Theon clamped his boot harder on her diaphragm.
She clenched the muscles in her abdomen, pushing against the tread.
Ronin looked down at her again. Pieces of his disheveled hair dropped in front of his face. “Yeah, seems we have a bit of a pest problem.”
She held his intimidating stare. “Seems you need assistance.”
Snow continued to drift in the biting wind. It collected in his hair and on the top of his oversized jacket.
After a beat, he exhaled, his breath accumulating like mist in front of his mouth. The bitter breeze whisked it away.
A detached expression set on his face as he shook the snow from his hair. “Get a crew to clean up this mess,” he ordered the winter god. “And for fuck’s sake, make it stop snowing.”
“Paralyze her,” Theon said as he flicked his chin down at Marina, “and I will drag her to a cell in the compound.”
Marina glowered at the middle god. “Let me assure you that if youdragme anywhere, you will never see light again.”
Theon twisted his head to her, his cerulean eyes thinning like icy daggers. “There’s no way in hell that you just walk out of here after the shit you pulled last time.”
He referred to her time with Solaris, when she forced him and Naia to wed in front of the burning brewery, between the mounds of their witch clan’s corpses. Not her finest moment, but if she could simply explain, Theon would understand the situation.
She pushed against his boot to sit up, and he kicked her back down.
“Theon.” Ronin’s voice held a twinge of impatience.
The middle god acknowledged him with an obedient glare.
Marina plopped her head back down on the dusted grass, willing herself to be good and not decapitate this nuisance. It wouldn’t be civilized. That, and he was right to doubt her after the destruction she’d hailed on their city.
“Play nice,” Ronin ordered, an amused smile pulling at his lips. He lifted his hand, facing his palm to the Herald, and his bloody briars disbanded and retracted back into his cut. “She’s on our side.”
Marina watched as the monster slowly dissolved into flakes and floated in the wind with the dancing snow.
Above them, a dark blue and gold-feathered bird circled in the clouds.
The winter god hung his head in a dramatic motion, firmly lifting his boot from Marina’s chest. “Of all the gods. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
19
FOOL ME TWICE
Acacius
“I only did as you requested!”Torin frantically scraped across the sable sand, crawling up to his knees.
Acacius stared down at the middle god of night through the slits of his mask. It was amusing, watching him attempt to flee.
An arid, black desert surrounded them, spanning as far as the eye could reach. The clouds wept in charcoal gray, casting an ominous shadow over the landscape. An inescapable mouth—a piece of Tavora.
Acacius crushed the sole of his boot against Torin’s back. The god slammed down onto his stomach.
“You were toduelwith her.” Acacius crouched and ripped Torin around by his shoulder.
Strands of his dark hair stuck in the corners of his lips. His wide, panicked eyes scoured the large animalistic skull that masked Acacius’s true face. “I-I did! Lord Acacius, you were there! I fought her?—”
Acacius’s fist collided with Torin’s nose. A satisfyingcrackreverberated up the High God’s arm.
Acacius let out a satisfied grunt, his neck slowly rolling around his shoulders in a small arc.
