I snorted. “What do you mean your horse—”
A squirrel scampered across the field nearby, and Nuckelavee jerked me toward it in a chase. Pain screamed in my thighs. I grimaced, struggling to rear my horse to a halt again, when Nuckelavee stopped and began munching on a dandelion.
“We should go,” said Adonis.
“Hang on.” I caught my breath. “The horse needs to rest. You can’t run these beasts into the ground. Anyway, I don’t think you’ve explained your death-god thing to me well enough. What does it mean?”
“It means that I’m incredibly powerful and destined to kill. You already know this.”
Lovely. At least I’d found a way to stall him. “Can you escape your destiny? Who makes the rules, anyway?”
“It’s a very interesting question, Ruby. One probably best left to philosophers and people who like to hear themselves speak.”
“I took a psychology class in high school. Have you ever heard of the Thanatos drive?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Humans aren’t just driven to live, or to procreate, apparently. That’s Eros.” I chewed my lip. “Wait, is Eros a real god, too?”
“He’s a demon.” Adonis arched an eyebrow. “He’s awful. Thousands of years old and he acts like an eighteen-year-old. What was your point exactly?”
“Humans have a Thanatos drive. They’re attracted to death. It’s why they smoke, start wars, drive fast cars… Why they drink themselves into comas.”
He nodded slowly. “Humans crave oblivion as much as they fear it. They crave release.”
“Why?”
His eyes pierced me, his dark magic curling around him in sharp whorls. “So they can have some peace and quiet, I should imagine. It’s an idea I empathize with at the moment.”
I blinked, watching as Adonis took off at a gallop. Of course, he just expected me to follow. I gritted my teeth, spurring Nuckelavee on. Pain shot through my thighs, and I groaned.
After another five minutes of cantering, I glimpsed an iron-gray river cutting through the field. Willow trees lined its banks, and an old stone bridge spanned the rushing water.
How good it would feel to rest against the trunks of one of those glorious trees, or the stone bridge. How much I wanted to drink some water and lie down in the grass…
Desperation screamed in my mind.
“Adonis!” I bellowed, blood roaring in my ears. “Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!”
He halted Thanatos, his eyes wide as he turned around to look at me. “Why on earth are you shouting the word uncle?”
“I’m done!” I shouted. “I don’t care anymore. I’m tired. This is ridiculous. You win!”
He cocked his head, his dark magic swirling around his horns, his leathery wings. “What do I win?”
I swallowed hard. I wasn’t sure exactly why I was so angry, except that I hadn’t wanted to admit defeat, and now I’d done it. Humiliatingly, I felt tears sting my eyes, and I blinked them away.
A shadow swooped over my head, and I glanced up to catch sight of Drakon soaring in lazy arcs above us. He opened his throat, breathing a hot burst of fire into the air.
I cleared my throat, taking care to speak with a steady voice, the voice of reason. “We need to rest. I can’t keep riding.”
“You should have just said so.”
I lifted my chin. “I’m saying it now.”
A small smile curled the corner of his lips. “What does uncle mean?”
I swallowed hard. “It’s an American game. It’s not important.”
He nodded at one of the trees. “Let’s rest under there.”
I nodded, so grateful the tears nearly started again, but I clenched my jaw until I had control of myself again.
Under the naked boughs of a willow tree, I dismounted from Nuckelavee, slowly sliding down his enormous side. I walked hunched over, my legs trembling.
Adonis frowned at me with concern. “You look as if you can hardly walk,” he said quietly. His pale eyes stood out sharply below the straight, black lines of his eyebrows.
“Not all creatures are made to gallop on horses for hours at a time. I’m stronger than a human. Not as strong as a death god. Plus, you’re part horse or something, as we established.”
“I didn’t say that.”
I pointed to his twisted wing. “How does that feel?”
“I can hardly feel it now.” He nodded at a large rock on the river’s edge. “Sit down. I’ll help you.”
Pain ripped through my legs as I lowered myself to the rock. “Help me how?”
Without a word, he sat next to me on the rock. “I can take your pain away if you let me.”
I blinked at him. “And are you concerned about my comfort? I thought we established that you’re a monster.”
“I can’t have you slowing me down with a broken body.” A slight edge tinged his voice.
Bone-deep pain screamed up my legs, my hips. “Fine. Whatever you need to do.”
With a smooth movement, he brushed his fingertips over my knees. Shadows seemed to thicken around him, and his magic wrapped around me, both soothing and electrifying at the same time. Warmth streamed from his fingertips, swirling into places I had no business thinking about right now. As he touched my legs, he pulled the pain from me.
But at the same time, his agonizingly light touch filled me with a hot ache. I wanted more of him.
“That’s helping,” I whispered, disturbed by my own body’s reaction to him.
Slowly, he traced his fingertips farther up my thighs, his warm, silky magic penetrating my body. I stared at the dark swoop of his eyelashes, such a stark contrast to his pale eyes. I fought the impulse to kiss his skin, to press my breasts against him. Sweet release. I hoped he didn’t notice the subtle arch of my back, or my pulse racing. I hoped he didn’t hear my heart slamming against my ribs. Molten heat pooled in my belly, and my mouth opened, ready to be kissed.
As he soothed my pain, his face moved closer to mine, his breath warming my cheek. Up close, I had the chance to study the perfect, golden smoothness of his skin, the perfect, straight eyebrows. I remembered the thrilling rush of heat when my tongue had brushed against his…
Then, he pulled away, and the loss of his touch felt like a cold, sharp shock to my system. I almost grabbed his hand and put it on my thigh again, before I regained some composure.
Get a grip, Ruby. He has this effect on every woman he meets. The thought annoyed me. How easy it was for him to seduce, and how little it probably meant to him.
“Better?” he asked, completely unruffled by what might have been one of the most erotic encounters of my life. If he could do that to me by just touching my thighs, what would it feel like—
“Ruby?”
I blinked at him, trying to remember how to form a sentence. “What?”
“Does your leg feel better?”
I sucked in a deep, steadying breath. “Oh, that. Yes. It’s better.”
I narrowed my eyes at his wing. The wound had opened again, and a bright stream of blood spilled down the front.
“Isn’t there something we can do for your wing?” I asked quietly.
“Not unless you have healing powers like I do.”
“If you’re a god of death,” I asked, “why do you have the power to heal?”