Crown of Crimson (Underworld Gods 2)

Part of me wants to go with him. Though he’s definitely on his father’s side when it comes to things, I think I’d rather be with him than Death right now. I also wouldn’t mind interacting with the bikini girls. Even though they’re dead, I’m craving some interactions with normal people from my world, just so I can feel like I have a handle on things for a moment. It’s like everything has been happening and coming at me non-stop for a while and I haven’t had time to just breathe and figure out what to do next, and the more situations and Gods I come across in Tuonela, the more confused I get.

“He doesn’t like me, does he?” I say under my breath, watching as the Son of Death gets in his boat.

“Frankly, I don’t think I like you either,” Death says.

My mouth opens and I look over at him in surprise.

He lifts his chin, his gaze growing intense. “It would depend, of course, on what you’re about to tell me,” he adds.

Then he reaches out and grabs me rather harshly by the elbow, the metal of his gauntlet pinching my skin. “Come along. It looks like rain.”

I look up to the sky as he pulls me across the waving grass, heading toward the forested mountain slope. The clouds are lower, darker, which isn’t a surprise thanks to Death’s worsening mood. I glance helplessly at Sarvi, feeling like the unicorn is my only ally in this, but Sarvi is in the midst of lying down, long half-skeletal legs tucked under its hefty body and isn’t paying me any attention.

Death leads me into the forest and I struggle to keep up with his long strides. Here the trees are iron pines with thin trunks, low brush and berry bushes growing in the shadows. I don’t see any mushrooms, which is probably for the best because I would definitely crush them under my boot. Traitor fungi.

“Can I ask you a question?” I ask as we follow a narrow pebble path between the pines. The rocks under my feet feel like marbles and it’s hard to keep my balance.

“I’m the one asking questions here.”

I ignore that. “Am I going crazy or did your son just start growing horns out of his head?”

Death lets out a huff of air. “You aren’t going crazy. He has horns. Inherited them from his mother. Lucky for him they only emerge when his emotions are heightened. Anger works like a charm.”

“Wow. Do they…get bigger than that?”

“Quite a bit,” he says, a touch of awe in his voice. “I assume it’s why Tuonen has such an emotionless and lazy approach to life, though I wish he’d just accept his horns and let himself care about things a little more.”

“Things like what?”

He glances down at me. “Taking a sudden interest in my family?”

“Shouldn’t I? If it’s going to be my family now, too.”

He suddenly stops and I crash into his back. He turns around, the air around us growing colder, and presses himself up against me until he’s just this wall of muscle. I swallow hard, refusing to take a step back, not letting him intimidate me even though that’s exactly what he’s doing.

“I don’t understand you, fairy girl,” he says to me, voice deepening. It makes shivers run down my neck and shoulders. “Not even a little. Why did you leave me?”

The blatancy of his questions startles me.

“I didn’t leave you,” I tell him. “It wasn’t…personal.”

He studies me for a moment and his eyes feel like they’re probing around deep inside my soul, as if he’ll distrust every word I say. I guess I can’t blame him.

“Don’t tell me not to take things personally,” he says, voice gruffer now. He reaches out and grabs me by the back of my neck, his grip cold and tight. I gasp, so aware of his power. “I won’t ask you again. Why did you leave me?”

I swallow uneasily, caught in his grasp with no way out. “Because I don’t belong here. You know I don’t.”

He shakes his head ever so subtly, his fingers bruising my skin. “After all you’ve seen, all you’ve done, all you’ve felt, and you’re still blind to the world around you. This is your world, Hanna. You know it is. You know you belong here more than you’ve ever belonged in your other life, and more than that, you belong here with me.”

My jaw tightens as I try to ignore the way my heart is skipping in my chest. “You’re sounding sentimental.”

“You’re mistaking sentiment with facts,” he says, lowering his masked face toward mine. “A mistake I’m sure you won’t make again. You belong with me, because that is the bargain we made. There is no escape for you. Not now, not ever. You made a promise to me, and your promise will be held to the very end.”