Thrashing, I hope Vero will take some pity on me and let me go but he isn’t even looking at me; hell, maybe he doesn’t even know what he’s doing. I realize that I very well might die here, all because of a god who I thought I’d save.
How ridiculous.
My hand hits his chest, and the white magic inside of me builds up before it explodes. It throws me back as the fountain shatters, chunks of stone flying everywhere while the water spills out. I hit hard on my shoulder, using the momentum to roll myself back up onto my feet where I see the god dash off without me!
I scoop up Kit and rush through the door Vero just bolted through, but at least it appears that his shackles have been destroyed.
Chapter Fourteen
Riley
“So much for saving your ass, you nearly killed me,” I snap at Vero as I hear a few guns fire from the people chasing us. It seems like they’re not quite sure what to do with either of us.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Vero says while he races through a door. The second I’m through it, he shoves some shelves in front of it and looks at the only door left to go through. The issue is that this door leads to a winding staircase that will take us straight up into what looks like a huge clock tower.
“Can you fly? Because I’m not quite sure what our plan is from here,” I say as I hurry up the stairs after him.
“I’m going to take you and toss you off the top and see if you grow wings,” he declares.
Why the hell did I even fret over this man? “I just saved your life. Some thanks should be in order.”
He glances back at me. “I’d almost broken myself free.”
I look at his wrists that are bleeding from where the shackles were. It appears like he’s cut straight through the flesh, and I’m afraid I can see tendons. “I don’t… I don’t think you wereactually accomplishing what you thought you were. Will you regain your powers now that the shackles have been removed?”
He’s quiet as he keeps trekking up the stairs. “Stop following me.”
“What do you mean stop following you? What do you think I should do? Go sit on the bottom step and just play dead?”
“It’ll slow them down for my escape, so yes.”
“I’m helping you. And I will forgive you for drowning me, so let’s work together.”
Vero whirls around and grabs the front of my shirt. I think he intends to lift me off the ground with it, but the shirt just slips up and gets caught under my chin. He seems to think this will suffice because his eyes narrow and he nods. “I would rather die than work with a horseman.”
“Fine, then let me escort you back to the fountain where I will personally tie you up and drown you. I can’t fathom that having to live in a state of near death for…hourswas pleasant. I don’t even know how long you were in there. Three hours? Seven? Fuck if I know. But I bet it was horrible. So when I was way out there, no longer eveninthis building and looking freedom in the eye, I ran backfor you… because I’m sorry for what the person I reincarnated from did to you. It really sounds like I was a horrible person whose only purpose was to destroy the happy lives of so many.”
He watches me, possibly processing my words, before shoving me away from him. I manage to catch the railing to keep myself from tumbling backward. When I look up at him where he’s standing on the steps above me, his face is a mask while he gazes down at me. Blood runs from the tips of his fingers but he makes no other movement as I hear people beating on the door down below and the noise of the clock ticking reverberates around us.
“I thought you were blind. You lie about that too?”
“No. I am blind.” I hold up Kit in one hand and the pendant in the other, knowing that I’m practically telling him how to take my sight from me, but maybe it’ll help break down the walls between us. “Magic in this pendant allows me to see through my familiar’s eyes. I can only see what she’s looking at.”
Vero stares at me for a moment longer before he turns around and keeps climbing.
About halfway up, my legs begin to burn as I question what we’re even going to do when we reach the top. We’re sitting ducks up here, but I follow the god anyway.
It doesn’t help that I feel so weak after being without the hourglass for so long. The distance between us begins to grow, and once he’s about twenty steps ahead of me, he looks back at me.
“Why are you so slow?”
“My legs are weak from being away from the hourglass.”
He stops and examines me. Then he stomps down the steps and I’m not sure if he’s going to push me down them or grow a heart and carry me up them. Instead, he clamps a hand over my mouth and nose.
Like what the fuck is this? I tell him I came back to save his life and he plans to suffocate me? I reach for my pendant only for him to remove his hand as he scrutinizes me. It’s definitely not the reaction I expected after some mild suffocation.
“What the fuck was that for?” I demand.
