“Mine.”
Which makes it my left. Serpents it was.
I dragged in a breath. Where to start? I should have gone with Donn. I rubbed my forehead and started to pace. Why was I so nervous?Because he’s looking for an excuse to leave you. You are more trouble than you’re worth.Self-doubt was a bitch.
“Cora.”
Did I explain everyone involved, going back to the beginning of the Serpents? Wait, no. I didn’t know that, not really. Okay,maybe I could start with I’m here because of the apocalypse. Ugh. That makes me sound all doomsday-y. Is that a word?
“Cora.” Hudson’s hand snapped around my wrist, and he yanked me to a stop.
“Three dates,” I blurted. Okay, then. Guess we were starting with the god of death.
Hudson cocked a brow. “We are way past dating, mate.”
“No, I promised Donn three dates and the chance to woo me. On the completion of these dates, he will have withdrawn all of his power from Eloise, leaving her vulnerable.”
His jaw clenched, but his grip remained gentle. His icy control when something pissed him off was five thousand times more concerning than his unbridled rage. Rage I could shout at. This death stare was terrifying.
“Say something,” I whispered.
“In the graveyard?” he growled through clenched teeth.
“Date one,” I confirmed.
“Have there been more?”
“Not yet.”
He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. Another, and another. Okay, we were breathing. Good to know. Maybe he’d been doing some of those meditations Aunt Stella preached to us about?
“And he bound you to these dates?”
Erm. “Yes?”
“Why are you saying it like a question?”
“Because I don’t want you to freak out.”
“Why would I—” His body stiffened, and he narrowed his gaze. Predatory. Dangerous. “Blood,” he snarled. “He bound you to this promise with blood.”
I grimaced. “It certainly wasn’t my idea.”
“It should never have been an idea at all,” he roared.
Oh good, we were past the quiet terror phase and now were in the ridiculousshout your feelings out with factsone.
I blew out a breath. “You know how supernatural diplomacy works. The god wanted something, and it turned into… dinners. A drink. A kiss that he stole right in front of you, if you remember.”
Hudson growled. Actually growled at me. It was preferable to the shouting. “You kept that from me.”
“You kept Lucifer from me,” I snapped back.
He stilled. “That is not the same thing. I did that to protect you.”
“It’s exactly the same thing,” I muttered as I poked him in the chest and walked him backward. “You get to make dangerous deals to ‘protect me,’ but I can’t even have a politically inconvenient drink with a deity without you losing your mind? This isn’t a partnership; it’s a dictatorship.”
He reared back like I’d slapped him. “Coming from the daughter of the angel of death?” he murmured, bitter as a blade. “Classic.”
