Beautiful Salvation (17 page)

“He threatened Aiyana.” Saamal’s voice echoed into the room, the tone sounding inhuman, more monster than man.

“He didn’t threaten her, he only told you that you may have interpreted the prophecy wrong.” Adonis raised a hand slowly, but still didn’t move to touch Saamal. “No one is going to hurt Aiyana.”

The pulse thundering in Saamal’s head settled enough for his thoughts to clear. He glanced at Adonis. “I—”

Pain erupted in hot agony deep in the pit of his stomach, fiery tendrils spreading out like the limbs of a great sea monster, grasping at his organs and tearing apart his skin. Saamal roared, his grip momentarily loosening on Kirill’s neck. A second later the vampire was gone.

The skin on Saamal’s stomach started to knit back together as soon as it had been torn. The dagger Kirill had used had been metal, no magic, no blessing or curse. A mortal weapon did little lasting damage to a god, even one as weak as Saamal was, but the pain…the pain was impressive. It had been a long time since Saamal had been hurt in such a…mundane way. He hovered there for a moment, sucking in deep breaths, trying to cool the rage still boiling inside him.

Images of Kirill plunging that dagger into Aiyana’s chest continued to torment him, swirling around his head no matter how hard he tried to shut it out. He couldn’t breathe.

“I will not let her die,” he gasped, choking on the words. “She cannot die.”

“No one is going to hurt her, Saamal,” Adonis said quietly. “We’re here to help, but we won’t do anything you don’t want us to do.”

Saamal nodded, a little too quick, feeling as though his body didn’t belong to him. The effects of the sinicuichi were gone, burned away by pain and rage. He slowly straightened up, not bothering to glance around for the vampire. He strode for the door, his movements evening out as the wound closed.

“Saamal?” Adonis asked.

“If the sacrifices do not continue, the pits will not be the only danger to seize my kingdom. Those pits will only satisfy Cipactli’s hunger for so long. Eventually, her hunger will feed into fury, and she will seek to punish the people for abandoning her. The land will rebel. There will be earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. Thousands will die in the carnage.”

“If Cipactli has not done that in the last hundred years, what makes you so certain that will be the outcome?” Adonis pressed.

“A century is nothing to an immortal like Cipactli. Her patience has not shattered yet, but it will.” Saamal reached the door.

“How are you going to stop that from happening?” Adonis followed behind him.

“I’m going to go see Chumana.”

“But you said yourself that you don’t have the power to challenge her,” Adonis protested.

“What’s going on?” Etienne asked, appearing in the doorway in front of Saamal. The werewolf was back in human form, not a stitch of clothing on him.

“Etienne, you’re worse than me,” Adonis joked. “Didn’t you have pants when we got here?”

Etienne frowned. “I was on my way to get them when I heard Saamal say he’s going to see Chumana.”

“Eavesdropping, Etienne? I never would have guessed it.” Saamal crossed his arms, impatient to get on with what he had to do and unwilling to waste anymore time standing here discussing it.

Etienne shrugged. “I can’t help that I’ve got excellent hearing. Why are you going to see Chumana? You’ve said yourself you’re not very strong, seems like she’s the type to take advantage of that.”

“Everyone would take advantage of that,” Kirill muttered. “He’s a fallen
god
.”

Saamal stiffened at the sound of the vampire’s voice, but he didn’t turn around. He’d lost his temper—he was still angry—but Adonis was right. He’d asked the vampire for his opinion. Kirill hadn’t given any indication that he intended to harm Aiyana. Saamal took a deep breath and focused on Etienne. “Chumana has many faults, but even she would not condemn her people to death.”

“You think she hasn’t noticed your kingdom becoming a wasteland?” Etienne crossed his arms. “She doesn’t seem to care.”

Saamal clenched his hands into fists at his sides. “I will make her understand what will happen. Even Chumana wouldn’t want Cipactli to—”

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

Saamal shot a glare over his shoulder at Adonis. “Yes, you’ve mentioned that. But we’re not talking about affairs of the heart now, Adonis. We’re talking about the survival of a kingdom, the land and its people.”

“You decided to marry Aiyana because that would bring more power to your people,” Adonis pointed out. “Chumana didn’t care. She cursed your would-be bride. After the kingdom went to sleep, Chumana forbade the sacrifices from continuing. She knew that would hurt you and the land. She didn’t care. The people wanted to keep going, they tried to continue with the sacrifices to save themselves. Chumana sent her monsters after them. They were suffering, but she didn’t care.”

The demon faced Saamal, his face absent of any joking, as serious as Saamal had ever seen him.

“Trust me when I say that Chumana won’t care about anything until Aiyana is completely out of the picture and she once again has your undivided attention.” Adonis put his hand on Saamal’s shoulder. “If you go to see her, you’ll only be risking your life—and your kingdom’s last chance at salvation.”

Saamal brushed Adonis’ hand from his shoulder, gently but firmly. “Adonis, with all due respect, of all of us, you are perhaps the least strategic, the least political—”

“And when it comes to women, I’m smarter than all of you put together. Even Kirill doesn’t argue with me about dealings with women.”

“Indeed,” Kirill spoke up again, from somewhere behind Saamal. “The demon has many faults, but ignorance of women’s minds is not one of them. You would do well to listen to him.”

“Yes, and what I’m saying is Chumana. Will. Not. Care. You want Aiyana, not her. That is all that will matter to her.”

Frustration ate at Saamal’s nerves like gremlins gnawing the wheels off a carriage, making it difficult to stand still. “I cannot sit here and do nothing, I must try to reason with her.”

“Isn’t sitting here doing nothing exactly what you’ve been doing for the last hundred years?” Etienne pointed out.

Saamal growled, the stabbing sensation in his fingers letting him know how close to the surface his claws were. Humans. Mortals. None of them understood. None of them could understand, not when their lifetimes were so short.

“Saamal,” Adonis said calmly, “if Chumana is the one who halted the sacrifices, and she’s seen what has happened to the land, what makes you think she doesn’t know exactly what she’s doing?”

“She must have stopped the sacrifices for the same reason the king did,” Saamal ground out. “To weaken me. Chumana can be single-minded in her purpose. I believe she lashed out at me without thinking of the repercussions. She no doubt thought she could force me to abandon Aiyana and return to her, but if I can convince her that that will never happen, she will have to withdraw.”

“It’s been over a hundred years.” Etienne crossed his arms, a line appearing between his brows. “She—”

“Always with the time!” Saamal ran a hand through his hair, grabbing a fistful of it and tugging it in frustration. “I am talking about
gods.
Time is nothing, can’t you understand that? A century is the blink of an eye!”

“All right, then how are you going to convince her that you are more dedicated to Aiyana now than you were a blink of an eye ago?” Adonis demanded, his eyes flickering like fire rubies as he drew himself up to his full height. “You told her you wanted Aiyana over a century ago, you
betrothed
yourself to Aiyana, you gave up half your power for Aiyana. If Chumana wasn’t convinced she had no chance after you did all that, then what in the name of fire and brimstone are you going to do to convince her of that now?”

Saamal shouted, a long, angry, frustrated sound. He gripped the sides of his head, grasping his hair as if ripping it out would distract him from the infuriating situation he found himself in. Then suddenly inspiration struck. He dropped his hands, blinking at Adonis.

“I’ll marry her.”

“Chumana?” Adonis’ jaw dropped.

“No. Aiyana.” The idea gained momentum in his mind, growing and feeding itself with new hope. “You said yourself, I was already betrothed to her, but I had not yet married her. If we wed, then Chumana will have to face the fact that it is over. The bond would be sealed.” He paced the room, the wheels in his head spinning almost too fast for him to keep up. “Why didn’t I see it earlier? I can talk to Aiyana now, I can proceed as I never could before. She is of age, she can consent to marry. If I ask her, if she agrees, we can wed in the Dreamworld.”

“Fascinating strategy,” Kirill murmured.

“Yes, because it’s so easy to get a woman to agree to marry you.” Heavy sarcasm laced Adonis’ voice. He crossed his arms and faced Saamal. “You’ve met her once. What makes you so sure she’ll marry you?”

“It will save her people, it could save her,” Saamal pointed out, a flash of annoyance sharpening his voice.

Adonis’ lips parted and he raised his eyebrows. “So you want her to marry you…out of a sense of civic duty?”

Saamal flushed. “No.”

“So you want her to marry you because she loves you?”

Saamal opened his mouth, then closed it. “I…” The scorn in Adonis’ voice muddled his thoughts, bringing his idea to a grinding halt. Adonis waited expectantly and Saamal looked to Kirill and Etienne for help.

Kirill was in the far corner of the room, his cloak hiding most of his body, including the dagger he no doubt still held close. There was no sign of retribution in his gaze as he met Saamal’s eyes, but he offered no help. He merely arched an eyebrow, cool visage unmoving, unemotional.

Etienne shrugged. “Don’t look at me.”

Frustrated, Saamal turned back to Adonis. “Can you help me?”

“Oh, now you want my advice,” Adonis muttered.

“Adonis,” Kirill chastised him.

“Oh, fine.” Adonis dropped his arms. “The fact is, you’ve already got a leg up, so to speak. You and Aiyana share your power, that’s going to forge a bond between you two. She’ll feel like you’re familiar even though she’s never met you. You’ll also have powers in common, that will bring you close too. I’m assuming she finds you attractive?”

Saamal resolutely kept his mind from drifting away to the kiss he’d shared with Aiyana. His blood heated despite his attempts to keep his mind clear, his body doing the remembering for him. Adonis’ eyes glowed as if the incubus could sense the direction his thoughts were trying to take.

“Good, no problems there then. Proximity will work for you too, since I doubt she has many suitors on the astral plane.”

The offhand comment sent a spike of jealousy spearing through Saamal’s thinning patience. He tightened his hands into fists, a snarl curling his lips at the thought of other men pursuing his betrothed. Adonis smirked.

“That’s a good sign too, don’t worry,” he assured him. “All right, you’ve hit all the initial markers. Now all you have to do is give her a glimpse of what everyday life would be like with you. If she can see herself with you everyday, imagine what it would be like to live with you—and still like you—then she will entertain the idea of marriage.” He paused, his face growing serious. “However, you must make sure that she can see the truth of how much you want her. Not power, not protection for your people, but her. If she doesn’t believe you love her, if she doesn’t believe you’ll love her in ten years, then she’ll shut you down faster than a virgin priestess—”

“Thank you, Adonis,” Saamal interrupted, trying not to think about where that last comparison was going to end. He focused his mind on Aiyana, turning the incubus’ words over in his head. He strode out of the room, grateful Etienne let him pass without comment, and headed for the stairs to the tower.