The horseman closes the last of the distance between us. He crouches down, setting his scythe aside. “You didn’t think I came here all by my lonesome, did you?”
My eyes widen and my stomach bottoms out. “The other horsemen are here with you too?” I shift my gaze over his shoulder.
Out the open doorway, I can see the weather has turned ominous. Dark, angry clouds gather overhead.
“Well, not all of us,” the horseman admits as the first few raindrops begin to patter on the roof. “We’re still missing our dearest Death. But I’m sure if you’re here, he’ll be back soon. There’s no way he tied you up like a treat only to abandon you.”
I frown, taking in the horseman’s piercing green eyes and cutting features. “Which rider are you?” I ask.
“The least pleasant one—excepting Death, of course.”
I continue to stare at him, waiting for an actual answer.
He sighs. “Humans,” he mutters under his breath. “Famine. I’m Famine—I also answer to ‘the Reaper’.”
“Can’t any of you horseman have nice, normal names?” Like Frank or Louis? I don’t think I’d be scared of a Louis.
Famine smirks again. “I can already tell you and Pestilence are going to get along real well.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, you’ll see.”
I stare at him for a beat or two longer, while Famine sizes me up.
“Well?” I finally say.
“Well what?”
“If you’re planning on unleashing me, you could start by removing my restraints,” I say, jerking on my rope.
Famine scowls at me, but reaches for the sword strapped at his side. The sound of rainfall grows stronger by the second.
Even over the sound of the incoming storm I still manage to hear the distant thud of hoof beats.
Reflexively, I tense.
“You can relax,” Famine says, “that’s not your boyfriend.”
“Death is not my boyfriend,” I snap as rain begins to drip through the many holes in the roof.
The Reaper flashes me that damn smirk. “Sure, tootsie.”
I thin my eyes at him. Right about now I wouldn’t half mind Thanatos smiting this brother of his.
“How do you know that’s not Death riding up to this house right now?” I ask curiously as Famine begins cutting away at my bindings.
“I can sense him,” he says.
My bindings fall away, and I sigh as my arms are freed.
I rub my wrists. “So that’s why you barged in here, sure that Death was inside. Because you sensed him,” I say, unimpressed. “The horseman who’s not here.”
“I can sense him when he’s grounded,” the Reaper corrects, a bit too defensively. “He was here all last night and early this morning—” He cuts himself off. “I’m not going to explain this to you, some degenerate human.”
I glare at him. All my fear has been replaced by annoyance. Deep, deep annoyance.
The heavy pound of hooves grows louder, distracting me for a moment.
“Those would be my other two brothers,” Famine says.
“Did you sense them too?” I say, giving him a look like he’s an imbecile.
He glowers at me. “Just when I was starting to like humans, I have to go and meet you.”
“The feeling is fucking mutual.”
Outside, the hoof beats come to a halt. I can hear a deep male voice murmuring something, and another man guffaws loudly.
I stand just as two enormous men lumber through the doors, water dripping off of them. More horsemen.
My pulse picks up again, my instincts telling me to run.
They’re not here to hurt me, they’re not here to hurt me, I chant silently to myself.
At least, I don’t think they are. Famine hasn’t yet revealed why exactly they are here.
One of the new horsemen carries a bow and quiver slung over his shoulder, and the other has a massive sword strapped to his back. Their eyes briefly pause on me and Famine before they scan the room, clearly looking for Death.
Eventually, their attention returns to us.
“Is this a joke, Famine?” demands the older of the two men, his blond hair shot through with streaks of pale silver. Unlike the Reaper, he’s not wearing any armor—nor is the man next to him.
“Great job locating Thanatos,” the dark-haired one says, and I almost laugh. Clearly I’m not the only person who’s comfortable ribbing the Reaper.
Famine steps in front of me. “I found something better than our brother—I found his mate.”
Chapter 26
Pleasanton, Texas
January, Year 27 of the Horsemen
Mate?
What in the God-fearing fuck?
Pestilence and War’s eyes sharpen on me.
I glare at Famine. “I’m not anyone’s mate.” That sounds horribly bestial. “For the last time, Death is my enemy.”
“What makes you think she’s his, brother?” the dark-haired one says, ignoring my outburst.
I grind my teeth at his phrasing. Do all these Neanderthals think alike?
The blond horseman comes over to me, eyeing me speculatively. He’s slightly less intimidating than the others, but that’s entirely because he has laugh lines around his eyes, and it’s hard to be scared of someone who has laugh lines.
“I found her tied up in this room,” Famine says. He nods outside. “And Death’s horse was down the road when I arrived.”
He was?
“You tracked Death’s horse instead of Death himself?” The dark-haired man looks like he wants to hit Famine upside the head.
Not entirely opposed to seeing that.
The Reaper gives his brother a withering look. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, but I cannot accurately locate Thanatos when he’s in the sky. So I improvised with the horse.”
The older, blond-haired man moves over to me, ignoring his brothers’ bickering.
“Thanatos bound you up?” he asks, his gaze moving to my wrists, which are still red and raw. I can’t tell if he’s concerned or simply curious.
I lift a shoulder. “We’ve done worse to each other.”
The wheels in his mind seem to be turning, but rather than responding to that, he says, “I’m Victor, though you can call me Pestilence.”
Pestilence.
I almost don’t breathe. But of course one of them would be Pestilence. My eyes look over him anew as so many turbulent emotions course through me.
This is the horseman who killed my birth parents. The horseman who should’ve ended my life as well. And now he’s standing in front of me.
He’s not at all what I was expecting. My throat closes up. “You’re—”
“Old?” he finishes for me, his eyes gleaming good-naturedly. “I was made mortal long ago. And now—I age.”
I have to breathe through my nose to control everything it is that I’m feeling. Never did I think I would ever face down this … this monster, and definitely not under these strange circumstances.
My hand itches to reach for a dagger that isn’t there, and I am so close to crying right now, which is the last thing I want to do, but Pestilence is so damn civilized and he has kind eyes and laugh lines but he killed my parents.
He is my enemy too.
Before I can respond, War ambles over, his eyes scrutinizing me. “So you’re Death’s wife.”
Screw. This.
I walk out of the house there and then.
I stride past the idle horses, down the overgrown driveway with its rusted junk. The rain quickly drenches me, but I don’t care. I’m no longer bound up, I don’t need to stay inside that decaying house with those terrible men, and— My eyes catch on an opening in the hedge circling the property.
I can escape.
I’ve been so distracted by my present situation that I lost sight of my single most important goal—getting away.
I pick up my pace, afraid the unnatural overgrowth is going to close up at any moment.
“Wait!” I hear heavy footfalls behind me.
My steps falter.
If I leave now, I will slip through Death’s clutches. If I linger, then I might learn why these horsemen are following Death.
I stare at the thicket surrounding the house. Rain drips from all those hundreds of leaves, making the plants glisten everywhere but that one break in the foliage. That opening is mocking me.
“I know we’re a bit much,” Pestilence calls out after me. “My brothers and I are not trying to heckle you. We’re here to stop Death, once and for all.”
I don’t think I breathe.