her body and toss it across the room before looking over my shoulder.
Only he remains.
Daryl.
“Huh,” he grunts in surprise.
I stalk toward him, then spy the faintest flicker in his expression, the subtlest twitch of his jaw.
“That was dramatic.”
“Their part of the story is finished now, D. Rue is a part of your domain now. And she is mine.”
Big D snaps his fingers, and his scythe flies across the room into his hand. “Are you threatening me, Kane?”
I continue my march toward him. My knuckles white aroundBaiulus’spommel.
“Only if you refuse to do as I say.”
His menacing snarl matches his predatory eyes as he eyes my weapon, then glances at his. “Mine is much bigger, Kane. Don’t start a war you cannot win.”
“I just told you, D. I have nothing left to lose.”
With that declaration, I lunge toward D,Baiulusextended. He sidesteps my first attack and brushes me aside.
I step, turn, and strike again. Madness and menace controlling my motions. D brings his scythe across his center and knocks my blade away.Baiulusskitters across the floor. We both watch it bounce away.
On a primal scream, I raise my arms and grapple D around his throat. His hands aren’t fast enough to stop the contact, and I lean in with all my might, managing to move the ruler of the OtherWorld back a step as my nails dig deeply into his neck. The retreat is infinitesimal but feels significant.
Our eyes lock, and those blue-black flames spark in his. They redden, and a force emits from D, unlocking my arms and sending me flying across the room. My back lands flush against a stone wall, and I’m not sure which breaks harder—the rock or my spine. I lie limply, moaning, seeking the strength to continue my fight.
D walks over slowly, now dragging his scythe behind him, the metal grating against the ground. As I crawl to a sitting position, I notice the pile of flesh that was Time,rent limb from limb just moments ago, begins to swirl, morph, and coalesce back into her full form. She cracks her neck from side to side with a lascivious smile.
I glance to my left and see Fate, her stab wound fading into nothing, her eyes popping open. Not even her dress retains any indication of the pain I inflicted, the blood I shed.
All my efforts are futile in the face of their ferocity. Love should be stronger than all of this. I have read the stories. I have heard the songs. I have felt the power of that fierce infinity.
But those are just that—stories. And this is reality. And in truth, nothing lasts forever. Heroes and cowards alike, it does not matter, for in the end, we all die.
“I am capable of delivering to you unspeakable pain, Kane,” D grinds out, placing the tip of the scythe against my carotid artery, against the scar that was my greatest shame and deepest loss. Until now.
“The pain you could inflict is nothing compared to the torment I feel now. Your power pales in significance against the magnitude of a lost love’s ache.”
“How very poetic, reaper,” Fate says. “Some of Rue’s writings must be rubbing off on you.”
At the mention of her name, a surge of energy tries to course through me, but I am well and truly defeated. All of Rue resides in me, but that is still not enough. Only Hercules could wrestle lives back from the dead, it would seem.
“Did you just call me weak?” Big D presses the tip of the blade harder against my skin.
“I misspoke. You’re nothing but a coward.”
He pulls the blade off my neck, twists it a quarter turn, and then smacks the flat edge across my face.
“End him,” Time snarls.
“He has no more use to you, D. He has no place here.”
Big D sucks in a lungful of air, contemplating a fate I no longer care about—my own.
