twist to her lips back again.
“Blackmailing me now, god of death?”
He shrugged, lifting his wings. “I am not asking you to sleep… merely to rest.”
She looked around them, silent so long he was sure she was going to refuse, was trying to find a route where he couldn’t follow her and would make a break for it, preferring to run than rest.
“Very well,” she bit out. “There appears to be a clearing this way.”
She started off at an angle from him, heading north-west. Thanatos followed her, gathering logs and broken branches along the way. His arms were full by the time they reached the clearing, and she arched an eyebrow at him as he kneeled and let his hoard tumble from his grip.
“Planning to build a bonfire large enough to attract whatever beast is out there?” She studied his pile of wood.
He wasn’t even sure he could make it burn.
“No. But it is a good idea. I could kill it and cook it for us.” He rose to his feet.
She needed food in her belly. Immortals could survive a long time without food, but he preferred to find her something to eat. While starvation wouldn’t kill her, it would weaken her. If something in this dark realm attacked her, she might not be able to fend them off if her power didn’t activate.
“Or it could kill and eat you,” she countered, and for a heartbeat, he was sure she was worried about his safety and not just her own. She rubbed her arms and looked around the small clearing, and then moved off to one side of it. “I think whatever made that noise might be too large for you to handle alone anyway.”
He frowned at her for that subtle stab at his prowess as a warrior. Not that she noticed. She was too busy pulling a fallen log into the clearing. When she had positioned it to her satisfaction, she straightened and dusted off her hands, looking pleased with her work.
“I don’t get a seat?” He scowled at her for good measure when she sat on the one she had made for herself and just looked at him.
He huffed and kneeled again, strongly considering heading off to fight the beast. He needed to blow off some steam. His skin had felt too tight, his mind and body twitchy and restless, since Calindria had touched his hand. A good fight would go a long way towards releasing the tension building inside him.
“How do you intend to start the fire?” Her nose wrinkled and her lips quirked to one side as she frowned. “I think perhaps I was taught how… I could try to do it.”
“You think that little of my skills?” He glowered at her now, beginning to consider fighting her instead, even if it was only verbally. “First, I cannot handle a beast… a beast… something I am overqualified to fight. Now, I am so pathetic that I cannot even start a fire?”
Her lips flattened. Almost a pout.
“I did not mean it like that. I meant only to help!” She folded her arms across her chest, and it looked an awful lot like she was holding herself, trying to make herself feel better because he had made her feel bad. Thanatos refused to be swayed by it, held his ground and kept his glare in place. She did pout now. “What has put you in such a foul mood anyway?”
Her.
She had put him in a foul mood when she had dared to touch him. Damn her. He flexed his fingers again. Still couldn’t shake the tingle that lingered, or how hyper-aware he was of her where she sat close to him, her gaze scalding him.
Setting his blood on fire.
Blood that had been as cold as ice for centuries, just the way he liked it.
He pulled back on the reins, bringing his mood back under control, and pinched his nose, using it as an excuse to close his eyes and not look at her. “I am tired. Someone refused to rest. I have been trekking for… weeks… I think.”
It sounded like a reasonable excuse for his mercurial mood, one she seemed to buy as she brought her knees up, resting her feet on the curve of the log, and held her legs to her chest.
“Fine,” she muttered. “You can make the fire. Will you rub sticks together? I vaguely remember being taught to do that.”
“Rub sticks together?” He glanced up from his work, pausing with one of the branches in