She moaned, then struggled to sit. Wallowing in her own pain would do Cam no good. She forced her body, so heavy and slow, to straighten and accept its fate. Her hand closed around the water glass he handed her and she gulped the water down. Dying hurt.
“What happened? Where’s Cam?” She struggled to get out of bed, managed only a sitting position. Shit, how long would it take to get back her strength?
“Dragged to Otherworld by the other gods. I didn’t realize he was invisible to them until they lost their shit when you finally died on my floor. Then they could see him and all hell broke loose.”
Of course it had. Druantia had said the tattoo wouldn’t work on gods. When he’d taken Ana’s godhood, his tattoo had ceased working.
Logan crossed his arms over his chest, his face hard. “You’re a miserable houseguest.”
“Sorry.” But she didn’t feel sorry. She felt pissed. Pissed that she hadn’t had time to convince him to take her place.
“No, you’re not,” he said. “But you wanted out of your godhood. You’d have done anything to get that. I understand.”
“Yeah?” The bitterness rang in her voice. She’d gone from being so close to having everything that she wanted to being a broken mess in this stranger’s bed.
She struggled to stand, making it to wobbly feet. “I’ve got to get to Otherworld. To Cam.”
“First you’ve got to eat, get some strength up. Come on, I’ll feed you.” He turned and strode out of the room.
Her stomach growled, as if his words had spurred on her hunger. But he was right. Dying and reanimating had left her completely empty.
She trudged out of the bedroom to find Logan. She was in a hell of a lot better situation than Cam. Would they lock him up like they’d planned to do to her, afraid that he’d run again? Probably. They’d plotted against him before, after all. The idea gave her the extra bit of strength to pick up her pace near the kitchen.
There, she found Logan putting together a simple sandwich. He set it down on the table, a can of Tennant’s next to it.
“Eat.” His tone was annoyed, but at least he was helping her.
“Thanks.” The sight of it made her stomach turn, but she had to do something to regain her strength. So she took a bite. “You recognized Cam. And he recognized you. Why?”
Logan leaned back in his chair until two feet hovered off the ground, crossed his arms over his chest. “We met a long time ago. When he was Camulos. And I was a god.”
Holy shit. She hadn’t seen that one coming. She forced her gaping mouth shut. “You’re kidding. Seriously? I’ve never heard of a Logan Laufeyson as a god.”
He shrugged. “Logan’s not my real name. And no, I won’t share it. This isn’t exactly my real face, either. I like to keep my secrets.”
“But Cam knows who you are.”
“Because we share blood from a vow we made long ago. As a result of that, he can’t harm me. By deed or word. You, however, aren’t bound by that promise.”
Fates, she’d been screwed all along. The brusque man across from her was already a freaking god, and a shifty one with his own mysterious agenda.
“Cam knew you couldn’t take my place in Otherworld.”
“No dual citizenship allowed.” He frowned thoughtfully, a clever gleam in his eye that she hadn’t noticed before. It made him a bit less scary. “Though I might have tried it.”
“I’ve got to get to Otherworld.” She pushed her chair away from the table and stood, considerably more stable for having eaten.
“Don’t see how you can. You’re a demigod now, so you can’t aetherwalk.”
“Can you take me?” She gripped the back of the chair.
“No. My aetherwalking has been bound.”
“Bound?”
“Long story.” His mouth flattened.
So Logan had problems of his own. Maybe that’s why he’d said he understood why she wanted out of Otherworld. Why he’d helped her, even if he’d been a moody bastard about it. But he didn’t look like the sharing type—not even a little—so she didn’t ask.