Page 34 of Where the Light No Longer Follows

She slammed her boot on his, shaking her head. “You love him. I know you do.”

“I do,” he admitted, a little afraid some vengeful deity or fate might have heard him.

“You show it so little.”

“I shouldn’t be showing it at all considering how I was taught to regard him by our parents.”

Silene frowned at him. “You’re a powerful God, you should be able to love however much you’d like.”

“One would think so,” he said, reaching to pull away the wind billowed hair from her eyes.

“Why does everyone hate you?”

“Impossible. This is news to me,” he said, chuckling.

“You’ve made an enemy out of every God and Goddess.”

“Because every single one of them has wanted something from me and were upset they could not take it without exchanging it for something else.”

“The bargains,” she mused.

“The many, many bargains.”

“You could just be nice and help.”

“I can’t compensate fate with nice. To give, you have to take. They all know that.”

“So, you’d rather be hated?”

“Their regard does not matter to me, Silene.”

“Nor your brother’s?”

“Nor his. It doesn’t matter. I will always love him no matter what. No matter his hate or the destiny we were born to follow.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“It is the life I was born to lead.”

“You’ve never struck me as someone who accepts their fate.”

“To keep those I love safe I would have accepted a life in a secluded box floating in the universe aimlessly.”

“Who else has seen your world? Visited your home for terrible tea, met Tommy, been taken out to theatres and cafes?”

“Only the one that mattered.”

Silene rolled on her back and her eyes became a mirror for the cloudy skies above. “You should meet more people.”

“Not interested in meeting any people.”

“You should visit Az a little more frequently. You can stop by my home for tea.”

“Is it an invite?”

“It’s permission. I won’t be here soon.” Her chest rose fast, furiously, while his own collapsed entirely. “Tommy likes people. Let him meet more people.”

“Silene—”