Deity (Covenant #3)(61)

Aiden laughed softly as he pulled back. “Alex, you may feel fine, but you lost a lot of blood and you just had surgery.”

And I’d died, but I figured there was no point in adding that. I didn’t want Aiden to worry any more than he did, especially when he looked so exhausted. “All right.”

He moved away from the bed and stopped at the door. Looking back at me, he smiled. “I won’t be gone long.”

I eased onto my side carefully. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know. Neither am I.”

Chapter 18

I SLEPT LONGER THAN I’D EXPECTED. WHEN I AWOKE, the room was empty and my cell phone had been placed on the bedside table. I hoped that Aiden was getting some rest, and that Marcus was, too. Pushing into a sitting position, I winced as the movement pulled at the skin around the stitches.

Curious, I inspected the jagged scar again. Half-bloods were notoriously fast healers and Covenant blades were designed to cut cleanly, but it had to have done some internal damage. Had Apollo somehow patched me up more? Because I doubted that the doctors could’ve reversed that kind of damage. Other than feeling lethargic, I felt… okay.

But as I glanced around the room, something poked at the recesses of my memories. I was forgetting something—something hugely important. It was on the tip of my tongue just like when I’d been under a compulsion before. This was different, though. It was like waking up and not being able to remember a dream.

Sighing, I reached over and snatched up the cell phone. There was only one missed call from Cuddle Bunny. Scooting down, I called him back.

Seth answered on the second ring. “So, you’re alive?”

My heart flipped over heavily. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, I haven’t spoken to you in about two days.” He paused. “What have you been doing?”

“I’ve been sleeping, not doing much.”

“Sleeping for two straight days?”

I poked at my scar and winced. “Yeah, that’s about all.”

“Interesting…” There was a muffled sound, like something had been pulled over the phone. “You’ve been sleeping but Aiden had your phone?”

Crap. “He’s been babysitting me. I don’t know why he answered the phone when you called.” There was another muffled sound, and then Seth grunted. “What are you doing?”

“Pulling on my pants and it’s hard when you’re holding a phone.”

“Um, do you want me to call you back? Like when you’re not naked?”

Seth laughed. “I’m not naked now. Anyway, maybe we have some weird Apollyon malaise. I’ve been exhausted for about two days, but feel fine now.”

So he had felt something. I chewed on my lip. “Can I ask you something?”

“Hit me.”

“You said that when I Awaken, I’ll know what the past Apollyons knew, right?”

There was a pause. “Yes, I said that.”

Unease twisted my insides. “Then how did you not know about the Order of Thanatos, and that they’d killed Solaris and the First? Wouldn’t you’ve seen what they’ve seen?”

“Why are you asking?” Seth asked.

I took a deep breath. “Because it doesn’t make sense, Seth. You should’ve known. And how did you not know that a half and pure made an Apollyon? None of the Apollyons in the past had ever figured that out?”

“Why are you asking about this—” A distinctive, very feminine giggle cut off his words. When Seth spoke again, it sounded far away and sounded an awful lot like the word, “behave.”

I sat up, sucking in air sharply as my stomach screamed in protest. “Who are you with, Seth?”

“Why? You jealous?”

“Seth.”

“Hold on a second,” he replied, and then there was a sound of a door shutting. “Dammit, it’s cold out here.”

“Better be careful. Don’t want anything to freeze and fall off.”

He laughed. “Oh, that was bitchy. I think you just might be jealous.”

Was I jealous that he was so obviously with a girl and he’d been naked? Shouldn’t I be? But I wasn’t jealous—more like annoyed. Annoyed because I’d been getting stabbed and dying while Seth was screwing around. And how could I be mad? I was the one in love with another guy. I really had no room to talk. But I hadn’t gotten naked with that guy, not in several long months. Not since I’d decided to see what could happen with Seth.

Gods, I was so confused and I had no idea what was going on and why it was happening now.

“I’m not doing anything wrong,” Seth said after a stretch of silence.

“I didn’t say you were. Wait. You’re with Boobs, aren’t you?”

“Do you really want to know, Alex?”

Not when he put it like that. I chewed on my lip, unsure of what to say. Suddenly I heard Caleb’s voice in my head. There’s still hope. Weird.

“We never said we were in a relationship, and besides, whatever. You’re there. I’m here. And in a week or so, I’ll be back. And it’s not going to even matter.”

I blinked. “Really, it’s ‘whatever’?”

Seth sighed. “I know he was by your side the minute I left, doing his annoying brooding thing, trying to figure out a way to be with you. And he’s answering your phone while you’re sleeping? Yeah, it’s ‘whatever’.”