Daughter of Asteria (The Daughter Trilogy) (36 page)

“Aphrodite’s mortal curse,” a girl interjects.

“Not everything should be attributed to that. Some jerks are just creeps,” Persia snaps with insult

rattling from her tone. “Don’t make her do this. I’ll tell you what happened,” she says with

sympathetic terror.

“You know?” I gasp.

“I wasn’t there, but I know,” she murmurs guiltily as tears stream her face.

“What happened?” Devin insists.

I take a deep breath once more and summon up the courage to finally tell them what they’re

prying for.

“I broke up with him, and he came back like they all did. I told him I didn’t do second chances,

but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I kept seeing him everywhere we went, and he stalked me to

the point I didn’t want to leave the house.

“We finally decided to cut our trip short because of his incessant obsession with me, but the night

we loaded up to leave, Clara met a guy. She went off with him, and I was alone for the first time since

the break up.

“I knew I shouldn’t stay in the house alone, but I didn’t want to go out. I heard something in the

house, and like a dumb bitch in a horror flick, I went to go check it out.

“It was him. I ran like the devil was on my heels in order to get away, but he caught up with me.

I tasted blood before I felt the first blow, and I was screaming in agony before I knew I had been

kicked down the stairs. Each time he picked me up off the floor, he’d slam his fist into my body.

Each time I screamed, I could feel something else being shattered. I can remember accepting death

just before I heard Clara’s screams.

“After that, I backed out. I woke up in the hospital, and Clara’s dad had arranged for me to be

under his care. He cleared it with them to move me to his house after I had a massive panic attack due

to my fear of hospitals.

“I had three broken ribs, a broken arm, a shattered ankle, a broken collar bone… in general, I was

pretty broken all the way around. That was the last time I ever saw him.”

Devin quickly pulls me into his arms, and I feel his warmth bringing me comfort as my tears soak

into his shirt. I return the affection, and his soft lips graze the top of my head. He grips a little tighter

against my back, and his lips find mine for the first time in what seems like ages.

“How did you kill him?” Theia prompts.

My lips flee from their wonderful embrace as my startled body wavers in response to her absurd

question.

“I didn’t. He died in a car crash a few months after he got out of jail. He only spent a year in

there. Clara’s guy friend had beaten him up pretty badly when they saved my life. They interrupted

the real damage he was going to do. He would have killed me, but they couldn’t prove that, so he got

off light.

“After the accident, the cops found a folder close to the wreckage. It had all my information in

it. He knew where I lived, what college I was in, all my favorite shopping sites… everything. He was

coming to finish the job he never got to,” I shiver out.

Devin’s grip tightens around me, and I feel him pulling me into his lap while sitting in a chair.

The sand escapes between my toes as my feet lift off the ground. I curl up against him, but everyone

still seems to be waiting on more.

Theia finally shakes her head as if she’s objecting to my explanation.

“In order for one to lead an army of the dead, they have to be killed by either a mortal destined to

be immortal or an already transformed immortal. This doesn’t make any sense. And fire… you

shouldn’t have fire. You’ve rewound time, you have fire, and a mortal who died in a car crash is

leading the army of the dead. How did the car crash?”

“I knocked it off the road with the flick of my wrist,” a man’s voice chimes in from behind.

The hair on the back of my neck rises, and Persia’s eyes gape in disbelief as she whispers to him.

“You’re here.”

I turn to see a familiar face, but I don’t know where I know him from. Persia runs to him, and his

arms fold over her before he pulls her to his body.

I gasp as their lips collide, and suddenly they seem to forget about the audience waiting for the

other shoe to drop.

“Who’s he?” Hale murmurs.

Persia turns around to finally address her suspended crowd, and the man takes her hand to lead her

back to us.

“What do you mean? You killed him? But why?” I stammer out.

His eyes fall on mine, and I see such guilt radiating from them. I’ve seen that form of guilt

before… from Persia. But this can’t be… it’s not possible he’s… Is it?

Oh no. It is.

I know where I’ve seen him now. He’s the ghost from the picture.

“Because that cowardly son of a bitch was going to kill my daughter,” he says to answer both of

my questions - the spoken and then unspoken.

“Kahl?” I gasp, and everyone else sounds out my same startled response.

“Hello Aphrodisia,” he murmurs softly, and he doesn’t waste time pulling me out of Devin’s lap.

His arms close around me, but I’m not sure how to respond to such an overwhelming revelation. I

jerk back, and my eyes scold him before my mouth does.

“You’re alive? Why haven’t you been here for all this? Where were you last time? Persia died,

and you stayed hidden in the shadows?” I blare.

His eyes stare down at the sands trembling from my harsh implications of his own cowardliness.

“He died last time after he found out about me. He was coming to exact his revenge when he

made a careless mistake, and the bloodhounds that have been searching centuries for him finally

capitalized on their opportunity to take him out.

“He has stayed hidden so he didn’t add any further issues. Your father is just as sought after as I

am, but they don’t know you exist. Your other side isn’t as dominant as your Aphrodite half, or at

least it wasn’t,” she mutters, her eyes casting their shadows to the ground when she tries to hide the

rest.

“Wasn’t?” Theia gasps. “Krios nor Asteria had the ability to blaze,” she objects, bringing

Persia’s ashen face up to meet Kahl’s glare.

His eyes scold her for the accidental slip. Persia looks down again as she flinches. What’s so

secretive?

“Right now, let’s just focus on the army of dead that will be returning. My daughter needs her

strength, and I don’t want to burden her with the grueling discussions that will be taking place on the

matter. You now know I killed him, and you know he was a merciless fiend while still in his mortal

flesh. He’s going to be even more vicious and harder to kill,” Kahl asserts with a powerfully stern

tone.

Theia seems a little taken aback with his interfering dominance. He just showed up, and he acts

as though this is his show to run.

“You don’t get to come in barking orders. You haven’t been here when we needed all hands on

deck.” I turn my gaze back to Persia when something else stumps me. “And how do you know he

died after you?” I ask suspiciously.

Kahl’s arms tighten around her, and he answers instead of her.

“Essentially, I can do the same as Theia with extracting and shifting memories. Your mother

came to me directly after she learned of a rewind in case there was something I needed to know.

“It’s been too damn hard to stay away after watching her and you die through the memories Theia

granted her access to. I didn’t only see through her eyes, I saw through yours as well. I ditched the

mongrels chasing after me after I incinerated half their crop and I came here as soon as Persia told me

where you were going.”

“Incinerated? You have fire too?” I ask promptly.

His lips tighten, and now Persia’s eyes are scolding him for the slip up. He gives nothing away as

he turns to address Theia.

“I think the heads of the families should move this discussion indoors now.”

He’s so bossy. He’s so… oh damn… he’s a hell of a lot like Devin. Crap.

Kahl turns back to me suddenly, and his arms pull me into him once again. I barely pat his back

as a show of return, and then his hand takes Persia’s before flashing away.

“Who the hell does he think he is, and why is everyone obeying him?” I implore as I leap out of

Devin’s lap.

“He’s your father,” Devin answers mildly.

“My father? No. You’ve met my father. This guy didn’t even show up the last go around,” I

gripe.

“He didn’t know who we were dealing with then. Now he does,” Devin argues.

“Why are you defending him? We don’t know anything about him,” I growl.

Devin pulls me back into his arms, and then his finger strokes my new tattoo with pained eyes.

“If it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t be holding you right now. I would have never known you or

love at all,” he murmurs softly, and then his lips fall on mine again.

He pulls me tighter into his embrace, forcing me to leave my anger unresolved, and I feel the fire

stirring - Aphrodite’s fire, not the blazing fire.

The earth beneath us begins to rattle, and suddenly the sand begins to vibrate. We look around to

assess what’s going on, but as soon as we pull apart, the ground settles into silence.

“Is she doing that?” Hale gasps.

Devin’s eyes narrow to mine, and I can tell he’s studying me. His lips tighten, and I feel so

strange. This is all such a new feeling, and I haven’t even tapped into my Asteria yet.

“I need to learn to control Asteria’s power,” I quickly interject to distract the odd stares I’m

getting.

“We’ll get there. Your father could help with that,” Devin insists.

“Was that an earthquake or Adisia?” Theia gasps as she flashes back outside.

“We don’t know, but we think it was her,” Kry answers.

“It was her,” Kahl mutters too softly.

“She needs to learn control over her Asteria half. We were just discussing how you would be the

best to train her. She’s going to need some understanding of how to draw the power out and force it

in,” Devin smoothly offers, and I know he’s pushing for a reconciliation.

“Asteria didn’t like being controlled by her own self. I don’t have her power in me. My father’s

half was dominant. She shouldn’t have so many dominating powers. It’s rather unprecedented. How

have Asteria and Aphrodite both being awake not ripped her apart?” he prompts.

“If you had been here, you would have known,” I growl.

His eyes lower with heavy guilt, and Persia strokes his arm encouragingly as she soothes the

burns left behind from my tongue-lashing.

“She gathered that control long ago. I don’t understand it, but the two being awake is no longer

affecting her in any other way than making her very powerful.”

“It looked like she had control over Asteria when she knocked me through the damn wall,” Slash

mumbles.

“That was just Aphrodite,” Devin smugly interjects. “If it had been Asteria, you would have been

dead.”

“I saw the white in her eyes,” he counters.

“It was temporary. She didn’t deem you worthy of her presence for long,” I retort.

He narrows his eye, but doesn’t provoke me further. Kahl looks confused by the conversation.

“What’d he do?” he muses.

“He’s a trickster. He wore Devin’s face and tried to fool Adisia. She knew it wasn’t him, and we

thought she had lost control for a moment,” Persia murmurs very warily, and it’s as if she’s afraid to

go any further.

Kahl’s eyes flash red with crimson swirls teeming in them, everyone gasps, and suddenly he’s

grabbing Slash by the throat and launching him through the air. I scream at the man acting like a

protective father.

“He’s already been dealt with, and you have no right to come in and act as though you give a

damn,” I blare.

“I do give a damn, and you have no right to say otherwise,” he pops back.

“Oh yeah? Persia showed up the moment I changed. She endured my cold, callous remarks

because she cared enough about me to be here. Where were you?” I growl.

“I’ve already told you where I was. You and your mother shared an enemy the moment you

flipped the Aphrodite switch. I wasn’t going to lead my enemies to your door. I’ve watched you

every chance I got all along the years. Your mother and I took turns watching various events of your

life so we didn’t draw in too much attention. I’ve been here more than you realize,” he pleads.

I huff out loudly, and Persia comes over to take my hand in hers.

“It took my death to make you fully accept me as a mother last time. We don’t get another

rewind to offer you another chance to embrace Kahl as a father,” she whimpers.

She’s right, but I’m not ready to just throw my arms around him and call him
daddy
.

I look around to see everyone pale - no one speaking at all. Kahl drops his head back as if he

realizes he’s done something stupid. I address the stupefied or terrified faces… I can’t tell which.

“What?” I bark.

Devin pulls my hand back into his, and Persia sighs.

“Krios was my grandfather,” she bumbles. “No one knew about Aphrodite ever having a