clouds rolling across it. They were low, brushing the cragged peaks of the towering mountains in places, and churned constantly, like bubbling water. A faint orange light touched them and she looked off to her right, to the volcano that spewed another wave of lava, sending a huge plume of smoke into the air to block out the sky even more.
Calindria fanned herself with her hand as she walked, trying not to think about the fact she had no water or how parched she was, or how her skin was slick with sweat that made her feel uncomfortable. Gods, she would kill for another bath.
She grimaced at that word. Kill.
Perhaps she wouldn’t go that far, but she did want one. Badly.
“Can we rest?” She looked over her shoulder at Thanatos again.
He glowered at her. “No.”
The same response he had given her every time she had dared to ask that question. She was sure he was trying to march her to death as punishment for whatever she had done wrong.
“Can we at least rest soon?” She gestured to the valley. “It is a delightful spot to take in after all.”
He huffed. “We rest once we are clear of this valley.”
She huffed right back at him and folded her arms across her chest as she turned away from him and muttered, “I swear you are trying to kill me.”
He growled now. “If I were trying to kill you, you would be dead already.”
She was well aware of that.
She stopped and twisted to face him. “Can you even kill me?”
His answering growl had a harder edge to it, a threatening note that sent a shiver skating down her spine and made her painfully aware of him.
“Do you wish for death?” he snapped.
“No… not at all… but—”
“Good. The topic is done. Keep moving.” He pinned her with a black look, and she swore he would have shoved her if she hadn’t obeyed and started walking again.
She stared at the vast distance between her and the mountains ahead of her and sighed. “If I am expected to walk that far without stopping, then you are going to have to take my mind off it. Answer a question for me.”
“I do not like the sound of this,” he muttered, but didn’t say no.
Which felt like progress, and permission.
“What happened between you and Hypnos?” She wanted to glance at him to gauge his mood by checking his eyes, but kept her gaze fixed on the mountains instead, some part of her aware that he would only grow darker again if she stared at him while he debated whether or not to answer that question.
Thanatos had to be handled with care. That much she had discovered. Something in his past had made him volatile and untrusting, and she had the feeling it had to do with the captivity he had spoken of. Not the trick Sisyphus had played on him, but the one following the defeat in battle he had suffered.
“The divide between us is my fault.” Thanatos heaved a sigh. “I drifted apart from him, even though he did his best not to let it happen.”
There was a note in his voice that struck a chord in her. Not reluctance. Not regret. It was something else.
Loneliness, she realised as she thought about how she had felt during her captivity.
Did Thanatos see how lonely he was?
Calindria risked glancing back at him and found him scowling at the ground, blue fire in his eyes. His dark power pressed against her, a tangible thing that skated over her skin and called to her own darker side, bringing forth black thoughts. She knew that look. She wore it herself at times, when she was thinking about her mission of revenge, when the need for vengeance consumed her and was too strong for her to ignore. There was rage in Thanatos, a black fury that felt malevolent to her, and dangerous.
Had his need for revenge against someone consumed him so fiercely that he had drifted apart from his twin?
Did it blind him to how lonely he was?
“Where do you live?” She faced forwards again, glared at those wretched mountains and the distance between her and them. “Do you live in a palace like my family?”
“I live in a castle. It is large, set deep within my own realm, constructed of the black rock of the mountains that border one side of it.” He sounded very proud of his castle. “All who dare enter my realm see it and tremble.”
She frowned back at