“What?” Why did it sound like he was rushing to give her last-minute instructions?
Regret shone from his eyes as he looked at her. She shifted under his careful regard, under the longing that she thought she saw in his eyes. Confusion raged like a storm around her, buffeting her back and forth as it would a small boat far from sea.
“You cared for me.”
His eyes jerked to hers. “I did. I… do.”
A smile might have pulled at her lips any other time, but it couldn’t now. She’d wanted him to care for her as she’d grown to care for him. But now it didn’t matter.
“We’re in a mess.” He rose.
Her gaze followed him as he walked to the tree where his blue arrow had lodged. He yanked it free and returned to her. He sat again, this time only a few feet from her. The heart that no longer felt like hers fought to be free of her chest.
He reached into his cloak and withdrew a small bottle. Carefully, he unstopped it and poured a few drops of opalescent liquid onto the tip of the arrow. He held it out to her.
“What is that?” she asked.
“Nothing important. For the pain.”
Did he lie? But his face brooked no argument, and she was so out of her element that she didn’t question.
“Take it,” he said when she hesitated.
Swallowing hard, she reached out and curled her fingers around the arrow shaft. So close were their fingers that she swore she felt the heat of his. She looked at the arrow, then back to him.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Did he not want to kill her? She couldn’t let him, fearing that the gods would carry out their vengeance upon her brothers. But how could she stop him when she didn’t want to raise her bow against him?
But when she met his eyes again, she realized that he wouldn’t be killing her.
“You’ll shoot me with it. As you did before. Don’t miss,” he said.
A tear leaked from her eye, trailing cold and lonely down her cheek. He reached out to wipe it away. The warmth of his hand burned through her. How had she come to be here, in this utterly indecipherable, inescapable, intolerable situation?
“Why?” She wanted to reach out and grab his hand. Instead, she tightened hers on her bow.
“I’d prefer to leave Otherworld on my own terms.”
“Leave? You mean, you really won’t kill me?”
A chuff of strange laughter escaped him, loaded with so much emotion that she couldn’t decipher. His eyes raced over her face, down to the hand that clutched her bow.
“No,” he said finally. “I’ve done enough harm to you.”
“Harm to me? But I killed you. I escaped lightly.”
“Neither of us has escaped. Spend long enough here, and you’ll learn that.”
“I would become a god if I do this.”
“You wanted to prove yourself.”
“Not like this.”
He gave a bitter laugh. “It seems you don’t have a choice.”
“But you want me to destroy you with the arrow, as the gods said?”
“I’ve lived a long time. I’m not meant for Otherworld. The other gods are determined to see me dead. They’ve wanted it for a long time, and now they have a way. I could fight them, but at the risk of you and your brothers.”