My voice was flat when I answered him. “It’s not that I don’t fear you, I just don’t think there’s any point in stressing and actively fearing things that can kill you. If I feared everything that hurt me, I’d never open my eyes in the morning. I’m just going to slot you into the same category as the wild bullsen, who were not very happy when I stumbled into their territory, and leave it at that.”
Some of his anger and arrogance returned then. I could see the way he stiffened from the corner of my eyes, before he snarled out, “Bullsen are animals. I. Am. A. God. We have nothing in common and it would be in your best interest not to categorise me with them again.”
I waved a casual hand in his direction, pulling my eyes back to his face, because I was getting sick of staring at the wall. I was just going to have to deal with his potency. “You say god,” I replied, keeping my expression bland, “but I say upper-level bullsen. You’re both dangerous to me.”
He took a step closer, hands clenched at his sides, but before he could say anything further I stepped around him and crossed into the centre of the room. “What is this place? Where did you transport us?”
Cyrus followed me and I could almost feel his energy pushing against my back as he drew closer. “These are my private quarters. It’s the easiest place for me to get to under pressure.”
His home? It was different to the floating marble platforms I had come to expect from the gods. It almost looked like a cave. Everything was stone, but it was not dark and dingy like the caves in Minatsol. Instead, the ceilings were high and the area was light and warm.
“Are we underground?” I asked, feeling a little claustrophobic at the thought. I’d never done well in underground situations. The thought of all the stone above just waiting to crush me.
Yeah, underground situations were definitely not for me.
“I’m not telling you where we are. No one knows of this place and I would like to keep it that way.”
His words were curt again as he brushed by me, stepping out of the bedroom we were in, through the large and open archway, and into a living area. White couches were spread across the space, and huge fluffy rugs covered the stone floors. There was a fireplace with coals inside that were still glowing from a fire that had burnt-out.
Hurrying after him, I busted out breathlessly, “What do you mean no one knows? No one has ever been here?”
He slanted a smirk in my direction. “No one of importance. Do you know what that means?”
“You need a life?”
That smirk grew a few inches as he changed direction and strode right up to me. I froze, unsure if I should run or not. But really, where would I go in this round stone cave? He paused a foot from me, before leaning in so close that our faces were only an inch apart. “It means that I’m going to have to kill you.”
I swallowed hard. “You must really like your privacy.”
He straightened, giving me a tad more breathing room. “She’s learning.”
He was gone then, back into his living room, already sitting on one of the comfy-looking couches by the time my breathing had resumed its normal rhythm. I stumbled after him, tripping over the edge of the rug, but managing to catch myself on an expensive looking lamp. I stayed upright. The lamp did not. It hit the ground and somehow bounced off the soft rug to smash into the hard floor.
Oh, shit. He was definitely going to kill me now. Guys who liked their privacy that much probably also liked their lamps … and speaking of lamps … how did this cave have electricity? Only the rooms of the special sols at Blesswood had any amount of electricity, and they hadn’t lived in caves.
I prepared for the strike, but Cyrus barely even blinked an eye at his broken lamp. He just waved his hand and then the lamp was back in one piece.
“Do you need a job?” I blurted out, my eyes locked on the once again pristine piece of furniture. “Because I might have an opening for someone of your skill set.”
Cyrus almost cracked a smile then—I would swear it was there but before I could comment, the stony face returned. “I already have an important job, I don’t have time to follow you around picking up the pieces of the world you break.”
Deciding I was too tired to stress about him killing me anymore, I slumped into the chair across from him and dropped my head back, allowing the unnatural softness to encase me. When I opened my eyes again, I found his attention locked on me: unblinking, dissecting. I quickly straightened and glanced down, relieved to see that all of my body was still covered up, and that I had no nipples showing. He was simply looking at me, and it wasn’t sexual at all. It was more like a healer assessing a patient, though there was something intrusive about it.
“Why are we still here?” I’d been wanting to ask that since he first dropped us onto the bed, but I had been afraid of the answer. Maybe he really was planning on killing me. Maybe he was waiting for someone else to take me off his hands and do the same thing.
Cyrus’s expression didn’t change, but those eyes shone lightly as he shook his head. “You have no idea who I am, which can be the only reason you’re so comfortable sitting this close to me. All you need to know is that there is no other like me in any of the worlds. I have power that is beyond even Staviti. I was created as a balance, which means I have gods trying to take me down on a regular basis. Gods that don’t want balance.
“They’re arrogant enough to think that they can best me. And if enough of them took me by surprise, they very well might. So I decided long ago to create a sanctuary where I could stay and be secure. No one would know about it. There are many securities layered across my home—the main spell being one that completely rejects entry if I form a doorway here without warning. This was in case of injury—for a sun-cycle no one may enter or leave, which allows me time to rest. I could get out if I needed, but I could not bring you with me.”
“So we’re stuck in here for a sun-cycle?” I shrieked, jumping to my feet. “I can’t stay here with you … it’s … it’s inappropriate!”
Not that it mattered when I was with the Abcurses, but Cyrus didn’t need to know about that.
He shook his head. “How did you think it would work: five gods and one dweller? They would destroy you. Trust me, what I did is better for you in the long run.”
I had forgotten that he was getting some of my thoughts now. I wondered how many he’d already heard and ignored.
A grin did tip up one side of his lips then, and I quickly asked a question to distract us both. “What did you do to my link to them exactly? I was kind of following along and then I was lost.”
His voice was a drawl of sarcasm. “I’m shocked. I’ll bet that never happens.”
I wanted to punch him for that response … but he had a point. Lost was normal for me, I had never understood the world and every crazy thing contained within it. I couldn’t align myself with dwellers, or sols, or gods. I fit none of those moulds because I didn’t understand how any of them thought.
“Your inner monologue is amusing,” Cyrus said, interrupting my thoughts.