AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She has promised to make me feel the loss.” He was standing closer to me now, so I was looking directly at his abs, no longer able to read his expression. Seth touched the place at the back of my neck that bore his mark. He scraped his nail against the thin skin, sending an ice-cold shock down my spine.
Being touched by a deity was not the same as being touched by a mortal. You felt it to your very core in a way that was unlike anything a human could do. The simplest brush of fingers could convey pleasure or unhappiness without a word, and it didn’t take an expert to know what you were being told.
Suddenly his fingers were around my ponytail, using it as a grip. He hauled me up from the concrete so he was holding me only by my hair. I scrambled to get a foothold, yelping as I grabbed his wrists, trying to keep him from pulling my hair out by the root.
Cade, who had been silent and still up until this point, twitched as if he might intervene. I risked looking at him only so I could give him a stare that said stand down. Though I could barely think through the pain in my scalp, Cade read my meaning loud and clear. He didn’t move, but the tight set of his jaw told me he wanted to.
Seth rattled me to get my attention and then lowered me enough I could stand on my own, though he still held my hair, making it impossible for me to step clear of him.
“Do you know how Manea shows displeasure, little one?”
If it was anything like this, I had a new kind of sympathy for Prescott. “No.”
“She has told me if I take something of hers, she will take something of mine. She will take something that matters to me.”
Up until that last part I’d been afraid he was talking about me, that Manea wanted my death in return for the idol. But Seth didn’t care enough about me for that kind of threat to have a huge impact. He’d simply call up Sido and have the next girl prepared to step into my shoes.
No, if Manea was threatening to take something important to Seth, then she’d picked a target I was unaware of.
“I have the idol, I can return it.”
Seth twisted my ponytail around his wrist, and I let out a squeak of pain. I guess giving back his new prize wasn’t on the list of possible solutions.
“She cannot take what is mine.”
This time I said nothing. My last suggestion had displeased him, and I was fresh out of ideas for what he wanted done. He pulled me in close, so we were face-to-face. His breath smelled of ozone, and the flashing light in his eyes was especially unnerving this close up.
“You will protect what she has threatened.”
I nodded. I’d do whatever he told me anyway, better to agree with it right off the bat. Maybe then he’d let me go. “Yes. What does she want?”
He released me without warning, and I stumbled, almost falling. Cade was there so quickly I didn’t even hear him move. His arms encircled my waist, and he held me up. The human warmth of his body was like being doused in pure relief. I wanted him to hold on to me until this was over, but I didn’t dare let him. The comfort of his arms wasn’t worth the annoyance it would cause Seth. And I didn’t want Seth paying any more attention to Cade than he already had.
“What does she want?” I asked again, wanting him to know I was listening.
Seth was looking at his hand as if touching me had made it dirty. “She wants my son.”
Chapter Seven
Deities are slutty.
Mortals were totally enamored with the idea of bedding a god, and in turn, the gods usually had their pick of the crop. Imagine if you will, if you were sitting in a bar and Eros himself walked up to say, “Damn you’re looking good tonight, want to get out of here?”
There aren’t many humans of either sex who would pass up an offer like that.
Deities were also, as it turns out, not huge on using protection. This resulted in hundreds of demigod babies being born every year to mothers who would probably never see their child’s father again. Babies born to goddesses—rarer, but not altogether unheard of—had it a bit better. They became temple-minders, like Sido.
Of course Seth had children. It wasn’t all that unusual for a job to make me cross paths with one of them. While he was by no means a typical parent, he still showed some absentee concern for the fruit of his loins. Their mothers were provided for, the children had whatever they needed.
Unless what they needed was a reliable father figure, in which case they were looking in the wrong place.
When Seth said Manea wanted his son, a slideshow of faces flitted through my mind, and I tried to imagine which of them she’d find most interesting. I’d met two of them, Nev and Zephyr, but neither of them struck me as an obvious target for the death goddess.
Though who could tell where her mind was aimed when revenge was the goal. I was honestly surprised she was threatening one of his sons. Seth tended to show much more interest in his daughters.
“Who?” I asked.
“Leo.”
