Ha! I looked the same. Actually…
Leaning into the sink, I poked the skin around my eyes, then stretched it at my cheeks. Wow, death had never looked so good.
All of the imperfections were gone, the chicken pox scar on my forehead had disappeared, even the slight laugh lines around my eyes were smoothed away. I grinned. Ah, there those babies were. But when I blanked my expression, the skin was photoshopped perfect.
Seth cleared his throat on the other side of the door.
Crap, he was waiting, and my mysterious savior might not like waiting. Not to mention, every minute I was awake, my own curiosity raged until I was dying—ha!—to learn what the hell was going on.
The door swooshed softly as I pulled it open and came face to face with Seth.
Wow. I had to crane my neck back to look into his face. On the bed, it hadn’t registered how freaking tall this guy was. But now that I was standing, he had to be a good six or seven inches taller than me. And I was five-foot-ten!
Without saying a word or acknowledging my awkward behavior, he left me to head toward what I assumed was the kitchen. As I followed behind him, walking became easier until there was no residual drunk girl residing inside me.
Instead of a kitchen, he ended up in a dining room with a massive wooden table that could seat thirty people easy. Long scrapes and deep dents told the story of a well-used table. An assortment of dishes and pitchers were at one end, with one place setting that must have been for me. Yep, it was. He turned once he reached it and clasped his hands in front of him. For a second, it almost seemed like a dark blond braid swung over his shoulder, but with the next blink, it was gone.
Weird. Maybe hallucinations were a symptom of death. I giggled.
Seth quirked a brow, not amused in the slightest, but remained silent, apparently too happy to let me have my adjustment period.
He pulled out the matching wooden chair for me as I came close, and I allowed him to help me push in the chair as I sat. This was weird. Not ever had anyone done this for me, unless you count that one really expensive restaurant Alex had taken me to when he asked me to be his girlfriend. That was the height of his kindness, and it all went downhill from there.
So having someone I didn’t know, a stranger that wasn’t paid to do this for me, gave me a strange tingling sensation at the base of my neck. Damn it, my cheeks were getting hot too.
Must not look this delicious god man in the face.
At least until I had my bodily functions under control. Another giggle burst out of me. Now that sounded wrong and weird, even in my head.
A full plate of…I’m not even sure what kind of breakfast this was, sat before me. The only thing I recognized with any certainty was the bacon. Sliced tomato and cucumber adorned a salad, okay, that looked good. Then there were a couple slices of toast with some kind of spread and an over easy egg on top. Overall, it smelled delicious, but different. Definitely like nothing I’d ever had before.
My confusion must have showed, because Seth took a seat on the bench running the length of the wooden table. He pointed to each part of the plate with a description.
“This is a salad, this is mashed fish with egg over rye bread,” he pointed to a small cup next to the plate I hadn’t even noticed, “this is skyr, a traditional Icelandic yogurt, and this is bacon.”
I grinned. Did he think I wouldn’t recognize the bacon?
“Thanks.” I picked up the fork as he poured a glass of orange juice for me. What an impressive spread. Either he was quite the chef, or he had a cook around here somewhere.
“So the deal,” he began. “It’s important to remind you that I only prolonged the inevitable. You have a month, maybe a few days more. For your assistance in the punishment of my brothers, your Alex,” his mouth curled in disgust on the word, “will receive the punishment he deserves.”
I picked up the rye bread and took a bite, chewing slowly while I deliberated what to say. Unique but delicious flavors burst on my tongue. The mashed fish was a little gritty, but it worked together with the egg and toast.
After swallowing, I took a sip of orange juice and cleared my throat. “Right. You want me to help punish your brothers. Am I imagining it, or did you say they needed to be punished for abandoning me?”
He nodded, and those plump, kissable lips compressed into a thin line. Why was I even looking at him like this? Alex was a fresh reminder that men were only good for heartache, no matter how good they were at fooling you. But Seth wasn’t a man, was he? His luminescent eyes gave that away.
None of these thoughts mattered anyway. In a month, I’d be gone. Nothing.
I stuck a piece of bacon in my mouth and chewed it as I stared into his pale, glowing eyes. Yep. They were definitely glowing. This should totally be freaking me out, right? Instead, I glanced at his lips again. Even the strain of his flattening them hadn’t robbed them of their luscious color.
What. The. Hell.
I forced my attention back to my food. “Your brothers—they’re angels like you?”
“I’m not an angel.” A scowl appeared between his brows, and he spoke in the same tone I might have used to say I wasn’t a pile of dog crap.
“You’re not?”
If anything, his frown grew fiercer. “No. I am not an angel. They are definitely not angels.”
Okay.
Fish bread? Bacon? I took another sip of orange juice. I still needed to brush my teeth, but I was really glad I hadn’t yet. OJ after toothpaste sucked.
“Dahlia?”
The snap of his voice brought me back to the present. I nibbled more on the fishy bread. Then… “You look like an angel. You stopped me from dying.” When he would have opened his mouth to correct me, I waved at him. “Paused it. Yes, I got that. I’m going to die. Just on hold. Blah. Blah. No pain.”
His scowl erased, and his eyebrows raised.
“My point,” I stressed. “How did you do that if you’re not an angel?”
“My grace,” he explained, as if it answered everything.
“So you have grace but you’re not an angel?”
He sighed, so long and intensely, I almost felt guilty. The guy saved my life. Well, technically, he paused my life or my death. You know, he did the thing with the grace, and here I was, giving him a hard time. Except…
“How exactly do you expect me to punish someone like you?” Because really? I didn’t punish people. I could barely spritz my cat with water when she got on tables when I was a kid. Mom had been forever after me to not let the cat get up there. Just spray it with some water and make it get down. I was better at talking to people.
For some reason? People loved to tell me their problems. That was okay, I liked being able to help them. It was why Alex and I hit it off. He was the first guy who seemed to really listen to me, too.
Though looking back, I wasn’t so sure about that.
Mom had hated Alex from day one. While she never said it aloud, she’d radiated it. I was always having to defuse the tension between her and Alex. Course, now that…oh, man. “My mom.”
“I don’t believe your mother would be useful to the task,” Seth stated. “My brothers haven’t evinced an interest in much until you. It will have to be you.”
“No, my mom. Who is going to tell her I died? She’s…she’s going to be so unhappy. I need to call her.” I was the only family she had left. She was going to be devastated.