Page 68 of Deathless
“Grudge and I will be joining you,” Shadow said when the noise ebbed. “You’ll be in charge, of course. But this is personal for us too.” He and my uncle shared a glance. “This will be...the closure that we’ve needed. An act of finally putting this behind us for good.”
I nodded, the understanding passing between us silently. This was my mission, what I had been called to do. But my father and uncle also needed to be there. Maybe they had always meant to be. Only the gods knew for sure.
“We ride out in the morning, then,” I decided. “No point in dragging this out. We’ve got guns, so do they. We’re human, and so are they. Time to find out whose sense of vengeance is stronger.”
“They also have children with them,” Santos reminded me. “That’s worth exercising a little bit of caution, right?”
“Their armed soldiers won’t be the ones guarding the children, too much risk for a mistake. Those children are their future, so they’ll be kept safe at all costs. We take out the armed guard first, then we find the kids.”
“How do we know where to go?” someone else called out.
My gaze slid toward the window, knowing full well what I’d see. Astarte sat on the ledge, preening her white feathers like she was any other bird.
“We have eyes in the sky,” I answered. “A guiding light.”
23
RORI
“You okay?”
I kept my forehead on the windowpane while glancing back at Torr, who stood in the doorway. “Now why on Satan’s scorched earth would you ask me a silly thing like that?”
He chuckled on his way over to me, his expression almost bashful. “Guess there’s no easy way to ask how you’re holding up after a coma and possession by an evil god.”
“Guess not.” I returned his smile. The sensation felt weird on my face, but I felt a little bit of joy returning. That easy comfort that we shared. “I’m okay, I guess. Just taking it minute by minute. I still get these moments where it suddenly hits me that I’mmeagain. And how hard I fought just to get back.”
Torr gave me an uneasy look. “We don’t have to ride out in the morning, you know. It’s okay to rest, Rori. You’re allowed to recover from this before putting on your president’s cut again.”
“No.” I rolled my forehead from side to side on the windowpane. “I’ll recover when this cult is wiped off the earth. I can’t even start healing until they’re gone.” My head lifted fromthe glass. “I’ve reinstated you as VP, so your advice from now on better be good.”
Torr chuckled again. “Just thought I’d try. And to think I was worried about you because you’re not the staring-out-the-window type.”
“I just might become one. Feels like I can think better with cool glass on my forehead.” After a while, I turned around to face Torr, tucking my feet underneath me in the armchair. “Did you see Devin kiss me?”
He nodded calmly. “Yeah, I did.”
“I thought it was you, at first,” I admitted. “I thought you felt different.”
“Is that what’s got you staring out the window all longingly and shit?”
“Fuck you.” After a few seconds, I added, “That’s part of it.”
“I’m fine with it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Fine with what?” I wanted to hear him say the words.
“You and him. Him being one of yours, along with me and Santos.”
“He’s with Hudson, though,” I pointed out.
Torr grinned. “I think Hudson likes you too.”
My knee-jerk reaction was to reject that notion, to hotly deny it.Me? Hudson? Pfft, no fucking way.But my clearest, most recent memory of him prevented me from saying that out loud. He’d talked me out of ending my life. He had hugged me, comforted me in the last few moments I had control of myself.
“He’s alright,” was the admittance I allowed.
Torr gave me an,Uh-huh, sure,look as he unlaced his boots. Wordlessly, he reclined on the bed, and I immediately went over to join him. Together, we shifted into a position that was as natural and familiar as breathing. My head on his shoulder and leg over his. His arm around my back until his hand nestled into my waist, with his opposite hand resting on my knee.
