The next page had my name elegantly across the top of the page, along with symbols for each of the Four Horsemen etched in fine black ink. My eyes widened in astonishment. The page had notes written in languages well before my time, but at the center of it was my name, circled multiple times. “What the fuck...?” I breathed.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” Ambermourn said as he came around the corner. He wore a much simpler outfit tonight: a pressed white button up, black slacks, and silk socks. He was drying his hair with a towel, which, to my surprise, was now chin length on him. He must have taken my complaint over his short cut to heart last time we met, and that made me blush a little.
“Sorry, I was a bit early.” I leaned on the desk casually, nodding to the shelves to cover up my prodding. “You’ve certainly been busy. I haven’t seen this many books in a long time.”
“I have my fixations from time to time. Right now....” he crossed the room to lock his arms around my waist, “I’m very interested in the handsome God of Death.”
“What about me?” I nervously croaked.
He smirked and laid a tepid kiss to the corner of my mouth. “I find your connection to the Four Horsemen fascinating is all.I’ve only read Christian mythologies about it, so I wanted to see what our myths and tales said about such a phenomenon.”
“I see.” I brought my attention back to the desk, where I had covered his notes back up with a set of writing ink. “It’s nothing special, I can assure you.”
“It must be, if you gave your soul to join the pact.”
“I beg to differ, but that’s at my discretion.” I took his hands from behind my back and pulled them before us so I could gently tug him towards the doors. “You promised me some good wine, didn’t you?”
“Only the best.” He led the way to an extravagant all-glass reading room on the opposite side of the hall. It was a room I spent months in with him when I was younger, more naïve, more desperate for attention in any way I could get it. Ambermourn had abused those desires within me many times on the lovely chaise lounge before us and seemed to think he could do so again tonight. The moon shone through the glass ceiling and fell on his olive skin, which glistened under its harmonizing rays as he fell into the chaise and lounged across it. “Can you believe I still have this old thing?”
“After what we did on it I’m surprised you do,” I admitted.
He laughed lightly. “I get it cleaned every once in a while.” He patted the seat eagerly. “Come lay with me. The night is beautiful, and I'd love to enjoy it together.” Reluctantly, I crossed the room and sat on the edge of the chaise, allowing him to lay me back into the circle of his arms. The velvet pillows beneath my head were in fact quite comfortable, and the more I nestled into them, the more the familiarity of this affair washed over me. Gazing into his eyes, I could still see the man I had adored so long ago, who was not only my mentor, but someone I loved in my own odd way. I never loved him the way I did Ashlynn, but there was love for him regardless, love that could not be denied. He let his fingertips trail my chin until he got tomy hair, which he spun between his fingertips. “There we are, in my arms once again, as I’ve dreamed about for centuries.”
“Your charm hasn’t failed you yet,” I weakly replied, my tone hoarse. He took this hoarseness as desire, though it was more from discomfort, and let himself draw closer to me. I didn’t pull away, so he took advantage of this and laid his lips on mine, letting them sit for a moment before moving them carefully.
It had been years since I'd kissed someone beyond my wife, and to be doing so felt like blasphemy. Each twist of our mouths, of his tongue gliding on my lower lip, waiting for an invitation further, felt like being committing sins against Gods. I knew, for the sake of the mission, to play along as best I could. When his hand shifted to travel down my shirt to the buckle of my belt, I paused our kissing, pushing against his chest slightly. We both panted from the intensity, and though he hadn’t moved his hand, he did stop trying to continue. “What is it?” he murmured in my ear, biting me teasingly to show his intentions.
I swallowed harshly. “You really just jump into things, you know?”
“Once upon a time, I couldn’t stop you from jumping. Have you grown this uptight?”
“No, I just...” I cleared my throat and gave him a faint smile. “I’d like to talk a little, about you and such. Not everything is about sex.”
He pursed his lips before laying his head on my chest. I was relieved when his hand moved from my buckle to around my waist. “Well, I suppose I could entertain conversation. What do you want to know?” he prompted me.
His question buzzed around my head like angry hornets.
What exactlydidI want to know?
“For starters...” I began as he played with the buttons of my shirt. I only had about three done, to expose my chest on purpose, but felt extremely vulnerable in this state, even thoughI was the one who chose to dress this way. “Have you kept up with anyone from Chandler?”
He answered me in an unamused tone. “No, not particularly. Most of them have died off. Quite a few killed themselves, actually.”
“What? Why?”
“No one could live with the stigma Phillip created.” His expression morphed into deep sadness. “He really brought down the whole academy with him. As if Seraphine didn’t have enough to deal with, all her professors either high-tailed it out of there or offed themselves. No one wanted to have loyalty to the McBrides, especially when a God had been so harshly abused.”
“Would you believe I let him rule a Layer of Gehenna?” I mumbled.
He gasped softly. “You did what?”
“His sentencing aligned with the length needed to be a ruler, and his crimes justified. Ambrose did similar when he was a Human, and Phillip was one of his favorites. He already knew a lot about the ins and outs of the Layer, so it would be foolish not to hire him. I needed a body in the role, at the very least.”
“Why would you want to work with someone who did such awful things to you?” he asked, bewildered.
I tucked my face into his shoulder. “I won’t have to for much longer.”
An eerie silence filled the space between us. Ambermourn contemplated what I said before laying his lips against my exposed neck. He left them there for a moment, then opened his mouth further so he could bite me fully. I shivered at the feeling, a feeling I used to love, and tried to relax enough that I could maybe enjoy a fraction of the encounter. “I hate Phillip for hurting you. I've always blamed myself. You were right, the other day. I absolutely made him think you’d be alright withsleeping with him because I bragged. I should have kept our secrecy. I let too much of a good thing get to my head.”
