The god clapped his hands, startling Daris. “I have a solution to this little drama, if you’re interested.”
Daris flashed a frustrated look at Hermes as he tried to step around him. The god moved, blocking his attempt.
“I can make you immortal.”
Daris started. “What?”
Hermes splayed his hands. “Terena just asked you to prove your love for her. And she told you how. Soulmate bonds are not easily broken. And definitely not if you’re mortal.”
“I’m not?—”
“Right now, aye. You’re not mortal. But in another week or so…”
Daris’s stomach dropped. He watched the calculating smile bloom on Hermes’s face.
“You know how to break the bond?”
Hermes tried to hide the triumph flashing in his eyes but Daris caught it before the god ducked his head.
Moving away, he sighed loudly as if this conversation was bothersome and not one of the most important of Daris’s life.
“As I said, you’ll need to be immortal for it to work, but aye. I know of a way to break such bonds.”
Daris knew the god too well by now to know he wouldn’t offer such a gift without something in return.
“What do you want?”
Hermes smiled in a way that made Daris regret asking.
“I wantyou,Daris. I want your allegiance. Your sword.”
Daris stood rooted as Hermes stepped closer, bending so his words growled in Daris’s ear and the words made his heart quake.
“I want your soul.”
Chapter 36
COLINAS, RAVOS
“We’re going to Lethe now, right?”
Croak strode after Terena when she moved past him, throwing back the tent flap with a little more force than was necessary. His arm snapped out to stop it front slapping him in the face as he followed her inside.
Terena ignored him while packing up her things.
“All right, good. I’ll take that as a yes. When do we leave?”
Terena swore under her breath. He waited while she sat there, presumably thinking.
“I need to do one thing first,” she mumbled. Tying up her bedroll she glanced at him over her shoulder. “We’ll go right after, I promise.”
Croak crossed his arms and exhaled. Loudly.
“Fine, but I don’t know how happy she’ll be to hear that you, once again, put someone else ahead of her.”
Terena shot to her feet. Croak took a step back, bracing himself for her rage. His shoulders fell when she turned away, gathering her clothes and shoving them into a rucksack.
“It’s not a someone, Croak. Cassandra’s been badgering me about that stupid amulet and I just want to find it and get it over with already.”
