Still, just like many other aspects of this horseman, I cannot keep up with his sexual appetite. Not when it’s in overdrive like this.
“I don’t want this to end,” he admits.
I give him an odd look. “It won’t.”
“But it will. I will carve a path through the next several towns and you will witness it all, and you will remember that beneath every gentle touch we have shared, you still hate me.”
I swallow. I can feel the truth in his words.
“Why does that even matter?” I ask, grabbing one boot and pulling it on.
“I don’t want you to hate me.”
I stare back at him, unsure what to say. One moment he’s omnipotent, and the next he’s vulnerable.
This is your chance. The one Death’s brothers were hoping for when they struck that deal with me. Death doesn’t want me to hate him; there’s an easy way to do that— “Don’t kill the next town, then,” I say.
His black feathers ruffle a little. “You know I cannot.”
I didn’t expect him to say anything different.
“Then at least hold off on the killing until you have moved through the town and seen what life is like,” I say, focusing on putting on my other boot so that I don’t have to look at him.
“Kismet, I’m not doing that again.”
I glance up at Death just in time to catch him staring at my chest, right where that arrow pierced me. I get the uncanny feeling that he’s remembering how I dove in front of him, and how he held me as I died.
“You wanted me to catch a glimpse of humanity,” Death continues. “I caught it—it’s the same glimpse I always see. They want me dead and they don’t mind hurting you to accomplish that.”
My throat thickens with emotion. He’s being protective of me. Context aside, it feels good to be cared about.
“Thanatos,” I say softly, “if everyone was truly like that, I wouldn’t be fighting for our survival.”
He gives me a penetrating look. “No,” he reluctantly agrees, “you wouldn’t.” After a moment, he adds, “And you’re right, not all humans are like that.” He studies my face for a moment.
Drawing in a deep breath, he nods. “I can deny you little. Just please don’t make me regret this.”
I move through the house like a specter, Death at my side, my eyes skimming over the few southwestern-style decorations the skeletons didn’t remove from the home. But I’m not really seeing any of it, not when my senses are more focused on the metallic scrape of Death’s armor and the quieter rustle of his wings. His presence, even now, has my flesh prickling. It was so much easier in the bedroom, when skin met skin and we simply gave into the tension between us.
Now, however, … Thanatos was right to be nervous. I have no idea how to act or feel around him.
We cross the entryway, where revenants are already streaming in and out of the house, lugging barrels and boxes in their bony arms. The previously broken front door is propped open, its previously ripped out hinges repaired and reattached. As I catch sight of what lies beyond the open doorway, I suck in a breath.
What in the hell?
I can’t make sense of what I’m seeing, not until I actually step outside, the horseman at my back.
The last time I laid eyes on the house, I could see the terracotta-colored walls quite clearly. Now, they’re hidden beneath thick layers of dead vines.
“What is all this?” I ask.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the light getting dimmer over the last several days,” Thanatos says at my back.
No, I actually hadn’t. Just as I hadn’t noticed the home’s decorations. This is just one more thing I’ll have to file away under “Shit Lazarus Doesn’t Notice When She’s Boning a Hot Dude.”
But I’m not about to tell the horseman that.
I give Death a wide-eyed look. “Were you trying to keep me locked in here?”
“You think that’s what I’ve been doing this entire time?” he says, mirth in his eyes. He steps in close. “Kismet, there are a thousand ways I could force you to stay at my side. Why would I even bother intentionally sealing you inside this house when seducing you has proven to be far more successful—and pleasurable?”
I stiffen at that particular word. Seducing. I’m supposed to be seducing him, not the other way around. He’s just supposed to be blithely enjoying himself and dumbly falling under my spell. But to think that he’s been trying to seduce me? I don’t like that. Not one bit.