using thin vines to bind the leaves to the worst of his injuries. When she was done, she moved to his left wing, and he wanted to tell her to leave it, but the look in her eyes as she stood before him said that wasn’t going to happen.
“Take a deep breath.” She broke a thicker vine in two and handed him a piece.
Thanatos sucked down a breath, placed the branch between his teeth, and bit down hard on it.
Calindria took hold of the broken bone in his wing and straightened it in one swift movement.
Thanatos roared against the stick.
And passed out.
Chapter 18
Calindria kept watch over Thanatos, brushing her fingers through his thick black hair as he rested on his back with his head on her knees. He had been sleeping for what had to be a day, was peaceful now but had been restless at first. She pressed her palm to his brow, soothing herself with the feel of it. The fever that had gripped him had broken not long ago and soon after that he had fallen still and calm, his breathing levelling out.
Her brave god of death.
She bent and pressed a kiss to his brow as she feathered her fingers down his cheek, and warmth fluttered through her as his broad mouth twitched into a slight smile.
“Never been woken with a kiss before.” His deep voice was gravelly, and gods, it was good to hear it again.
His silver eyes slowly opened and met hers.
“How are you feeling?” She stared deep into his eyes, seeking the answer there so he couldn’t pretend to be healed just to make her feel better.
“Good.” He proved it by stretching his left wing without flinching at all and not a trace of pain showed in his eyes. “All fixed. Amazing what some solid sleep can do.”
His smile was dazzling as he gazed up at her.
“You do make a good pillow.” His smile held as she rolled her eyes at him, grew a little wider when he added, “And an excellent nurse.”
She dropped her gaze to his shoulder and stroked the fresh scars there. “I wish I could have done more. My mother could have healed you.”
“No offence, but I prefer you as my nurse.”
“I thought about what you said… about my mother and the same connection I share to the earth.” She stroked her fingers through his hair and his smile turned lazy now, his eyes falling shut again. For all his gruffness and his desire to keep everyone at a distance, her god of death liked to be petted and fussed over. “Do you think that’s why they kept me in cages suspended from the ceiling of caverns?”
A crease formed between his black eyebrows. “I had not thought of it, but it does make sense. If you had been in contact with the ground, Persephone would have been able to sense you, even at this distance, if she had been looking for you.”
By his account, her family had thought her dead, her soul lost to them. She doubted her mother would have been looking for her then, but maybe the ones who had held her had kept her in a cage away from the ground just in case, because they feared her parents discovering she wasn’t dead.
Calindria stroked her fingers across Thanatos’s brow and then cradled his face in both her hands, leaned over him and brushed her lips across his. He craned his neck and she kissed him properly, their mouths fusing as he reached up and wrapped his arms around her head, keeping her mouth to his. He groaned and she smiled against his lips. She liked kissing him like this, unhurried and gentle. It stirred heat in her veins and calmed the darkness within her, made it go still and drift to the background.
Thanatos didn’t break the kiss as he sat up, twisting at the same time, his right wing brushing across her lap. He framed her face with his palms and kissed her deeper as they came face to face, as he moved towards her.
Making her lean back.
She surrendered to him, aware of where this would lead, wanting to be with him again, sure it would be better this time. Her eyes slipped shut as he broke away from her lips and kissed down her chest, as he sucked her breast through her top, and then drifted lower still. The heat the kiss had awakened in her grew into an inferno that burned up her blood as