Page 27 of Ivy & Bone

He didn’t fancy another midnight discussion with the witch, so instead of lingering by the bow, he moved to the stern, watching the tiny islands wink out of existence as the ship progressed. He didn’t like watching from behind. He preferred to look ahead, to envision the next step. Lingering in the past served no purpose.

This would be the longest he’d ever been away from home. The longest any of his brothers had. They’d told him they’d always kept their visits to the mortal realm brief, simply because no immortal being could survive for too long there.

Cyrus shuddered at the thought of testing that theory. How long before he, too, faded away into nothingness, just like the Salwaki Islands?

“Did she run, then?” came a gruff voice.

At first, Cyrus didn’t register the question was directed at him. Only when he felt a presence behind him, accompanied by the lingering stench of rotten fish, did he turn. A sailor with a graying beard and squinty eyes appraised him.

“What?” Cyrus bit out. How dare this simpleton address him?

“The Maiden. Did she run from those spirits?” His voice was thick with accusation.

Cyrus’s eyes narrowed. “How is that any of your business?”

“My family grew up in Krenia. Those witches protected us when no one else did. We didn’t want to leave, but we have no magic, see? But it’s downright cowardly for the coven’s own Maiden to abandon her people at a time like this.” He spat on the ground.

Coils of black fury rose up in Cyrus’s chest. In a flash, he had the man by the throat and lifted him off the ground. The sailor’s eyes bulged, his face purpling as he choked, clawing uselessly at Cyrus’s unrelenting grip.

Cyrus couldn’t explain the fiery rage that consumed him. Wasn’t he just thinking bitter thoughts about Prue himself? But there was something about this stranger ridiculing Prue when she was on a mission trying to save his sorry ass that incensed Cyrus.

Or perhaps he was merely feeling defensive because they were bound. Because even though she was a conniving witch, she was his conniving witch.

He didn’t care. Either way, this scumbag deserved to die.

“You dare insult my wife?” Cyrus hissed, his voice soft and lethal. “You dare spit your pitiful accusations at me? I don’t give a shit about you or your family. I’ll snap your neck without another thought, vermin.”

The man’s limbs flailed as he struggled to breathe, his body flopping like a fish. Satisfaction swelled in Cyrus’s chest.

“Cyrus, stop!”

Cyrus froze as Prue appeared behind the man, her lavender eyes wide with shock and anger. “Release him. Now!”

Cyrus gritted his teeth before obeying, letting the man fall into a heap on the deck. The man inhaled shuddering gasps, massaging his throat and shooting horrified looks between Cyrus and Prue.

“Your . . . wife?” he wheezed.

“Dammit all,” Prue said with a groan, lifting her gaze to the moonlit sky. “Really, Cyrus? Have you been telling the entire crew we’re married?”

“He spoke against you,” Cyrus said, as if this explained everything.

Prue laughed harshly. “And what, you sought to defend my honor? People will always talk, Cyrus! I don’t care about idle gossip.”

Cyrus only frowned, bewildered by this. He was a god and she was the Maiden. This man was lower than scum. Cyrus had done the sensible thing in threatening him. In fact, the world would have improved without such a man to taint its existence.

“Get out of here,” Prue snapped, waving a hand at the man.

He didn’t need to be told twice. Muttering foul curses, he scrambled to his feet and hobbled away from them as fast as he could.

Cyrus’s scowl deepened as the man vanished. “Why did you do that?”

“Because I don’t enjoy watching others getting strangled by the devil. What the hell’s the matter with you? You can’t just go around killing people.”

“Why not?”

Prue threw her hands in the air. “Goddess, you’re impossible!” She stepped closer to him, her eyes widening with emphasis. “While we’re in the realm of Gaia—”

“The what?”

---