Page 58 of Between Sun and Moon

My eyelids parted just enough to reveal my surroundings. I was lying on a faded rug in a living room—an incredibly small one at that, just barely big enough to fit a fireplace and few chairs. A few strides away from me was an equally small kitchen with a few humble cupboards. Empty shelves hung on the walls. Towards the back stood two open doors. Despite them being propped open, it was too dark to make out what existed past them, although I imagined they were chambers tosleep in. The walls consisted of logs stacked upon one another, the space between each one sealed with a great deal of mortar.

Realization dawned. I was in acottagein the Living Realm.

Something I had always wanted to experience . . .

While Aurelius spent his time at court, I spent my time watching over the mortals. A growing part of me wondered what it must be like to be them—to live so humbly, in a home small enough you could see your spouse sitting in the chair across the room from you, rather than in a palace so large you could wander its halls aimlessly, sometimes going weeks without seeing the one whom you loved. How many times had I begged Aurelius to take some time away from court so that we could come to the Living Realm and stay in a cottage, much like this one? I had lost count.

A wave of fire and pain washed over me, and I clenched my teeth together, trying to smother out the scream growing in my lungs. I turned my head to the side, my eyes rounding at the corners.

The God of Death was sitting before me, one leather-wrapped leg thrown leisurely over top of the other, his giant boot hanging in the air, bobbing rhythmically. The male didn’t just take up space, he engulfed it.

“What do you want?” I croaked weakly, the words hard enough to get out without letting that building scream spring free. My skin pebbled with sweat, the droplets pooling together and slipping onto the densely woven fabric beneath me.

“Many, many things,” he purred. “But for starters, I’d like to give you relief from my curse.”

“Never,” I choked, horrified by the thought ofhisseed taking root—I would rather die an immortal death.

He chuckled. “You do not need my heir in your belly to cull your fever.” A sinister grin widened his lips. “Although, the thought of you swollen with my pup . . .” He trailed off.

Gross.I wanted to vomit.

“You make me sick,” I snarled.

“Do I now?” He threw his head back and laughed, the masculine, rich sound taunting me.

But my disgust towards him was soon forgotten as the next wave hit, this one too powerful for me to bite down. I sunk my fingernails into the rug as it came ripping out of me, painting the air with my screams as I thrashed about, my body convulsing. During the entirety of it, the God of Death simply sat there and watched, watched as my agony reduced me to nothing, knowing full well he was the cause of it. When it was over, I lay there twitching, my eyes rolling in the back of my head.

The tip of a boot nudged against my arm. “Are you enjoying yourself, Kitten? Or would you like me to give you relief from this?”

I was too weak to respond. All I could do was look up at him—at the God of Death whom I hated with every fiber of my being.

A large red apple appeared in his hand, a dangerously sharp blade in the other, the edge of the metal glinting in the firelight. “You are sick because your body is at war with you. It demands to create life, but because of my curse, you are unable to,” he said as he carved a slice from the apple, that knife sinking deeply into its crisp flesh. “And so, because I am a gracious king, I am willing to offer you a deal. I will give you an apple seed to plant.” He lifted the slice, sitting on the flat of the blade, to his mouth and began to chew.

I could use the seed to create life . . . It would be enough to break my fever—

But at what cost?

“What do you want in return?” I rasped, my throat feeling as if a bag of rusty nails had been rammed down it, brought back up and then forced back down. Repeatedly.

He grinned. “I want you to plant the tree outside the window that looks out from the chambers you and your husband share.”

“Why there?”

“It’s quite simple, really . . . Every morning when your so-called king wakes up, he will look outside and see my tree growing there, sowed by the hands of his precious wife. It will serve me on two counts. The first—a message, stating that even though he presides over my lands now, just like that tree and the ones that come after it, eventually, I will take my realms back. And the second is a reminder that he cannot give you what you need, but I can.” He flashed his perfect white teeth, showing off those wicked incisors. “I do hope that knowledge eats him alive.”

“You’re demented.” And truly, he was.

He shrugged. “Do you want the deal or not?”

“One seed will only sustain me for so long. What happens when the fever returns?” I asked, my voice so weak it was barely audible.

“Then I will give you another apple seed to plant and so forth, until a forest of green surrounds your quaint little Golden Palace.” He leaned forward, offering me a slice of apple with one shiny, black seed. “Do we have a deal?”

I made the deal.

When I did, ink wove itself into my skin, over my bicep—a woman’s hand, my hand, holding an apple with a snake coiled around it, its mouth unhinged and ready to strike. I didn’t see if a matching one formed on the God of Death’s arm because he left seconds after his departing goodbye, telling me, once again, that I could find my own way back to my husband. Not that I would have cared to see the matching tattoo—I could barely stand to look at the one on my own arm. It would serve as a constant reminder, for all to see, that I made a deal with the king of the Spirit Realm, the enemy of my people, and for that, the weight of betrayal dropped my once proud shoulders.

I returned to the Immortal Realm crawling on my hands and knees, my body so sick with fever it was a miracle I made it back. A Demi God whose name I could not recall found me when I was certain I could not make it any further. He helped me the rest of the way back to the Golden Palace.

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