looking like a frightened animal. A sob catches in my throat as I stand up and walk to the door, forcing myself not to look back. The second I step out of the door, I can’t stop the tears that fall as I slide to my butt on the floor and hug my knees. I need Killian to make me laugh, Seth to hold me and make me feel safe, and Storm to be my avenging angel who would always be there for me. I miss them so much it hurts.
I don’t look up as I hear tiny footsteps walking towards me.
“Here’s a cookie. I used to cry all the time too, but it gets better,” Ruby softly says, and I look up to see her kneeling in front of me, holding a cookie on a plate for me.
“You’re brave, Ruby. So brave,” I tell her, wiping my tears away before taking the cookie from the plate.
“You’re my sister, so you can be too,” she replies, and I chuckle because it’s so far from the truth. I’m not brave at all. Ruby moves to sit next to me, and her small hand takes mine, holding on tightly.
Storm, Killian, Seth stay firmly in my mind as I convince myself to stand up and take a bite of the delicious cookie.
“Karma, will you join me for dinner this evening?” Neritous asks, but it’s not a question, it’s more a demand from his tone alone. I turn to see him walking towards us from the other side of the room, and Ruby presses herself close to my side, clearly frightened of him.
Ruby looks up to me, pleading with her eyes that I don’t fight him. “Okay.”
The word feels like a betrayal, but it might be the only thing that saves me for now.
Chapter 4
“Thank you for agreeing to come to dinner with me,” Neritous states as I step into the room. I tense my back, watching him carefully as he straightens his tie.
“I wasn’t invited but demanded,” I remind him. “To be fecking truthful, I’d rather eat with a shark god. And they always stink of fish.”
“Did you know the lower water gods were the ones who made the fish in the seas?” he asks me, waving a hand towards a seat at the table. The smell of the food lures me over far more than my father’s invitation does. The small table is set for two, with several plates of various foods in the middle, waiting for us to help ourselves. Everything from rich roast potatoes, steamed vegetables, thick gravy and a whole leg of lamb calls to me. Roast dinners are my favourite, especially with lamb.
“How did you know this is my favourite meal?” I ask as he sits down. He doesn’t talk until I take my seat, and I feel like his answer is a reward for sitting down. More manipulation, with a side of lamb, it seems.
“It was your mother’s. I won her over with my cooking,” he remarks, cutting the lamb and placing some on my plate.
“Did you actually cook for her?” I question, crossing my arms. He serves me like I’m a child, and I’m not an eegit, but I know he sees me as one. His child that should be grateful to be around him. After he fills my plate, he works on his own, and I’d be tempted to throw the food at him if I weren’t so hungry. I feel like a traitor with every bite of the delicious food.
“To answer your question, of course not,” he tells me. “But she thought I did, and all that matters is you were the conclusion to our mating.”
“Unless you want me to puke this food up, can we change the subject?” I all but beg, and he laughs. I hate that his laugh is almost like mine. “Like the real reason you have me here, for instance.”
“The gods of the world are dying,” he announces, and I frown. From what I’ve seen and heard, they are not. “With every generation, they mix with humans, the magic fades, and over time, gods will be nothing but fairy tales in this world. A thousand years ago, a tree god could make a tree grow to the clouds within minutes, but now all they can do is heal a tree from dying. That is merely one example, but magic as a whole is fading. The world is dying.”
“Maybe if gods were allowed to mix with each other, that would