“Why would I?”
“Good question. You didn’t even visit me all these years.”
I try not to slam into the wall in exasperation. “I was kicked out of the realm. I didn’t even know where to find you until now.”
“I told your mother to let me raise you down here. I would have made sure all your cravings were satisfied. Of course as the son of the god of love, asmyson, you would crave connection. But so deeply that you’d kill for it? I’d expect that from a full god, not a demigod.”
I give up and smack my head back against the marble. How did life get so messed-up? I thought things would be different once Ever was back in my life every day. Maybe I’m not in love with her, but I do love her. And it’s clear we’re meant to be together in some way. Both sent to Caldera. Both demigods—theonlytwo in existence. Both stuck with a wicked parent… and both bound to Eli in the worst of ways.
And she’s my link, my forever person.
When our mortal bodies die, we’ll join the gods in the Immortal Realm. We’ll have forever together—unless Eli manages to make it to the Immortal Realm. In which case forever will be much too long.
He may think he knows what he’s doing with her, but he has no idea what he’s up against. My father crafted the curse that ruined him and now threatens Ever. How sick must one be to curse a baby? And punish love? As sick as my father. I guess that’s what happens when the first true love is destroyed. A bitter heart in the form of a god. Then my mother broke his heart again hundreds of thousands of years later. So he cursed my half-brother to never have a happy ending with love. And now I pay for it. The damn luck I have.
I feel you bitching but can’t make anything out. What’s going on?Eli asks.
Dick.I’m stewing.
Save it for the walk home.
Home? No such place. That’s another thing Ever and I have in common.
We’re headed your way,Eli says. Is Zandrite in the chamber?
He’s here, I assure him. Fatherly love and all.
Chapter 50
EVER
We reach the separation point deep within the passages as planned. I spent two hours drawing a massive map in the dirt while we worked out our approach. It was ruined when Eli tackled me to the ground. We shed our clothes and rolled over my meticulously formed passages and mounds of dirt pinched into walls while trying to avoid the sticks and stones that marked hot springs and thrones. Fortunately, everyone had already thoroughly studied the map.
I was able to piece together a number of areas from what I’d seen, and Eli filled in what he could from his lifetimes of memories and anything he could gather from Kelter’s days there.
Despite the planning, it’s a chaotic implementation.
“Sypher, Mav, that way to the lower passages,” Milo directs. “Kaleida, you’ll come with me.”
“Wait. I thought Kaleida was with us,” Sypher says. “She has the biggest pack.”
Eli leaves my side and stomps over to them. “You would know the plan if you weren’t so distracted by your Hollow.”
Maverick J. confronts Eli as if he had a death wish and completely forgot about the close encounter of his balls with Eli’s knife. He’s only an inch shy of Eli’s height, chin up, vest zipped. “Got a problem with me?”
Sypher’s face blanches.
Eli pokes him in the throat. “I do have a fucking problem with you. You stuck your dick in my woman.”
Not now. I open my mouth to remind him that was years ago, but Milo flips around and shoos Atom and me away amid the ensuing drama. I try to stand firm and wait for Eli, even call out to him, but Atom takes my hand, tugging me around the corner and down another passage.
“Where is she?” Eli’s voice echoes after us, but he knows exactly where I am, where my heart is, how it’s panicking at our separation.
Milo’s gentle explanation follows. “It’s all part of the plan. You just didn’t know about this part. We can’t risk you stopping for a quickie, pal.”
Eli growls. “Would you rather me kill someone?”
“Milo planned this?” I whisper to Atom.
