God Bones

Chapter 10: Hellhound

Lucy

The next day, I met him.

Rhys.

The final player in this game of death and madness.

And in my opinion, the most important one. He wasn't just a piece in the game, he held the entire board in his hands. Though I wouldn't know it then, he was my best chance of getting Sera back.

He was terrifying. The memory of our first meeting still keeps me awake at night. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So let's start from when I woke up the next day.

I slept late, which was surprising because I didn't sleep well at all. I was restless, I kept tossing and turning and woke up a couple of times and stared at the ceiling of my room. My cheeks were sticky, my eyes were burning and I had a mild headache, like it been crying.

I don't even know why I would cry. Arion is far from cruel, from what I could tell. I splashed some water on my face wiped it with a towel. My eyes were puffy and red. I washed my hands with some ice cold water and pressed my fingers over my eyelids.

The sun was already up and the shade of the curtain couldn't stop the light from penetrating into the room. I carefully open the door and step downstairs. I don't want to run into Arion or worse, his friends at least not this damn early in the day.

I made my way down the stairs and saw that Arion was already awake. The subtle aroma of coffee filled the room. He smiled at me. His hair was wet from the shower and he was dressed in a navy blue shirt left unbuttoned at his throat. I approached him. It didn't look like there was anyone else around.

The house was opulent. I was too tired to appreciate it last night. Wooden floors, tasteful steel lighting and leather couches, like my dad had. Most importantly, it was open with tall French windows letting all the natural light in. The city looked so distant from up here. It reminded me of the few times I visited Seraphina in her penthouse, though the buildings I could see from here were completely unfamiliar.

"Slept well?"

I gave him a small smile. "New place. I'll get used to it."

"I made us some breakfast. Do you like coffee?"

"Yeah, thank you."

He poured some of the dark liquid into a mug. "How do you take it?"

"Black."

He passed me the cup. I took it and thanked him. He was so damn sweet, I almost didn't want to spy on him.

"Why did your Family force you to marry me?" I asked.

"Isn't it a bit too early for such questions?" He said. "Why don't we spend the day together? I don't have anywhere to be."

So no bugging your house today.

"You want to spend the day with me?" I teased.

He laughed. "You may be Hellis, but I kind of like you."

"Don't be fooled, we can shape-shift to look like humans."

"Well, your human form is beautiful."

We finished our coffees, Arion took our cups to the sink and rinsed them. He brought out two plates and piled them with food that was cooking on the induction stoves.

"I'm not fond of the English breakfast, you'll have to forgive me for that. I probably wouldn't be able to eat baked beans on toast even if you held a gun to my head," He said.

I have a gun in my bag, we can find out.

What is up with these semi aggressive thoughts? This Vagi 'assassin' was something else.