“Fine.” The word comes out raspy and wrong. It’s so obvious it’s a lie.
Pestilence frowns, his brow crinkling. His eyes flick up to Death, his gaze going steely.
“What have you done to her?” Pestilence demands.
Thanatos takes a step forward. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing.” His voice thunders. “Lazarus is the one thing I love above all else.”
“Is she?” Famine says, pulling out his scythe from behind his back as he swaggers forward. He spins the weapon in his grip. “Because it looks to me like you wouldn’t give up your task for her.” The Reaper sounds almost gloating.
I frown at him.
“I am glad you, my brothers, are here,” Death says, his voice echoing across the hills. “We came to earth to end humankind. And today we will finally do so, once and for all.”
Chapter 70
Los Angeles, California
October, Year 27 of the Horsemen
“Thanatos, stop being a fool,” Pestilence says. “Can’t you see that none of us want this? Not even you.”
At the horseman’s words, I swear Death’s gaze flickers, and there’s that agony in his eyes.
“If you want a war, you will have to go through me,” War says, looking like a god despite his mortality.
Thanatos scowls at him, taking a step forward. “How easily you forget that I saved your wife and child from certain death.”
“And you wish to once again take them from me before their times.”
“After their times,” Death corrects. “Many, many years after their times. You have become as greedy as the rest of these humans.”
Famine brushes past War, his scythe gripped tightly in his hand. “If anyone gets to stop this asshole, it’s me.”
Thanatos’s mouth curves into a mocking smile, turning his tragic features haughty.
“You wish to do this again, brother?” Death demands, prowling forward like some great cat, his wings spreading wide. “Twice I have hurt you. I cannot be beaten.”
“Stop it,” I say. Pushing past the horsemen, I return to Death once more.
I put a hand on his chest, my gaze going to his eyes. I’ve fought this man so many times it makes my head spin. I don’t want to fight him anymore. And I know I didn’t imagine that glimmer of unease in his eyes.
“You don’t have to do this,” I say, my voice low.
Death’s dark, depthless eyes glint, and I am reminded that he’s no true man.
“I must.”
“No,” I insist, “you don’t. Your brothers made their choice. You can choose too—or you can choose to wait.” I’ll take even that at the moment.
Thanatos casts a spiteful glance over my shoulder. “My brothers lost their way out here, and I am on the brink of losing it myself, but I must not.”
“You told me you loved me.” My voice breaks. “Is that not enough?”
Death’s harsh features soften, and his knuckles stroke my cheek. “My love for you is eternal and unfaltering, Lazarus. Do not doubt that. Stars will form and die, and what I feel for you will remain undimmed.”
Death tilts my chin up. Even as he does so, the earth begins to tremble, and in the distance I can hear the groan of old buildings.
“What I do today is a separate matter entirely. This”—his gaze sweeps over our surroundings before returning to me—“is my burden and my duty. I won’t be stopped.” His expression is resigned. Sad even.
He doesn’t want to do this. I cling to that.
“What about Ben?” The question comes out as a whisper. It’s the one thing I’ve dreaded asking this entire time.
Death’s eyes are heavy on mine. “Forgive me.”
A choked sob slips out, and my knees nearly buckle. I’m shaking my head. “How can you even ask me that?” I say. “You promised.”
He presses his lips together.
Now my legs do fold. Death catches me before I hit the ground, hauling me up to him.
I’m shaking my head over and over. “Please,” I beg. “I will do anything. Just please, not Ben.” He’s just a baby.
The horseman holds me close. “It’s going to be okay, Laz.”
They’re nearly the same words that Pestilence just said, and yet they hit all wrong.
“Don’t do this,” I whisper. “Please don’t do this.”
The earth is violently shaking now, the buildings around us swaying and groaning. I can hear things in the distance breaking from the strain.