Chapter 30
Cat
It took a Herculean effort not to clench my hands.
Our twenty minute trek led us down winding paths and up sloping gardens rampant with wildflowers, past follies that resembled towers and cathedrals and pale brick arches.
Then around a reflection pool populated with ghostly koi carp, before finally spitting us out on a slope above a stone circle so reminiscent of Stonehenge, I had to check we were still in Death’s domain.
“Should the stones be broken?” I asked, trying not to panic. Every single slab of grey stone that made up the summoning circle had a horizontal crack through the middle, mist bleeding like a waterfall from each fracture.
“No,” Hunger replied quietly, angrily. “And it wasn’t like this last week.”
“Violence did this,” I seethed, rage inflaming the kindling of my judgement. Power crested from me, pouring down the hill into the grassy basin, swirling around the base of each stone. “He was here.”
I could feel his corruption and greed, as if had left a physical stain, a stench that made my nose wrinkle and my stomach churn.
Ropes binding my arms, four walls closing in, tighter with every second as he leaned over me. The shine of excitement in dark eyes. Pain blasting through my body, making white erupt across my vision before darkness swept in.
“Cat,” Death murmured, his chest brushing my back.
My heart screwed up tight and turned itself inside out. I just wanted him to hold me, like he did in the memories that had broken through—two more on the way to Hunger’s estate, both equally full of love and tenderness and unfaltering passion. I knew he wanted to hold me, too.
“We’ll find him. I swear to you.”
But he couldn’t swear that, could he? We had no guarantee there’d be anything left of him when we finally destroyed Violence.
I turned and wound my arms around his middle, holding on tight, hugging with enough ferocity for both of us. And as the pen in my pocket warmed against my chest, another memory struck, so clear and so devastatingly perfect.
In the memory, I trembled, my fear like a tornado shaking my bones. But when Death pulled me into his lap and wrapped me up in him, I knew I was safe.
“I would start and end wars to keep you safe,” he said with such beautiful tenderness that I thought I was crying, even on the hill overlooking the circle. “I would do anything to ease your mind.”
His hand moulded to my cheek, breaking down the walls I’d thrown up when I was… threatened? Attacked? That memory remained out of reach, but this scene was technicolour as Death kissed me and chased all my fear away.
“Cat,” Death breathed now, his mouth skimming my temple, bringing me back to the mist and the summoning stones. “Where did you go, little bride?”
“Into the past,” I whispered, and allowed myself to lay my head on his chest for a moment.
It was hard to let go, hard to prise myself away, but we needed an intact summoning stone to summon spirits home, and if there wasn’t one here, I would scour the entire domain for one. Death’s life depended on it.
“There are more summoning circles,” I said, not a question, as I turned to face Hunger and my husbands. “Where?”
“The closest one is on the other side of that mount.” Hunger pointed to the low mountain whose sharp black point thrust into the sky, the sun beginning to set on another day.
We’d freed the creatures from their animal forms and Pain had given them a home, but after learning of Death’s fading, the broken stone circle felt like a failure. It felt like no progress at all.
“Call your shadow shires,” I told my husbands, turning away from the broken stones.
“Cat, it’s too late to set off now,” Pain said with a softness that made me want to cry or scream. “We’ll go first thing in the morning.”
“And where do you all plan on resting in the meantime?” Hunger enquired, an eyebrow raised.
Tor clapped his shoulder. “You’ve got plenty of rooms in that manor, and don’t lie to yourself. You’ll love playing host.”