Elysia saton a footstool in the living room, anxiously tapping her foot while Aidan scratched away in one of his seemingly endless ledgers. He always had them. Leather-bound ledgers of different colors. Brown, burgundy, navy blue. She had no idea what the god of the dead could possibly be tracking so meticulously, but he didn’t seem to feel the need to share despite constantly working on them.
Aidan lifted his eyes from his work to stare pointedly at her foot. She halted the motion and sat on her hands to keep them from taking over the movement. “I thought we were going to be working.”
Aidan tossed the heavy leather book on the cushion beside him. “I don’t see how we can if you don’t want to talk about yesterday. You’re free to do as you like in the meantime.”
Her mouth dropped open. “So much for not pushing me into talking,” she muttered.
He twisted a fountain pen between his fingers, addressing her complaint drolly. “I’m not going to waste my time making plans with you if you’re just going to go do whatever you want the second my back is turned.”
Elysia scowled. “You’re being unreasonable. It was easier to dowhat I needed to do than to try to convince you there was any merit in going back to Kava, which therewaseven if you won’t admit it.”
Aidan dropped the pen. “Forgive me for valuing your life even if you don’t. But please tell me what required your presence in a city where you tried to assassinate the king and were almost executed.”
Irritated, she planted her feet and leaned toward the couch. “Don’t act as if you care about me beyond your own machinations. It’s transparent and beneath you.”
“If that’s what you need to believe, then fine by me. Carry on thinking so lowly of yourself. Either way, no one could blame me for wanting to protect my most valuable asset.”
Oblivious, Maya and Grim strolled in, her chattering away and Grim’s face serious as he listened to her. They both stopped, eyes going between Aidan and Elysia, likely feeling the strained tension. Maya shot Grim a look, shoving an elbow into his side.
“You said you weren’t going to tell him!”
Aidan’s head tilted dangerously as his eyes narrowed on Elysia. He was clutching the pen again. If he squeezed any tighter, he would likely end up with ink all over his palm. “Tell me what, precisely?”
Maya’s face cleared. “Nothing.”
Grim rubbed at the stubble on his chin and nodded at Elysia. “You said you wanted to hear about it all from her.”
Aidan’s simmering gaze swept the room. “Maybe I’ve changed my mind.”
Maya looked contemplative for all of two seconds before airing Elysia’s secrets. “Personally,I think the Reyez branding was a good move. Strategic given the situation. And it’s not like Aidan’s a stranger to such empires with his…history.” She smiled like she’d poked a bear but was excited for it to attack.
Grim, on the other hand, groaned quietly in the back of his throat and edged for the hallway. “They need to figure this out on their own.”
Maya peeled off her jacket, unbothered by the mess she’d made. “What’s the point of friends who don’t meddle? Besides, we don’t have time for glaciers to melt.”
Elysia frowned at that. She was pretty sure she’d just been called an ice-bitch, but she was too busy watching the god of the dead move through a multitude of restrained emotions to tell Maya to fuck off.
Dark soot-like shadows crawled out over the floor, creeping closer to where she sat. The shadows gently swathed her ankles. “Show me.”
She refused to give in to such bullying. “You said you wouldn’t push.” She threw a hand at the soot-shadows caressing her. “Thatis pushing.”
Aidan eyed her like he knew she wasn’t really that bothered, but nonetheless, the shadows disappeared along with the searing intensity he’d been damn near choking the room with.
Taking a deep breath, she watched as Aidan ran his fingers through the thick wave of dark hair close to his face. Tiny, smooth slivers of skin that looked like knife scars decorated his hand. Noticing her gaze on his hand, Aidan’s lips curled halfway, but his words were dry.
“You were gone for less than a day and you joined agang?”
Elysia’s mouth flattened. There really wasn’t much to say to that. Instead, she begrudgingly tugged her dark green sweater down to reveal the still red and angry branding Gage had left behind.
There was an inhale of disbelief followed by a flurry of movement. Head down and eyes intent on the mark, his fingers ghosted over it. Concern and anger warred on his face. “This was completely unnecessary.”
Elysia stiffened. “It wascompletelynecessary. I’ll have protection and somewhere to stay no matter where the death voyage takes me. If anything, you should be thanking me for being willing to take such measures,” she hissed.
“Thanking you?” Aidan looked up at the ceiling as if pained. “Throw me into the pits the day that I say thank you for wearing the brand of another man and hisgangupon your neck.”
Elysia flushed. “Don’t be so judgy. He practically raised me.”
Aidan became deadpan. “Because that makes itsomuch better. You’re aware that you have to be alive to complete the death voyage? And that there will be a cost for their help?”
