His scent washed over me, and I inhaled deeply welcoming the comfort it brought me.
“Why didn’t you ask for it?”
His eyes fluttered open. “You’re not an object to be used like that.”
“But that’s the only reason I am here.”
With his jaw set, Micah let go of me and retreated a step.
What was it with him? A few months ago, I would have accused Victor of having insane mood swings, but he was actually behaving lately. Who inherited the mood swings? Micah. He was driving me insane.
With every intention of being upset with him for another week, I took the sword from his hand. Instantly my frustration faded away. “It’s light. I mean, as light as a sword can be.”
“Test it.”
I thrust it into the air, amazed at how perfect it was. “I love it.”
“I knew you would.” I lifted my eyes to his. He had a half-smug grin on, and even like that, my heart skipped a beat. “I still can’t believe Ceris is letting you come with us.”
Of course he would kill the mood.
My sword and arm froze mid-swing, and I gaped at him. “Wait a minute. You’re the one who supported me when I wanted to learn how to fight.”
Micah took two giant steps and halted right in my face, looking into my eyes. “It is one thing to know you can defend yourself if danger comes to you, but it’s another thing to go looking for it.”
“Oh, so now you think I’ll be a problem?”
He groaned. “I don’t want to see you risking your life.”
I refrained from snorting. “My life already has a timer. I don’t care about the rest.”
“But I—”
“Hey, there you are,” Keisha said, stepping into the gym. Micah stepped back and looked at my feet. Keisha looked from me to him and back to me. “Oh, sorry, my Lord.” She bowed to him. Micah looked annoyed by the gesture. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No,” he snapped. Without looking back, he marched out of the room.
Keisha raised an eyebrow at me. “What was that about?”
I focused on the sword in my hand. “Nothing.”
“Okay.” She didn’t sound convinced, but let it go. She extended a large brown bag to me. “Well, then I brought you these.”
I stared at it suspiciously. “And what would that be?”
She dropped the bag on the floor and showed me she had another for herself. “Gifts from Lady Ceris.”
19
Following her weird protocol, Ceris transported us to several places before arriving in the right location. In the first place, coincidently a forest, she pointed to a tree where Rok was perched on a low branch.
“The trunk is hollow. Leave your snow stuff there,” she said, shrugging out of her coat.
I slipped my coat off and looked down at my clothes. I felt badass in the armor Ceris had gotten for us. Suede pants with patches of intricate leather on the sides, a white fitted thermal tee, a leather vest with the same intricate pattern, and a belt to hang our weapons. Everything in beige, even the combat boots, and everything with some kind of endurance spell, also supplied by Ceris. The guys wore similar clothing, and I had to restrain myself from peeking at Micah and Victor every few seconds because, good Lord, they looked incredible in those tight tees and vests. And totally badass with their swords hanging off their belts.
Morgan seemed uncomfortable in those clothes. “I would rather have my own shirt on,” he said, tugging the thermal.
Micah caught my coat from me, his eyes fixed on mine. “I knew you would look hot when ready for battle, but damn, darling, I wasn’t ready for this.”
Heat surged up my cheeks, and I averted my eyes. Why did he have to do this? First, he acted like a jerk and pushed me away, and now he was sweet-talking me. It didn’t work that way.
We stashed our coats, gloves, and beanies in the appointed place, then Ceris held our hands and let her magic envelope us. The air shimmered around us making my skin tingle. In one quick blink we were somewhere else.
Four or five stops later, we stood at the border of Zelen’s forest.
I pointed the flashlight I was holding around us, and my mouth fell open. Green. Green everywhere. Tall, rich trees. Thick grass and bushes. And flowers. Mainly yellow and orange, but I had never seen anything so bright, so alive.
I knelt beside a flower bush and smelled them. Such a sweet scent.
“Come on,” Ceris said. “The pylon is a little over two miles from here.”
In the end, the forest that Zelen protected was also where a sacred pylon was hidden—the Antar Pylon, a place of power. I wondered if Ceris had purposely chosen this place for our team’s first outing together since here we wouldn’t need to divide into groups.
Micah frowned. “Why didn’t you take us there?”
“Because I can’t,” Ceris answered. “The pylon is protected by a shield. We’ll need to walk from here.”
Imha’s place had a shield, our shelter had a shield … everything in their world had a protection cast around it. I thought it was a little odd because I always thought I would see the shield, feel it, but it was invisible to me.
We marched. Ceris took the lead with Victor by her side. Keisha walked right behind them, then Micah and me, and Morgan was way in the back.
Rok flew past us and disappeared between heavy trees.
“What is he doing?” I asked.
“He’s keeping an eye on things,” Micah said. “If anything looks strange, he’ll let me know.”
He was close, too close. If he took half a step to his left, his arm would brush against mine, and that thought alone brought a wave of heat to my core.
As usual, I tried focusing on something else, something of importance to our mission, to our war, because there was no point in thinking of him like that. He was a god, and I was a human doomed to die. There was no future with us. Why bother enjoying these feelings?
“So. About the Death Lords,” I said, needing another topic to occupy my mind.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “What about them?”
“I have no idea who they are or what they do.”
“Well, they are sort of like me. Think of them as less powerful versions of me. And less handsome too.” He winked and I shook my head. “They are like my employees. Deities that help me bring souls to the underworld.”
“Like reapers?”
“Sorta. Each culture has their own idea of reapers. The Death Lords can only take lives; they can’t give life back like me. I can’t … couldn’t do it all alone. It’s a big world and too many people die at the same time.” A knot appeared between his brows. “I wonder how they do it now, with so many deaths.”
“How many are there?”
“Not as many as I would like. Only eight.”
“Still, that’s a lot.”
“Yes. And they could be good allies in this war.”
“I noticed you discussed this with Ceris at the meeting. Why is she opposed to contacting them?”
“She thinks I can’t be trusted, so, in turn, she thinks even less of them.”