Page 66 of A Bond in Flames

I turned to the door, and a moment later, Death appeared. His gaze sliced to me as he strode toward the table.

My heart leaped in my chest.Do not give him the satisfaction. Forcing myself to freaking move, I scooped up some mashed potatoes and shoved them in my mouth.

“I hope you didn’t rush back on my account,” I said and stabbed some beans with my fork and shoved them in my mouth as well, then grinned to piss him off when he took his seat opposite me.

“I’ve had things to do,” he said as he dished himself a plate of food.

“Oh, me too. While you’ve been gone, I’ve been super busy taking all my things out of your room and packing for my trip home.”

He said nothing, didn’t even look up as he started eating.

“So are you going to tell me where you’ve been?”

“No.”

“Awesome.” I took a sip of my wine and sat back. “Question time, big guy. Tell me, why are you angry with me? What have I ever done to you? I think I deserve to know that, don’t you?”

He chewed his mouthful. “You already know.”

I snorted. “The fuck I do.”

He lowered his knife and fork. “Maybe if you stopped talking and started fucking thinking, you’d work it out.”

I stared across the table, confused and hurt and pretty sure my anger was close to matching his. “I can’t read your mind, Death. You’re going to have to help me out a little.”

He slammed his fist on the table. “I can’t.”

It was as if he was reverting back to the Death he was when I came here. So full of darkness and rage. “Why do you even want me to? The anger I feel inside you now, it’s almost as if… as if you hate me,” I said, as an awful, gripping feeling in my stomach tore through me.

His nostrils flared. “Think,” he said with quiet violence rolling from him and ignoring what I’d said completely. “Fucking think,” he roared and slammed his fists on the table again, this time knocking over his wine.

I blinked across the table at him. For the first time in a very long time, I was filled with fear and dread. The full force of the god he was, was reflected in his face and his voice. It wasn’t him I was scared of, but the thoughts and feelings he was capable of evoking in others. I’d stopped feeling it, the horror and woe, the soul-gripping fear and heartbreak that Death was capable of making others feel, but I did now, and humiliatingly, tears filled my eyes. The feelings he was summoning in me were so strong and awful, I wanted to curl into a ball and weep. “This isn’t going to work,” I forced out past trembling lips.

He glowered at me. “What?”

“Release me,” I said, shaking so hard that he had to see it. I hated that as well.

“Never,” he snarled.

“I found a way to hide from you before,” I choked out. “I can do it again.”

His gaze swept my face. “You will not. You try it, and I will drag you back here and never let you leave.”

“Isn’t that what you have planned already? Never letting me leave? Trapping me here in this hell with you until I die brutally?” I shook my head. “I’m not going to accept that. I’m not yours. I don’t belong to you, and the fates can go and fuck themselves. I’ve given up enough because of you. I won’t give up my life as well.”

He sat forward. “You think you know what it is to suffer? You know nothing of loss.”

I didn’t know this version of him. This wasn’t just anger; this was cruelty. He was trying to hurt me. To push me away even while he desperately tried to hold on. “No, you’re right. I don’t know the loss you have. How could I? I’m a mere mortal, not a god with an eternity of living behind him. But I do know loss, I know fear, and I know heartbreak.”

He sneered. “What have you lost? Enlighten me.”

My heart was racing, and I was trembling so hard now, my voice shook. “When I was fifteen years old, still just a child, a powerful god invaded my dreams and told me I was his—”

“I already know this story, little witch. Don’t waste your breath,” he bit out, a nasty smirk curling his lips.

“I was so scared,” I said, pushing on, “that I took dangerous amounts of forbidden potions and elixirs to make sure I stayed awake. I didn’t want the terrifying god to come back. I was afraid he’d hurt me, but most of all, that he’d hurt my sister, so I searched for help, and eventually, I found it.” Death was staring at me, his eyes black, no blue left; not even the night sky was reflected in them, just pure blackness, but he didn’t interrupt this time, and I had no intention of stopping. “I wasn’t thinking clearly with the potions and the lack of sleep. I was delirious, confused, afraid. I heard of a demon named Fluke who could help, so I went to his cottage.”

Death snarled and sat forward. “What did he do, Zinnia?”

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