“What?” Iason whipped his head around. In the distance, clouds were gathering on the horizon. “He— Yes, I think he was. What does that matter? This is Mislia. Your demon determines your worth here. Not your alignment.”
“You said you weren’t compatible. I assumed you meant sexually.”
A reddish stain spread across Iason’s throat and his fair cheeks. “I did. Yes. But that isn’t…”
“You prefer to fuck dominants, then?” Levi flashed his teeth. “That makes sense, given how you responded to me.”
“The way Iwhat?” Iason scowled, hands on his hips. “No. That’s whatever this—this bond is. Just because I realized trying to fight off a god is foolish—”
“Oh, you haven’t realized that, not yet.” Levi chuckled. “But I wouldn’t take you if you didn’t want it. What would be the point? Sex is meant to be enjoyed. Unless force is what you like, and after that memory, I don’t think it is. But, hmm. Maybe you want to be overwhelmed. Just because you’re a dominant doesn’t mean you can’t want that.”
“Well, thank you very much for yourpermission, dragon, but that wasn’t what I meant. I don’t have any interest in sex at all, if you must know.”
“All right,” Levi said, unsure why this was such a sore spot. “That’s fine. Plenty of people don’t.”
“Then why,” Iason bit out, “are we still having this conversation?”
“Because youdo,” Levi said. “You kissed me back. And I could feel that you wanted more. Our bond, remember?”
“If you think I want you, it’s because you’re… bewitching me.”
That was so ridiculous, Levi threw his head back and laughed. Thunder rumbled an echo. “Do you think I have to bewitch surly human wizards if I want a bed partner?”
“Keep laughing at me and I’ll show you surly,” Iason snapped, and Levi felt the tug on his power, Iason gathering his magic.
“None of that,” Levi said, and while he wouldn’t call his influence or godhooddominance,he was learning that it manifested that way, at least when he was in his human form this long. He moved closer, and he smiled when he noticed Iason wasn’t moving away. “Snap at me if you want, but we both know I’m right.”
“And I said it was connected to this bond, and that’s one more reason why I need to figure out how to break it.” Iason’s eyes were glowing, the faintest hint of lightning in the irises, and it only drew Levi in further, pulled by how the wizard looked when he was manifesting his magic without his usual caution and control. “What are you doing?”
“I haven’t observed you to be someone who lies to yourself. You needn’t be ashamed of desiring me. I’m a god, and even in this form I am magnificent, though smaller and with only one of these.” He reached down, handling himself. “I believe it will do if you would like to play at being a submissive and kneel for me.”
The ethereal light in Iason’s eyes began to dim. “I wouldn’t. And your form might be smaller, but your ego is still the size of a dragon.”
“I know. I wasn’t worried about that.” Levi slid his hand up the side of Iason’s neck. He could hear birds twittering in the distance, the wind picking up as the storm gathered force on the horizon. The breeze in Mislia was cooler than it was in, say, Diabolos or even southern Thalassa, but he liked the feel of it on his skin, though he still yearned for scales and the sea. “If kneeling isn’t to your taste, what is? Maybe you just want to fuck a god.”
“What I want,” Iason bit out, carefully, “is to make sure Sophie is safe and break whatever this bond is so you can have your form back—because you, dragon? You’re a menace. I don’t know what god is in charge of the other gods, but they have something to answer for, giving you a form that lets you walk so easily among usmere mortals.”
“Me,” Levi said, amused. “I’m the one in charge.” That wasn’ttechnicallytrue, since he had no power over his siblings’ domains or their forms, but hewasthe oldest of them, and the least reliant on humanity. If humans were to disappear, there would be no need for the rest of them. Perhaps Death would remain—but not Azaiah, with his boundless compassion and his fondness for his soldier and their games of Winter. No, it would be the Death that came for the fish and the plankton, the plants, the atmosphere itself. Merciless and cold, the dark mirror Azaiah could have become if he’d been corrupted, not the kind god Leviathan knew his brother to be.
Desire, Dreams, War—they would all vanish without humans to want, to sleep, to take up arms against each other. But even if the seas went dry and the ground cracked beneath the primordial fires, Leviathan would remain, a dragon roaring over a still and broken land. He had a flicker of a thought, fragile like a candle flame in the wind, that his ineffable, chaotic, eternal presence was exactly what Iason was attracted to. He rubbed his thumb over Iason’s lower lip, and his cock grew heavy as he felt the spill of Iason’s breath on his skin. Iason was breathing too fast, and Levi didn’t think it was from anger.
“The world won’t end if you admit you want me,” Levi said.
Iason, predictably, bit him. Not hard, but it made Levi flash his teeth in something too feral to be a smile and grab him by the shoulders. “If you’re going to do that, you should make it count. My turn.” He leaned down and bit Iason on the shoulder, and he heard Iason swear, felt the electric pull on his magic.
Levi bit him again, not hard enough to draw blood, but almost. When Levi pulled back to look at him, he saw Iason’s pupils were dilated, and Levi’s whole body felt electric.
“There are eels that swim near the reefs around the islands I made for my brother Avarice. When their prey swims by, or when they’re threatened, they spark from inside like lightning and stun the thing they’re hunting, or the thing that’s hunting them. That’s what you’re like.” He tipped Iason’s face up to kiss him again.
Iason twisted around. “You just compared me to aneel.”
“They’re very interesting creatures,” Levi said, not letting him go. “A storm in the shape of a snake.”
“Is that some kind of fucking metaphor?”
Levi tilted his head. “For fucking? I don’t think so.”
“Forme.” Iason kept trying to wriggle free, though Levi thought he wasn’t trying very hard.
