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As if Enosh wasn’t bad enough already…
A wet chuckle drooled from Yarin’s lips. “She doesn’t think well of you, brother. I dare say she hates your guts.”
Did Enosh just flinch?
I must have imagined it as he curled his fingers into my waist with a possessive grip. “How long have you been hiding between her thoughts?”
Yarin rose—the hole in his neck gone—and brushed his fingers over the blood staining his jacket. “I only had this tailored a fortnight ago. Now look what you’ve done. It took a great deal of traveling to find felt of such quality and craftsmanship.”
“How long?”
“Ever since you cheated Eilam and kept her from dying.” Yarin slowly spun, head shaking repeatedly as he glanced about the chamber, then his eyes settled on Enosh once more. “You’re notorious for taking what isn’t yours to take, Enosh, and it vexes him so.”
My gaze bounced back and forth between the men. “Who is Eilam?”
“Our brother.”
When Yarin winked at me, my head swung to Enosh. “You have two brothers?”
Enosh’s hold on me tightened. “Stop whispering into her mind before I needle your bitter flesh with bone!”
“You’ve always been so quick to threaten physical punishment. And no, Ada, we’re not brothers in the mortal sense.” Yarin’s eyes held mine captive.Adorable, how he stashes you away like his little secret. And look, he set a blue gemstone into your collar.“We’re purely bound by this brotherly love between us. Isn’t that so, Enosh?”
“You’re making her nervous,” Enosh grunted. “Stop muddling her thoughts, or I’ll have my corpses drag you outside and toss you onto a pile.”
“Her thoughts are muddled already. Mortals do poorly if deprived of light and stimulation. I tried it. She slit her wrists.” A powerful set of teeth sunk into an apple Yarin had pulled from a pocket, ripping a bite with a wetcrkbefore a sly grin formed on his mouth. “Anyway, given the poor state of your court, your threats leave much to be desired, and… um…” Yarin raked a lazy hand through his strands. “My, my, would you look at this shithole. No servants, no feasts, no music. Only the Pale Court stripped to its bare bones, so to speak, and my brother drowning in self-pity and the cunt sitting on his lap.” Green eyes snapped to me. “What pleasant company your mouthiness would have provided at my court.”
I straightened. “What court?”
“The Court Between Thoughts,” Enosh said on a groan. “Believe me, little one, you don’t want to go there.”
“Oh no, you don’t, Ada,” Yarin added. “It’s dreadful. All my entourage and I do all day is fuck and sing and drink… and fuck. On a more serious note, brother, I can tell you two converse little beyond the beastly grunts you exchange when you bed her.” Yarin lowered himself to the dais, one leg folding over the other. “See, Ada, Enosh rules over the bodily remnants of everything that once breathed. Your soul, however, belongs in my keep. And then there’s your life breath, of course, which was supposed to go to Eilam. Unfortunately for you, mostly, my brother here is so smitten with you.”
“Guard your thoughts or he’ll twist them,”Enosh whispered into my ear, lulling my muscles into a state of lethargy with calculated strokes along my spine.
“Oh, you don’t want me to twist them for you, brother?” Yarin’s eyes locked with mine, and whispers infiltrated my head in never-ending echoes.
“I’ve never been worth anything to John while Enosh locks me away like a treasure. When was the last time a man wanted me? Lusted for me? Does the god not tend to my needs? Kisses me so gently? How much longer can I deny there’s true pleasure in his touch, and—”
Yarin groaned.
Another sharp piece of bone protruded from his neck, this one shaped like a dagger, but he quickly pulled it out with yet another chuckle.
Pain bloomed around my temples. No, those thoughts hadn’t been mine. Never would be.
“If only you wouldn’t have done that, Enosh,” Yarin said. “She might have loved you on her next breath.”
Everything on Enosh stilled, and even his breathing suspended for an overlong moment before he said, “You’re testing my patience, Yarin. Why are you here?”
“Can you truly not tell?”
Enosh sunk his head into his palm, his dismay so obvious he almost appeared… mortal. “You came to demand the corpses.”
“Quite so. Three souls I once bound to their bodies for you.”
I perked up at that. That could only be Orlaigh, Lord Tarnem, and the commander.
“Precisely, Ada.” Yarin’s comment triggered a flinch. Between Enosh’s ability to control my body and his brother’s power to meddle in my thoughts, which one of these gods was worse? “We’re all equally terrible,”he whispered into my mind. “Now, I demand you supply my court with those four new corpses you owe me in return. The ones I have are starting to stink up my bed.”
