His jaw ground. “I am well-aware and working on it.”
She questioned him again, realizing his independent streak might run as deep as hers. “The Deathlands are genuinely stable?”
He nodded. “I pushed myself too hard, but I knew what would happen if I didn’t. The dead don’t belong roaming the mortal plane, and none of my siblings seem to grasp the destruction they would wreak.”
“And you think a wall of mortals bumbling around is going to convince them?”
Confidence deepened the blue of his eyes as his chest expanded. “Not just any mortals. Exciting mortals. Interesting mortals. Ones who could change the fate of the world and are worth betting on.”
Elysia spun around on the wooden stair plank. People were still shouting and pointing at the grid. “It’s a game? They’re betting on us?”
“We’re testing it. Everyone here right now is a Deathlands resident.” Voice rough instead of his usual smooth, melodic sound, she could tell he was shoving his nerves down, trying to hide how anxious he was to hear what she thought.
That was how the bartender knew her.
Her gaze narrowed in suspicion. “What did you say you did when you were a mortal?”
His grin became wolflike, his usual self-assurance returning. “I ran the books for an organization much like Gage’s family. I also handled all the gambling fronts,” he admitted.
She ran a hand through her tangled hair. “Oh my gods, I wasright.Why is this harder to take in than knowing you’re a god?”
Aidan grunted a laugh, leaning back against the stairs and draping an arm in her direction. “Because one of which is far more real to you, and now you’re wondering what kind of person I am.”
“No, I’m not,” she responded without hesitation. At his clear surprise, she continued with a shrug. “You have your stalking ways—you’ve seen me with Gage. Besides Beatriz, he’s all I’ve got. He was a better brother-parent than I could have ever asked for. It’s complicated, but so is everything in my life. It’s harder to take in because it makes you human—the kind of human I happen to understand well.”
Gaze heavy, he made a noise of consideration deep in his throat. Reaching over, he pushed aside her coat and gently tugged on her shirt until the Reyez branding was visible. His gaze tunneled onto the reddish-pink skin. “I have a mark just like this. Inside of my elbow.” He looked up with a small smirk. “Hurt likea bitch at the time, but I loved my job, and I loved my life. I had nothing to lose back then.”
He didn’t say the rest of the words burning in his eyes.
Elysia diverted back to the grid. “When do you introduce it to your siblings?”
Aidan glanced casually over his shoulder. “We’ll roll it out soon. Your friends are running around to temples right now, trying to stir the gods. The response has made me confident that this will do the trick. They might fear the fates, but they love competition and drama even more.”
Grim tensedas Elysia stalked over, his reapers parting to allow her through and looking at her curiously. Nodding at them, she glanced at the grid and then back to Grim. “I have questions.”
Folding his arms, he considered her. “You’re taking this well.”
Suspicion belied his statement, and Elysia couldn’t blame him. She wasn’t actually taking it well. Her brain was whirring through every possible private moment they could have seen over the past few years. Being forced to find cursed people who were then executed. Bending to her father’s demands. Fawning and fluttering through the courts in delusional hope of wielding a crown. Moments she had thought were only between her and Topp.
Her gaze was cold by the time she answered the head of the reapers. “I want to know what I’m dealing with here. What has everyone seen?” She couldn’t bring herself to ask Aidan, so now it was Grim’s problem to tell her.
He looked disgruntled. “My reapers never stay present for intimate moments if that’s what you’re implying, and we do have a job to do reaping souls. We can’t be following you everywhere all the time.”
That should have soothed her, but it didn’t. Intimacy wasn’t just sex. A crowd of people seeing the best and worst of herwithout ever actually knowing her made her stomach turn. The worst moments of her life had been made out to be entertaining fodder.
Grim’s stout, muscled body loosened as he examined her face. “We were desperate. We still are desperate. I’m sorry it came at the cost of your privacy, but if it means the rest of the gods come out to play, then I’d wager it’s worth it.”
Unsure of what she’d expected to hear from Aidan’s right hand, she stormed from the warehouse before she could say or do something she would regret. She knew they’d been right to try anything they could to fix this mess, but for someone as guarded as herself, this was excruciating.
Halfway to her greenhouse, a jet-black bunny hopped onto the path with a wax-sealed envelope between its large front teeth. Dropping to her knees, she accepted the letter, and the bunny fled into the grassy hills. She ripped open the letter, hastily reading its contents.
Elysia Parker, former daughter of the Crown, mortal candidate for co-ruler of the Deathlands,
We greet you with the utmost interest and speak to you today in hopes of clearing confusion. While we did require you to take back your heart, we merely hoped to be of service as your first life splinters and turns to dust. Please remember the death voyage is the distance between you and claiming your crown. The threads of our fated tapestry are untied as we remain unconvinced. You would be wise to heed our advice as it comes. As such, we must give only the highest recommendation of visiting the temple of the god of the undead gods in the White Sands of Sagondia.
Even gods can’t help but marvel at false religion falling.
Fates’ Blessings
