Page 15 of The Death God
“Cute.”
Thanatos ignored him. Shortly after, the banana breakfast cake was ready, and he grabbed it from the oven and put it on the cooling rack. Then he sliced some vegetables and put them on a platter, placed the eggs in a bowl, and pulled out the cheese and cold cuts from the refrigerator. He cleaned away Gregory’s bottle and the empty glass.
Before he had time to grab the bread, Rufus and Jaki entered the kitchen.
“Smells so good.” Jaki walked toward the cake. “Cake again?”
“Breakfast cake. Banana today.”
“You’re a godsend.” Jaki breathed in deeply.
Rufus poured himself a cup of coffee and drank before focusing on Gregory. “You’re up early.”
“Never went to bed.”
“Plan to rectify that?” Rufus raised an eyebrow.
“I was trying to lure Thanatos into bed with me, but he turned me down.”
Jaki snorted but didn’t move away from the cake. “Can we cut it?”
“It’s still too warm.” They were up earlier than they normally were.
“Maybe it’s perfect.”
Thanatos shook his head but couldn’t help the smile creeping onto his lips. He handed Jaki a knife. “If you burn yourself, it’s your own fault.”
Minerva stumbled into the kitchen, her hair a tangled mess. Thanatos held his breath. Prophecy normally followed a step behind her. He didn’t know if they slept in the same room or how he could know the moment she woke up.
He allowed a mental groan as his prediction proved right. Prophecy stepped into the kitchen behind Minerva.
“You baked again.” Prophecy sounded bored, and anger rose in Thanatos. It was childish, but he checked Prophecy’s death and smiled while he was doing it. He suspected he looked like something out of a horror movie, but he didn’t care. He barely paid attention as the familiar scene of an old and wrinkly Prophecy peacefully slipping away while sleeping in a comfortable-looking bed played out.
“Stop it!” Minerva’s voice was filled with fury, and Thanatos blinked to let go of the image and focused on her.
“Stop what?”
“Stop checking him every damn day.”
Thanatos shrugged. “You don’t want to know if it changes?”
As he looked around the kitchen, Prophecy was glaring at him, Jaki was smiling at the cake, his back to Minerva, Rufus was making love to his coffee, and Gregory’s face was a blank mask.
Minerva blew out a careful breath. “Has it changed?”
“Sadly, no.” Thanatos grabbed his cup and left the kitchen.
Chapter 6
Gregory watched Thanatos leave, torn between wanting to run after him and never wanting to see him again. He hated, hated, when he did the eye thing. He wasn’t pleased when the others did it, but when Thanatos did it, he wanted to run. He had checked Prophecy’s death.
“Did he eat?” Rufus met Gregory’s gaze, and he shook his head. Nope, he hadn’t eaten a single thing. Fuck. Coffee with milk and honey wasn’t enough to sustain a human.
Jaki grabbed a spatula and lifted a piece of the banana cake out of the pan. He blew on it, then bit into it with a hiss. “Hot.”
“Shocker.” Rufus shook his head, but there was a fond look in his eyes. It made something tighten in Gregory’s gut. Rufus was happy. He’d known him for more than a hundred and fifty years, and he’d never been as content as he was now. It was disconcerting, considering their lives were falling apart around them. Rufus always had a backup plan for his backup plan, and now he had nothing. Nothing other than Jaki.
“I’ll get him something.” Gregory got to his feet. His legs were a little stiff from having been seated for as long as he had. He grabbed a small plate and cut a piece of the banana cake.
