Goddess Of Ashes and Sun

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR (Titus)

As soon as the doors slammed shut behind Shea, Loki began to fidget. He tugged at his filthy brown hair and his eyes darted nervously across the room.

"I-I should make sure she's not going to blow something up," he said, backing away slowly.

"Hold on one moment." Chester grabbed his arm as I stepped in front of him.

He stared at Chester with a strange glint in his multi-coloured eyes. His jaw clenched and unclenched before he finally spat out an answer.

"What do you want?"

I slid an arm around his thin shoulders. "You two are close, right? You've been imprisoned for a long time because of her, right? Why do you still bother with her?"

"I'd watch what you say, I may be weak at this moment, but I'm still a god and could smite you for those remarks." His voice was a hostile growl, his shoulders tense under my arm.

"Hey, no harm meant, we're just trying to figure out if we can trust her and why everyone is so fascinated with her. She doesn't seem that special. Fire's cool, don't get me wrong-"

Loki shrugged off my arm and ripped his arm out of Chester's grasp.

"She will do whatever it takes to decimate Baldur from this earth. She has gone through too much-we've been through too much-to just throw away our chance over some futile rebellion. You saw a glimpse of the shit she's been through, so listen here you little shits," he grabbed my collar and pulled me closer, whispering intensely, his thin eyebrows furrowed, "The reason everyone is 'so fascinated' with her is that she is a survivor and we all have a history that outdates you by millions of years, so I'd shut your mouths before one of us sews it shut." He let go of me with a push, spun on his heel, and stalked to the doors, throwing them open.

He hesitated for a moment, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "Nice meeting you, Titus."

The doors slammed shut behind him, the sound of impact echoing around the room.

"Damn. They must be really close then." I said, turning back round to face Chester.

He let out a snorting laugh. "Wonder what gave that away."

"She's got a point though."

"What?" Clyde asked, coming over.

"We really should go after Bara-, after Baldur, as soon as possible."

"I know, we're working on it, Titus. We did just take a castle and almost overthrow an entire dictatorship in one night, so give us a little time, okay?"

I held up my hands. "Whatever you say chief."

"I'll just try and stay away from the wounded then," Death said softly.

I turned to look at him again. He was very tall and pale with midnight black hair and black eyes. He had first degree burns on his forearms and a red/purple marks around his neck and wrists.

"Who knew Death had a sense of humour?!" I said, turning back to Chester again.

"A lousy one at that," he mumbled, refusing to look at Death. Instead, his eyes rested on the dirty tiled floor at my feet.

"Something wrong with you two?" I asked, gesturing at them with a grimy index finger.

"Yes. My son thinks it's okay to ignore his father for three centuries," Death said pointedly, his dark eyes boring into the side of Chester's head.

My mouth fell open. "Your father is Death?! How does that even work?" I looked at Chester, eyebrows raised. How did that work? Death having kids?