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For some reason, we have to wait until dusk to get a move on. Raila comes to my bedchamber to escort me down to the dungeon area.
You look beautiful, my queen, Raila says to me from beneath her black veil. That dress is very becoming on you.
“Good,” I say. Because I’m hoping Death will be coming all over it, I think, smiling to myself, then realize with horror that Raila probably heard that.
We walk down the many levels until we start heading underground. I immediately get the creeps, having flashbacks to the wedding and everything that happened afterward. “I don’t understand why we’re going by boat,” I tell her. “Why sail when you have a Sarvi?”
I don’t know, my queen, Raila says. But I assume it’s the safest way.
She brings me toward the dock where Death is waiting for me.
Now I am totally having a Phantom of the Opera moment here. There is Tuoni, God of Death, standing by a boat in a dark cloak, wearing the silver boar mask—the tusks glinting in the flickering torches that line the waterway. If he starts to sing “Music of the Night” I’m going to lose it.
He holds his arm out for me and I immediately get butterflies in my chest. Okay, I’m losing it over something as simple as that. It’s like he’s my prom date. This is already a million times more romantic than the wedding.
“Are you ready?” he asks me, pulling me toward the waiting boat.
I nod. I have my selenite knife attached to my inner thigh. Just in case, though I’m sure that’s not what he meant.
“Is this dress better?” I ask him, arching my back slightly so my breasts are pushed out.
His eyes drop to my chest, nostrils flaring. He looks at me like it’s his birthday and I’m both his cake and the present.
“Not sure this is much better,” he says in a low, gruff voice. “But it’s too late to change.”
I grin at him. “Yup. Too late.”
He can tell when I’m wet and ready, and I can tell when he’s hard. It’s easy. I just glance down. His cloak doesn’t hide everything.
I get whisked into the boat at that and we push off, leaving Raila at the dock. I wave goodbye to her and she raises a hand to do the same.
The boat heads toward the opposite direction of the Crystal Caves, against the small waves that are coming in.
I try to steady myself with the rocking of the boat and look around. The vessel isn’t too dissimilar from the one that Lovia and Tuonen use to ferry the dead, except this one is higher off the water and seems to have quarters below deck.
I settle on a seat beside Death near the bow. At the back of the boat there are a dozen Deadhands who are rowing us forward through the underground tunnels. It’s nearly pitch black here save for the torches lit along the side, illuminating the water in swaths of orange.
“Can I ask a question?” I say.
He shrugs. “You’re going to ask it anyway,” he says, his attention on the rowing Deadhands.
“Why are we taking a boat? Faster to use Sarvi, no?”
“Sarvi is staying here at the castle. With my Shadow Self. We must keep the illusion that I’m here. As soon as we come out of the waterways and into the open sea, we will retreat below decks.”
He puts his hand on my thigh so I don’t get the wrong impression of what we’ll be doing when we retreat below.
“All anyone who is watching me will see are the Deadhands paddling out into the open sea,” he continues, “which they have been doing a lot of lately when I’ve had them training. Business as usual.”
I put my hand on top of his, feeling a thrill run through me.
He glances down at me. “What?”
“I don’t know,” I say, realizing I’m grinning at him. “I guess I just find this all so exciting.”
“War isn’t exciting, little bird,” he warns. But he rubs his thumb along my hand, his way of holding it. “We need to take all precautions. I won’t lose my role, I won’t lose this kingdom of mine. I’m not just doing it for myself, it’s for the greater good of all the worlds. I have been tasked with providing an afterlife for the dead. If that’s taken away, if Hell is all there is, then…I’ve failed more than anyone ever has.”
He sounds so grave, almost sad, but the last thing he wants is for me to coddle him. “You won’t fail. You haven’t yet.” I pause, swallowing thickly. “There’s always a way to get a leg up, right now. You know what we have to do,” I add, my heart starting to thunder in my chest at even the thought of it.
