Page 49 of Where Crows Find Death
"H-he?—"
"He does that sometimes," came from the direction of the trees in front of us, and as the footsteps came closer, so did the hissing of snakes. Elandra appeared in front of us, smiling widely as if this entire day wasn't a complete shit show and as if I didn't almost kill poor Lysander. Or at least I assume I had almost killed him. "Hey, Grimm," she greeted him, passing by him as if he wasn't growling at her. "Always the friendliest of the bunch, I see."
"Medusa," Hades gritted out, pushing me farther behind him. "Nice of you to come back."
"What?" She laughed. "As if you didn't enjoy staying here with her, all alone, exploring the?—"
"Shut up, Medusa," he thundered, his entire body stiffening. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"Don't I?" she mocked as I stepped aside, facing her. "Well, I'm glad you didn't try to kill anyone else, Kaira."
I almost wished I could at least knock her out.
Feeling is entirely mutual, came again, and as I looked down at Grimm I saw those eyes burning into mine.
So I wasn't imagining it.
"Right." Elandra looked down at Grimm and then at me. "As much as I would love for us to stay here and chat, we actually have bigger fish to fry and shit to get on with. So, get your asses moving."
"No." I stepped forward toward her. "I am not moving my ass anywhere until you actually tell me the full truth. The realfucking truth, Elandra. And what in the actual fuck were you thinking by letting me attack someone like that? What the fuck were you thinking?"
She swiveled around, those snakes hissing at me just as all three dogs stepped right in front of me, baring their teeth at her.
"What was I thinking?" she exclaimed, completely ignoring my three guardians in front of me. "I was thinking I needed to see what you were made of." She took a step closer. "I was thinking I had to see if the stories were true or if this was just a wild dream we all had. I had to fucking see if you'd be able to handle yourself against a God, considering there's almost an army of Gods and monsters gathering on the other side of this island, getting ready to march over here to take you, to kill you, or to use you for their own agenda." Her eyes blazed with fury, clashing with my own. "I was fucking thinking that you maybe weren't ready for the full truth, so I had to see with my own eyes what capabilities you had and what we were working with!" Her voice boomed across the meadow, shaking everything around us as those snakes narrowed their eyes at me, hissing uncontrollably. "I was thinking that the niece of the woman I love is either a lost cause or the savior we were all waiting for. That's what I was thinking."
"You could have said something!" I bellowed. "You could've fucking talked to me, instead of letting me attack Lysander."
"He'll survive."
"That's not the fucking point and you know it."
She quieted down suddenly, placing her hands on her hips. "I know," she murmured. "And I am sorry, but I'm not going to apologize for actually forcing you to see what you're capable of."
"I still have no idea what I'm capable of," I exclaimed.
"And you'll find out," she bit back. "Come with me now, and you'll get answers. Stay here, and you'll just get angrier. The choice is entirely yours."
She didn't wait for my answer. She turned and marched back toward the forest, leaving the rest of us behind.
22
KAIRA
Grimm,Nox, and Vesper entered first as Hades opened the doors of Elandra's home, letting them pass as they started sniffing the air, growling softly as the two of us entered after them. Neither one of us spoke since we left the meadow, both too lost in our own minds, but I couldn't stop looking at Grimm and remembering more details from that night.
The painful mending of my body.
The sound of my bones snapping and getting put together.
The smell of death in the air as he whispered in my mind, telling me everything would be okay. And the eternal darkness I was drowning in, before I regained consciousness, seeing the wreckage clearly for the first time.
I had so many questions for him, but now wasn't the time.
The moment we stepped inside I could hear the raised voices, especially an unfamiliar feminine voice, louder than the rest.
"She almost killed him!" she screamed just as the others joined, whatever they were saying getting lost in the ether because they all spoke over each other.
Elandra mentioned a meeting, but I had no idea what kind of meeting she was dragging me into. Hades didn't seem too concerned, but then again, I wasn't the best at reading theemotions of the brooding God of the Dead. Ever since I told him I could feel him and pretty much attacked him, it felt as if a block had erupted between us, making it so much harder to feel what he was feeling.
