real look at the god.
Holy balls. No wonder his voice was so sexy. It had to be to match the rest of him.
Standing eye to eye with Cronus, Thanatos was tall, dark, and fucking handsome, his hair brushing across his ears, with a few long strands in braids. His eyes were dark as well, his skin creamy brown, and his shoulders unnaturally broad. His face was a work of art though: thick full lips, perfect masculine planes, and wickedly smiling eyes as he took me in just like I was doing with him. He was as beautiful as Cronus, and before I saw him I would have said that was impossible.
“You didn’t tell me that you’d tied yourself to a human,” Thanatos said, “and especially not one as delicious as her.”
Cronus shrugged. “She has the beauty of a goddess, but the tongue of a viper.”
#CronusThoughtIWasHot
“It’s called thinking for yourself,” I told him. “Women do that these days.”
Thanatos didn’t seem put off by Cronus’ warning. If anything, there was a gleam of interest in his eyes that made me both slightly turned on and slightly nervous. I wasn’t sure I could handle a god, and right now really wasn’t the time.
Still...
#BucketList
“Why are you here, Thanatos?” Cronus asked him, his voice very serious. He was holding his weapon with a stronger grip too, and something told me that he was worried about facing this particular god. He hadn’t shown any flicker of nerves against Athena—who was still arguing with her idiot half-brother behind us.
Thanatos stepped forward, all of his humor disappearing in an instant. “You need an ally, and I have a job for you once we get your mess sorted out. I’m here to help you.”
What?
Cronus didn’t seem as confused, his eyes darting to where Athena and Apollo had sorted their shit out and were now moving forward together. There were loud echoes from whatever Zeus was doing to this island ringing through every now and then. We were surrounded here. Did Cronus have the strength to fight them all?
Not right now.
But was Thanatos for real? Because we could really use an ally.
Lightning crashed at our feet, almost literally, about a yard from us. That knocked Cronus into action. He wrapped an arm around me. The other went to Thanatos. And then everything went dark.
Chapter 7
When the world stopped spinning, I wondered if maybe my brain was broken, because everything was still dark. Like … not a sliver of light to be seen. I could feel Cronus close by—our bond was not broken yet—but I could also feel another powerful presence.
How I was feeling these things, I had no idea, but I was learning pretty fast that to survive—mentally—in this world, I needed to just go with the flow and question very little.
“Now is hardly the time for your dramatic pauses, Thanatos,” Cronus’ deep voice rumbled from nearby. “Reveal yourself.”
Thanatos chuckled, before he clapped his hands twice and suddenly light scorched my eyeballs and I threw both hands up to block the glow. What the hell? Where were we? Did he live on the sun?
Thanatos laughed and I apparently said that out loud, because he replied. “If we were on the sun, you’d be dead, human.”
Right. So right. #TheSunIsHot
“So, where are we?” I asked, managing to squint one eye open, and then the other, my body adjusting. We had definitely left the island. This must be that flashing travel thing Cronus was telling me about.
“The hell realm,” Cronus said, and I gasped.
“Say what now?” I stumbled toward him, my eyebrows lifting up as I eyeballed the fuck out of him. “Did you just say hell realm?”
I did not become a vegetarian and donate five hours a week to plastic beach clean-up to end up in fucking hell. I mean, I had done those things for more than just the afterlife, but it was still always in the back of my mind. #UnFuckingFair
Thanatos chuckled again. “Hell, Hades, the Underworld. You’re not up on the old family tree, are you?”
I shook my head fiercely. “Honestly, I know the basics. Aphrodite, Zeus, Poseidon…”
Thanatos and Cronus both snorted.
“All the fuckers hogging the limelight,” Thanatos growled.
I paused. “Aren’t they the most powerful?”
Thanatos howled with laughter, and Cronus almost looked like he was going to crack a smile.
#NotASmiler
It took Thanatos a good few minutes to calm himself.
“I really need to get on Zeus’ PR team,” Cronus said, shaking his head. “If the Fates weren’t trying to kill me every time I went near them, I’d definitely go