Page 206 of Famine

The sight of him manhandling her has me rolling the scythe in my hand. I storm forward.

“Don’t come any closer, brother,” Death says calmly, his fingers tightening their grip on Ana’s shoulder.

I jerk to a halt, my eyes focused on where he holds her in place.

Thanatos moves his hand to stroke Ana’s face, his fingers trailing over her cheekbone. Beneath his touch, she pinches her eyes, grimacing.

He could take her from me in an instant, and I would be powerless to stop it. Iampowerless. The thought stirs up violent thoughts. But just beneath that is another, sickening emotion—dread. Deep, existential dread for Ana.

I can barely breathe around the thought of herdying.

Ana exhales and opens her eyes again, her gaze finding mine. She looks oddly calm, but her breath is leaving her in ragged gasps, like she’s only barely controlling her fear.

“Dear brother,” Thanatos says, “I was hoping our reunion would go a bit differently.”

I clench my jaw, my focus moving to him.

“Why are you here?”

“Youknowwhy I am here,” Death says. After a moment that stretches out, he adds, “We were made to end these creatures, not togive into them.”

His fingers continue to pet Ana’s cheek. Her body is shaking, and a single, frightened tear escapes from her eyes.

I grip my scythe tighter. At the sight of her fear, that old hunger rises in me—the one that needs to suck the marrow from the earth. Overhead, clouds stir and churn.

Death tilts his head, his expression placid. “You surprised me, you know. The others, I was expecting to fail to some degree. War, after all, is made from men’s wicked desires, and Pestilence—well, he has an unnatural curiosity for humans as well. It came as no great shock that that they were felled by these women of fire and clay.

“But you, dear brother, the great Famine himself, who has killed millions of humans without pause or remorse. I thought that surely you wouldn’t be so easily swayed.”

Thanatos glances down at Ana, and I have to physically hold myself back from intervening.

“I cannot fathom what it is about them that draws you in,” he says, sounding oddly intrigued. “I suppose itisin your nature to hunger for things—even things you shouldn’t.”

He’s still stroking Ana’s face.

“Brother,” I warn. I can feel myself beginning to tremble. I’m losing my patience and my control.

But Thanatos has a fire in his eyes. “You and I, Famine, we blink our eyes and civilizations have risen and collapsed. The centuries fall away like petals of a flower. You are the bearer of the divine scales; you know the price of all things. Surely it must be obvious that a single, insignificant life isn’t a worthy trade for your immortality.”

Finally, we arrive at the reason for this reunion. It must shake even unflinching Death that three of his brothers would choose mortality over duty.

“I am the bearer of the scales, and I do understand the worth of all things,” I say. “It is for me to decide what a worthy trade is. And I have decided.”

Death studies me for a long time. After a minute, he takes Ana by the chin and tilts her face up to him, studying her features. She meets my brother’s dark gaze, another tear slipping from her eyes.

The gathering clouds above betray my emotions. I feel a drop hit my cheek, then another splash against my temple.

“She has a pleasing enough form,” Death admits, “and her spiritisresilient and forgiving, but she will die soon enough. It is the way of these creatures. Even I cannot keep her here forever.”

She will die soon enough?

She won’t if I am by her side.

“I don’t care, brother,” I say resolutely. “I have made my choice.”

Thanatos sighs, moving his hand back to Ana’s cheek, those maddening fingers stroking her skin once more.

“I will relieve you of your scales and your scythe,” he says, his voice full of mocking disbelief.