anyway.
“If I am short-tempered, it is because you will not leave me alone.” He shot her a black look, one that made him feel like a bastard again but one that was necessary to keep enough distance between them. “I do not need to rest.”
He did need to rest, knew it would go a long way towards easing his mood, but he didn’t want to do it out here, in the open. She needed to rest too. Her pace was slowing again, her sighs coming more frequently. Although, that might be his fault. He wasn’t exactly being good company for her.
He reminded himself that being good company wasn’t necessary. He was here to fulfil his mission and get her safely home. That was all.
Thanatos looked around at the valley, scouting the land and looking for a place that might work as a rest stop. The featureless valley bottom provided no cover though, and resting would expose them to whatever fell creatures were still screeching and shrieking in the distance.
He beat his wings, restless with a need to use them. “If you would let me fly you, I could get you to a safe place to rest quicker.”
She didn’t respond to that, was too busy looking longingly at her empty waterskin. He was parched too. Once he had found them a safe place to rest, he would find a clean source of water. Maybe dehydration was the reason they were being so grouchy with each other.
He ignored the voice in the back of his mind that whispered it wasn’t and that the reason they were both on edge around the other was because they both wanted something they shouldn’t. They both felt the undeniable pull towards each other, and gods, both of them knew it wouldn’t end well.
Thanatos focused on charting the valley, his gaze scanning everything, from the volcano to his right that glowed with rivers of lava, to the endless black to his left. Maybe if he could find them a place to make camp, he could use the excuse of finding water to seek a private place where he could take the edge off his mood.
Just the thought of that had him hardening in his black leathers.
He twisted slightly away from Calindria so she wouldn’t notice and paused as his gaze skipped over something that hadn’t been there a moment ago. His eyes darted back to it, his hand going to his sword, in case it was one of those creatures come to try to eat them.
It was a fell beast, but not one he had expected.
He stared across the flat field of basalt at the curvy silver-haired female clad in tight black leather.
The demigoddess.
It couldn’t be.
Rage poured through him even as his mind supplied that this was a realm of lies, that it showed them things from their past, twisting dark memories into living nightmares. It was all an illusion.
Thanatos tried to convince himself of that, but the anger that had lived within him like an eternal flame for centuries burned all reason away. The need to kill rose swiftly, filling his mind with the enticing thought of finally having his revenge by claiming the head of this bitch.
She would pay for what she had done to him, for how she had ruined his life.
He glanced at Calindria, a swift look to check she was still there before his gaze whipped back to the demigoddess, as if she were a magnet and he was powerless against her pull.
“Stay put,” Thanatos muttered.
And kicked off, spreading his wings and beating them hard.
Shooting towards the demigoddess.
Chapter 15
Thanatos’s eyes had never been so blue. Heat blazed in them as he gazed at something, and when he looked back at her, she shivered, swore that look in his eyes was born of desire. Was she finally breaking through the wall around his heart?
“Stay put,” he growled.
And then he kicked off, beating his wings hard, causing black dust to swirl into the air as he swept low across the valley floor away from her.
Calindria stared in the direction he was heading, peering into the gloom, and clenched her jaw so hard it ached as she spotted a female there—a beautiful female with long silver hair and alabaster skin, and a very feminine and curvy body encased in tight black leather trousers and a corset.
A growl pealed from her lips, her small fangs descending as she glared at the female, as she watched Thanatos closing in on her, and recalled how he had looked—how