Octavian's Undoing (Sons of Judgment) (17 page)

She shook her head. “Not until you tell me what the hell just happened.” Despite her refusal, her gaze swung over to him. “What are you?”

He seemed to hesitate a moment. His eyes darted to where Magnus stood behind the bar, mixing and pouring drinks. The other brother gave him a warning glower and shook his head. Octavian turned back to Riley.

“It’s a long story, but I promise to tell you.”

He was saved from further prodding when Gideon returned, a white metal box in hand. He set it on the table between Riley and Octavian.

Octavian stared at it, sadness dark in his eyes. “I can’t touch her,” he told his brother.

Gideon said nothing. He drew a chair forward so the three of them sat in a triangle and pried open the first aid kit. He removed band aids, gauze wraps and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. He set them neatly on the table then reached for her. She jerked away.

“No.” She swallowed hard. “Not until I get some answers.”

Instead of answering her, Gideon turned to Octavian. “Mom and Dad are on the way.” When he got no response from his brother, he turned to Riley. “Those wounds need tending or they’ll get infected. If you won’t let me, then you do it.”

Seeing no reason to argue that, she reached for the cotton balls. Keeping an eye on the two in front of her, she dampened it with alcohol and set to work cleaning the raw and torn bits of flesh peeled away from her kneecap. She managed to wipe away most of the blood, but her new dress was ruined. There was no fixing the torn hem or the blood now staining it. She felt her eyes begin to sting as she desperately tried to salvage it. It annoyed her that, despite everything that had happened that evening, getting her dress wrecked was the breaking point.

“Riley…” Octavian made as though to reach for her. But at the last second, before she could, he jerked back, curling his fingers and returning them to the table in a tight fist.

“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Her head came up sharply, tears still dangerously close to falling.

“Here.” Magnus appeared at the table and set a glass of something clear, like water, down in front of her, but she’d served enough of those to know it wasn’t.

She shook her head. “I don’t drink.”

Magnus frowned. “How do you work at a bar and not drink?”

“Because it wasn’t in the job requirement!” she snapped back, grateful for a reason to fight the tears back. “Just like watching a murder being committed wasn’t or… or watching someone…
poof
into…” she trailed off, voice wavering along with her sanity. Suddenly drinking didn’t sound like such a bad idea. She needed something to strive away the blinking halo of darkness looming closer with every second. So she did. She gave herself no room to second guess her actions. She grabbed the drink and threw it back and waited for the burn.

But there was none. It was sweet, like grape juice and it flowed down her throat warm and rich like a root beer float. When it struck her stomach, she almost moaned. It was delicious and it made everything so… focused, like a very clear dream. The edges remained fuzzy while everything inside the circle stayed crisp and sharp.

“What is this?” Her voice sounded slurred even to her own ears and it nearly made her giggle. Man she was a lousy drunk.

“Riley? What happened?”

Riley blinked, surprised by Liam’s face hovering over her. “When did you get here?”

“I’ve always been here,” he replied with his warm smile.

Riley frowned. “No, no you haven’t.” Had he? She couldn’t be sure. Everything was so hazy and scenes kept overlapping like a dream. “I’m so tired.”

He took her hand lightly and patted the back. “We’ll take you home in just a moment. I’m going to look at your injuries first, okay?”

Her frown deepened. She was injured? How had that happened?

“I’m not injured.” she slurred, fighting to keep her eyes open. “Can I have more of… this?” She shoved her empty hand into Liam’s face, blinked. Where’d the glass go? She stared at her hand, baffled by its existence. Had her fingers always been so small? She shook her head and the room spun. Her stomach groaned and she shut her eyes.

“Riley?”

She opened her eyes, squinting to bring the face into focus.

Kyaerin smiled kindly at her. “Hello sweetie. How are you feeling?”

“Where’d Liam go?” Wow, this was the trippiest dream she’d ever had.

“Sweetie, what happened to your arm?”

“My arm?” It took some effort to find it, but she did. Kyaerin held it. She was unwrapping the gauze from around the burn marks. “Oh, you shouldn’t do that,” Riley said trying to jerk away.

Kyaerin ignored her as she peeled the wrap from the tender flesh. Riley hissed as bits of skin tore away with it.

“I’m sorry, love,” Kyaerin soothed softly. “I just want a look.” But no sooner had the injuries been brought into light when her face transformed into one of rage. “Who’s responsible for this?” Her snarl was things of horror movies. It sent chills down Riley’s spine.

There was a scuffle somewhere in the background. “I am.”

Her head whipped around. “Octavian? What have you done?”

Riley recoiled at the sharpness in her tone. “He didn’t—”

“It was an accident,” Magnus interrupted. “We were there.”

“You all knew?” She slammed her hand with the gauze on the table. Riley jumped. “And you didn’t think you ought to tell your father and me?”

The brothers exchanged sheepish glances.

“I told them not to,” Octavian said at last.

“That wasn’t your call to make,” Kyaerin said, tone hovering just an octave below hysterical.

“We were trying to protect you,” Reggie interrupted. “We didn’t want you to have to lie to the Summit.”

Kyaerin threw her arms out wide and let them drop back to her sides with a smack. “The Summit already knows about Riley. We had to notify them the moment she walked through those doors. What do you think will happen when they come to collect her—?”

“They can’t have her!” Octavian’s rage slammed through the room with gale force winds.

“That isn’t our choice to make!” his mother shot back. “They could arrive at any moment and there is nothing any of us can do to stop them. We’re only lucky they haven’t, that our time and celestial time differ so greatly. Otherwise, can you imagine that chaos that would have ensued? We would have all been mediated or worse!”

“Hush, sweetheart.” Liam appeared behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders. “Is there nothing you can do?”

“Do? No! I can’t…” She rubbed a hand over her face. “He marked her, Liam.”

He kissed a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s all right, darling. We’ll fix it.”

Kyaerin shook her head, the tears in her eyes bright. “We can’t fix this.”

“Don’t cry. I’m sorry,” Riley murmured, wishing she knew where her arms were so she could reach out to the other woman. Oh, there they were, lying useless in her lap.

Instead of giving comfort, her words only seemed to upset Kyaerin further. “Oh, sweetie—”

“There’s no mark,” Gideon intervened, straining his neck to have a look. “Maybe it didn’t happen.”

Wiping her eyes, Kyaerin stared down at Riley’s arm. “That’s because what Octavian has done is forbidden. We don’t mark humans. We swore…” She exhaled loudly. “Our oath is restricting her ascension. If she doesn’t ascend soon…”

“What will happen?” Coils of tension edged Octavian’s question.

Kyaerin turned her head to peer at her son from over her shoulder. “Without her mark, her ascension will overtake her and she won’t be strong enough to survive it. She will die.”

Whoa, that so did not sound good.

“What are you talking about?” Riley heard her voice slip incoherently through the air, but she never felt her lips move. Maybe she thought the question? She couldn’t be sure.

“How do we stop it?” Octavian stepped into view, his eyes shiny with fear and anxiety, but also unwavering determination. “Tell me and I’ll do it.”

“There is no way to stop the ascension once a mate is marked,” his mother said. “There’s no taking it back. She’s yours.”

“And we can’t go back on our oath,” Liam murmured. “The Summit would never allow it. We would all be killed.”

“So… what? We do nothing?” Rage hardened Octavian’s features. “We just sit back and watch her die or hand her over to the Summit to be torn to pieces because of something I did?”

“Of course not!” His mother leapt to her feet. “How dare you think we would ever let anything happen to Riley?”

Gideon moved to touch his mother’s trembling arm. “Every contract has a loophole. We just have to find one for this.”

“These are angels we’re talking about, Gideon,” Kyaerin replied. “They don’t have loopholes.”

“Doesn’t hurt to look,” Magnus said from across the table where he sat with his boots crossed at the ankles on the table and his arms folded over his chest. Riley wanted to protest that she cleaned the tables, but couldn’t seem to be able to do more than blink sleepily from one to the other.

Kyaerin glanced at her husband. “What do you think, Liam?”

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “The ascension gives us maybe six months? Eight at the most. But the Guardians could arrive at any moment for her and if they see she’s been marked and we haven’t informed them…”

Octavian raised his head and looked over the group. “This is my fault. I put Riley in this situation. She’s my responsibility now and I won’t ask any of you to shoulder this with me.”

Reggie and Gideon burst out laughing. Even Magnus snickered.

“Aw, you’re so cute when you get all noble,” Magnus snorted.

Octavian’s forehead creased. “I’m serious!”

Magnus dropped his feet off the table and rose. “Yeah and so are we.”

“We’re not leaving you alone in this,” his twin agreed. “Whatever we decide, we’re doing it together or not at all.”

The harsh lines on Octavian’s face softened. “You guys suck.”

Gideon shrugged. “
Quien mucho abarca poco aprieta -
he who takes too much upon himself can't do justice to all of his assumed duties
.
”

Magnus threw the salt shaker at him. “You and your damn quotes.”

Gideon caught it, smirking. “Haters be hatin’, bro.”

“Boys.” Kyaerin put up a hand to still the impending argument. “Can we please get back to the topic at hand?”

Yeah,
Riley thought. She was beginning to get a headache from all the nonsense everyone kept rattling off. She wished someone would just sit down and tell her what the hell was going on. She’d ask them, but she’d lost her will to want to speak. It was oddly blissful being so numb.

Kyaerin turned to Octavian. “You need to silk speech her, make her forget.”

I don’t want to forget!
Riley wanted to protest. How was it even possible to forget so much crazy talk?

“I can’t.” Octavian glanced at Riley. “It doesn’t work on her. I’ve tried. I tried to get her to quit when she first started. She completely shook it off.”

Liam touched his wife’s back. “You know mates can’t silk speech each other, love.”

Kyaerin sighed. “I forgot. I guess I’ll do it. But I want you to stay away from her, Octavian. Don’t touch her again. I know it’ll be hard—”

“Impossible,” Octavian corrected with a grudge.

Kyaerin ignored him. “But we don’t know what will happen if you do. It could speed up the ascension or worse.”

This seemed to strike a cord with Octavian. He gave a nod.

“What if we try to reason with the Summit?” Reggie piped in.

“We might as well kill her now and save them the trouble,” Magnus muttered.

Kyaerin shook her head. “They can’t know about this, not yet. We’re supposed to be unable to imprint on humans because of the oath we took. I have no idea how Octavian managed to do it.”