“I can call him whatever I want,” Seth spat out so violently, his spittle hit Timothy on the nose.
“No,” Timothy said, his voice resonating through the room, not caring who heard, who saw him in his power. “You will not insult him or hurt him in any manner whatsoever. He may be blood-bonded to you, but you answer to me, the God of the Dead and keeper of souls.”
Warmth settled deep in my chest when he came to my defense, but a warning still prickled at the edges of my senses. Like we were standing on the edge of something big. Something terrible.
A slam of glowing green power forced Timothy back several feet, almost throwing him off-balance, but he regained his ground.
From under his lashes, Timothy sent a cutting glare at Seth.
Power sizzled in the air, crackling against the small hairs on my body and raising goose pimples across my skin.
Seth simply brushed off his suit. “Unfortunately, littleTimmy,” he said with bored impertinence, “That doesn’t work for me anymore.”
“I gave you a chance, Seth—” Timothy started, but before he could finish, Seth raised a hand in my direction.
A scream of agony ripped out of some animalistic place inside me. My feet lifted off the ground, dangling uselessly as white-hot pain engulfed me so fast, I thought I’d been set on fire. The fibers of my entire body vibrated with violent convulsions. My muscles clenched so tight I bit my tongue, hard. It built and built until I was sure my eyes would squeeze out of my head and pop like grapes.
Wind rushed up through me, tightening into a violent spiral that pulled at me from every direction.
The smell of ozone stung the inside of my nose along with something bright like lemon and sunshine, while the copper tang of my own blood filled my mouth.
Energy ripped through me and out of me—a violent siphon that roared so loudly I couldn’t tell whether Timothy screamed my name or if I imagined it.
I was blind to everything except bright, hot swirling energy.
With a crack, my cheek hit the floor. I’d been released from whatever force hit me. I was on the ground, dazed, still feeling woozy from the intensity. It all happened so fast…
“Aaron. Aaron, are you okay?” a panicked voice asked as I was helped up.
Timothy held me to him as he patted my face and extremities, looking for injury. I buried my nose into his shoulder, inhaling his calming scent. “I-I’m okay.” Whatever happened, it unlocked my brain from the prison it had been stuck in. Still, I leaned heavily against Timothy to borrow strength.
I lifted my head in time to see Miranda charge Seth. He snapped his fingers, and she froze to the spot, her face etched with a deadly grimace.
Seth glowed with warm, bright light. It pulsed, filling the space. Gasps of surprise rippled through the room.
“What did you do?” Timothy rasped, even as he held me up.
“Your dog here was right to be suspicious. I have been a very naughty boy.” The curve of his lips made him look like the devil.
“While I personally haven’t been taking worship from souls of the living, he has,” Seth pointed at me. “The more attention, the more followers, the more fans and views and attention from pathetic humans so starved for novelty, the supernatural, and honestly a good spectacle, he has been accruing a great deal of power without knowing it. A receptacle for power, an inert battery that can’t use its own energy. But now that I’ve pulled that power through our blood-bond,” His words turned sonorous, the reverberations hammering deep into my bones. “I am the most powerful god. I do not have to answer to you anymore. You will answer to me.”
With a snap of Seth’s fingers, Timothy fell to his knees before him.
A rumble had Timothy looking around at the gods witnessing his subjugation.
Dammit.
It wasn’t just about humiliation. Seth was making an example to prove to the rest of the gods that he was stronger than Timothy and it was working based on their expressions.
Even on shaky legs, I launched myself at Seth with a feral snarl that tore my throat raw. My fangs extended to their full, aching length, saliva flooding my mouth with the primal anticipation of ripping into his flesh. Every cell in my body screamed for his blood—not just to drink it, but to violentlywrench it from his veins until he collapsed like a desiccated husk at my feet.
I was going to drain him dry until he didn’t have an ounce of strength left to hurt anyone.
I got within arm’s reach of Seth when my body ground to a halt, muscles seizing as though I’d slammed into an invisible wall.
“Ah, my little boy toy,” he purred. Then he snapped his fingers, and my arms and legs jerked around in an unnatural dance as something from above yanked my limbs.
Turning my gaze up even as I danced around, I caught sight of strings from a crosspiece of wood pulling taut in every direction from where they were connected to my wrists and knees.
