God Bones

Chapter 28: Everything you Deserve

The months went on, and our wedding was approaching swiftly.

My father and Laith were surprisingly neutral about it, I even got a call from Kiernan where he robotically wished me congratulations. It seemed like I was the only one who was afraid of it. I tried to talk to my father once, about how I was having second thoughts. He told me every bride gets cold feet, I'll get over it.

Please make this stop. Please get me out.

I knew there would be no point, nobody was listening. And Sera was still under Rhys' spell.

It was your choice to stay, Luce. Rhys offered you a way out.

We were on our sixth month. I was still at square one. When I tried to sit and figure out what I'd learnt and what I knew, I realised I knew fuckall and had learnt shit, which was surprisingly the same feeling I'd have before my maths exams.

I'd worked on finding the bones, but that quickly lost importance. Don't get me wrong, it was still a major piece in the puzzle that everything else seemed to fit into, but I didn't know what to do with it.

I'm not getting out anytime soon. The marriage would be going through.

Arion barely noticed my apprehension. I forced myself to smile and laugh with him. I did care about him, so much. But everything about this relationship was twisted and wrong.

At night, I'd head to the library and cry. Losing the bone meant I had no contact with the professors. I was utterly alone. Sometimes, I'd tap on the door but the room door was too thick for anything to go through on either side.

Once in a while, I would see Rhys around. He didn't talk to me. Today, after breakfast, my eyes met his as he walked out of the dining hall with his dog. I almost wanted to beg him to help me. I was desperate enough.

Arion had tightened his grip on my arm as he went out of sight. I told him I was okay.

Arion had only become more protective of me. And somehow even more kinder. He spoilt me. He brought me jewellery and hunted down my favourite wines. He was rich, of course and now his money was shared with me. I still didn't know if it was all from the Vagi or some portion of it was generational wealth.

He spent time with me, and slept in our bed at night. There was lots of sex, and that was probably the best part so far.

One night, I found Rhys at the library.

It was about as pleasant as finding a roach in your food.

I hadn't spoken to him or been alone with him for months. On his part, he didn't seem to care enough to reach out and ask me how my search was going.

Rhys was sitting cross legged on the floor, with a bottle of wine. He had a book in his hand, it was far too dim to read, bit I suppose a death God would have no problem.

"Come, sit with me Lucy." He spoke without looking from his book. He took a swing of the bottle and held it out to me.

Maybe it was the loneliness, but I padded towards him and took the bottle.
My fingers brushed his and sent a jolt to me. His hands were cold, like the rest of the library. It got pretty cold here at nights.

I still don't know why I joined him, but I'm glad I did, in hindsight, the conversation I would have with him would change the entire course of my story.

"I shouldn't be drinking around you."

Rhys lightly scoffed. "Lady, I wouldn't touch you if you paid me to."

"I didn't realise your services were on sale."

I took a swing of the bottle. The wine was easily the best I'd ever had. I handed him the bottle and he scooted to make space for me on the floor. The strange intimacy was back again. Just the two of us in the library, but even though I couldn't read him, I knew he wasn't going to hurt me.