Patron of Mercy (Lords of the Underworld Book 3) by Sam Burns & W.M. Fawkes

Author:Sam Burns & W.M. Fawkes [Burns, Sam & Fawkes, W.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-18T03:00:00+00:00

One Bad Turn

Over the millennia, Thanatos had occasionally fantasized about this scenario.

On one level it felt silly, as though a being his age should be long over such childish whimsy. But sometimes he wondered if he’d really changed all that much over his eons of existence. Prometheus had made humans like the gods, so the similarities were many, but it seemed to Thanatos that humans gained in wisdom quickly while the gods languished in their excesses: a sort of indefinite arrested development because they had no reason to move forward, learn, and grow.

For so many years Thanatos had imagined this moment, when Lach came back, insisting that he’d been wrong and saying he still wanted him, still loved him.

At first, he had always taken Lach back, wrapping him in his arms and holding him as every bit of him wanted to.

Later, he had spent the fantasy tearing Lach apart the way Lach had done to him, insulting everything from his attitude to his prowess as a lover. It had all been lies, of course. Thanatos might be incapable of gaining the wisdom mortality bestowed, but he wasn’t ignorant enough to think Lach wasn’t perfect, even—and perhaps especially—in his imperfections.

That Lach saw himself as a mistake was astounding, and like every damned thing about him, oddly endearing. Thanatos didn’t think the Fates had decided Lach’s future because Lach had always brashly forged ahead, making his own path where there had been none. To call him a mistake was to call a tornado a mistake. They weren’t planned, certainly, but they decided their own fates from start to finish, and even the gods couldn’t predict their actions.

Lach was staring at his own sheet-covered lap, looking as downcast as Thanatos had ever seen him. He was responsible for that. It was like the fantasies where he’d spun tales of better lovers, told Lach how he had never truly satisfied him with his wildness and his demands. The truth, of course, was that the unexpectedness of everything Lach did was why Thanatos loved him.

He sighed, but even as he did it, he reached for Lach’s hand.

“I love you,” he whispered. It was so quiet he could barely hear it himself, but Lach’s head snapped up, eyes bright and hopeful. Thanatos cleared his throat. “I don’t think I stopped loving you, as pathetic as that is. I kept telling myself I wasn’t going to fall into this trap again. I wasn’t going to let you hurt me again.”

Lach flinched, and maybe it was wishful thinking, but everything about him did seem regretful about how things had ended between them. He was so earnest. Thanatos had always loved that.

He had always loved Glaucus, but this Glaucus, Lach, was somehow even more than the scrappy, stubborn man he’d known. The man he had become was different, but everything Thanatos had loved was still there. And now there was a little more self-reflection, a little less cocksure arrogance, and more unflinching loyalty, all hidden beneath that same dashing pirate smile.

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