“Any idea what that might have been?” She glanced at him, frowned as she noticed he was closer, but didn’t make him move away.
He shook his head and reached out with his senses, but anything beyond a few feet was dull, dampened by this godsforsaken realm.
“I thought maybe you had eaten one and would know what it was.” She looked around her, her steps growing more cautious.
He softened his steps too, keeping the noise he made as he moved down to a minimum, in case the beast had good hearing and was hungry. They walked in silence for at least another mile, during which he didn’t hear the creature again. Maybe it had moved in the other direction from them.
Calindria relaxed too.
Promptly stumbled on another root.
Thanatos reached for her, but she found her footing and scurried away from him, placing more distance between them.
“When was the last time you slept?” He averted his gaze as she stopped and bent forwards to remove something from her foot, flashing more than was decent at him. It was hard enough to keep his eyes off her curves as it was. He was constantly aware of how little she wore, and how creamy her skin was now she had bathed. “You need to sleep.”
“I can’t.” She stomped ahead of him, but was careful whenever she encountered an obstacle.
Didn’t want to fall and give him more ammunition in their argument?
“You are tired and you need to sleep, Calindria.” He gave up being soft with her, put bite into his tone that revealed the irritation that was mounting inside him, sure that if she heard it, she might see sense.
She turned on him, a desperate and wild look in her eyes that he hadn’t been expecting. “I won’t sleep!”
He let her storm off ahead of him. That was more like it. She could sleep if she wanted, but she couldn’t because she would leave herself vulnerable and she didn’t trust him. For a moment, he had thought she trusted him now, knew he would keep her safe if she let her guard down, would watch over her and protect her. He couldn’t blame her for being cautious, even though it was a little insulting. He had done nothing to hurt her, had done his best not to frighten her, and to show her that he was there to help her.
“Tell me more about your power.” She didn’t look back at him.
He strode after her. “Why?”
She glanced at him now, slowed her pace a little when she saw the distance yawning between them. “Because I want to know more about my own power. Perhaps I can learn about it from you.”
He wasn’t sure she could, but he could see she needed to take her mind off sleeping, was determined not to succumb to it.
“I govern the veil… a realm that exists between the last breath and Hades receiving a soul for judgement.” He stepped over a root, keeping his eyes on the ground as he thought about how best to explain what he did. “When someone’s allotted time ends, I am the one who severs their body from their soul, and I usher the soul on to your father.”
“Sounds very laborious.” She stopped in front of two trees that had twined together and banked right, going around them. “How do you find the time? Death strikes countless times per second, surely?”
Death strikes? He was death.
“Most of it is… automatic… is probably the best word.” He shrugged when she looked at him in a way that said it wasn’t a good enough explanation. “Your father does not judge every soul that comes to him. Much of it is done by the will of his power, by him simply existing. Only special cases require my actual intervention.”
She huffed. “That does not give me any insight into my power at all. What other powers do you have? Can you… Does your touch hurt others as mine does?”
He shook his head, realised she wouldn’t see it, and said, “No. I can touch and be touched without harming others. I cannot bring death in the manner you do… not outside the veil.”
She paused and twisted to face him, a glimmer of curiosity lighting her eyes. “And inside the veil?”
He pondered that. “Within the veil, my power is absolute. I can kill with a touch if I will it. I can kill with only a thought.”
It was the reason the veil existed in the first place. Everything outside it was safe from any stray thought he might have. Without the veil, everyone who irritated him would drop dead and he would be unstoppable.
The most powerful god in existence.
“What’s the veil like?” She looked even more curious now.
“If you rest for a while, I will build a fire for you and will tell you all about it.” He almost smiled when her face darkened, that mulish twist to her lips back again.
“Blackmailing me now, god of death?”
He shrugged, lifting his wings. “I am not asking you to sleep… merely to rest.”
She looked around them, silent so long he was sure she was going to refuse, was trying to find a route where he couldn’t follow her and would make a break for it, preferring to run than rest.
“Very well,” she bit out. “There appears to be a clearing this way.”
She started off at an angle from him, heading north-west. Thanatos followed her, gathering logs and broken branches along the way. His arms were full by the time they reached the clearing, and she arched an eyebrow at him as he kneeled and let his hoard tumble from his grip.
“Planning to build a bonfire large enough to attract whatever beast is out there?” She studied his pile of wood.
He wasn’t even sure he could make it burn.
“No. But it is a good idea. I could kill it and cook it for us.” He rose to his feet.
She needed food in her belly. Immortals could survive a long time without food, but he preferred to find her something to eat. While starvation wouldn’t kill her, it would weaken her. If something in this dark realm attacked her, she might not be able to fend them off if her power didn’t activate.
“Or it could kill and eat you,” she countered, and for a heartbeat, he was sure she was worried about his safety and not just her own. She rubbed her arms and looked around the small clearing, and then moved off to one side of it. “I think whatever made that noise might be too large for you to handle alone anyway.”
He frowned at her for that subtle stab at his prowess as a warrior. Not that she noticed. She was too busy pulling a fallen log into the clearing. When she had positioned it to her satisfaction, she straightened and dusted off her hands, looking pleased with her work.
“I don’t get a seat?” He scowled at her for good measure when she sat on the one she had made for herself and just looked at him.
He huffed and kneeled again, strongly considering heading off to fight the beast. He needed to blow off some steam. His skin had felt too tight, his mind and body twitchy and restless, since Calindria had touched his hand. A good fight would go a long way towards releasing the tension building inside him.
“How do you intend to start the fire?” Her nose wrinkled and her lips quirked to one side as she frowned. “I think perhaps I was taught how… I could try to do it.”
“You think that little of my skills?” He glowered at her now, beginning to consider fighting her instead, even if it was only verbally. “First, I cannot handle a beast… a beast… something I am overqualified to fight. Now, I am so pathetic that I cannot even start a fire?”