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21
ADDIE
Islammed the floor in frustration. “Get out of your hiding hole!”
The chalk circle on the kitchen floor was smudged and almost illegible from how long I’d been trying to summon Hel. Behind me, Perse watched. She’d pulled up a pair of kitchen chairs—one as a seat and another as a footstool.
I spun on her. “Why isn’t this working?”
Her lips twisted to the side in pity. “It will not work if Hel does not want to come to you. She is not a lowly Reaper. No matter what remains of her power, she is still divine.”
“That’s not how it worked with the angels.” I was pouting, and I knew it.
Perse didn’t hold it against me. She put a hand on my shoulder and smiled sweetly, a bit of mischief hiding behind the soft expression. It made me wonder what the goddess had in mind. She was on my side, and I wanted to trust her, but she’d lied to me about her true nature for so long. I was tired of secrets and responsibilities.
I wanted nothing more than to shove this mess into the hands of another and run off so I could rest. It’d been non-stop fighting lately. Even Bastien’s hordes of zombies sounded better than this. At least, I knew that I could take control of them with a snap of my fingers now.
“Fenrir wants to devour Hel’s divinity. He might have come close in your last face off,” Perse said. “She is likely licking her wounds somewhere far away from Fenrir so that he cannot take the last of her divinity from her.”
“This is what you get for sleeping with assholes,” I grumbled.
It was unfair of me, but I liked to think that I had better taste in men.
Maddox stood at the window. He’d been on the lookout for hours now. His expression was tight. Even his movements were jerky, like he was waiting for a sucker punch to come out of nowhere. Only when he glanced my way did the tension in his brow soften even a little.
I stifled the urge to get up and drag him back to the bedroom so I could run my hands all over him. The feeling of him inside me would help ease the growing knots in my core, but we didn’t have time.
“He’s going to come for me next,” I said while staring at the useless summoning circle.
A part of me had hoped that Hel would come and promise me protection. She’d made it very clear that she was going to put herself first right now. While she hid away from Fenrir, I was left out in the open. I didn’t have anywhere to run.
He’d gotten an appetizer and would be on his way for his next meal: me.
Fenrir wanted Hel’s divinity more than anything. It seemed like he couldn’t end the world once and for all without it. Here I was, running around with a little piece of Hel’s divinity in me. There was no questioning it. I could walk into her domain and light it up like it belonged to me. Fenrir would not be sated until he got every last ounce of Hel’s divinity, including me.
Maddox
The hunger chewedon my insides. My stomach growled greedily. I tried to ignore it. My beast tried to fight it off. My control would start to slip. I could already feel my body filling with crackling frustration. Everything I touched turned to dust in my grasp as my power sucked the energy out of it.
Pausing, I stared at my open hand. Was this what Addie felt like? Did she also live in fear of her power and how it stole life from everything around it?
While I wanted to step closer to her and give in to the feedback loop that our arcana could create, I didn’t know how she was doing. She’d looked worse for wear when we left Hel’s domain. She absentmindedly rubbed at the bruises on her chest while glaring at the chalk on the floor.
While the bruises weren’t as bad as the handprint the shades had left on her, I still couldn’t help but worry for my wife. My beast snarled. If Fenrir laid a hand on her again, I would not stop until he was nothing more than pieces on the floor. The bite of my wolf’s claws inside me told me that the beast agreed.
The bright goddess stood over my wife. I studied the woman who had been posing as a ghost. Though she seemed kinder than Hel by far, I refused to trust her either. The gods had been manipulative and secretive so far. They’d kept too much information from us and asked too much of us. I doubted this goddess was any different.
But she gave me a smile before fading into nothing, leaving Addie and me alone. I nodded to the space where she’d been like the woman could see my thanks even though she was gone. Maybe she could. She was a goddess. What did I know?
I went to my wife and crouched beside her. I found her glaring at the floor in determination when I pushed a lock of hair out of her face. While both she and Paige were Reapers, the similarities ended there.
The kindness and despair in Addie’s eyes when she looked toward me told me that she was nothing like Paige. Addie wanted to protect everyone. Even if there was a selfish streak pushing her forward, Addie would never sacrifice anyone else to get what she wanted. Others would always come first.
And I would make sure that she came first. That was my job, as her husband. My job and all of its duties could wait. So long as Addie needed me, I would be here with her.
Or that’s what I wanted. My stomach had other ideas. It growled loudly. My body seized with hunger. Every muscle tightened before a ripple ran through me. It nearly shoved me out the door in search of food.
Addie’s lips parted. “Maddox! Let me help you.”
