Page 141 of The Unseen Hour

“Is that what you think? Then you know nothing. Someone just as powerful as me has been whispering in your ear, feeding you lies.” He raised his voice. “You might as well make your presence known. I’m sure you have something to say!” he yelled at the sky.

Lightning slammed into the ground, burning away some of the fog and replacing it with clean, white smoke.

Death landed between Charon and us. She stood facing the god of the Ether, with her back to Orion and me. When she pulled back her hood, her hair spilled out. Lightning danced over her hair and across her hands.

“You truly thought to deceive me, Charon? Did you really believe I would not find out about your theft of souls? And yet you stand here accusing me. You are nothing if not confident.”

I leaned to peer around Death’s cloak, watching the god of the Ether.

Charon, for his part, looked unrepentant. He stood tall in the face of his accuser.

“I’ve been claiming souls for a hundred years now, and you’ve taken no notice. You never really saw me. You’re only here now because my traitorous Shade tipped you off.”

She laughed.

“Is that what you think? Is that really what things have become between us? You’re wrong. I recruited your Shade years ago. You’ve grown too arrogant. You’ve tried to upend the order of things. You went against your fellow gods, and you know the consequences.”

Charon raised a finger and jabbed it toward Death.

“You are at fault for this. I trusted you. I cared for you, and you betrayed the rest of us. You’re the reason we lost Epi–”

I was thrown into Death’s cloak, thankfully missing her lightning-laced skin, by a gust of wind. Odos slammed onto the church grounds to our left, his hammer shattering a gravestone. Bellamy came sprinting from behind the carriage, only to cower behind the newest arrival.

I’d balked when he called me mad, but now I had to question if this had all fractured his mind. Did he have no idea the danger he was in?

“I gave you one task, and you couldn’t even do that!” Odos yelled at the cowering noble. “A worthless descendant, that’s what you are. And now Charon’s stands free.”

My head spun. None of this was making sense.

“Day! Grim! You’re part of this! No sense staying out of things now!”

There was a beam of warm, amber light, and then a deity stepped out from its depths. Where Death’s skin was so pale it resembled a bone, this deity’s skin was a warm, light brown. He had brown eyes, full cheeks, and a thick beard.

“Day, you finally grace us with your presence.” Death greeted him while Charon scowled at the three deities.

Orion’s grip on me tightened, and I glanced to our right to see something oily bubbling up from one of the graves. I screeched, jumping back as another deity stepped from the ooze, his clothes somehow entirely clean. When he first emerged, his face looked gaunt and sunken, his skin covered in sores and blemishes. By the time he stood on the grass, he’d changed. He had striking pale blue eyes, black hair, and a smile that would have weakened the knees of most women in Emrys.

“Grim,” Death acknowledged.

The god of illness and decay. I recoiled from the handsome hand of disease.

Charon kept his glare in place as he looked around at his fellow deities.

“She’s fooled you all, then? You’re not even going to try to stop her?”

“Don’t make a scene, Charon,” Death chided, almost reminding me of Bellamy when he’d latched onto me earlier. Except this time, a villain was on the receiving end of the tirade. “They’ve seen the evidence. You could have killed everyone. You’re a threat to the rest of us. You know what happens next.”

Charon raised his arms, fog lifting and obscuring my view. I heard his wings beating, and the temperature dropped sharply. For a moment, I thought he would fight.

Then, the fog disappeared. His wings stilled, and Charon held his arms out.

“I’ll go peacefully, but this isn’t the end of it, Death. Mark my words, you will get your due someday.”

“I highly doubt that,” she responded, voice light. She snapped her graceful fingers, and Day and Grim each grabbed one of Charon’s arms.

Charon ignored the other gods, turning toward us instead.

“She wants to be the last one standing. Goddess of everything. And trust me, if you think I’m bad, it’s nothing compared to what she has planned. She’s as dangerous to you as the rest of us.”