His fingers flex like he’s trying to draw in the strength to speak.
“Sevryn, son of Seveous, the God of Pain.”
Yemi releases a quivering breath, and I arch a brow. I feel like I’m supposed to be amazed, maybe intimidated, but I’m neither.
I don’t know much about the god he claims is his father, other than the obvious. He can bring forth pain in many ways. Really, the only time I’ve even heard him brought up is actually when Yemi told me that’s who Mellcom and Jeremiah have a domain under.
The lack of information on him, though, has the wheels in my mind turning. Sevryn’s timidness about saying his own name, then admitting that with even more hesitation speaks volumes.
“You’re from the Abandon, and I assume your father has sided with the God of Obliteration?”
He bristles a smidge like he can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth. “You must be a Defender to be able to make an assumption such as that.”
“Something like that.” Yemi clears her throat, and I give her a squeeze to not say anything else about it. “Why is the son of the God of Pain in Hellveilious?”
He sits silently and as if in slow motion, a wall surrounds him, his thoughts, everything. His shutdown is natural.
“We don’t need to know your life story, nor am I asking for it. We’re trying to put enough pieces together to figure out why we’ve been placed in this situation and what to expect.”
“There’s only one thing to expect from here and that’s death.”
Yemi’s shiver passes through her arm and into mine. His words weren’t cruel, condescending, or even dark. They were mournful. He spoke them as though that’s the only truth he knows.
“That can’t be completely true. You’re still sitting here,” I say.
He looks down at his shoes and picks a pebble up, tosses it up and down a few times, then chunks it behind him.
“I won’t ever get the privilege of dying unless I successfully grant it to myself. I’ll spend the rest of my miserable existence giving this same speech and information every week.”
My gaze immediately falls to his neck. His eyes are cold as they pierce me in place when I lift mine back up, but then they cloud with shame at the little hiccup of a sound from Yemi.
She and I gasp when the loud drag of metal sliding across metal ricochets through the cells as though they’re opening. I’m on my feet, crouching and blocking her in the blink of an eye.
I sneer at Sevryn’s hum. “What was that?”
“You’re really protective of her.”
“Not what I asked about, asshole, but yes, I am and will continue to be.”
He stares at me for a tense moment, and I shift my feet, readying myself for whatever he’s about to do.
“It’ll serve us well that you two are close and will have each other’s backs. That noise was the guards opening the drop compartment. Our meals are here.”
With that, he stands and walks into the darkness. I hold my stance until Yemi grabs my elbow and pulls me back.
“You’re giving him a really hard time.”
“What?” I whisper harshly and whip around to face her. “Do you see where we are? We can’t trust anyone here. Why are you being so open toward him?”
She grips her hair and groans. “I’m not being open. I’m trying to evaluate the situation without flipping the fuck out like I really want to. So can you be nice to him for five seconds so we can figure out what’s happening?”
I huff. “I have been very nice given the situation.”
“Your nice and my nice are very different.”
“No, you’re just being different. You weren’t nearly this nice to me when we met and now you’ve got googly eyes over a boy we met in Hell.”
A voice clears behind us and Yemi shrieks. “I’m thirty-five. I believe that constitutes me a man.”
