Page 15 of A Bond in Flames

I stood there, not sure what to say.

“Come and eat,” he said, not looking my way. “We need to leave soon.”

Cautiously, I walked over. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I could say nothing about what happened last night and pretend he hadn’t done what he had, but I wasn’t going to do that, not anymore. I’d been coming here, to Limbo, for a long time, putting up with his mood swings, and if what he said was true, and he had no reason to lie, all his consorts died, which meant I might not have all that much time left. So what the hell did I have to lose? Yes, he scared the hell out of me at times, but again, dead girl walking over here.

“You want to tell me what happened last night?” I asked as I pulled out one of the chairs and sat. I put Hemlock on my lap. “’Cause I have to tell you, it was fucking weird.” There was a mug of hot coffee in front of me, and I sipped it as he straightened and turned in his seat to face me. And go me! When his blue eyes collided with mine, and there was a good amount of fury in them, I didn’t shudderorpee myself. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ve put up with your mood swings for eighteen months. I’m not going to cower before you anymore,” I said and snatched up a slice of bacon, broke off a small piece, and gave it to Hemy. My hand was hardly even trembling when I shoved the rest in my mouth. Again, go me!

“I don’t recall one instance of you cowering before me, consort. You have snarked and battled your way through every one of our conversations. You have conveyed your disdain for me with every encounter. You leave my castle with glee when every cycle of the moon has passed and return with a thundercloud over that head of fiery red hair when your time with your family has ended.” He shook his head, and his lips actually twitched. “But cower? No, there has been no cowering, little witch.”

I was momentarily stunned, and I shoved another piece of bacon into my mouth while I rallied. “Will I live long enough, do you think, to truly know you? I can’t help but wonder, because you are not the male I first met. You’re constantly changing.”

He quirked a brow, and the blue of his eyes deepened, darkness swirling from within. “How so?”

He knew exactlyhow so, but he was trying to intimidate me, daring me to say it out loud… testing me. “Your moods, for one,” I said, taking some toast and smearing it with butter, then spooning scrambled eggs on top. “You raged all the time when I first came here.”

“Did I now?” he said.

A little shiver slid through me, but I ignored it and pushed on. “You also hid under your cloak, skulking around the castle like a pissed off, moody shadow.” I bit my toast and chewed, looking across at him. “It was like you were trying to scare me off, which was kind of surprising considering how desperate you were to get me here. Why is that?”

He just stared at me.

“Your intimidation tactics won’t work on me, not anymore. The way I see it, my days are numbered. The worst is already coming, probably sooner than I’d like.” I shrugged, even as the thought of never seeing my family again twisted brutally in my gut. “There’s nothing you can do or say now to scare me, so why don’t you just answer the damn question?”

He ran his hand over his tattooed skull, making his biceps bulge, then sat forward in a deceptively relaxed pose. Like we were just two normal people shooting the shit over breakfast. “What did you expect me to do?” he asked instead of answering.

I noted, with not a little unhappiness, that he hadn’t contradicted my premonition of my own rapidly approaching demise. “Honestly? I thought you were going to force me into your bed and make me your sex slave. I am your wife, right? Essentially. I thought you’d want to consummate this unholy union, then try and breed me until I eventually died a shriveled, used-up old crone.” I scooped another forkful of eggs into my mouth and watched with satisfaction as his expression, always so stoic—except when he was raging, that was—shifted into genuine surprise. I mean, I was exaggerating. I hadn’t expected him to attempt to breed me until I died or make me his sex slave, but I hadn’t really known either. I had, at the very least, assumed he’d force me into his bed, and I was more than thankful he hadn’t.

Then he’d gotten into bed with me last night and looked at me like he wanted to make a meal of me. In that moment, terrifyingly, I knew he’d wanted me, and that seemed to just piss him off more.

His fingers tightened around his mug. “You thought I would repeatedly rape you and force you to bear my offspring?”

I shrugged and sipped my drink. “Yeah, kind of.”

He shot to his feet, the chair crashing to the floor, making me jump, and then he paced from one side of the room to the other. He turned back to me now with those shadows swirling around him, his eyes darkening, his face transforming.

I opened my mouth to say something. I wasn’t quite sure what, but I needed to defuse the situation somehow because what was coming off him wasn’t… good.

But before I could, he spun away and stormed out of the cave.

Well, shit, perhaps I’d pushed him too far? The god’s moods swung on a dime. You never knew what you were going to get. What I wanted to do was stay right the hell here, but I didn’t think it was wise to make him wait, not now. So I quickly finished my coffee, put Hemy in his bag with some breakfast, and headed outside.

Death stood with our beasts. He’d already put on their girth straps and bridles and was tying a water bladder to Zuri.

I was stuck with him, with no escape for at least a week. I needed to rein it the hell in or this trip would be unbearable. Biting my lip, I walked over to him, fighting my nerves. I was going to have to apologize, wasn’t I? Goddammit. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I thought you were—”

“The kind of male who would force himself on a female?” he snarled low, still with his back to me.

“I’m sorry,” I said again. “But in my defense, you are a god. Some of you guys have a pretty bad rep, even you have to admit that.”

He turned to me, his eyes so bright a blue, I startled. “You’re right—we’re all sick, evil monsters,” he said, and there was definitely sarcasm in his voice.

That was also new. Right, time to change the subject. “So how far are we riding today?”

He closed the space between us, so close now, I had to tilt my head all the way back. “About the same as yesterday,” he said, then curled his fingers around my waist.

My breath punched from my lungs, and then I was in the air, tossed up onto Zuri’s back, and he was already walking away before I realized what had happened. I let out a shaky breath and tried to get my shit together while he swung up onto Raze.

He glanced my way. “Try and keep up.” Then he told Raze to run.

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