Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
“You love reading,” he says dumbly over the hissing. “And your brother works on all types of mythologies, plus you just met Ra himself and you still don’t know who this little panther is?”
“Little?” I point at Bast.
Kratos laughs. “Fair.” He shrugs. “Just get her to back off, nobody wants an actual Egyptian goddess of protection biting their dick off.”
“I was right!”
“Do you need a gold star or…?”
I roll my eyes. “I figured it was her I just wasn’t sure. I did wonder though, because, well, when she was a cat, she was very obviously...uh. Male. But now she’s a...she?”
Kratos smirks. “Why would a powerful god feel the need to be limited to either male or female?” She likes you.” He sighs. “Also, she’s like a raccoon, likes pretty things.”
Bast hisses.
He holds up his hands. “But seriously, tell her to back off.”
Kratos walks through the entrance and sets my food on one of the tables along with my clothes. He’s suddenly back in his full armor, maybe because Bast looks like she needs a snack.
I frown. “Your armor seems too cheerful for your personality.”
He hesitates, his hands shake lightly at his sides before he turns to me and crosses his arms. “I’m guarding you, not talking about the gods or my armor with you.”
“I’m dying soon, it’s the least you can do.”
He sighs and looks heavenward. “I loathe the chatty ones.”
“Probably because you grunt more than you talk from what I’ve seen.”
“Untrue!” He points a finger at me.
“You’ve been grunting while standing at the cliff for the last two hours, like you’re having a conversation with yourself or something!
“Stop talking!” he yells as lightning flashes across the sky. His white eyes reflect that same lightning, and then it starts to rain.
Panic seizes me until I can’t breathe.
I’m alone in a cave with a giant cat, and what looks like Kratos a God of War, at least so he claims even though he looks nothing like him. And I can’t breathe.
“Shit. Why did I say I would go the first night?” he mutters under his breath before stomping over to me.
Bast hisses again.
Kratos waves his hand over the feline and snaps his fingers. Bast yawns and then falls asleep. Why didn’t he do that before then?
“Because it’s a waste of power,” Kratos says, answering my thoughts and then sitting on my bed.
I don’t realize I’m shaking until he slowly reaches for my hand and grasps it, squeezing it tight before singling out my forefinger and very slowly lifting my arm toward the sky in front of us.
Something buzzes through me like electricity, and then he flicks my finger forward and lightning strikes the small island, tossing a tree into the water.
I attempt to jerk away from him, but he does it again, and again, and again, until I’m exhausted.
“Sometimes…” Kratos’s voice is low, raspy; it’s almost soothing. “We’re afraid, not because of what we face. We’re afraid that if we do finally face it, we’ll be disappointed. Sometimes people hold onto their fears too because it’s all they have to cling to.”
He turns to me. His jaw’s sharp, beautiful, his reddish hair falls down his back, nearly halfway to his waist. “I used to be petrified of the lightning.”
“Wh-what?” This makes zero sense.
He chuckles. “Because it always precedes thunder, and which do you think is more powerful to a small child?”
I swallow the thickness in my throat. “The one that hurts the most.”
“But I learned later on that I was gifted with both; my parents just wanted me to control one thing at a time before I could control what could destroy worlds.”
“And you did, right?” I ask suddenly curious. “Learn to control it?”
His smile is sad, he looks away, down at his black and red clad legs. I can see now that in the moonlight it looked more like armor than leather but sitting next to me it’s almost like hard leather strapped tightly around him.
His hands shake as he presses them together. “I learned that gifts are a curse, and curses are gifts.”
He stands and turns. “Face your fears, Cleo. I’m going to go grunt by the wall now just to annoy you.”
“Wait!” I reach for his hand and grip.
My palms buzz the instant we touch.
Weird.
Maybe it’s his power?
“If Enki is some Sumerian god, then you’re who?”
I’m afraid of his answer is so many ways.
“Kratos, Greek mythology, I keep the world alive and running. My purpose.” His eyes are kind. “Is humanity. I help keep the balance in my own way. I failed my trials, I asked for too much, sought too much, and now I stay here and keep the immortals here in Deer Harbor as sane as I can and oh yeah, I’m a contractor, super good with nails.” He winks.
I scramble out of bed and suddenly realize I’m naked from the waist down and grab a sheet, wrapping it around me and follow his surly figure as he stomps out of the cave.