Page 33 of Where Crows Find Death
His attention was both wanted and unwanted, and as I fidgeted in my seat, trying to look anywhere but at him, I focused on the walls of Elandra's home. Or better said, Elandra's temple.
Now that I knew more about the island, or, well, I at least understood what it was, I could see traces of ancient Greek architecture, spanning all over the place. The massive columns adorned the entrance to Elandra's home, reminding me oftemples I had only ever seen on pictures from Athens, only much smaller and much darker. Gray, almost black stone, made the outer walls, but the moment we stepped inside I felt the warmth of a house that was lived in.
The room we were sitting in could qualify as a living room, with a firepit opposite of us brimming with a soft fire Elandra had started the moment we came here. Her walls were adorned with pictures, both in color and black and white, drawings that seemed older than life itself and trinkets attached to each frames. I didn't want to be rude and look too closely, but for an immortal being, Elandra probably knew more losses than I would ever know, and it made me respect her even more.
For a woman that lived for so many years and a woman who was destroyed by the very Gods she once prayed to, she didn't carry the darkness, the grief, she must have felt like a second skin. Not like me. Not like Hades.
His grief was a poison slithering through the cracks of this house, reaching me more and more with each passing second, and touching my own. And I was allowing it. Or why I dreamed of him. I still had no idea why his eyes on me felt like coming home and my entire body buzzed with an energy I couldn't explain, but I didn't want it to stop.
I felt alive for the first time in a year when those shadows erupted, surrounding us and manifesting their true form. I felt alive when he stepped in front of me, ready to defend me against Elandra even though I knew she posed no threat to me.
Every single atom in my body begged me to get up and move closer to him, and instead of doing just that, I pushed my hands underneath my thighs, physically stopping myself from moving from my spot.
"I hope you like chamomile tea," Elandra said as she came back into the room, bringing a tray with several cups and a teapot, looking at no one in particular. I nodded simply, staringat the wooden, round table in front of me and the carvings etched on the edges. They were runes, I realized.
The same kind of runes she had on her arms and Hades had on his neck. That mere thought made me want to look at him, at the tattoo on his neck, but I knew if I did that I'd become a slave of those emerald green eyes yet again, and I couldn't afford that. Not right now.
They said I could kill him, and the mere thought of harming this man, this God in front of me, turned my stomach around. My throat closed just as Elandra placed the tray in front of us, pouring tea in four cups and placing them in front of us.
I tried shaking off the picture of me killing Hades from my mind, calming my breathing, but nothing really worked. I could see him moving in his chair, leaning forward, and that voice I craved to hear broke the silence around us.
"Kaira," he said, his slightly accented voice emphasizing therin my name, making the butterflies flutter again in my belly.
I had boyfriends before. I had men who knew how to touch me, how to please me, but after every single interaction I felt hollow, devoid of emotions toward them. Touching them felt wrong. Trying to love them felt even worse, so I stopped trying, avoiding commitment like a plague and focusing on my work and my friends.
Yet one word from this stranger, one fucking interaction, and my entire body sang, ready to bring me to my knees. I just wanted to hear him say my name one more time.
I knew I had never met him before, and I didn't count those dreams I thought were nightmares for such a long time, but deep in my soul it felt as if I knew him. I knew he would tilt his head when he tried understanding what was going on. I knew he had a small scar on his chin, and I knew he didn't like chamomile tea. These random thoughts kept popping up in my mind even as myaunt pressed her hand on my upper back, rubbing in circles like my mom used to do when I was a child.
"I know you were attacked with far too much information today."
"That would be the understatement of the year," I murmured, still looking at the fucking table. My teeth clamped down on my lip, trying to prevent myself from looking at him, but it was futile fighting this—whatever this was.
My head lifted, my eyes connecting with his, and the moment they did, the shadows crawling over his body started to retreat, leaving him bare, open to me. He exhaled slowly as if my eyes were the only things he'd been waiting to see, to calm down, and the longer we stared at each other, the slower my heartbeat became. The erratic thumping in my chest slowed down, allowing me to inhale properly, sensing the scent of chamomile in the air.
"What did you mean when you said I could kill him?" I asked my aunt, not once taking my eyes off of the God of the Dead. His eyes were the dark, decaying prison I never wanted to escape from. His words were a need, a craving I had, and as I pushed myself to relax and lean back, I registered each line of his face. Each sharp point and the arch of his dark eyebrows.
I ran my eyes over the tattoo again, partially hidden by the collar of his black shirt, and a sudden thought popped in my head, out of nowhere—that isn't just a regular tattoo.
"Yeah, well," Elandra started speaking, lowering herself onto the couch on my left. "I'm not sorry you know some things, but I am sorry we couldn't ease you into it." She picked up her cup, making me almost laugh at how mundane the action seemed. "We've been going in circles, Kaira, trying to tell you things without telling you too much, but there's no time to waste and you need to know everything if we are to keep everyone safe."
"Safe from what?"
Elandra looked at my aunt and then back at me. "From you, darling. We need to keep them safe from you."
My blood ran cold and when I looked at Elandra, I could see the seriousness on her face. She wasn't saying this to hurt me. She wasn't saying this to be mean, but out of real concern for other people.
"I think you need to deliver information a little bit slower," Hades spoke, scowling at the blunt woman. "She doesn't need to know everything immediately."
I scowled at him this time. "Yeah, I do. I need to know everything." If looks could kill, I would be a dead person now. His eyes shone with a fire I couldn't explain, the lines on his forehead deepening the longer he looked at me. "I am not a child," I argued. "I am also tired of secrets and people tiptoeing around me as if I am this ticking time bomb waiting to explode."
"Because you are," he gritted out. "You are a ticking time bomb, Kaira. You are the one thing standing between the rest of humanity and my brothers' insane need to rule over everything. You are the ticking bomb, not because you know what you are, but because you don't know what you're capable of."
"W-what… What do you mean?"
"Hades," Elandra bit out. "Careful. Your grumpiness is showing."
"Well, seeing as you've pulled me into this shit show, I think you'll have to accept my grumpiness and move the fuck on. But she needs to know how dangerous it is having an immortal walking around with all these powers she doesn't know how to use."
