“Yeah, wel , what’s new there?”
Baring his jagged teeth, Verlyn rushed him.
Seth caught the beast and flipped him to the floor. He tried to pin him there, but it was impossible. Verlyn
probably outweighed him by a good hundred pounds of solid muscle. Muscle that shouldn’t be as flexible as
his was.
“Damn you, you fat bastard. Lose some weight.” It was like trying to control a ful -grown rhinoceros.
Verlyn twisted around in a way that shouldn’t be possible for something with an internal skeleton and
snatched Seth off his back. He slammed him against the floor hard enough to daze him. And then Verlyn
slammed him there a couple more times for good measure.
“I think you need some help there, baby,” Lydia cal ed to him. “Want to let me out?”
“No,” he choked through his windpipe that was being crushed by Verlyn’s hand, which happened to be
twice the size of his. “Won’t be able to play with you later if you’re bruised and I’m feeling guilty that I caused
it.”
“You are so sick.”
And right now, he was getting his ass kicked. Seth kept punching at Verlyn, but it was like hitting a brick
wal with a bare hand.
Not to mention, he was getting tired of having his head dribbled on the hardwood floor. Why hadn’t
Maahes carpeted the damn place?
Speaking of that bastard, where was Mr. I Would Have Protected You Had I Known? So much for his
worthless vows.
Yet again, he was nowhere around when Seth needed him.
Then Seth smel ed it. That fetid stench that signified Verlyn was opening the channel between the human
realm and Azmodea.
If he didn’t do something fast, he was going back there.
Lydia saw the panicked despair in Seth’s eyes as he locked gazes with her. That scared her, but when
her shield suddenly went down so that she could join the fight, she knew she had only heartbeats to save
him.
Her only thought his safety, she ran for Verlyn. When he would have grabbed her, she shifted into her
jackal form and latched onto his forearm with everything she had.
Verlyn screamed out in pain, trying to pound her into releasing him. But she wasn’t about to let go. Not
until he was gone and they were safe.
Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning went through the room, striking Verlyn right through his heart. Lydia
released him immediately. Unfortunately, the bolt didn’t kil him, but it knocked him through the glass window
and sent him to the sea below.
Maahes ran to check on them.
Seth wasn’t ready for that as he stared at Lydia’s true form.
She was a jackal.
A fucking jackal.
And as he stared at her, something about her tugged at his memories. Like déjà vu. But he couldn’t place
it. Not right then when he was grappling with so many other rancid emotions vying for his attention.
Why hadn’t she told him?
Unaware of the turmoil he’d interrupted, Maahes pul ed back from the window. “C’mon. We need to get
out of here. I’m pretty sure our friend down there isn’t dead.”
Verlyn wasn’t, but in a few minutes, Lydia might be.
His gaze never wavering from her canine body, Seth pushed himself up from the floor.
Lydia returned to her human form even though she had second thoughts about it. One look at Seth’s face
and she knew just how badly she’d screwed up.
He would never forgive her for this. And she couldn’t blame him for it. Not real y.
But right now, they had to get away from Verlyn and she stil had her promise to keep. She wasn’t about to
al ow Noir to take Seth back.
“Where do we go now?” she asked Maahes.
Maahes stepped away from the shattered window. “Out of here, ’cause he’s getting up and he don’t look
too happy about it. Does he have any friends?”
Seth’s tone was stoical y dry. “He makes his own friends.”
Moving to stand next to Maahes, Lydia didn’t understand what Seth meant until she scanned the
landscape below where Verlyn had fal en, and saw that he could split himself into multiple beings. Multiple
beings who could fly and climb up …
Fast.
Maahes cursed. He grabbed Lydia by the arm, then Seth. One second they were in his house, and in the
next, they appeared in the throne room of a huge golden Egyptian temple. Lydia turned around slowly to
take in the beauty of it. From the luminescent way it appeared, she was sure they were no longer in the
human realm, but another. The wal s shimmered from sheets of gold. There was a huge dais in the center
where a gilded throne was flanked by two god statues. She had no idea which two, though. One she could
swear must be Maahes’s. Not that it looked like him. It was merely an impression she had.
“Now I dare that bastard to come here,” Maahes said proudly.
Lydia hoped he was right, but she wasn’t feeling so cocky. “Where are we?”
“Ma’at’s house. Her temple, actual y. She doesn’t real y live here. She thinks it’s too ostentatious.” He al
but sneered the last word.
Yeah, he would say that, given the overstated luxury estate he lived in. Obviously, Maahes didn’t have a
problem flaunting excess wealth.
“We’l be safe here,” Maahes said confidently.
Seth snorted. “I wouldn’t bet
my
house on it. Believe me, he’l find us. It’s what he does.”
“Yeah, but—”
Seth gave him a withering stare. “He was one of the original six primal gods. Believe me, this won’t even
slow him down.”
Maahes cursed under his breath.
“Exactly,” Seth added sardonical y.
Lydia refused to be so pessimistic. “Then how do we escape him?”
“We don’t. Ever.”
Maahes narrowed his gaze. “I don’t believe that. There’s always a way to defeat anything. You two make
yourselves at home, and I’l be back in a few.” He vanished instantly.
Alone now, Lydia felt awkward as she turned toward Seth. His face was stoic, but it was the torment in his
eyes that cut to her soul.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you what I was.”
Stil , he gave her no clue about his mood. “Why didn’t you?”
“Jaden told me not to. Given what happened to you, we were afraid of how you’d react to it.”
He rubbed absently at his neck where the swal ow would be under his armor. “Does Jaden make al of
your decisions for you now?”
She screwed her face up in distaste. What was he trying to say? She wasn’t exactly sure, but she knew it
was making her angry. “That’s not fair, and you know he doesn’t.”
He moved to stand in front of her, reminding her of just how huge and intimidating he could be, even when
he wasn’t trying. And even though he appeared completely calm and composed, his blue eyes screamed at
her. Or maybe that was the weight of her own conscience.
The one thing she was sure about was that she’d hurt him. And that she’d never meant to do.
“Then why didn’t you tel me?” he asked quietly.
That answer was complicated so she settled on a simple one that she hoped would placate him without
hurting him more. “I was afraid he was right.”
Seth ground his teeth as she stabbed him straight through his heart. For a ful minute, he couldn’t breathe
from the pain of her words that hurt him so much more than any physical blow. So, he’d been right, even
though deep inside, he’d been hoping he was wrong.
Stil , he refused to let her know just how much damage she’d done to him with that.
Not now.
You’re a monster. Why would she ever see anything else? You’re stupid and revolting …
He cleared his throat to make sure no residual emotions would be there to betray him when he spoke.
“Have I ever given you any reason to fear me?”
Her jaw dropped with incredulity. “Uh, yeah.” Then she ticked her list off her fingers. “You took my powers.
Made me your prisoner and threatened to kil me
and
my father. Have you forgotten that you tortured my
father, and I don’t mean a little bit either?”
No, he hadn’t. The guilt of that tore at him every time he looked at her and saw how much she loved her
father.
Nor had he forgotten his own list of il s against her. “You stabbed me. You bit me until I bled, and you
invaded Noir’s sanctum to free a god Noir wanted questioned. Had I not taken you prisoner when I did, he
would have nailed you to the wal and eaten your entrails. Trust me, you would never have gotten Solin out of
there in one piece. And you would stil be there, begging for someone to kil you.”
“Yeah, okay,” she said angrily, “a little touché there, but—”
“There’s no but. Yes … I am pissed off that you’re a jackal. I can’t stand them. But that’s not why I’m mad.”
“Why, then?”
“You, who have done nothing but lecture me on trust, didn’t trust me with the truth. You withheld it, and you
purposeful y hid it.” Because she had thought of him as less than human.
Less than caring.
That was what stung him deepest of al .
He didn’t deserve that. Not from her. Not after al he’d done to protect her. “I thought…”
No, he wouldn’t say it. There was no need. Her actions told him everything he needed to know.
“Thought what?” she asked when he didn’t finish.
“Nothing.” Seth started away and then stopped as his anger mounted to a level so high, it blinded his
vision. He wanted to lash out and sting her as deeply as she’d kicked him. “No, it
is
something.”
He raked her with a sneer. “I thought you saw me. But you’re just like everyone else. I’m nothing but an
animal to you and that’s al I’l ever be. Something to be feared or kicked or caged or put down.”
But never kept.
Never trusted.
Never loved.
Seth winced at the bitter truth. “Al of you think that I can’t control myself. That I’m…” he caught himself
before he said the one thing he thought of himself.
… my father. Incapable of feeling or caring.
His adoptive father had said that so many times.
There’s something not right with that one. You can
never trust the gods or their by-blows. They’re tricky, sneaky bastards.
And they’d al mistrusted him when
he’d given them no reason to.
Just like her.
Looking back, he wasn’t surprised that he’d been sold at thirteen. He was only surprised now that they’d
kept him that long.
But he’d expected better from Lydia. He didn’t know why. Not when everyone else had kicked him.
Stil , he’d hoped.
And yet again, he’d learned better.
She reached for him, but he wouldn’t let her touch him and weaken his anger. Not this time. He needed it
to keep from being hurt any worse. Anger might not be worth much, but at least it kept him warm when
nothing else did. And it kept him safe, cocooned away from the world and from being around those who lied
to him.
Tears glistened in her eyes. Something that kicked him in the groin with steel spikes. “I
never
treated you
like an animal.”
“Didn’t you? In the beginning, did you not set out to tame me?”
She sputtered indignantly. “No, not exactly.”
“No or not exactly? Which is it?”
“It’s both.” Her cheeks darkened as her temper kicked in to match his. “Okay? I’l admit that. I didn’t know
you then. And do you not own a mirror? Have you seen what you look like when you’re painted up and
standing nine thousand feet tal with this gigantic aura of I-hate-everything-around-me? You know, you’re just
not real approachable like that, buddy. That whole fuck-off-and-die attitude you’ve armor-plated yourself with
tends to unnerve people. Excuse me for feeling the very thing you were striving to make me feel. You’re a
little too good at it. Maybe if you’d learn how to smile once in a while it might help. Certainly couldn’t hurt. So
yes, in the beginning, I did bite you and I was trying to win you over to my side. But then, I did see you. I did.”
“And yet you stil fear me, don’t you?”
Lydia pressed her lips together as she debated how to answer. “What do you want me to say?”
“I want the truth.”
“Fine then. Yes. There’s stil a part of me that’s scared of you. I’l admit it. I’ve seen where you’ve lived and
what’s been done to you. Horrors like that take their tol . They have to. You can’t walk through hel and not be
scarred by it. And while I’ve seen the good in you, I’ve seen the worst. The worst does terrify me. So given
al of that, I decided to listen to Jaden’s advice and not tel you I’m a jackal. I didn’t want you to lash out and
hurt me for something I can’t help.”
But it was okay that she’d just done that to him.
Because she didn’t see the man in front of her.
She only saw Noir’s mindless slave. The animal Noir had made him. She didn’t think enough of him to
believe that he could have his own sense of right and wrong. That he could walk through hel , and while he
was definitely scarred from it, he was stil whole.
Stil worth
something
.
Yes, there were times when the scars opened and he bled anew … like now.
But he wasn’t a monster. He didn’t lash out at anyone without reason.
And he’d never once lashed out at her. She had no reason to doubt him.
Yet she did.
There’s something not right with that one. You can never trust the gods or their by-blows. They’re tricky,
sneaky bastards.
But it wasn’t just the gods.
It was everyone. Al beings served their own agenda. No good deed was served without them expecting