Chapter 32 Ginger
Ginger
My palms were slick with sweat as I bent over and spilled my breakfast onto the stone floor of the dungeon, my stomach heaving over and over again.
My heart thundered wildly in my chest, threatening to crack my ribs.
Erebus.
The God of shadows.
The God of darkness.
The God of evil.
I hurled again, splashing more bile onto the ground.
Everyone was panicking.
Linc immediately fled, his flight instinct kicking in with impressive efficiency.
Tommins was shouting, trying to gather the rest of us to get us out of the dungeon while clearly panicking himself.
Tandor was scooping a wailing Kizzi up into his arms and tucking her protectively into his chest.
Fiella was curled up in a ball on the floor, covering her ears as she screamed over and over.
And Redd was frozen solid, hovering over Fiella while his blanched face stared at the god in the cell.
And Shade, no Erebus, was lying on his back in a pool of his own golden blood, his eyes unfocused and unseeing.
“Go!” Tommins shouted, grabbing my elbow and hauling me upright. “Now!”
I stumbled toward the stairs. My leaden legs refused to cooperate.
“Let’s go!” Tandor shouted. He hoisted Kizzi over one shoulder and barreled into me, scooping me over his other shoulder as he hauled us up the stairs. My stomach heaved in protest, fighting the intrusion, but luckily, I didn’t hurl all over his back.
“Wait,” I protested weakly.
He ignored me.
“Everybody OUT!” Tommins thundered.
I cringed away from the deafening sound.
Tandor plopped me unceremoniously on the floor of Tommins’ office and then pulled Kizzi back into the cradle of his arms to examine her face.
She was trembling, staring off into the distance.
I couldn’t feel my fingers. I focused on pulling air in my lungs. Pushing it out. Pulling it back in again.
With a start, I noticed the small black cat curled in the corner of the office, his green eyes squinted half shut in something close to a glare.
The others made it up the stairs. Tommins slammed the door shut and then threw the latch, effectively sealing the dungeon shut. He leaned his back against the door and then slid down onto his rear.
His face was shockingly pale.
“Erebus,” Kizzi whispered.
“Shh, it’s okay, love. He won’t hurt you. I won’t let him.”
“Erebus,” she said louder. “It’s Erebus.”
“It’s okay.”
She wriggled out of his grasp, forcing him to set her on her feet. Her voice gained volume. “Fucking Erebus is sitting in a cell in the dungeon. Right now. In Moonvale!” she shouted.
Fiella shivered violently and Redd tossed an arm around her shoulders.
“He’s going to kill us all,” Linc hissed. I was surprised he was still in the building considering his earlier hasty exit.
I shook my head.
“We’re dead! We’re all dead!” Linc wailed.
I rose to my feet. “No,” I said.
“I will summon the King; he will know what to do—”
“No,” I repeated.
Six sets of eyes locked on me.
“If he was going to kill us, don’t you think he would have done so already?” I wasn’t sure why I was the voice of reason here, all things considered.
The God of Shadows was delusional, convinced that I was his mate. The fucking God of Shadows. And I had shot him down. Multiple times. I had even mocked him about it. And I was alive to tell the tale. The shock hadn’t fully set in yet, clearly.
“That’s a good point,” Fiella agreed.
“He still could kill us. Maybe he’s biding his time,” Tandor mused.
“For what? The guy doesn’t even remember where he lives.” Which, in hindsight, made a lot of sense considering where he came from. Which was… who knows where. The aether? Spontaneous reincarnation?
“He says he doesn’t know anything,” Tommins added. “Maybe that wasn’t a lie, after all.”
“But how can we be sure?”
The conversation continued.
I zoned out, staring down at my hooves. I would need to wash them off… they didn’t make it through my vomiting unscathed.
As the bickering grew louder, the room slowly began to darken, and wisps of shadow crept under the door. They slithered to the corners, approached me timidly, collected and condensed within my own shadow as though they were comfortable there.
My heart skipped a beat.
The door to the dungeon stairs unlocked with a single click, and then swung open.
He stood in the stairwell. Golden shiny blood coated the lower half of his face, clumped in his hair.
His eyes met mine, wild and wide. He took a deep breath that lifted his shoulders.
His presence was noticed.
“Let’s be reasonable here,” he pleaded.
The screaming began again.
“Is this real?” Fiella asked, shaking.
“I think so,” Redd said.
Tommins asked, “How did you escape your cell?”
He gestured to the shadows curling around the room, and they retreated, slipping into his shadow and then seeming to soak into his very being.
I shivered.
I suddenly felt exposed.
He didn’t answer the question. “I heard the arguing, and if I’m the topic of discussion, I should be involved in the conversation.”
“No offense, oh dark and mighty God, but we can’t just have a normal conversation with you here. You’re scaring everyone,” Kizzi said. I was shocked to see her being her normal, argumentative self after how shaken she had been just minutes ago.
Shade looked at Kizzi with a strange expression on his face. “There is nothing to fear from me. I mean no harm.” He glanced at me. “Under most circumstances.”
His voice was surprisingly steady considering he was just a bloody puddle on the floor.
“Can you get back in the cell? I would feel better if you were in there,” Fiella asked.
He held up the key, waiting for someone to take it. Nobody moved.
I hesitantly stepped forward to take the key from him. His eyes scanned my face.
He set the key in my palm with dramatic slowness, and when his fingers brushed my skin, a shiver of awareness traveled down my spine.
I had touched him before, when dancing with him at the ball, but this felt different.
I was touching a god.
Fear battled with a mess of other emotions. Confusion. Anger. Betrayal. Sadness.
Compassion.
And, buried beneath everything else, fascination.
His fingertips dragged over my hand delicately for long seconds and his gaze smoldered, as if he could read the thoughts on my face.
When he stepped away from me and broke the contact, a strange stab of longing pierced my gut.
I shook my head to clear my senses.
“Lock me up, then. But keep better watch of your keys,” Erebus said. And then he patiently returned to the dungeon, stepped into the cell, and took a seat on the edge of the cot.
I followed. The others slowly milled in behind me.
Erebus glanced at the puddle of blood with a pinched expression before returning his gaze to my face and leaving it there.
I closed the door of the cage, stuck the key in the lock, and turned it with a satisfying click.
He could clearly escape if he wished, but the bars were a mild comfort.
The god scrubbed his hands through his hair, shivering when he felt the blood clotted there. He wiped the residue on his dirty trousers.
Had nobody gotten him a change of clothes in the entire time he had been down here? I glared at Tommins.
He held his hands up. “What are you glowering like that for?”
“Is this how Moonvale treats her prisoners?”
He shrugged. “We offered him a bucket to clean himself, food to eat, clothes to wear. He ignored most of it.”
Erebus nodded once. “I did not wish for handouts from my captives.”
“You’re filthy,” I said and then immediately regretted it. I didn’t like revealing how closely I examined him.
He glanced down at himself, and then back up at me, seeming nonplussed. “I will clean myself, if you wish.”
“Please.”
He nodded once. “It will be done.”
I felt lightheaded.
“What are we supposed to do with him? We can’t keep an Old God trapped here,” Redd said. “And he can clearly escape.”
“I can,” Erebus agreed. “But I do not have anywhere to go. My life is here now.” His eyes never left my face.
I flushed under his scrutiny.
“Care to explain how an Old God ended up in Moonvale? And as Mister Moonvale, at that?” Tommins asked as he crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look composed.
Surprisingly, the god looked to Kizzi. “I believe the witch can explain better than I can.”
Kizzi startled. “Me? Oh, no, I—” She stopped, fidgeted with her collar for a moment. “I suppose I might have some sort of idea.”