“Can’t any of you horseman have nice, normal names?” Like Frank or Louis? I don’t think I’d be scared of a Louis.
Famine smirks again. “I can already tell you and Pestilence are going to get along real well.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, you’ll see.”
I stare at him for a beat or two longer, while Famine sizes me up.
“Well?” I finally say.
“Well what?”
“If you’re planning on unleashing me, you could start by removing my restraints,” I say, jerking on my rope.
Famine scowls at me, but reaches for the sword strapped at his side. The sound of rainfall grows stronger by the second.
Even over the sound of the incoming storm I still manage to hear the distant thud of hoof beats.
Reflexively, I tense.
“You can relax,” Famine says, “that’s not your boyfriend.”
“Death is not my boyfriend,” I snap as rain begins to drip through the many holes in the roof.
The Reaper flashes me that damn smirk. “Sure, tootsie.”
I thin my eyes at him. Right about now I wouldn’t half mind Thanatos smiting this brother of his.
“How do you know that’s not Death riding up to this house right now?” I ask curiously as Famine begins cutting away at my bindings.
“I can sense him,” he says.
My bindings fall away, and I sigh as my arms are freed.
I rub my wrists. “So that’s why you barged in here, sure that Death was inside. Because you sensed him,” I say, unimpressed. “The horseman who’s not here.”
“I can sense him when he’s grounded,” the Reaper corrects, a bit too defensively. “He was here all last night and early this morning—” He cuts himself off. “I’m not going to explain this to you, some degenerate human.”
I glare at him. All my fear has been replaced by annoyance. Deep, deep annoyance.
The heavy pound of hooves grows louder, distracting me for a moment.
“Those would be my other two brothers,” Famine says.
“Did you sense them too?” I say, giving him a look like he’s an imbecile.
He glowers at me. “Just when I was starting to like humans, I have to go and meet you.”
“The feeling is fucking mutual.”
Outside, the hoof beats come to a halt. I can hear a deep male voice murmuring something, and another man guffaws loudly.
I stand just as two enormous men lumber through the doors, water dripping off of them. More horsemen.
My pulse picks up again, my instincts telling me to run.
They’re not here to hurt me, they’re not here to hurt me, I chant silently to myself.
At least, I don’t think they are. Famine hasn’t yet revealed why exactly they are here.
One of the new horsemen carries a bow and quiver slung over his shoulder, and the other has a massive sword strapped to his back. Their eyes briefly pause on me and Famine before they scan the room, clearly looking for Death.
Eventually, their attention returns to us.
“Is this a joke, Famine?” demands the older of the two men, his blond hair shot through with streaks of pale silver. Unlike the Reaper, he’s not wearing any armor—nor is the man next to him.
“Great job locating Thanatos,” the dark-haired one says, and I almost laugh. Clearly I’m not the only person who’s comfortable ribbing the Reaper.
Famine steps in front of me. “I found something better than our brother—I found his mate.”
Chapter 26
Pleasanton, Texas
January, Year 27 of the Horsemen
Mate?
What in the God-fearing fuck?
Pestilence and War’s eyes sharpen on me.
I glare at Famine. “I’m not anyone’s mate.” That sounds horribly bestial. “For the last time, Death is my enemy.”
“What makes you think she’s his, brother?” the dark-haired one says, ignoring my outburst.
I grind my teeth at his phrasing. Do all these Neanderthals think alike?
The blond horseman comes over to me, eyeing me speculatively. He’s slightly less intimidating than the others, but that’s entirely because he has laugh lines around his eyes, and it’s hard to be scared of someone who has laugh lines.
“I found her tied up in this room,” Famine says. He nods outside. “And Death’s horse was down the road when I arrived.”
He was?
“You tracked Death’s horse instead of Death himself?” The dark-haired man looks like he wants to hit Famine upside the head.