Kratos’s hands gripped his horse’s reins rigidly, looking like he was about to snap the leather through sheer force of will. “Adonis tells me that you’re not safe here. He tells me that Johnny is coming for you. Something about his drunken escapades, a fixation on you.”
“Is it any wonder?” A half smile curled Adonis’s lips. “Succubi were created to tempt. Johnny is fighting his urge to fall, and Ruby is making it hard for him.”
Kratos’s golden eyes studied me. “Is this true, Ruby? Has Johnny been coming after you?”
I shot him my most innocent, baleful expression. “Yes. You saw him last night, pointing at me. He seems to blame me for something. Whatever got him into that state he was in. But I think Adonis is right. He’s scared that I’ll tempt him to fall, and he hates me for it.”
Kratos’s jaw tensed. “I should be the one to take her from here. You can’t even fly.”
I wished that Kratos had been the one to discover my secret, and that he and I were the ones going off together. He might be a monster, but he was a monster who’d returned my sister to me. That was worth something.
“I don’t need to fly.” Adonis’s voice was pure ice.
Kratos grimaced, stroking his chest. He clearly hadn’t been hunting enough to keep the pain away. “With that crippled wing of yours, you won’t be able to disguise yourself. An angel traveling through the countryside will attract every vengeful demon in the country.”
“Since when have I let a hostile demon get anywhere near me?” asked Adonis. “In any case, you won’t be able to take her anywhere, Kratos. You’re as tempted as Johnny is. I saw you with her, ripping her clothes off. If I leave the two of you alone for ten minutes, the Heavenly Host will tear the rest of the world to shreds. And besides. You need to hunt.”
Kratos’s wings spread out behind him, and for just a moment, hot fury glinted in his eyes. After a heavy silence, he asked, “Where are you taking her?”
“I have to return to my castle. A shadow demon rebellion has been brewing nearby. It will give you and Johnny enough time to get control of yourselves, and if you still want her, I’ll return her.”
Kratos glared down at me. “Fine. Go with him. You’ll be back here as soon as I get control of Johnny.”
He didn’t give me any choice in the matter. I was his to command, apparently. I no longer felt quite as guilty about plotting against him.
Adonis nodded at the seafoam horse. “I hope you can ride.”
I nodded. One of the many fae gifts my parents had given to me—not that I was particularly practiced at it. “Kind of.”
Kratos met my gaze evenly. “If you need me, write my name on a piece of paper and burn it. I will hear the summons and come for you.”
Like a magical text message. “Thanks, Kratos.”
Without another word, Kratos reared his horse and galloped off into the forest. I had a disturbing feeling he’d be exceptionally savage on his hunt tonight.
Adonis peered down at me. “Do you need any help mounting Nuckelavee?”
I frowned. That name seemed somehow familiar. “Nuckelavee? Isn’t that…a demonic horse monster?”
Adonis shrugged. “He’s not as bad as people make him out to be.”
Wonderful. “No, I can mount him fine.” I think.
I crossed to the horse. I knew this was insane, but I could have sworn the thing narrowed his dark eyes at me as I approached. I stroked his mane, and the creature snorted, steam rising from his nostrils. He jerked his head away, not wanting anything to do with me.
Shit. Well, charming a horse couldn’t be any harder than charming humans, could it?
I stroked his mane again, trying to conjure my inner horse-whisperer. “We’re going to be friends,” I whispered.
He snorted again, then reared on his hind legs.
“Nuckelavee!” Adonis barked. “Stop it.”
I grabbed the stallion’s reins, trying to gain control of the situation. Clearly I wasn’t getting anywhere with charm. I scrambled to slide my left foot into the stirrup, clutching the saddle as if my life depended on it. With a loud, ungraceful grunt, I swung my right leg over the saddle.
Nuckelavee took off in a gallop.
As the stallion carried me away from Hotemet Castle—away from my sister—I felt more alone than ever before. I’d only just reunited with Hazel, and maybe she wasn’t even quite the sister I remembered.
Still, she was all I had left at this point. Since the Great Nightmare had begun, every separation had the overwhelming potential to be permanent.
Chapter 8
Three hours into our journey, I wanted to die. The word uncle rang in my head like a curse. My thighs were not coping so well with the situation. In fact, they’d been trembling and screaming for the past hour, and I’d started to look forward to Nuckelavee’s little grass-eating detours.
Still, my pride stopped me from calling out to Adonis. When I used to play Mercy as a kid, grappling with older boys who twisted my arms behind my back, I was never the first to cry uncle. I wasn’t about to start giving in now.
Leaning into the wind as he rode, Adonis seemed completely impervious to exertion, silver-flecked wings sparking with sunlight. He was supposed to be the one who was injured. Why did this seem so easy for him?
He hadn’t been one for conversation so far, which gave me nothing to think about but my shrieking thighs. I clenched tighter onto the reins, willing myself not to fall off.
“What’s your horse’s name?” I called up to him as we rode through yet another windswept, grassy field.
Adonis slowed his pace, turning back to look at me. “Thanatos.”
I frowned, pulling on Nuckelavee’s reins until he slowed to a trot. Good. I’d stalled our pace. “Thanatos. Doesn’t that mean death? Like, a Greek god of death?”
“Yes.” He slowed his horse to a trot by my side.
Circling above us, Adonis’s pet, Drakon, screeched, piercing the quiet countryside. The black-scaled dragonile’s cries slid through my bones, and I shuddered. Given that Drakon’s larger, dragon-shifter counterparts had killed my parents and my boyfriend, I didn’t have particularly warm feelings about demonic, reptilian creatures.
I blocked out the dragonile’s cries and heaved a sigh of relief at our slowed pace. Maybe I could keep Adonis talking about his favorite topic, which I imagined to be himself.
I nudged Nuckelavee onto a patch of clover, and he wandered to the right. “Can’t control this thing,” I said. “I think he needs a snack, and we can just have a little chitchat for a minute.”
“A chitchat,” Adonis repeated with no inflection.
I needed a snack. Didn’t Adonis know that the fae needed to eat?
He reared his horse to a halt by my side. “I can help you control Nuckelavee if—”
Distract him. “So you named your horse after a Greek god of death?”
“Not exactly.” The wind toyed with his cloak.
“Care to elaborate? How did Thanatos get his name, then?”
“Thanatos is my true name, and my horse and I are inextricably linked. He appeared when I was born.”
My mouth went dry, and I swallowed hard. “So…you’re a literal god of death.”
“Archangels. Gods. Humans use these words interchangeably.” A nearly imperceptible shrug. “I suppose ‘god’ suits me, but I don’t like to brag.”