Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
“It’s over,” Kalos says as I finish another sneezing burst. “You can quit caterwauling.”
She sobs and I wipe my streaming eyes, trying to peer out. I see fallen bodies at Kalos’s feet, and that’s all I need to see. “Let me guess. They were all sick, too?”
He dusts his hands. “Two of them were. One was perfectly healthy. I had to stab him twice.”
I moan, wiping my nose. “This is wrong. All of this is wrong.”
“It is, but Seth left us no choice. And these men follow him, knowing who and what he is. I will not waste my sympathy on them.” Kalos helps me to my feet and I shiver, a chill overtaking me. My teeth chatter and I’m weak. He frowns at my wet, sweaty face. “You’re sick.”
“No shit.”
“I don’t like that.”
I don’t either but disliking something doesn’t change it.
“Come on,” the girl cries, racing ahead of us down the hill and into the nearby trees. “We have to go. There’s a farm a few leagues away. We can hide out in the barn.”
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Icollapse inside the barn, fevered and wheezing. The hay isn’t very fresh, but it’s piled up everywhere, and there’s only one animal in the otherwise large barn, so we avoid it and rest for a time. At least, I think we do. My thoughts are hazy and I’m probably delirious, but it’s not as if I can head to the nearest pharmacy and get medicine. I just have to suck it up and wait it out. I curl up, shivering, as Kalos drops his cloak over me and Dingle prances about, nipping at the hem of my cloak. I close my eyes, just for a moment.
As I do, a hand comes out of the darkness, reaching for my face.
I yell out, sitting upright and skittering backward. “No!”
“Elsie. You’re dreaming.”
Kalos’s calm voice doesn’t register. “H-hand. A hand in the darkness…”
“I know. You’re dreaming. It’s one of your waking dreams.” His manner is soothing, chasing away my panic. He strokes my sleeve, trying to comfort me. “Do you know where we are?”
I stare at him, uncomprehending, as the last vestiges of sleep wash away. Right. I fell asleep. “Sorry. At least it wasn’t a horse coming through a painting this time.”
“I would have appreciated a horse,” Kalos says drily. “At least then we could get some ground between us and Seth’s army.”
I haul the cloaks closer to me, shivering. I still feel sick, but not as wretched as I did earlier. Maybe the girl will know of some medicine we can acquire from someone if she’s familiar with the nearby lands. I glance around the shadowy barn, but there’s no lit candle, no nothing. Just moonlight streaming in on Kalos’s silvery hair. “Where’s the girl?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. She might have gone to tell Seth and his ilk where we are.”
“You didn’t notice if she left or not?” I look around the barn, but all is quiet. “Maybe she just went to rejoin her family.”
“I should have killed her,” Kalos says mildly. “But I didn’t, and now we need to leave. That’s what I get for being kind.”
“No, you shouldn’t have killed her,” I retort, getting clumsily to my feet. My head spins, but I feel better after it passes. “She helped us.”
“Doesn’t matter. Now she’s a problem.”
“Killing people indiscriminately is the problem, Kalos! You’re supposed to be changing your ways.”
The god puts a hand on my elbow, supporting me. “Can you walk?”
“I can walk.” I shrug off his touch, frustration simmering in my belly. “Can you not murder people on a whim?”
He scoffs. “These people don’t matter.”
Is he serious? “They’re people. All people should matter. You sound like Seth right now.”
“Perhaps because we are more alike than we care to think.”
The urge to grab Kalos and shake him has never been stronger. How is he not seeing this? “But you’re not alike. Seth is evil because he likes to be evil. That doesn’t have to be you. You’re the god of disease, yes, but you’re rebirth, too. You’re medicine. You can do more than just slap plagues on people. You’re here because you’re supposed to be doing a better job. And working with Seth? That doesn’t make you better.”
“You are wrong. I’m here because I’m supposed to kill the other three aspects of myself or get killed in the process.”
I growl in frustration, poking him hard with my finger. “And then what? You go back to the way things were? Because you were so very happy before? And you just forget about me and my life? The sacrifices I made to be here? All that doesn’t count for shit?”
He looks genuinely flummoxed at my anger. “What would you have me do, Elsie?”
“Care! Fucking care!”
Kalos steps in closer to me, his face inches from mine. His eyes are wild, and I don’t know if he’s going to kiss me or lose his temper. “You think I do not care about anyone? I care about you. I care about you enough that I made an enemy of another god. I care about you enough that it concerns me, because I shouldn’t give a shit about a mortal, and all I can think about is how I can make you smile.”