Page 51 of Throne of the Wolf Queen

‘Your heart?’

His dark hair whipped around his face as he straightened, flames erupting in his eyes. My skin pebbled as I blinked at the crimson light glinting within the dark crevice in his chest. It flickered, pulsed. I leaned forward and set my eyes on the heart of a God.

My trembling fingers reached forward as I exhaled, entranced as his heart pulsed in time with my own.

‘Your heart… You have your heart?’

He snapped his shirt closed, and I gasped.

‘I’ve been on this vile shit hole for almost a millennia and do you know what I’ve found in all that time?’

I think he raised a brow, but with the darkness and my sight, I couldn’t be certain.

‘One paltry, pathetic section.’ He took a long drag from his bottle. ‘One tiny fragment from the four.’

‘There are more sections still out there?’

He grunted.

‘But,’ I shook my head, ‘you’re an all-powerful God. The most powerful God. Surely you can find the other sections? Just use all that’ – I waved at him – ‘all that power thundering through you.’

He chuckled, and the nape of my neck prickled.

‘A thousand years ago, I thought it’d be that easy too.’ He shuffled, his eyes boring into my own. ‘But I had nothing, not a fraction of all that made me. And the other Gods, Gods who wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for me, haven’t once come to my aid. They’re revelling in their newfound freedom. Without me, they’ve done as they wish. They said I’m too controlling.

‘Anyway, sweetheart. It took me almost six hundred years to locate this fragment. Locked away in a vault by a group loyal to Enja.’ Vyrus took a long draw on his bottle, swiped the dregs away with his sleeve. ‘Fucking bitch always liked her secrets. All this power I’ve gathered? Pathetic.’

He opened his hand as a tiny constellation appeared within his palm. I couldn’t help gasping as the planets swirled before his palm snapped shut. The fledgling cosmos was dead before it had begun.

‘You wonder why I help you? I imagine the rest of my damn heart is adorning some self-important prick’s crown or rests on a cushion in a vault somewhere. But I’m fucked if I know.’

He leaned forward, and I fought the urge to recoil as his hot breath warmed my face.

‘But, my sweet little Villente, I think you might.’

For a few heartbeats, I stared into his brown eyes.

‘A deal,’ I whispered. ‘A deal with a God.’

My pulse skittered as a glint lit up his eyes, a damn grin playing on his face.

‘A deal with Vyrus.’ He held his hand out, closed the distance between us. ‘You locate my heart, find my power and you’ve got yourself an ally, sweetheart.’

Pab whined and I jolted. I’d almost forgotten him as I peered at the answer to all my prayers. My fingers reached forward, ready to accept, when the wolf snarled and my fingers closed. A smile crept across my face as the God narrowed his gaze.

‘Why me?’

Vyrus rolled his eyes. ‘Are you so heartsore you failed to notice how you’re drawn to my heart? Drawn to me even though you can’t abide me? I’ve watched you closely, Villente. And I think I’ve finally found a mortal with some fucking use on this shit hole. My heart and all your wishes come true.’

He thrust his hand towards me again as another growl rumbled through the wolf. I glanced down, met his amber gaze through the dark. He was right. I held the winning hand here.

‘You’ll remove the Vyrium from my husband. You’ll help us defeat the empress and you’ll help me balance.’

For a moment, flames erupted in his eyes before Vyrus shook his shaggy head.

‘When you’ve found my heart⁠—’

‘I can hardly focus on your heart when I could very well die at any moment. Your help, then I’ll raze the world to get your heart back.’