“Seth.” The name was all I had by means of explanation. I sighed and tried not to focus on the acute pain on my back and in my head, but it was hard to think of anything else when everything hurt so much.
Fen, who had stayed out of the way until now, hopped back onto the bed, paced the length of the mattress a half-dozen times making worried trilling noises, then curled into a ball beside me.
“He bit me about fifteen times when I cleaning your back.” Cade held up his hands to show me the tiny needle-sized bite marks on his knuckles. “He cares about you.”
“You bribed him.” I nodded to the full food dish.
“Fastest way to a man’s heart. No matter what the species.”
As if agreeing, Fen let out a little snort, his gaze laser focused on Cade. I scratched my furry sidekick behind his massive ears, and he gave a contented sigh. Soon he was snoring.
There was no escaping an explanation. Cade was still patiently crouched in front of me, oblivious to whatever strain it must be putting on his knees, and he showed no sign of going away or being distracted by my banter.
Not that I was on top of my chitchat game right now.
“He’s never done that before,” I admitted. “Not like that. Normally I… Normally what I get is like a shadow of his ability. I can call the rain, summon the lightning, but I can’t, like, create a tornado from nothing. And I can’t decimate a building in one go.”
“Well, you did.”
I nodded. “Evidently.”
All I was thinking was what would have happened if I’d been weaker. The feel of Seth’s power inside me was like being ripped to shreds by white-hot light. It was such a foreign, intense pain, my body was already starting to forget it. Anything short of physical denial would be too much to handle. But his power had split my skin, spilled my blood.
He could have killed me.
And if he had, he wouldn’t have cared.
“Are you okay?” He put one hand on my knee, and I stared at the clover tattoo.
“What does that mean?” I touched it, and this time he didn’t move my hand away.
“You’re not the only one who gets used by your god, you know.”
My finger traced the black outline of the skull. “It’s not your fault.” I wasn’t sure what I was absolving him of, but that tiny little death mark told me it wasn’t anything he would reflect upon happily. “We don’t get to say no to this. None of it.”
This time he pulled his sleeves down, and I let my hand drop away.
“A lot of people have died because of me,” he said. “I’m not going to let you be another one.”
As if he had a say in it.
“They’re all for people you…” I let my voice drift off. Killed wasn’t the right word. But he was right, bad luck was a factor in many, many deaths. “All of them are for someone different?”
He clenched his jaw and stood. “Yes.”
There were so many. My gaze followed him up, watching him as he stalked around the room with the fevered grace of a caged animal. I decided not to ask him anything else about it. When he grabbed my bag and started filling it with my things, I was distracted enough to change the topic.
“What are you doing?”
“Packing.”
I made a face of annoyance, but he was too busy collecting my jacket from the bathroom to see it. When he threw my coat at me, I had enough wherewithal to catch it one-handed. Fen lifted his head and watched with me as Cade prowled from one area to the next.
“What are you doing? I asked again.
“If we’re going to get to Louisiana before Manea’s undead horde, we need to leave. Now. Unlike us, they don’t need sleep.”
“You’re actually coming?” I knew Seth had said arrangements were already in order, but I honestly hadn’t expected Cade would be making this fool’s errand by my side.