Aftermath [manxman]

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

So far, no one had died. That was good. While Geras and Thanatos were stuffing their faces with the food that was being offered as if they were confronted with food for the first time in their lives and chatting it up with the council, Charon and I were watching them closely for any signs of being poisoned. I didn't trust the council not to have any ill intentions because I knew our pantheon would take any chance being offered regardless of how tiny it was to get the upper hand and taking out a few naïve primordial gods without having to lose any men would be conveniently beneficial to their cause.

Geras was partially hiding behind his bangs while he was talking to Mal, his cheeks flushed and I frowned at them getting all buddy buddy with each other. Don't get me wrong, I wanted him to have friends with all my heart but I didn't want him to hit it up with the enemy, a rather powerful one. Mal might look like a walking, happy sunshine that couldn't hurt a fly but he was outright dangerous. One wrong word from Geras and he could end up being killed and I didn't want that constant fear for him. I wanted him to have real friends who were going to accept him and not kill him.

Thanatos just eyed me once in a while before he looked away again and shaking his head lightly as if he was talking to himself. Before I got a chance to talk to him, Collin teleported in with a smug grin, startling the servants. Some of them froze in fear, some shrieked and ran away and one who was carrying a plate with fish, flinched and accidentally dropped a piece on Geras' shirt, leaving behind a stain. The servant stiffened for a second before he turned into a frantic mess.

"I'm so sorry!" He seemed horrified. "I will clean this up for you."

"Oh no, it's alright." Geras smiled. "Nothing happened."

Virtue just snapped his fingers and the food as well as the stain disappeared as if nothing ever happened. He didn't look too pleased and the servant just ducked and made sure to hurry off as fast as possible. Geras watched him leave with a gentle smile while Collin couldn't be bothered to care and just skipped over to Thaney, plopping down on his butt next to him while he grinned at him, showing off a set of sharp teeth. They were freaking me out since they were looking like long spiky needles, meant to rip out your throat unlike our teeth who only had one pair of long fangs. His had two sets of fangs and the rest were all razor sharp and pointy. It was if the the universe wanted to warn us and we were stupid enough to trust him.

"I found the thing you were looking for." Collin smirked, raising an eyebrow. "I hid it in the secret spot."

I had no idea what they were talking about but if it involved Collin, it probably wasn't the smartest idea and probably not the most legal thing they were up to. Especially if he had to hide it in the ominous secret spot. What was that even supposed to mean? Was he just trying to piss us off by showing off how close both of them were? It was working and I clenched my jaw in jealousy, turning my head away to pretend I was more interested in Geras.

"Found what?" I asked non-chalantly.

"None of your business Nyx' spawn." Collin huffed, rolling his eyes at me.

"I know you think calling us that is insulting us but it's not." Charon snapped at him. "Mom is a million times better than you."

Collin started laughing as if there was no tomorrow, even tearing up a little while he slapped his leg. Geras looked at him, mildly disturbed  by the sudden outburst as if he was scared of him and I had a feeling that Collin enjoyed freaking him out just like anyone else. He got a sick thrill out of pissing everyone off and if that didn't work, he made sure to somehow mess with them regardless. I wasn't going to let him mess with Geras, he was way too soft to be able to cope with that and Collin never knew when to stop.