Page 65 of A Bond in Flames

“Go.” He said it softly, but it was as if he’d roared it.

I flinched and backed up when the storm grew more violent. Pushing him right now would be a serious mistake, so I said nothing more and walked away.

He said he wanted me as his consort, he said he loved me, even if I hadn’t actually believed it, but he constantly shut me out. I understood his trepidation, and I knew he couldn’t tell me anything, but living with so many secrets between us wasn’t going to work. His expectations were too high. He wanted too much from me without any of the trust and without giving me even a glimpse of the payoff. He couldn’t even promise me a life.

The foundation I thought we’d been building, the closeness we’d slowly developed, had already been on shaky ground after his demand that I obey him. Now, after tonight, it was crumbling, slipping away beneath my feet.

Because it was built on nothing.

I glanced back over my shoulder. He hadn’t moved, his dark gaze following me as I strode away. I got another wave of all he was feeling, and my knees almost gave out beneath me a second time. The anger inside him was breathtaking, and it was aimed at only one person—me.

* * *

Death didn’t come back to bed after that. I’d lain awake, waiting, but he never came. He wasn’t at breakfast the next morning either. I checked Somnus’s room but found only the slumbering god.

“Where’s Death?” I asked Egon when I walked into the kitchen.

He glanced up from the silver he was polishing. “He’s busy with an urgent matter.”

“What urgent matter would that be?” I leaned on the table.

“My lord has a lot of responsibility in his realm. Sometimes his attention is required away from the castle,” Egon said and started polishing again.

“His army of the dead? Is that what has his attention?”

Egon stilled for a split second, then continued polishing. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, my lady.”

“You do, because you came and got Death last night when one of them escaped.”

He kept his head down, polishing the silver jug in his hand like his life depended on it.

“I followed him, Egon… I saw one of them. She’s the second I’ve seen.” I planted my hands on the table. “Please tell me what the hell’s going on here.”

Egon blew out a breath and placed the jug on the table. “You know I can’t tell you, Zinnia,” he said, using my name for the first time. “I wish I could tell you all you need to know, I truly do.” His fingers curled tight around the rag he was holding. “You have no idea how much, but I can’t. For many reasons—reasons I pray to the gods you learn, and soon.”

I ground my teeth. “Death tells me I have to work it out for myself, yet I’m not allowed to wander around on my own or ask anyone else questions. How the hell am I supposed to figure out whatever it is he wants me to figure out when I’m being hobbled at every turn? I go back home in three days, Egon. That’s another month away, and another month closer to my sister’s birthday. I’m going to be trapped here with a god who is so angry with me, for reasons he won’t share, that I’m starting to feel dread when I’m around him.” I planted my hands on my hips. “What the hell does he want from me?”

“The answer is a simple one,” Egon said, holding my gaze, beseeching me to read his damn mind.

“Only it’s not,” I said. “Nothing about this situation is simple.”

I spent the rest of the day in my garden with my herbs. It made me feel closer to Jasmine, to my cousins and aunts, to my coven.

And I needed them now more than ever.

* * *

Death wasn’t at dinner that night, and he didn’t come to bed. He was absent at breakfast for a second day as well. Egon said nothing, but he seemed stressed.

I, on the other hand, was pissed.

After I’d watered my garden, I went up to Death’s room and gathered Hemy’s and my things and moved them back to my room. If he was staying away to avoid me, I’d make it easy for him.

When dinnertime finally came around, I left Hemy napping by the fire and headed down to the dining room. No Death. I sat and thanked Egon when he filled my glass with wine. Like the last three meals Death had missed, his place was set, which made it clear he wasn’t communicating with Egon either.

I was hungry. I’d barely eaten the last two days, but thanks to my anger, my appetite was back.

The sound of the main doors opening and closing echoed through the castle.

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