Unmade (Unborn #4) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,56
wake. Not sympathy—the former god was surely incapable of that. But pity was built on a sense of superiority, a better-than-you implication that he seemed capable of grasping.
“I have searched high and low for your mother, Celia of the Light, but could find no trace of her.” Oz’s wings twitched with agitation, and Hermes took a step back from the weapon that could end him. “You know what this means, do you not?”
I steeled my expression, careful not to let the fear I felt at his words show. “I do.”
“She is either dead or held hostage somewhere I cannot go, but I suspect it is the former. There was no trace of her to be found or followed. In my experience, that means only one thing.”
I said nothing in response, so Oz, sensing my distress behind my wall of indifference, did so on my behalf.
“You’ve delivered your message, so you can fuck off now,” Oz said, pointing his wing at Hermes.
“A question for the Princess of the Underworld before I go?” he asked, his dark gaze fixed on me. “Why do you wish to find her at all?”
“Because she is my mother.”
“But did she not abandon you as a child?” he pressed. “Leave you to be raised by a goddess who neither loved nor wanted you?”
“I’d tread really fucking carefully if I were you, Hermes,” Oz warned as he stepped closer to the former god. “I was supposed to be getting laid right about now, but instead, we just had to call you first so you could show up with this mood-killing news. Don’t push your luck, or I might just take out my aggression on you.”
“I’ve already expressed my interest in joining you two. That hasn’t changed.”
“My reasons are my own,” I said, interrupting their posturing.
He nodded as his maniacal expression fell back into place. “A word of caution, Khara, if I may.” I stared at him without reply and he continued. “Do not tempt the god of fear. He is not like the rest of us. He cannot be made to see reason.”
With that, he winked and took to the air, winged feet fluttering as he flew out of sight.
“I really hate that little fucker,” Oz growled. I turned to find him watching the sky where Hermes had just disappeared.
“What do we do now?” I asked, my voice more full of sorrow than I had expected. Oz’s eyes turned to me, his expression a mask of neutrality.
“We don’t give up on her until we know her fate.” I gave a tight nod and let my eyes lift to the stars above. “She might not be dead,” he said, stepping closer. “Hermes is a lying shit. He has no clue where she is. He said that to get to you, and you’re letting him.”
“Because he could be speaking the truth in this matter,” I countered, “and if he is, then I have sealed her fate by balking at the information that Ares dangled in front of me.”
“That’s based on the presumption that Ares wasn’t full of shit, which is a bad bet any day of the week, new girl. And even if he did know something about your mother, what were you going to do? Round up Sean and chuck him in the Oudeis? I thought you were dead set against that.”
I slowly turned to face him. “Your poor choice of phrasing aside, yes, I was dead set against that—though I reconsidered for a moment when he was willing to let you die on the roof.”
“But…?”
I let out a sharp exhale as I walked away. “There is no ‘but’. I just—I cannot handle all these uncertainties and unknowns. They amass around us at a rate that prohibits us from forming a proper plan.”
“That’s life, new girl.”
“That is my life,” I argued as I turned to face him. “At least it is now. Yours was far simpler before I arrived in Detroit, as well.”
“You can say that again,” he muttered under his breath. But his attempt at humor fell flat, even to him, and I soon found him storming toward me, anger edging his features. “Listen, I get that your emotions are kinda taking over right now, and you’re struggling to cope with them with everything else going on, but I need you to keep your shit together, because if your mother truly is dead, then you are the only one that can help me avenge her.”
“If she is dead—if one of my enemies has slain her—I will not stop