His answering smile was softand knowing.
Then they moved. He twisted and glided in smooth arcs, dipping and turning as wind whistled past them. He soared high before plunging low enough for her almost to brush the treetops.
Iliana laughed, exhilaration rushing through her.
She felt alive.
Up here, it seemed like the curse couldn’t touch her, and her pain couldn’t weigh her down. For these precious moments, she was free.
After a while, he descended in controlled, circling sweeps. The ground rose to meet them, and their feet crunched in the snow. His wings folded behind him before disappearing as though they’d never been there.
She was trembling now, but not because of fear. The cold had seeped into her bones, and she couldn’t feel her face. Still, she wouldn’t regret the single most exhilarating experience of her life.
“That was incredible,” she said through chattering teeth.
With a wave of Thanatos’ hand, a wooden bench appeared a few feet away. A stone fire pit appeared in front of it, flames already dancing inside.
She sat on the bench, stretching her hands to the fire and wincing at the tingling pain. Thanatos joined her, pulling her close. She sighed, his body heat soaking into her as she burrowed closer.
“I did not think about the cold,” he admitted, rubbing her back. “You should have said something.”
“I’m okay.”
Thanatos grabbed her hands, frowning at their iciness. He draped a warm blanket over her and another on her lap.
A moment later, the wind dropped away. She saw Thanatos had made a shelter appear, trapping the fire’s warmth and blocking the wind.
Iliana grinned. “Okay, I’m frozen. But that was the best thing that’s happened to me in…ever. No regrets, Birdman.”
His lips twitched. “Thanatos,” he corrected. “Or Than.”
She hummed, nestling closer to him. “No, I think I’ll call you Birdman from now on.”
Chapter twenty-one
THANATOS
Thanatos rolled his eyes at the nickname. He’d been called Angel of Death, Reaper, Daemon of Mortality.
Somehow,Birdmanfelt like it might stick.To his surprise, he didn’t hate it.
He felt calm sitting by the fire with her in the makeshift shelter. The flames hissed and popped, but the only warmth that he noticed was her, tucked against him as if she belonged there.
Iliana stared into the fire, the flames bathing her in radiant light. She wasn’t filling the quiet with nervous chatter. She just existed, completely at ease.
How many moments like this did she have left?
He shut the thought down hard.
Most humans he’d encountered either feared him or tried too hard to please him. Even his past lovers, goddesses, had either been uncomfortable or flinched when they remembered what he was.
Iliana had done neither.
At first, he’d suspected she might be trying to use him to speak with her parents.She’d taken their refusal with quiet grief, accepting what they couldn’t change. She hadn’t pulled away from him. From them. Even Hypnos, who had been the cruelest to her, had earned small, hesitant smiles.
Anubis—that was a different story.
She liked him. Thanatos had seen how she looked at Anubis during dinner. How they’d worked together cleaning up afterward, standing close, touching hands.His teeth ground together. He needed to talk to his friend about her to gauge Anubis’ intentions.
