Page 13 of A Bond in Flames

Finally, he wiped his mouth on a napkin and sat back. “Do you have a question for me tonight?”

I nodded, swallowing my last mouthful. I’d asked him multiple questions today, and he’d answered most of them. I didn’t remind him of that, though.

“Good, but I have one for you first,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I’m too tired to fight with you about it tonight.”

“Why would you fight with me? It’s my turn,” he said, and his eyes glittered in the candlelight.

“Sure it is, Mors,” I said, firing his name at him. If he was doing it, then so was I.

He stilled, unnaturally so, his eyes darkening. “I told you what would happen if you spoke my name again,” he said. “Did you forget?”

Fuck. I had. I was full and warm from the fire and the wine and growing sleepier by the minute, which was why I was more relaxed than I’d ever been around him before. “I guess I did.”

“You realize you must do whatever it is I ask? You vowed, and a vow cannot be broken.”

In other words, I’d fucked up big-time. “What do you want?”

“I’ll tell you when the time comes,” he said.

Awesome, that didn’t sound ominous at all. “Fine, not much I can do about it now, right?” I was doing my best not to let him see how freaked out I truly was. How the hell could I forget? He was watching me closely. Maybe he was waiting for the freak-out? Well, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “So what’s your question? I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

His massive, scarred hand curled around his glass, and he took another sip of his wine, dragging it out, trying to torture me with suspense. “If you had the means, would you kill me?”

Okay, I hadn’t expected that one. Was that Death’s way of asking if I liked him? Yes, I’d kill you, equals no? No, I wouldn’t kill you, equals yes? Despite everything, I didn’t hate him. I wasn’t naïve enough not to understand that there were bigger things at play here. He hadn’t chosen me to be his consort any more than I’d chosen him, and going by his actions since we made our deal, I wasn’t so sure he even wanted me here. It felt more like he needed me than wanted me. So no, I didn’t hate him. “No, I wouldn’t kill you.”

He abruptly sat forward in his seat. “Why?”

I automatically jerked back; the intensity flowing from him had skyrocketed. “You get one question, remember?” Again, I was struck by how different he was. He was more… animated, and he seemed to possess more than one emotion. He wasn’t just angry all the time like he had been before.

He ground his teeth, then visibly forced himself to relax, his big shoulders losing their rigidity. “I remember. Ask your question.”

After all that had happened at this dinner alone, I should go for an easy one, but I couldn’t stop the question that was forming in my head from coming out of my mouth. “Do you miss them, grieve them… your past consorts?”

No, he didn’t like that question, not at all. His face had turned to stone. He didn’t want to answer it, but we’d made a deal, and he had to. A low, rumbling growl came from him, and I barely managed to hold my ground and not jump from my seat and find a hole to shove myself into.

“If I allowed myself to truly feel the weight of their loss, I would never sleep come sunset, and I would never leave my bed come sunrise.” Then he stood suddenly and strode to the hearth, giving me his back.

Shock had me glued to my seat. Again, Death had surprised me. He’d cared for them, and he’d lost them, all of them.

“You should get some sleep. Take the bed,” he said without looking at me.

I jolted from my chair, scooped up Hemy, and did what he said without a word.

We’d done more than enough talking for tonight.

CHAPTER4

Death

The candlelightand shadows made her red hair look like dimming embers. Her face was to the side, her thick lashes resting against her cheeks. My consort was just as fiery in temperament, possessed a warrior’s heart, and had the kind of beauty that could bring the strongest of gods to their knees.

But I would not fall.

I would not let sadistic hope infiltrate my heart. I knew better. Still, I approached the bed to get a closer look, drawn by a higher power, by a force I had no control over. Resisting her wouldn’t be easy, but if I let myself fall again, Nox would only take pleasure in my inevitable destruction; it was all she had left.

I’d bartered for our nightly question time because not only did I want an excuse to learn all there was to know about her life, but I craved her nearness and the sound of her voice. I thought I might actually be addicted to her sexy husky laugh, when she had occasion to, though that only usually happened when she was with Egon or Lyle.

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