Chapter 26
CAT
“I’m going to kill them,” Miz hissed, rattling and deep. A hooded cloak of shadow covered his body, not a single glint within the darkness. No glowing eyes, no skull—a total void with a voice like gravel and death. “I’m going to rip them into pieces and feed them to that army of stalkers.”
“No, you’re not,” I said calmly, stepping into his path as he whipped around the room like a tornado. He rushed past me, shadows trickling over my arm and making me shudder at the icy brush. “If you kill them, we’ll never find Peach. She’s our first priority.”
His answer was a guttural hiss.
On the bed sat a small cardboard box that had been waiting for us outside the door. It was deep green and stamped with the red logo of Cruelty’s pseudo-school. Inside were fur clippings. The exact shade and texture of Peach’s.
“They’re going to kill her,” Miz rasped, sibilant.
“No, they won’t,” Tor said, trying to talk him down. “They’ve only taken her so we’ll stay here and play their sadistic game. So we stay. And we play.”
“Miz,” I breathed, trying to catch him as he paced.
It was like trying to catch smoke. I tried to wrangle my own strange affinity for darkness and death; to wield the shadows I’d glimpsed only a few times, but I was too stressed.
I wanted to go home, but the gates were still gone, the realm was still under fog, and even the other gods—diligently working on finding a way back—hadn’t had any luck.
Neither had we had any luck in contacting Hunger. I had a bad feeling the psycho twins had hurt him. Or stashed him in an iron maiden somewhere in one of Ford’s dark, dusty, long-forgotten rooms.
I took a breath, tasting the rich aroma of coffee Madde brought up a few minutes ago, and tried to catch Miz again. I suspected it only worked because he saw my distress and allowed his humanoid form to break through the cloak and shadows.
With a sigh, he materialised in front of me, his fingers laced with mine. “We play their game in public, and search for Peach in private.”
“Of course we’ll look for her,” I agreed, brushing a frazzled strand of white hair off his forehead. “She’s our family; we’re not going to just leave her here. We found Tor. We’ll find Peach.”
I glanced at Tor, searching for signs of strain or trauma.
He said he’d been trapped in that mirror and left alone, but paranoia insisted Violence had taken him out and tortured him.
It insisted my husband was hiding scars deep down where I couldn’t sense them.
We hadn’t bonded yet, but I wanted to. The second we got a moment alone.
Misery’s pale throat bobbed with a swallow, and he blinked rapidly.
“Let it out,” I breathed, pulling him into me. My heart cut through with a vicious ache when he bowed over me, his cheek resting on my shoulder. “Let it all out. I can take it.”
“I can’t,” he rasped, clutching me closer. “It’s too much. All this misery would kill a mortal.”
“I can transform into a jaguar. I have wisps of my own magic. I’m not sure I’m mortal anymore, Miz. Trust me. I can handle it.”
And I trusted him. He would never do anything to harm me, let alone kill me.
“I won’t let you bear this pain alone,” I whispered, running my fingers through his long hair, smoothing the errant strands and tangles. I reached for the icy rain of my soul and pictured myself standing in a storm, weathering the drenching cold, welcoming it.
Miz shuddered and slipped the leash from his magic. It took all my effort to bite my tongue instead of gasping. My eyes stung, watered. My chest crushed, caving in. But I held onto him and didn’t let go. All this suffering, all this misery. I wouldn’t let him endure it alone.
Neither would Tor, I realised, when his arms came around us both, a kiss pressed to my forehead, then Miz’s temple.
Then Death quietly crossed the room from where he’d sat at the desk, watching us with sad eyes.
Pain’s shadows brushed my side, his lips pressing to my temple, and some of the pressure in my heart eased.
Arms wrapped around me from behind, and Madde’s fiery soul wrapped around mine like an affectionate octopus, easing some of the strain on my chest.
Together we bore the devastation battering at Miz. And when we parted, we began to plan.