“You’d do that for me?” She searched his handsome face, trying to decipher anything from the gray eyes that watched her so closely.
“For you, for me. For the only way to get out of this disaster on my terms and without your soul being destroyed.”
Andrasta shivered. Once a body died on earth, the soul went to Otherworld, the land of the gods. She was proof of that, sitting here in the grass across from Camulos.
It was almost impossible to destroy a soul in Otherworld, however. But she’d killed him on earth, had the permission of the other gods, and had his arrow. That was no ordinary magic. It gave her the power to destroy him. He was a god, which gave him the power to destroy her. It was a power that the other gods possessed as well. There truly was no way out.
As she weighed her miserable options and the trap that she’d built for herself, she looked down at the arrow. Her stomach lurched at the idea of sending it through him.
But there was no other choice. “This is what you want?”
He nodded, and her heart clutched at the resignation in his eyes. He rose. Shaking, she followed suit.
“But first. One thing.” He approached her. The breath caught in her lungs at the intensity of his face. “A kiss.”
She stared up at him, her voice stolen, lost in the wildness of emotion swirling in his eyes, emotion that wasn’t reflected in his still form. Her lips parted in soundless invitation as her lost heart threatened to beat its way out of her chest.
His big hand cupped the side of her head, his heat burning through to her errant heart. Tension vibrated from him as he pressed his mouth to hers, warm and firm an
d so lovely that her mind stopped. Too soon, he drew away. He closed his eyes, leaned his forehead against hers.
His hand tightened just briefly in her hair as he murmured, “Enough.”
He stepped back, and though she wanted to reach for him, the finality in his eyes stilled her. He walked backward from her, his gaze never leaving hers, until he stood ten yards away. So close. Too close for her to put an arrow through his heart. How could he think she’d do this to him?
“Now, Andrasta.” His voice was harsh, the emotion in his eyes replaced by determination.
She shook her head, panic beginning to well within her, threatening to flood her brain.
“Now! For your brothers. For yourself. For me.” The desperation in his voice, the finality of it, made her raise her bow. Her arms shook and tears spilled from her eyes. She desperately tried to blink them away.
“I—I can’t.”
“You will. I want this. You want this. Do you want to see your brothers dead? For the gods to destroy their souls? Or yours?” His eyes were stone serious, committed to this path.
She drew in a harsh breath, tried to memorize his face, then let go of the arrow. It flew straight and true, and so fast that her desire to yank it back welled immediately, but not sooner than the arrow pierced his chest. He disappeared, along with the arrow.
On a sob, she collapsed to her knees. He was gone. And she was here. A god. More alone than she’d ever been.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Bruxa’s Eye, Present Day
Ana filched the cell phone out of the back pocket of the bruiser leaning on the bar and slipped toward the exit. She’d left the hotel room an hour ago, intent on finding a way to call her friend Esha. She’d called her from Cam’s phone the other day, but she wanted to check up and didn’t want to have to ask Cam to borrow his phone again. The bar down the street had seemed like the perfect place to find a phone, and the big ugly brute who was currently berating the bartender fit her criteria of people she didn’t feel guilty stealing from. And stealing was the only option, considering that pay phones weren’t exactly plentiful in the middle of the Amazon.
With the phone clutched in her hand, she pushed through the side door of the bar. The alley outside was narrow and dark, but it was perfect. She didn’t feel like company right now, and the quiet would allow her to hear anyone sneaking up on her.
After a bit of cursing and fiddling to make the phone work, she punched in the number of her one and only real friend. And she could really use a friend right now.
“Esha?” she said when the ringing ceased and the line clicked.
“Ana? What the hell are you doing with a phone? Moved up from blenders?”
Ana laughed. Esha thought her obsession with the modern technologies that Otherworld lacked was hilarious. It was the reason she knew Esha’s phone number even though she didn’t actually have a phone. When Esha had gotten her cell, Ana had insisted on calling it a dozen times from the home line. Thank gods she remembered the number now. “Fates, I miss you!”
“Then come see me!”
“I wish.” Normally she aetherwalked to visit Esha, popping in to see her for a few hours whenever she could. “How’s Warren?”