I open my eyes a crack, and glare at Seth, who is sitting inches away from me on the bed. I hug the blankets closer to my naked body. "How did you get in here? And did you say orgy?"
Seth laughs, the sound tight and humorless. "If you're worried, he's not participating."
"I'm not worried." I yawn and rise up on one elbow, trying not to wince at how sore my lower half is. Feels awesome, but sore. My face will probably be permanently red every time I think about what Kassam and I did earlier, but I decide it's just the price I'll have to pay. "How's Margo?"
"Safe." A look of annoyance crosses his handsome face. "A pain in my ass, but safe."
Good. I eye him. He's wearing long, sweeping white robes covered in expensive-looking embroidery of a deep blue shade, and I wonder briefly if those are his colors or Riekki's. His dark, short hair looks the same, right down to the rakish lock of hair over his brow, and he's wearing a metal circlet across his brow. He looks regal enough, though I don't know if he looks as godlike here as he did back home. "When did you get to Chandrilhar?"
"Lachesis dropped me here. You're full of questions, aren't you?" He smirks at me.
"Considering you've been hiding out, yeah. You're avoiding us."
Seth rolls his eyes. "Not avoiding. I was busy. And when I had time this afternoon, you and Kassam were here, holed up in your rooms and he was making you shriek like a banshee. Forgive me if I didn't barge in and interrupt."
Oh god. Are the walls thin here? Was I that loud? How humiliating. I grimace. "Point taken." He looks so irritated that I assume he's not afflicted by hedonism like Kassam is, or he'd be downstairs directing (or participating in) the orgy. "So which Aspect are you?" At his sharp look, I continue. "Kassam said that when the gods are walking the mortal realm they're cast into four different Aspects—hedonism, apathy, arrogance and lies. Which one are you? Not Hedonism, clearly."
"Not all the rules apply to me," he says vaguely. "I have an anchor, but I have not been split. Perhaps because I have not yet offended the High Father?"
"Give it time," I quip. "I'm sure he'll find you offensive at some point."
The look Seth gives me is withering. Oddly enough though, I'm not afraid of him. Maybe I should be, given that he's crept into my bedroom while I'm naked, but it's clear he's not interested in me physically. He looks at me like I'm a worm he has to tolerate. "Well," I say, fighting a yawn. "Kassam should be back in a little while, I'm sure. You guys can discuss plans when he returns. He's got plenty of them."
"Thank you for the reminder," Seth says, and I realize he's serious. He gazes down at me, thoughtful. "I admit, I came in here to satisfy my curiosity."
"About what?" God, this guy loves the smell of his own farts. Why is he still talking to me? I'm a worm in his eyes, barely worth noticing.
Seth continues to study me, his dark eyes glittering in the shadows. "Why he's so obsessed with you. Why he married you. Why he pretends that you're his equal." His lip curls slightly. "I have known many a fascinating human and you are not one. So I am trying to determine what it is about you that makes you so special in his eyes."
Now that's just rude. Why does he think it's okay to sneak into my bedroom and insult me? "Maybe you're wrong and you're the Arrogance aspect after all," I snipe. "Because you're kind of an asshole."
He gives me a toothy smile. Here, his teeth aren't sharp fangs like they were back on Earth. It's a perfect grin—almost too perfect—and I suspect it's all part of his plan to steal Riekki's spot as the god of knowledge. Can't look too evil, after all. Wouldn't want anyone to think you're up to something. "You're making this easier for me all the time, mortal. But I do hope you won't take this personally." He gets to his feet, adjusting his clothes as he gazes down at me. "I just need a god on my side, and you're in the way."
Making this easier…in the way…?
A pillow slams down over my face, muffling my shriek of surprise. I flail, and in the next moment, it feels like he punches me in the chest. He punches me again, and water sprays across my belly and my skin. Something hard and cold and painful lodges in my chest, pinning me down. I let out a gurgled squawk of surprise and my hands flutter, reaching for that strange thing pinning me to the bed—and my hands encounter a knife.
The knife is seated deep between my breasts. It's not water I'm feeling coursing down my skin, it's my blood.
He's stabbed me.
"Like I said," Seth calls, his voice muffled through the pillow over my face. "It's nothing personal. But I need Kassam at his full power if we're to take down the goddess, and you're just a mortal."
Oh god. Something wet bubbles up in my mouth and I can feel it spilling over my breasts, my skin. That hot spear remains lodged in my heart, and I can't breathe. I'm dying. When Seth lifts the pillow off my face, I still can't breathe. It's like my lungs have flattened. He stares down at me, his expressionless, cold face blurry. Blackness claims me. I sink into death…
…and wait.
40
Nothing happens.
I realize it at the same time Seth does, my eyes fluttering open to see him frowning down at me. He grabs the knife shoved in my chest and gives it a vicious twist that sends a rippling chill up my body, and I automatically reach out and slap at him.
"Ow," I manage.
Seth snarls. "No." He shoves the knife in deeper, and all it results in is a bubble of blood pushing out from my lips. My lungs feel like they're flooded, yet somehow I'm still…here? When I shove a hand at his face, he slaps it away. "Die already!"
"Fuck…you," I manage, and shove a middle finger at him. I don't know why I'm not dying— clearly my body wants to—but somehow I'm sticking around. Is this how it normally works? I don't understand. My slippery hands flutter again and find the knife lodged deep between my breasts. I grab it, and it takes a few tries before I'm able to tug it free. More blood gushes onto the bed.
Really, I had no idea I had so much damn blood.
Seth rakes a blood-spattered hand through his hair, jumping up from the bed and starting to pace. "That sneaky female…she burned me." He lets out a hard laugh. "Lachesis, you absolute bitch." He shakes a finger at me. "She's doing this on purpose."
"What?" I manage, trying to sit up. It feels like I have a pulled muscle in the middle of my chest, but I don't want to lie in bed and just…bleed everywhere. It feels important to sit up, and I'm shocked when I manage to do so. "Fffuuuucckkk."
"You can't die," Seth says bitterly. "Lachesis promised not to pull your thread, remember? I killed you, but you won't die, and now we're both fucked."
I touch my chest, at the brand-new, deep wound there, and…I don't know what to do. I'm too numb to be hysterical, even though I probably should be. There's a gaping hole where my heart should be, and fresh blood just keeps gushing out. I grab the blanket, now sodden with my blood, and push it against my skin, trying to stem the tide. It takes a moment for Seth's angry words to sink in.