Back in Tany'ra...

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 "Byron, I need your help."

 Byron straightened from where he had been carving up another tree for firewood. Last night, something had been up with Nїx.

 She'd been quiet, halfway reading her new tome, but most of the time she'd been giving him a sideways look that made him wonder... things. Things that a reaper didn't need to be wondering about.

 Like how great her lips tasted.

 He wandered back to their makeshift camp. They'd taken up residence under the cliffs. Nїx had pointed out the cliffside hadn't fallen apart during the last big storm. The fishing was easier, and they could take shelter from another storm more swiftly.

 When he arrived, he glanced around. The last storm to pass through had been light. More of the same. By now the heat had dried out the shoreline. Phenїx wasn't here. "What's the problem?" he called. "Nїx, you okay? Where are you?"

 "Over here." He followed her voice, then came to a grinding halt. Nїx was laying out on a towel that she'd brought over with her, sunning underneath one of the trees. And she was topless. She glanced over at him.

 "Would you mind giving me another massage?"

 Guh.

 He swallowed hard. "Uh, are you tanning?"

 When she hummed an affirmation, he quirked his head. Why was she doing that? It helped keep his mind off the latent sexiness of the female flesh in front of him, so he asked, "Doesn't your skin just pop back to the shade it was tomorrow?"

 "Yes," she admitted. "It's partly the reason we paint our nails so often. The one thing we can control and change liberally about ourselves without magick."

 He'd wondered about that once. Huh. So mortal and immortal females alike enjoyed that. Interesting.

 "So...?" He gestured at her topless state. She peered at him a moment, her lips quirked with annoyance.

 "What," she snipped. "A girl can't enjoy a little sunlight?"

 He jerked. Yeesh. Bossy and a little hurt. Sorry. Well, when she put it that way, okay, yeah, he supposed it made sense. He knelt down over her back and began working over her shoulders. She let out a soft sigh, nestling her face into the large towel she had cradling her head.

 It was one thing to have snuck a peek at her from a distance. This close, he could make out every tiny hair follicle that sprung up out of her skin. Unlike the rest of her, these were blonde, and touching them just so made them pebble under his fingers.

 That was an amazing sight. And the gentle sheen of sweat breaking out over her was tantalizing. She was truly born of heaven, and smelled it, too. He chose to focus on something else he was curious about.

 "Random question, did you tan in Valhalla before your immortality froze?"

 She was giving him another of those looks, just over her shoulder, "What makes you ask that?"

 "No tan lines."

 "Observant. But how do you know about my hips?"

 His jaw fell open slightly, and then shut. "Uh, well." Don't know... "I mean, do you have lines there?"

 She giggled and shook her head. "No, silly. Of course not."

 Byron closed his eyes. The shield maiden was temptation wrapped up in a package that should be illegal even in heaven realms themselves. He focused on a particularly hard knot in her upper shoulder, and when she sighed he had to remember to breathe properly.

 Question. Back to the question. "So..." he started again. "Where'd you go?"

 "Mother took Mama and I to Feveris for two months before my immortality froze."

 Waaaaait. They'd gone to the Realm of Lusts? That... noooo. Nope. Don't go there, Dekker.

 He cleared his throat and tried focusing on aligning her spine gently. While he pushed a few of the vertebrae slowly around, she gave another moan that set his teeth on edge. He sucked in a breath and thought aloud, "That must've been... interesting."

 Her tone turned brittle in a flash. "I hope you're not insinuating something."

 "Huh?" He shook his head. What did she mean by that? "What? No, wait." Comprehension took hold. "No, but ew!?"

 "Hey!" She flipped her head around to look at him. "What were you trying to picture?"

 Uh, uh oh. No, he wasn't going there. Fantasies like those were a big no-go zone for him. "I was just picturing you tanning in Feveris, not... no, I don't do the whole mommy-daughter deal." He winced, realizing how idiotic that sounded. "That's just no."

 "Hey, my moms are awesome..." she pouted.

 What? Of course they were, did she realize where his mind was? No, wait, it wasn't supposed to be there!

 "That's not what I meant!" he sputtered. "Who in their right mind would even try for Wóden's wife or a woman like your mother under that kind of protection?! Wóden, Thor and Tyr alone would've cleaned out a half-dozen pantheons if anyone tried anything! Loki, too. Heard he was a mama's boy."

 Nїx stretched out her arms a bit, humming. "Wóden went with Mother and Mama, numbnuts," she smiled over at him.

 Byron blinked, then shook his head. "Not. Picturing. That. Noooope."

 She was giggling. "You really are too easy to tease."

 Huh??? "Wha?"

 Nїx let out a sigh of contentment. "Byron, back then, Feveris was less crowded. Mother and Father had a private island that wasn't steeped in the fertility goddesses' enhancements. It was a tropical retreat, not an orgy zone."

 "Oh." Illumination arrived. Byron frowned when he comprehended... "You could've mentioned that..."

 "But that wouldn't be fun." Phenїx giggled over her shoulder at him.

 He bit down on his lip a moment. He stalled himself just in time; his hand was poised over her ass. He swallowed and dropped it. But not quickly enough. She'd seen that. Her eyes swept back up to his face, the edges crinkling with her giggles.

 "Were you about to spank a demigoddess, Byron Dekker?"

 Honesty was the best policy, he supposed. "The thought crossed my mind," he grated.

 The Valkyrie hummed and propped herself on an elbow, halfway facing him. He flipped his head to one side to avoid looking at her front.

 "Have I been a bad girl?"

 No woman alive should be bequeathed with blue eyes that appeared that freaking innocent! He straightened up. It was high time for him to get a move on. Nїx's voice hitched. "Where are you going?"

 Byron worked the saliva out of his mouth and muttered, "Thought you were all massaged out."

 Her eyes narrowed, "Liar."

 Damn that diamond and sword of hers! "I got stuff I gotta do," he rumbled out.

 She was up in a shot, and he flipped around again. Then Nїx grabbed him by the shoulder. Even that touch alone was enough to make him want to crush his lips against hers and start stripping her bottoms off.

 This galled the everliving hell out of him. First he was denied as a mortal because it was all a game, now he was denied because 'the game' was for keeps.

 He pulled back enough to avoid her. Then she groused, "You are taking the fun out of this, Byron. Turn around and look at me."

"Put something on, please."

Phenїx huffed angrily. "Reaper, they're breasts. You've seen a pair or two before, right?"

"S'not the point!"

"Okay, then what's the point?" she bit out. "What, you don't want to be tempted? Can't control yourself?"

He winced, turned, and looked her full in the face. This female was about to piss him off to no end. "Of course I can control myself!"

"Good, then answer me this." She brought herself close enough for him to feel her body heat on his skin. "Why do you keep going cold on me whenever we start flirting?"

He blew out a breath. So, she was finally going there? As if he hadn't been very clear on the circumstances already.

"I don't go cold," he grumbled.

"You're doing it right now!"

Byron was many things. Stupid was not one of them. He held up a hand, "I'm just being respectful, Nїx!"

She gazed over his face with that something that made him feel crazy. Then she whispered, "You want to be respectful? Fine. Then why won't you tell me what it is you want in a mate?"

He winced. She would have to ask that question. The answer would just make things more difficult. He shoved down the heartache. The opposite side of the river suddenly became the most fascinating sight in the universe.

Phenїx huffed, "Gods above, Byron, are you ever not stubborn?"

"Nope."

Her fist connected with his arm hard enough to deaden it. "Stop being an asshole, reaper!"

That pang of pain was enough to set him off. How was he being an asshole? He twisted clear. Okay, he could start off with one quality he wanted in particular with his wife.

"Not getting hurt tops the list."

"Hello, all the best loves in the world hurt each other from time to time, but they get over it!"

"You don't get over it. You get through it," he argued.

"Same difference!"

A thought occurred to him. Let's see how well she knows my idea of being together. He growled out, "Wives, submit to your husbands."

There was a moment where she stiffened. Then her voice lowered, "That's what you want?! A submissive slave?!"

She sounded pissed. He pinned her with a look. "What's the next line?"

Phenїx's face turned bemused. "What?"

He heaved out a breath and waved, "What's the next verse that follows that one?"

She was blinking, trying to reference what he was talking about. He shook his head with a chuff. "The verse that follows goes as such. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church." He swiveled around slowly to peer at her. "Do you grasp what that ordnance is for a male? It means he must clothe her, wash her, heal her, feed her, and be ready to sacrifice himself for her."

"This isn't the medieval age, reaper!" she argued vehemently.

"So what?!" He flapped his hands angrily. "If a male is willing to do that for you, is it such a burden to have his back?"

Nїx stuttered on that. He nodded firmly. There, maybe that would clear up the situation.

"I'm not asking for a slave, Nїxie. I never did. I wanted a partner. A queen." He sighed. "The verse predicates the husband being a righteous man or male. The point being," he continued. "If your male has your best interests at heart, you wouldn't have to worry about 'submitting', because you'd know he loves you. And any righteous male is always going to want to love his woman with eros and agape. Erotic and selfless love."

Phenїx was looking him over, then her voice carried in a slightly softer tone, "Okay, that makes a little more sense."

"It should, hasn't really changed, even from the time y'all pagans were running around without Christ. I just don't get why y'all find it so damnably hard to understand today." He snorted. "Then again, you were there when He was around, weren't you? So I wonder what your excuse is."

She was silent for awhile, and he in turn went back to studying the other shoreline. She wrapped a t-shirt over her head, but it was thin. Too thin. He could rip it off her and do what he'd dreamt about.

Then the memory of the scalding brand on him made him grimace. He clamped down on the desire, breathing deeply.

This hypersensitivity was such a bitch sometimes with everything going on. Never mind that he struggled with wanting a woman especially in bed before, but damned if you do, damned if you don't, in this day and age. And now, Phenїx was driving him mad with everything about her.

"I never met him. Though I heard about Yeshua." Phenїx mentioned.

He jerked slightly, realizing what he'd said at the end. He cursed himself. No filter, no brain. God, I wish I could control my temper better sometimes. He sighed, "You had the Lore to worry about."

"He didn't write those lines, though."

"No," he agreed. "You're right. That was the apostle Paul to the city of Ephesia. But he followed Yeshua. Jesus."

She sighed, reminiscing, "Ephesia was a nice place, back then. Even for a mortal city."

Byron rolled his eyes at that. "Long as you steered clear of the centurions, I'm sure it was."

She stepped up beside him. "You think we were worried about them?"

"I know you didn't have to, but I'm from mortal stock, there, demigoddess." He gave her a sideways look and shrugged. "The centurions weren't all great, upstanding sorts."

She bobbed her tresses in agreement. "True." She paused while she seemed to weigh him up with her gaze. Her tongue dabbed a lip momentarily. "So... what you want is a partner."

"Yes."

"And when a female offers that to you?"

He barely stifled back a snort of derision. "Not likely."

"Of course it's likely!" she snapped.

"Really?" He peered over at her. "Because where I'm standing, that's hard to see."

Nїx rolled her eyes. "Women have offered before, haven't they?"

"Ha!!!" His dry laugh barked past his throat. Then he shook his head hard, "No. Not since my miss."

She squinted, "The demigoddesses?"

"Seduction pulls?" He lofted his brows. "Really, we're counting those?"

Nїx flapped her hands out to her sides, flustered. "If you're desirable to some of the fertility demigoddess cadres, hells yes, that counts for something, numbnuts!"

He cocked his head to one side in a "whatever" gesture. "I guess it didn't really register, considering I had a mission."

"And when you weren't on a mission?" She was pressing in on him. "Did they offer then?"

Sure, sometimes. Then again, they weren't as interested in him, as they were trying to get to know what he knew. He hedged anyway, "Wouldn't know, I was a little busy trying to keep my head down."

"And when the nymphs offered?" she rapid-fired.

Byron felt his eye twitch. Yeah, sure, they were pretty. They could also be really blunt, and self-centered.

 "I'm sorry, the constant reminder that I'm a creep kinda takes away the desire to get to know a female intimately!" He looked over at her. "Kinda fucking hurts, you know!?"

 She faltered. He clenched his jaw and looked away again. For a moment, she was silent. That he could be grateful for. He needed that time to breathe out all the pain. Nїx was subdued only a moment though. Then she stepped closer to him.

"Byron, not every female in the realms had to have treated you that way." She crossed her arms under her bust. Almost as though she were holding herself together. "I haven't... Right?"

This was not her fault. He inhaled slowly, praying and breathing in equal measures. "No. No, you haven't. It's one of the things I'm grateful for. You might be arrogant, sometimes, but you're not spiteful about it."

She was nibbling on her lip again. "Then, why not have fun with me?"

He turned and regarded her. So she really was going there. "Demigoddess, did our conversation that first day just slip your mind?"

"They said you can't have sex, Byron," she puffed heavily. "Doesn't mean you can't have fun. Just a little."

Byron thought that over. "What do you mean?"

"Ugh!" She put her fingers to her temples for a moment, rubbing, "Lore to reaper, duh, the bananas?"

The idea sent a shot of lust straight through his heart to his cock. Damned if that didn't get his mouth watering. He shook his head. This was a ridiculous idea.

Phenїx stared holes into him. "Why not, Byron? You imagined it... I'll bet you've been imagining it plenty."

Absolutely, he had. That didn't change anything. If they started something, he'd want to finish it. He worked his jaw. "Nїx, I'm not your mate. And sorry, but I'd want to go further than that," he raised both hands up. "Therefore, hands off. Way off!"

"Why are you apologizing?!" She pressed closer, sweeping her gaze over him, slowly. "Byron, every day we've been together, how much have you wanted me?"

He clenched his jaw and turned away, trying to avoid grinding his molars to dust. Don't look at her. Do not. "I'm not answering that," he mumbled.

Nїx flipped him around hard. Pinning him with that glacier stare. Then her eyes narrowed. Shit, were his eyes smoking?! "That's what I thought." She let the words out softly, then she poked a finger in his chest. "And I'll wager you do have an instinct. Just like a Lykae!"

Byron ran his tongue over his teeth. What was an instinct? All he'd ever known was desire. How could he know if she didn't?

"I'm a reaper." He blinked, waving it off. "Hypersensitivity. That's all. I've found plenty of females to be tempting."

She winced. He just held back a grimace. Yeah, that comment had cut deep.

Then her visage widened and turned wily, "More tempting than Aphrodite, Byron?"

He sucked in a sharp breath. Shit.

Nїx's eyes glimmered silver. She stepped in closer and pulled his face down to look at her fully. Her lips breathed the words out sultrily, "Say they were better than Aphrodite. Say there are females more desirable than me!"

That gauntlet she'd just thrown... His fists clenched, "You said I wasn't your mate!"

"And what if I'm wrong? What if you are, and something was interfering?" Her eyes bloomed. "You didn't say they were better-looking than me!"

Of course he hadn't. What, he was expected to lie in this day and age when he wanted someone? He shook himself again. No meant no, and that was all. He wasn't her mate. But Phenїx pushed herself up against him hard, molding her curves to him.

"Say there are females sexier than me," she challenged. "Say that, and that'll prove me wrong. I'll even help you find your One, then. Happily!"

He felt his anger flare. Of course she would! She was always helping others find love while suffering from that vision. For once, he wasn't going to the selfish one asking for her help. Especially not since he gave a damn about her and what she thought of him.

Moreover...

"You can't," he muttered.

"You idiot ma-" She stopped. "What do you mean, I can't?"

He backpedaled. He needed to go for distance. She was way too tempting. And he was already damned. The only argument he had at this point with the pantheons was if he kept it 'professional'.

A new energy vibration made him sigh. Saved by the bell. "This conversation gets you nowhere," he said. "I'm going to get some food. Your sisters are here, by the way."

He marched away at the double-quick.

"Gods damn it all, reaper!"

She shrieked after him and he growled. If that woman shrieks at me one more time...! Byron pulled his cloak on and willed himself into his transition. Blood slowing. The heat from her gaze was still making him stupid.

He needed to get back his control. His discipline. Why was she so damnably tempting? Why did he want what he couldn't have?

That brought him up short. His forehead furrowed. Of course, he would want the one woman that he'd seen before he was introduced to the Lore. And of course! She would have to be the sexiest, strongest woman, female, Valkyrie, in all of Creation.

And that singular female he wanted... didn't see him as her mate.

But she had asked whether she was wrong. Her, an oracle, the Ever-Knowing, questioning whether she was wrong.

Byron shook his head. If she were wrong, that meant something had been interfering with her vision and her nose, from the very beginning. How would such a thing even be possible? The damnedest answer... he didn't know.

He paused and stared up at the sky and let out a dry laugh. That was purely typical of his kind of luck.

What kind of shit stars did he have to be born under to earn this kind of karma?

For a long moment, he dreamed about what he would want to do with her. Slowly kissing her... and then playing with her skin, her body, learning what she liked best. Then to finally just... lose all control and sense.

Would she like that? God, he prayed so.

Another cynical voice raised in the back of his mind. Right. He'd have that when, again? Likely never. He found himself grinding his molars again.

The jungle had gone more quiet than usual. He peered around, inspecting it. Something was off about this. It was almost midday, but the creatures on this plane apparently enjoyed the later afternoon and the evening to come out and dine. Still, even the bird-like creatures of this plane sounded further away at the moment.

Well, maybe they were picking up something from his own mood. He'd read that reapers could affect the local wildlife. They could desire to be elsewhere when the reaper was experiencing intense emotions.

And what could he call this?

Just a moment after his heart ached, a spike of pain exploded in his brain. He growled.

The fuck was that just now?!

He paused, searching mentally. His heart stuttered, seized. That pain was from the brand. Seven other voices had joined the original five. Whoever had branded him had just found seven others to validate the summons.

Something – no, someone – crossed into his aura. His eyes widened. How the fu-?!

He was off like a shot. Scalpere Deus slung into his grip with a crack. While Byron closed the distance, his eyes narrowed, sensing. These two were old, but they weren't very strong. Trackers for a certainty.

Motherfuckers. He charged in, his body tensed. When he landed in front of the newcomers, he snarled. The lanky pathos demons hissed hate. The first, bald and with canary-yellow eyes, sneered ominously, "What are you?"

"Your end."

Byron leapt forward, his scythe cracking the air. They shot apart, startled. Rust coated his tongue. But the soot in his nose told the story.

"Scumbags," he spat.

Both started swinging wide, carving at him wildly, clearly at a point past all reason. That, or... his mind widened when he sensed his aura being breached again. These two were just a distraction!

"You're dead, little boy," the second pathos demon chuckled.

His eyes lit to fire and he summoned his armor. "You fucked with the wrong reaper."

The second demon gaped in confusion. "What the shit is a reaper!?"

A horrifying scream pierced over the jungle. His heart froze, stuttered. It sounded like one of the other Valkyries. If they were already being attacked...

His blood roared in his ears. He started swinging.

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