It’ll never happen again, at least not here and not anytime soon.
I lead Thanatos off the patio and down the sloping path to the beach. The daylight is already giving way to night, the sky a pale purple. The way the sun glances off the water makes it look metallic.
“Where are you taking me?” Death finally asks, a smile in his voice.
I know without looking that he is immensely pleased at being the one dragged along. I guess he’s gotten tired of being in the opposite role.
“To the ocean,” I say. I assumed it was obvious.
“Lazarus, we just saw the ocean. I do not need to see it again.”
I glance over my shoulder at him. “But have you swam in it?”
He hesitates, and I already know his answer.
“Neither have I,” I admit. “But I want to, and … I want you to join me.”
Thanatos gives me a penetrating look, one that makes my heart speed up.
The path ends and my feet sink into the sand. I release the horseman’s hand so that I can kick off my boots.
Death looms over me. “What are you doing, Laz?”
“Getting ready to get in.” I eye his armor. “You’ll want to take that off. Otherwise, you’ll sink like a stone.” I nearly shudder at the thought of Death trapped at the bottom of the ocean, waking only to drown again and again.
He touches his breastplate, no longer looking so excited about being dragged out here after all.
“Can you not swim?” I ask.
“Of course I can,” Thanatos says, affronted.
“Then why are you hesitating?” I ask. “I thought you liked getting wet,” I say, innuendo thick in my voice.
He doesn’t miss it.
Death’s eyes grow hooded, and now he does reach for the straps of his breastplate, unfastening them one by one.
Still staring at him, I undo my pants and shimmy out of them.
If Death was uncertain before about getting in the water, he is no longer.
I pull off my shirt, tossing it aside. My bra and panties are the last to go. Thanatos is still removing his armor, but I don’t wait for him to finish.
With a reckless laugh, I race down the beach, wet sand squishing between my toes. I hiss when the chilly water laps at my ankles, but I don’t stop running, kicking up salty water as I go. When I’m far enough out, I dive into a wave.
For an instant, being fully submerged is a shock to the system. The sea is painfully cold. Maybe that’s why it makes me feel so alive. I rise up to the surface, slicking my hair back.
“Fuck.”
The oath has me turning towards the shore.
Death wears a grimace on his face as he strides through the briny water.
Despite his mood, he’s a sight to behold. My gaze travels over the hard packed muscle of his shoulders and arms before moving down his tapered chest. His tattoos are on full display, and their reflection glitters on the surface of the water.
“I thought the heat and the cold didn’t bother you,” I say. My teeth are already chattering, but I’m so exhilarated by the crash of the waves and the sand between my toes that I can’t find it in myself to care.
“This would bother even the dead,” Death says vehemently.
I laugh because he’s being ridiculous; he probably doesn’t even feel the cold.
Thanatos scowls at the water. “This is worse than wine.”
That only makes me laugh harder. The sound lifts his gaze to my lips. Death moves towards me, the water slipping past his waist and wings. The way he’s looking at me … I’d say he seemed agonized if there wasn’t a softness to his eyes.
Thanatos reaches me, and he cups my cheeks. He takes me in for several seconds.
“I love you,” he breathes.
Then his lips descend on mine.
My hands tremble where I grip his arms, and I want to weep and laugh all at once.
He breaks away. “I love you,” he says again, still cupping my face, his eyes searching mine.
I’m shaking my head—I don’t know why I’m shaking my head. This is everything I want to hear.
“I do,” he insists. “I have been waiting for you from the moment I was first formed, long before you ever drew breath.” He takes my hand and presses it over his heart. “You have been here the whole time, even when I thought I didn’t want it, even when I believed love was a curse and a weakness.
“Nothing has ever been the same since we first crossed paths, Lazarus. Nothing will ever be the same again. And I swear to you, until my dying day, I will love you.”
He wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him and erasing what little distance remained between us. High above, the sky has turned a deep blue and the first stars have appeared.