Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CAT

I t took me less than a minute to realise this wasn't Death's castle. The interior of the castle was blood red and vibrant pink, not black and austere, a burst of colour everywhere I looked—the curtains, the carpet rolling away under my feet, the flocked wallpaper, the vases, chandeliers, and even the door I glimpsed ahead.

"Shit," I whispered. Where the fuck was I?

I tipped my head back, looking past four floors of mezzanine balconies to the glass roof that let in rays of watery sunlight. Instead of the familiar sight and feel of Death's palace, this place was brighter, livelier, and smelled of old books and honey.

Wherever I'd ended up, it clearly wasn't where I'd planned to be, and I didn't want to go wandering around someone else's castle in case the owners came home. Death might have ruled this domain, but I knew there were others with power, too. Other death gods. The last thing I wanted was to escape death in the form of a monster and find it in a god.

I cast one last look around the castle and hurried out the door, a ripple of unease in my gut when an unfamiliar town spread out before me instead of the moor road. The world had shifted around me between one step and the next, the way it had once when I visited my gods. I had no idea if this was the same town I saw then, but without Tor, Miz, or Death, I wasn't sure how to get to their castle.

Maybe I could see Death's home from the other side of the town. I had no other options anyway.

"Please don't let this get me killed," I whispered a plea to whoever was listening, unlatching the gate and stepping onto the cobbled road that arced down into the town. The castle was on a slight incline to watch over the thatched rooftops and high church spires, all the buildings made of the same dark stone as Death's castle. As the smaller but no less intimidating castle behind me.

Paranoia made me scan the sky for crows as I walked, but the skies were clear of birds, filled instead with fluffy grey clouds limned in red. That sanguine light was the only sign I wasn't in the mortal world, and if I'd been determined I could have convinced myself it was a trick of the sunlight.

I was out of breath by the time I reached the bottom of the steep road, where cobbles flowed around the side of a pub 1 and continued along a thoroughfare to a town square.

Fine hairs rose along the back of my neck when multiple voices cracked through the air like a thunderclap, a chant so loud and fierce that I immediately backed up and found a smaller, quieter street lined with quaint thatched-roof houses. Whatever was happening in the town square, I didn't need to find out. The only death I wanted to meet today was six-foot-three with a muscular body made for hugs and a voice like rich caramel.

I wished I'd brought my knife out with me; I would have felt safer with it in my palm. The little back street I walked was empty, but I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, and my anxiety assured me, with a hundred percent certainty, it was Alastor Carmichael come to kill me so he could have Honey to himself.

Even though I was in the realm of the dead. Even though Alastor had no way of accessing this place unlike me, the ex-wife of three death gods. 2

"It's just anxiety," I whispered to myself, but I couldn't shake the dread closing around my chest, crushing out my air the further I walked into the unfamiliar town. I was glad to run across no one, but less glad when the road curved and it became clear why. Every single spirit in the town was crammed into the square, overlooked by a tall statue of a striking man with a coif of short hair, dressed in the livery and armour I'd expect of a knight of Camelot. The peace sign the statue had thrown up was conspicuous, and brought a puzzled smile to my face.

The smile dropped when I realised what the spirits were chanting, over and over, their voices shockingly loud for a hundred dead people.

Torment! Torment! Torment!

My feet carried me closer even as my stomach swirled with nerves. His name was like a siren call I couldn't resist, but I ground to a halt on the edge of the crowd. What the hell was I doing? I couldn't join a crowd of dead people—I was alive. What if they stole my lifeforce the way ghosts did in horror films? What if they sucked all the juice from me until I was a shrivelled raisin of a human? Tension tightened my shoulders, and I jumped hard when someone brushed past me from behind.

My breathing froze entirely when pressure met the top of my head, a kiss lingering long enough to calm my racing heart, to make me slump with relief. Death was here—

I turned, my heart leaping, but I was alone.

"No," I said, shaking my head over and over. No, I felt that. It was real. Someone touched me, kissed my head. It was real.

But there was no one there.

I rubbed my face with aggressive motions. "I'm going mad."

Torment! the crowd of spirits chanted. Torment!

I shook off the unease and faced the square again, peering around—nope, peering through —ghosts in every shape, size, ethnicity, and fashion style to where two men circled each other, hands raised in front of themselves. A fight?

Oh god, Tor was fighting. That was why they chanted his name. Not a single spirit chanted the name of his opponent, whatever it happened to be. I wanted to believe that was a good sign, that Tor would win and wouldn't get hurt, but I was a pessimist at heart.

I shuddered as I pushed past spirits, cold bleeding through all the places I touched them, but they barely spared me a glance. As if a living girl was an ordinary occurrence, or they didn't care that I walked through them. I stopped dead when I saw Tor throw a punch, his knuckles wrapped in white bandages spotted with blood, his golden arms bulging with powerful movement. The expression on his face could only be described as wrath, and another shiver skated down my spine. I'd never seen Tor this angry before.

He's not angry at you, I assured myself, but it didn't ring quite true. I rejected him. I said everything between us was an illusion caused by the curse. Things only seemed okay between us because we'd been pretending.

It didn't change how much my heart hurt watching him fight, or how my stomach twisted into a pretzel when he dove left to avoid a blow from the tall, broad-shouldered ghost he was fighting. 3 I couldn't contain a low sound of surprise when the spirit's fist slammed into the side of Tor's face, shockingly brutal for a touch that should have gone straight through him. Blood slashed his cheekbone as skin broke, but he ignored it, ignored the pirate ghost, and ignored the gathered crowd as his head whipped around.

My stomach swooped when our eyes connected. Tor's bare chest heaved from the fight, covered in dark, detailed tattoos and faint scars, glistening with sweat that only made him more masculine and appealing, his hands unfurling from their fists.

Oh god, oh god. I broke eye contact and scurried away, my heart hammering a frantic morse code into my ribs. I wasn't supposed to be here. I hadn't exactly been invited, and I didn't even have Death's permission to enter his domain anymore. I definitely shouldn't have been watching Tor fight, like I was anybody to him. I was nothing now, not his bride, not his girlfriend or lover. I didn't have any right to this domain, and my blood buzzed in my ears as I fled back down the cobbled street.

"Stupid, stupid," I hissed under my breath, rejection like acid in my belly even if Tor hadn't spoken, even if he'd only looked at me and the rejection was all self-inflicted. A figment of my overactive imagination and crippled self-esteem.

Even as part of me wanted to travel back in time and never come to Ford, I'd never give up knowing Tor, Miz, and Death. Losing them hurt worse every day, the pain even sharper since we'd begun to grow close again. The secret I had no choice but to keep had spikes and barbs, and they didn't hesitate to rake deep gouges in my fragile soul.

I swung around a corner, the thatched houses blurring past, the sky growing redder as the sun began to set, like a bruise blooming across the clouds and—

I screamed, jumping back when a dark shape materialised in front of me, eight feet tall and enormous, shadows and smoke billowing from it.

I threw up my hands, waiting for my darkness to offer encouragement to rip apart this threat, to reach into their body and rip out their heart, but before the voice could form, my panic-wide eyes registered what the dark shape was.

A horse. A mammoth black horse with shadows wafting from her hooves and nostrils snorting her irritation. Lanai.

"Fuck," I hissed, staggering back with my hand over my heart.

My initial relief turned to thorny nerves when I peered at the straight-backed figure astride Lanai, his hands fisted around the reins and his face lit in shades of blood and crimson by the dying light.

"If you're determined to leave," Tor said, his gentle voice a shock, "at least let me take you home."

"You… want to take me home?" I said dumbly, staring up at him. Lanai nudged my shoulder with her nose, snorting hot breath over my arm and making me jump. When my heartrate settled, I gave her the attention she wanted, stroking her nose and surprised by the velvety texture of her hair.

"Come on, my cute little succulent. I'll help you up."

I was so dumbfounded when he jumped down and set his hands on my waist that I didn't protest. The heat of his palms seared my skin through my clothes, bringing my whole body to life, pounding through my clit in a sudden pulse that made me gasp. His hands lingered on my hips when I was seated on Lanai's back, her warm body making me wonder if she was a living creature. Although my death gods were warm, and they were dead, too.

Not mine. Not my gods. I ruined any chance of that when I told them I'd never cared for Tor and Miz.

And yet—they'd come when I needed them. And Tor was here now, swinging himself up onto the horse's back, his left arm gripping her reins while his right arm wrapped so effortlessly around my waist. Like it was natural. Like it belonged there. Tears burned my eyes. I fought the desperate urge to settle my hand on his arm, keeping it there.

"Aren't you mad at me?" I asked, unable to keep the question trapped.

"No. Why would I be?" His hand splayed across the curve of my stomach when I jumped at Lanai's sudden lurch into a sprint; I settled with a sigh.

The houses blurred past us as the horse flew over the cobbles, her hooves making a thunderous noise as she carried us out of the town.

It took me a minute to work up the nerve to admit how I was feeling. I knew I sounded silly and small and insecure, but he'd asked a question and there was no getting around an answer.

"I don't think I'm welcome here anymore. Not after I—after what I said the night Byron—" I choked back the grief that threatened to crush my chest, needles of emotion stabbing my eyes. "The curse is gone, I'm not your bride anymore, so I shouldn't be here. This is your world, not mine, and I'm sorry for intruding, and for watching you fight—"

"And for drooling as you watched?" Tor interrupted, a note of teasing in his voice that popped the balloon of my panic. He wasn't angry. Of course he wasn't; he was Tor, friendly and lovely and kind. Loyal to a fault.

"I didn't drool," I muttered, making him laugh. "I was only checking for injuries."

"If you wanna check with your hands, too, just let me know."

Now he made me laugh, a smile tugging at my cheeks. "You're not even a little bit angry?"

"Nope. It's good to have you back here, Cat. Feel free to watch me fight any time you want."

I groaned. "You're incorrigible."

And not mad at me. Not even a little bit. The tightly-wound stress dropped from my shoulders and I relaxed into his hold, memorising the feeling of his warmth seeping into my body, the way he held me close, his strong chest flush to my back. I didn't know when I'd get to feel this again. Never, if Nightmare got her way.

His thumb stroked circles on my stomach. "How did you end up here anyway?"

I jolted as it all rushed back—seeing the shadow race across the road, following the creature down to Ford's End, watching it attack the florist. Murder her. Devour her.

"Oh, god," I breathed, my stomach turning. "There was—the monster, I saw it. It's like a bear with horns and huge claws, and it nearly had me."

Tor's arm tightened around me, his chest vibrating with a growl so low I only felt it, never heard it. "Tell me where, and I'll kill the fucking thing."

"I'm—I'm okay," I promised, albeit shakily. I scanned the hills we raced past, the little road winding around them as we left the town in a different direction to how I reached it. "I thought of this place and I managed to escape, but I ended up in the wrong castle. That's why I was in the square. I was trying to find your castle. Trying to find you."

My heart squeezed when a kiss landed on my shoulder, reminding me of the kiss to my head I'd been so sure came from Death. Unease wrapped around me, but the relief of being in Tor's arms was stronger.

"You found me. You're safe now," he promised, a gravelly rumble in his voice that sent a sudden pulse through my clit. I stiffened, trying not to show how badly his voice and touch turned me on even in spite of my fear. "And I'm going to hunt that creature and make sure it can never scare you again."

"You can't hunt it alone, Tor, it's huge—"

"I can and I will. I'll rip the damn thing in two for threatening my girl."

Those words rang in my ears, tempting the tiny spark of hope in my heart to grow, to burn, to raze through my whole chest. "I thought we were over."

"As long as you run to me when you need to feel safe, we'll never be over, beautiful. We didn't get a real chance before, with the curse between us. Now it's gone, and this is real, and I want you. Will you give me a chance to woo you?"

A smile curved my mouth. "Woo me?"

"Flowers and dick and chocolate, all that shit," he elaborated. "I want to win you back, Cat, to show you how good things can be between us. I don't give a shit if you're my bride or not—you're mine. Once and forever."

Once and forever his. My heart nearly burst, and I had to choke back emotion. "I guess I could give you a chance. Since you've been so helpful taking me home."

His laugh ruffled the hairs at the back of my neck.

"But I—I don't think we can be together without Death and Misery, and Miz and I…"

"Give him time," Tor replied, kissing my shoulder again, his arm tightening around me. "Miz is—going through a lot right now."

"Because of Nightmare."

That growl returned to Tor's voice when he agreed. "Earlier, he—fuck, I shouldn't burden you with this. I'm supposed to be wooing you, not worrying you."

That just worried me even more. I twisted on Lanai's back to look into Tor's shadowed brown eyes. "What happened? Is he okay?"

The need to jump off the horse and run to Misery made a tremor run through my bones, frissons of urgent need pushing me to find him, to hold him, to make sure he was okay. I remembered him holding me through my guilt and grief after I killed Darya. And now he was going through hell, and I wasn't at his side. It was a piss poor way of repaying his support.

"You really wanna know, beautiful?" Tor asked, something heavy and sad in his eyes. The anger that had driven him in fighting the pirate ghost was gone.

"Tell me," I agreed fiercely, my heart beating harder. I held Tor's gaze with a steely stare.

"He's scared she'll take over him again and make him hurt one of us. Death, me, and you. So he—" Tor's golden throat bobbed, tattoos shifting. I covered his hand with mine, dread gathering in my chest until my breaths came fainter, sharper. "He bound his magic so he can't use it against us. It's a fucking stupid thing to do, and an insanely dangerous process, and there's no guarantee Nightmare even controlled his magic. We found him on the floor, bleeding, in serious pain—"

I'd felt it. On the moors, chasing the monster. I didn't know how, and it made no sense, but I felt Misery's pain, felt it cleave my soul apart.

"Take me to him," I ordered, with all the imperiousness of the Bride of Death I no longer was. "I mean it, Tor. Take me to him."

Tor ran his hand along Lanai's neck and whispered in a language I didn't understand.

"Hold on, beautiful," he told me as Lanai broke into a faster gallop, the name like sunlight on my light-deprived soul.