Page 35 of Bound to Death

Chapter Seventeen

Asha

“This is the only place that’s safe. I need to take precautions. Every angel and demon will be after you now that they know your face. So, you can’t stay inthe human world while I’m away. Nowhere will be safe until I get that mark removed. But if you didn’t want to be here, you wouldn’t be.”

Here?

“I’m pretty sure you know how insufferable you’re being right now. Ever heard of vague-booking, Mr. Killer?” The raised eyebrow he gave me suggested he hadn’t. “It’s pretty much the worst thing you can do on social media. Ramble vaguely and make everyone else reach out for clarification. It’s a dick move. So, do us both a favor, talk to me like I don’t really understand anything you’re saying, ‘kay? Thanks so much.”

I’d taken a risk by mouthing off to the only person on my side right now, but by the little smirk he gave me, he wasn’t bothered by it. Thank fuck for that.

“My realm.”

“Your…realm? As in, you own it? Am I hearing you right?”

His eyes scanned the distance. “Yes. It’s a place no one can enter unless I’ve personally permitted them to. You could say I’m the ruler of the space between life and death.”

“Sure thing,” I replied, brain in complete overload.

I figured it didn’t matter what I understood about this supernatural stuff. I’d probably be dead in a week. But I was a little surprised that an angel would agree to help us. One that seemed more or less like a big deal. Whoever’s soul she was after, it was a huge fucking deal. Like something they shouldn’t be doing at all. Yet, here we were, about to piss off the God of the Underworld. Wait, did that make him Thanatos’s boss?

Nothing made sense anymore.

One thing I did know for sure was that Thanatos didn’t intend to listen to me. After he'd all but broken Michael’s couch to make a statement, he made it crystal clear that he’d do whatever it took to make good on his promise to save me. I was still goingto argue my case. I didn’t agree with putting anyone else in the middle of whatever was going on with my soul.

Because whether it was love or attachment, I didn’t want Thanatos to spend the rest of his eternal life paying for a crime I never asked him to commit. I liked him enough to want him to continue to do his thing. He’d punished five assholes better than I ever could, and maybe that was my service to the world—five less douchebags out there preying on innocent women.

Ravens cawed loudly in the distance, but the landscape was essentially an uninhabited gothic paradise. Desolation to the max. Or what Emily would call Addams Family chic. I couldn’t see anyone or anything for miles, just a rolling landscape of dead trees and grass. Total isolation. Everything was painted in blue and black. No moon. No stars. No sun. My feeble human brain couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. All I could gather was we probably weren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.

So, this was his own slice of paradise? This barren and cold world where everything looked haunted and endless? Ironically, it fit him. When I’d met him at least. Now, I wasn’t so sure. The man I knew was warmer than this place. Warmer than any person I’d ever met. Scary as fuck but soft in the middle.

“So, is this it? Are we going to camp out here, or…?” I remarked before shadows swept out from where he stood and built up from the ground.

Thanatos folded his thick arms over his chest and watched the towering estate form out of shadows at breakneck speed. I was too awestricken to make a snide comment about how I should’ve expected his house would not only be made of shadows, but overstated and grossly large. It was castle-like and reached high into the blue-grey sky.

Ravens flew overhead, circling the four towers, and I had to angle my head back just to trace each tower’s length. An innuendo that wasn’t lost on me, but I didn’t have time togiggle about it because I was too engrossed in how incredible everything here was.

I couldn’t see where the towers ended, and it made my stomach churn thinking I might be asked to climb thousands of stairs to the top, just to be locked in one while Death conducted his business. I couldn’t pull a Rapunzel with only a few days left to live. Not when I had a list of things I wanted to do before I croaked. Well, several I couldn’t do now that I’d crossed over to Death’s realm, but still.

“You’re not locking me up in one of those cock-shaped towers of yours, Death. I’ll smite you.”

His laughter eased the uncomfortable pressure in my chest. “I hadn’t considered it, but now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind locking you to the bed for a bit. Bet you’d look absolutely ravishing chained to my headboard, little raven.”

My mouth was suddenly dry. “Uh…that’s also against the rules.”

“And whose rules would those be?” he questioned, turning.

You’d never believe I was just threatened by an angel and on a quest to save my soul by the sexual air that ignited between the two of us at a moment’s notice.

His grey eyes took a very unsubtle path down my body, making it perfectly clear he wasn’t in a hurry to go find Hades. He’d fuck me right here if I gave him a reason. And holy shit, I couldn’t keep up. I wasn’t used to the chaotic blend of sexy and terrifying that seemed to come with being Death’s new favorite toy.

Don’t give in, Asha. He’s baiting you.

I turned away, not rising to the challenge. For once.

The majestic structure in front of us remained black and ominous, but the architectural details were breathtaking. I hadn’t thought they’d care here, but apparently, even the God of Death appreciated a good architectural masterpiece.

“Sort of looks like you’re compensating for something with this obnoxiously large castle, Mr. Killer.”

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