Page 15 of Wicked Ties
“Interesting little thing, aren’t you?” He looked her up and down then walked around her in a small circle, studying her. “I like the company you keep, Nova dearest. Tell me, Tilly, what brings you to my doorstep?”
She cleared her throat. “Well, I think I don’t have a soul and he . . .” She pointed to Liesin. “. . . says I do.”
“You smell of demon, yet also human, yet also something else I can’t quite put my finger on.” He sniffed the air next to her. “How have you come to be this?”
When she looked at me for help, I sighed. “Essentially, she was dying, and well, I didn’t want that.”
“Why not? Death is peace.” He wound one of his fingers into the curling ends of her hair then let it drop.
I didn’t answer that question. Death likely was peace, but I didn’t know that for sure and I didn’t want to lose her. “We used demon blood to . . .” stop her from dying “. . . revive her. Then it was extinguished, and now we’re here. Seeing you.”
“Dearest, I love the little interesting gifts you bring to me.”
“Well, you can’t keep her. But can you help her?” Nova stood off to the side.
“And you.” He looked at me. “I find your interest here fascinating.”
Glad to be a study for you. “I’m here for her.”
His gaze went down to my covered wrist, where my soulmate mark was dark and stark against my skin. I tugged at my sleeve, making sure no one could see it.
He chuckled. “Indeed.”
When he turned back to Tilly, he brushed his knuckles down her cheek, and I had to hold myself still to not knock him for a loop. Power began to gather in the room, thick and heavy, like lightening about to crackle. “This is going to hurt for just a second.”
He hauled his hand back and then threw it forward. His palm collided with her sternum. Tilly was jolted back. Her body soared across the room and then abruptly stopped. She floated there, unconscious and looking like she was sleeping upright.
“What the hell?” I started walking toward her.
“Maze.” Her voice sounded ghostly and hollow.
When I spun around, there she stood, translucent and a dim gray ghostly shade of herself. Her eyes were panicked as she tried to pat herself, and her hands went right through her body. I didn’t know which way to go, to help her body or her ghost. My heart raced in my chest, and my hands began to shake.
“You killed her!”
“I mean, yes . . . but not really.” He shook his head. “I just separated them to get a better view.”
Nova reached out toward me. “It’ll be all right, won’t it?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, in theory.”
I am going to kill death. I balled my hands into fists. “She better be.”
Thanatos continued that casual stroll around her, looking her up and down. Then he held his hand over her head, and dark gold magic rained down over her ghostly form. Lines like a puzzle began to form over her. They wove and connected all around. Thanatos studied her the way he would study a map. With the twist of his hand, he spun her around like she was some kind of doll.
He pointed at the left side of her chest. “There.”
“There what?” I moved in closer to try to see what he saw.
“Well, our Tilly here does have a soul, clearly.” He motioned to her standing before us. “But the soul is made up of many different parts. It isn’t just one thing. And she is missing her spirit. The piece of the soul that makes her lively. She’s alive but not living or feeling.”
Tilly sucked in a breath.
“I’m right, I know.” He smirked.
She was right—a piece of her was missing and not just any piece but a very important piece. “How do you fix it?”
“Me? No, I can’t fix this.” He shook his head. “I’m death. I deal with dead souls, not living ones.”
