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“Now you do,” he said. “And if you try anything again, I may not be able to save you. There are monsters in the water that will consume you, creatures on this land that will tear you to pieces. There’s my mother, a demon, and my father, the God of Death, and they don’t mind handing out punishment to stragglers.”
Desperation welled up inside her. “Please, Tuonen, you have to let me go.”
He gave his head a stiff shake, his jaw tense. “I’ve never let anyone go. That isn’t for me to decide.”
“But you can,” she said. “I know you can. You have that power. You can take me back to where you found me. Isn’t there a way back?”
Oh, please, tell me there’s a way back.
From the hesitant look in his eyes, she knew there was.
“Tuonen, please,” she said again. “Take me back. Let me live. I have so much life left, so many other lives to change. There must have been some mistake, I shouldn’t be here. If you let me live again, let me see my parents, let me save those dogs. I’ll…I’ll do anything. I’ll make any bargain. I promise.”
Now she had his attention. He adjusted his grip on her wrists. “What kind of bargain?”
“I don’t know,” she said, feeling hope swell through her. “Whatever it is you want, as long as I can go back and live my life.”
He seemed to think that over, shifting his jaw back and forth. “I could get in trouble,” he eventually said. “I would have to strike a deal with theKillerling.”
“Who is theKillerling?” she asked.
He sighed and then got to his feet, quickly reaching down to pull her up beside him. “They are the ones who hunt those who refuse to die,” he said. “There aren’t many of you, but there are enough. If I let you go back to live your life, they will come for you, even if I tell them to leave you alone. They will try and kill you, drag you back here, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
She didn’t like the sound of that, but she would have to take her chances. “I can deal with that.”
He studied her for a moment, his gaze roaming her face. She could have sworn there was affection in his eyes, as if he felt something for her. Something soft. “But nothing comes for free. Your death is still owed, and I am still to bring you to the City of Death, no matter what. I can only give you so much more time—if theKillerlingdon’t find you first.”
“I will take any time you can give me,” Aven said desperately.
He nodded carefully at that, licking his lips. “Okay. Then I will try to be fair. You are twenty-five now. You have a mother and father who need you. You have animals that depend on you. You need time to continue making a difference in the world. I will give you until you’re forty years old.”
“Forty,” Aven said softly. Forty used to feel so far away, and yet now, it was unbearably close.
“That’s all I can give,” he said. “It’s enough time to change the world, I think, in whatever way you can. I will lead you back to where you came, and you will pass through a tunnel and through the rocks to emerge in the wilderness, somewhere in NorthernFinland. You will return to your past life, and your death will be erased.”
She couldn’t help but grin, a smile so wide, it nearly hurt her face. “Thank you.”
His eyes were cold in response. “But when you turn forty, you will have to come back here. You will have to die. That is, if the Killerling don’t hunt you down before then.”
“Okay,” she said, extending her hand to shake on it. “I accept.”
His mouth curled up into a wicked smile. “You haven’t heard the bargain, Aven. A bargain means there’s something in it for the both of us. There’s something in this for me, too.”
She narrowed her eyes at him warily. “And what is that?”
“When you return, you won’t be going to Amaranthus. You won’t be going to heaven.”
Her heart twisted. “Where will I be going?” she asked fearfully.
His eyes glimmered as they focused on her mouth. “You will belong to me. I am not losing you to a place I cannot go. If you accept this deal, it means that when you die, you will be living in Tuonela. Not the City of Death, and certainly not Amaranthus.”
Oh shit. She wasn’t entering some marriage bargain, was she?
“You want me to be your…wife?”
“I want you—that’s as much as I know,” he said. “And when you’re mine, I will not be letting you go. Not again. Not after this time.”
Now she had food for thought. She could go on and live her life for another fifteen years, but then she would die again and be bond to the Son of Death for eternity?
