Hidden (House of Night Novels)

followed Thanatos’s invocation washed against them both. Kalona lifted his head to see that the High Priestess was smiling beatifically at him.
    “Nyx heard you,” he said, grateful his voice did not sound as shaken as he felt.
    “She did indeed,” Thanatos said. “And that is most certainly a good omen.”
    “I will not disappoint either you or the Goddess,” Kalona said, then he sprinted and launched himself into the air, thinking, not this time—I will not disappoint her this time.
    Kalona flew straight and true. The balcony of the Mayo was wide and high. He dropped easily to its cold stone surface from the plum-colored sky. He folded his raven-colored wings against his naked back. Yes, he’d come to her with his chest bared. She preferred him that way.
    “Goddess, your Consort returns!” Kalona called, thankful for who or whatever had shattered the glass of the penthouse’s doorway. It saved him having to awkwardly break it open should she not welcome him as he expected.
    “I see no Consort, only a winged failure.” Her voice came from the shadows behind him in the far corner of the balcony, well away from the entrance to her penthouse.
    He turned slowly to face her, allowing her time to take in the sight of his naked chest and his powerful wings. Neferet was a lusty creature. She craved men, but even more than the physical pleasure she took from a man’s body, Neferet craved lording dominion over men. The white bull could give her power, but a bull was not a man.
    “During the eons of my existence I have, indeed, failed at some things. I have made mistakes. The greatest of both was leaving your side, Goddess,” Kalona spoke truthfully, though the Goddess foremost in his mind was not Neferet.
    “So now you call me Goddess and you crawl back to me.”
    Kalona took two strides toward her, allowing his wings to stir. “Do I appear to be crawling?”
    Neferet tilted her head. She hadn’t moved from the shadows and all he could really see of her were her emerald eyes and the flame-colored shimmer of her hair as the sun began to rise behind her.
    “No,” she said, sounding bored. “You appear to be flapping.”
    Kalona unfurled his wings and opened his arms. His amber eyes met her cold, green gaze and he focused his will on her. Neferet had not long been immortal. She would still be susceptible to his allure.
    “Look again, Goddess. Gaze on your Consort.”
    “I see you. You are not as young as I remembered.”
    “You forget to whom you speak!” He tried to temper his voice, but she stirred his anger. He had forgotten how very much he had come to loathe her cold sarcasm.
    “Do I?” Neferet glided from the corner of shadows. “It is you who comes to me . Did you actually believe I would welcome you?”
    The sun had lifted above the distant horizon, and as she approached him, Kalona was finally able to fully see her. Neferet had continued to change. She was still beautiful, but anything soft, mortal, human about her had been lost. It was as if she were an exquisite statue that had been given the breath of life, but had been animated without a conscience, without a soul. She had always been cold, but until now Neferet had maintained the ability to mimic kindness and love. No longer. Kalona wondered if he was the only one who could see so clearly that she was becoming a conduit for evil.
    “I did not believe it, but I did hope it, even though I have heard rumors that my place at your side has been usurped.” He hoped she would misjudge the shock in his voice for jealousy.
    Neferet’s smile was reptilian. “Yes, I found something bigger than a bird, though I do admit your jealousy is amusing.”
    Swallowing down the bile that rose in this throat at the thought of touching her, Kalona closed the distance between them. He commanded his wings forward so that the cold softness of his feathers stroked her skin.
    “I am something bigger than a bird.”
    “Why should I take you back?” Neferet’s voice sounded emotionless, but Kalona could feel her skin tremble in anticipation under his caress.
    “Because you are a goddess and you deserve an immortal Consort.” He moved even closer to her, knowing she could feel the frigid power of his moon-blessed immortality.
    “I already have an immortal Consort,” Neferet said.
    “Not one who can do this.” Kalona enfolded her in his wings. Slowly, he knelt before her, his lips inches from her quivering flesh. “I will serve you.”
    “How?”