Текст книги "Deity"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

CHAPTER 20

MY HEART WAS RACING, PUMPING BLOOD THROUGH my body way too fast for someone who’d died and all. I tried and failed not to stare at Aiden as a Guard carried my bags into his parents’ house. It was the middle of the night, and I should’ve felt cold, but I felt ridiculously hot. Especially after Deacon met us in the foyer with a funny little grin on his face.

“This is probably the safest place to stash you until we find Telly and are able to determine if anyone else here is tied to the Order.” Marcus dropped his arm on my shoulders. “Once I get back from Nashville, you’ll stay with me, or with Lucian, once he returns from New York.”

“She should be kept as far away from Lucian’s house as possible,” Apollo said, appearing out of nowhere. Several of the Guards backed off, eyes wide and faces pale. Apollo grinned at them. “Anywhere Seth will be, I suggest Alexandria should not be.”

Every pure and half bowed at the waist. I did too, forgetting the stitches that were healing, and grimaced.

“We need to put a bell on him,” Aiden muttered.

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.

“Actually,” Apollo drawled slowly. “She is probably the safest here.”

Deacon sounded like he choked.

Marcus recovered quicker than he had last time. “Have you found something?”

“No.” Apollo glanced at Deacon curiously before his gaze settled on Marcus. “I wanted to speak with you privately.”

“Of course.” Marcus turned to me. “I’ll be back in a few days. Please listen to what Aiden tells you and… try to stay out of trouble.”

“I know. I’m not allowed to leave his house unless Apollo tells me to.” Those were Marcus’ exact words. No one else could remove me from this house other than Apollo, Aiden, or Marcus. Not even Lucian’s Guards. If anyone else tried, I’d been given permission to kick some butt.

Marcus nodded at Aiden and turned to leave. Passing by, Apollo gave us a two-finger salute that just looked bizarre coming from him. Over the past two days, I’d grown used to his random appearances. It seemed he took great pleasure in scaring the crap out of everyone when he did it.

“You ready?” Aiden asked.

Deacon arched a brow.

“Shut up,” I said as I walked past Deacon.

“I haven’t said a single thing.” He spun around and followed me in. “We’re going to have so much fun. It’s like a slumber party.”

A slumber party at Aiden’s house? Oh gods, the images I came up with made me blush.

Aiden closed the door behind the others as they left and shot his brother a look.

Deacon rocked back on his heels, grinning. “Just so you know, I get incredibly bored quite easily and you will be forced to be my source of entertainment. You’ll kind of be like my own personal jester.”

I flipped him off.

“Well, that wasn’t funny at all.”

Aiden brushed past me. “Sorry. You’re probably going to wish you’d stayed in the med clinic.”

“Oh, I’d wager that’s not the case.” Deacon met my glare with an impish grin. “Anyway, did you celebrate Valentine’s Day when you were slumming with the mortals?”

I blinked. “Not really. Why?”

Aiden snorted and then disappeared into one of the rooms.

“Follow me,” Deacon said. “You’re going to love this. I just know it.”

I followed him down the dimly-lit corridor that was sparsely decorated. We passed several closed doors and a spiral staircase. Deacon went through an archway and stopped, reaching along the wall. Light flooded the room. It was a typical sunroom, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, wicker furniture, and colorful plants.

Deacon stopped by a small potted plant sitting on a ceramic coffee table. It looked like a miniature pine tree that was missing several limbs. Half the needles were scattered in and around the pot. One red Christmas bulb hung from the very top branch, causing the tree to tilt to the right.

“What do you think?” Deacon asked.

“Um… well, that’s a really different Christmas tree, but I’m not sure what that has to do with Valentine’s Day.”

“It’s sad,” Aiden said, strolling into the room. “It’s actually embarrassing to look at. What kind of tree is it, Deacon?”

He beamed. “It’s called a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “Deacon digs this thing out every year. The pine isn’t even real. And he leaves it up from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day. Which thank the gods is the day after tomorrow. That means he’ll be taking it down.”

I ran my fingers over the plastic needles. “I’ve seen the cartoon.”

Deacon sprayed something from an aerosol can. “It’s my MHT tree.”

“MHT tree?” I questioned.

“Mortal Holiday Tree,” Deacon explained, and smiled. “It covers the three major holidays. During Thanksgiving it gets a brown bulb, a green one for Christmas, and a red one for Valentine’s Day.”

“What about New Year’s Eve?”

He lowered his chin. “Now, is that really a holiday?”

“The mortals think so.” I folded my arms.

“But they’re wrong. The New Year is during the summer solstice,” Deacon said. “Their math is completely off, like most of their customs. For example, did you know that Valentine’s Day wasn’t actually about love until Geoffrey Chaucer did his whole courtly love thing in the High Middle Ages?”

“You guys are so weird.” I grinned at the brothers.

“That we are,” Aiden replied. “Come on, I’ll show you your room.”

“Hey Alex,” Deacon called. “We’re making cookies tomorrow, since it’s Valentine’s Eve.”

Making cookies on Valentine’s Eve? I didn’t even know if there was such a thing as Valentine’s Eve. I laughed as I followed Aiden out of the room. “You two really are opposites.”

“I’m cooler!” Deacon yelled from his Mortal Holiday Tree room.

Aiden headed up the stairs. “Sometimes I think one of us was switched at birth. We don’t even look alike.”

“That’s not true.” I fingered the decorative garland covering the marble banister. “Your eyes are the same.”

He smiled over his shoulder. “I rarely ever stay here. Deacon does every once in a while, and visiting Council members will stay here sometimes. The house is usually empty.”

I remembered what Deacon had said about this house. Wanting to say something, but at a loss for what to say, I trailed behind him quietly. Over the last two days, Aiden had stayed by my side constantly. Like before the whole stabby incident, we’d talked about stupid, inane things. And he hadn’t been able to get Olivia’s number for me. All he had access to was her mom’s.

“Deacon stays in one of the bedrooms downstairs. I’ll stay here.” He gestured at the first room, drawing my attention.

The urge to see his room was too much to resist. I peeked inside. Like the one in the cabin, there were just the bare essentials. Clothes were folded neatly on a chair beside the full-size bed. There were no pictures or personal effects. “Was this your room when you were younger?”

“No.” Aiden leaned against the wall in the hallway, watching me through hooded eyes. “My room used to be the one Deacon stays in. It’s hooked up with all the stuff Deacon requires. This was one of the guest rooms.” He pushed off the wall. “Yours is down the hall. It’s a nicer room.”

I tore myself away from his room. We passed several closed doors, but one had locked double doors decorated with titanium inlays. I suspected that had been his parents’ room.

Aiden pushed open a door at the end of the carpeted hall and turned the light on. Sliding past him, my mouth dropped open. The room was huge and beautiful. Plush carpet covered the floors, heavy curtains blocked the bay window, and my bags of personal items had been stacked neatly by a dresser. A flat-screen TV hung from the wall and the bed was big enough for four people. I spied a bathroom with a huge tub and my heart went all fluttery.

Seeing my love-struck expression, Aiden laughed. “I figured you’d like this room.”

I looked inside the bathroom, sighing. “I want to marry that bathtub.” I turned around, smiling at Aiden. “This is like going to one of those super-expensive hotels, except everything is free.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know about that.”

“Maybe not to you and all your endless wealth.” I drifted off to the window and parted the curtains. Oceanside view. Nice. The moon reflected off the still, onyx-colored waters.

“That money isn’t really mine. It’s my parents’.”

Which did make it his and Deacon’s, but I didn’t push it. “The house is really beautiful.”

“Some days it’s more beautiful than others.”

I felt my cheeks flush. I pressed my forehead against the cool window. “Whose idea was it for me to stay here?”

“It was a joint effort. After… what happened, there was no way you could’ve stayed in the dorm.”

“I can’t stay here forever,” I said quietly. “Once school is back in, I need to be on the other island.”

“We’ll figure something out when that time comes,” he said. “Don’t worry about that right now. It’s past midnight. You have to be tired.”

Dropping the curtains, I faced him. He stood next to the door, hands curled into fists. “I’m not tired. I was stuck in that hospital room and that bed for what felt like eternity.”

He cocked his head to the side. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” I patted my stomach. “I’m not broken, you know.”

Aiden was quiet for a few moments, and then he smiled a little. “Want something to drink?”

“Are you trying to booze me up, Aiden? I’m shocked.”

He arched a brow. “I was thinking more along the lines of hot chocolate for you.”

I grinned. “And what about you?”

Turning around, he headed out of the bedroom. “Something I’m old enough to drink.”

I rolled my eyes, but followed him out of the room. Aiden did make me hot chocolate—with tiny marshmallows—and he didn’t drink anything other than a bottle of water. He then took me on a quick tour of the house. It was similar to Lucian’s—lavishly grand, more rooms than anyone would ever need in a lifetime, and personal property that was probably worth more than my life. Deacon’s room was by the kitchen, accessed through a titanium-trimmed door under the stairs.

Sipping my drink, I laughed when Aiden tried to right the bulb on Deacon’s MHT tree. I drifted around the room, looking for some sort of personal effects. There wasn’t a single picture of the St. Delphi family. Nothing that proved they even existed.

Aiden stood in front of a closed door—a room he hadn’t shown me on the mini-tour. “How’s the chocolate?”

I smiled. “It’s perfect.”

He set his water down on the coffee table and folded his arms. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what Apollo said.”

“Which part of crazy are you thinking about?” I watched him over the rim of my mug, loving the way he smiled in response to the stupid things that came out of my mouth. That had to be true love, I decided.

“You shouldn’t stay at Lucian’s when he returns.”

I lowered my mug. “Why?”

“Apollo has a point about Seth. You’re in danger because of him. The further away from him you are, the safer you’ll be.”

“Aiden—”

“I know you care about him, but you’ve suspected that Seth hasn’t been honest with you.” Aiden strode forward and dropped into a chair. His gaze lowered and heavy lashes fanned his cheeks. “You shouldn’t be around him—not when he can come and go at Lucian’s.”

Aiden had a point. I’d give him that, but I seriously doubted that was the whole reason. “And you feel this way all because of what Apollo said?”

“No. It’s more than that.”

“You don’t like Seth?” I asked innocently, setting my mug down.

He flashed his teeth. “Besides that, Alex, he hasn’t been honest about a lot of things. He lied about knowing how an Apollyon was created, about the Order, and there’s a good chance he’s… giving you those marks on purpose.”

“Okay, besides all those reasons?”

He stared up at me. “Well, I don’t like that fact that you’re settling for him.”

I rolled my eyes. “I hate when you say that.”

“It’s the truth,” he said simply.

Irritation started to burn below my skin. “That’s not the truth. I’m not settling for Seth.”

“Let me ask you a question, then.” Aiden leaned forward. “If you could have… who you wanted, would you be with Seth?”

I stared at him, somewhat shocked that he’d even throw that out there. And it really wasn’t a fair question. What could I say to that?

“Exactly.” He sat back, smiling smugly.

A fierce emotion blasted through me. “Why can’t you just admit it?”

“Admit what?”

“That you’re jealous of Seth.” It was one of those times I needed to shut up, but I couldn’t. I was angry and thrilled all at once. “You’re jealous of the fact that I can be with Seth if I want to be.”

Aiden smirked. “There. You just said it yourself. You’d be with Seth ifyou wanted to be. Obviously you don’t, so why areyou with him? You’re settling.”

“Ugh!” My hands curled into fists and I wanted to stomp my foot. “You are absolutely the most frustrating person I know. Fine. Whatever. You’re not jealous of Seth or the fact that he’s been sleeping in my bed for the last two months, because of course you haven’t wished that was you at all.”

Something dangerous flared in his silvery eyes.

Cheeks flaming, I wanted to smack myself. Why had I said that? To piss him off orto make myself look like a total ho-bag? I’d accomplished a little of both.

“Alex,” he said, voice low and deceptively soft.

“Just forget it.” I started past him, but his hand shot out as fast as a snake striking. One second I was walking and the next I was in his lap, straddling him. Eyes wide and heart thundering, I stared at him.

“Okay,” he said, grasping my upper arms. “You’re right. I’m jealous of that little punk. Happy?”

Instead of basking in the glory of having him admit that I was right, I placed my hands on his shoulders and basked in something totally different. “I… I keep forgetting how fast you can move when you want to.”

A strange small smile played over his lips. “You haven’t seen anything yet, Alex.”

My pulse went into cardiac arrest territory. I was done arguing—done talking in general. Other things were on my mind. And I knew he was thinking the same. His hands moved down my arms to my hips. He tugged me forward, and the softest part of me pressed against his hardness.

Our mouths didn’t touch, but the rest of our bodies did. Neither of us moved. There was something primal in Aiden’s gaze, wholly possessive. I shivered—the good kind of shiver. All I could think about was how good, how right his body felt pressed against mine.

I cupped his face and then slid my fingers through his hair, amazed that the intensity of what I was feeling was stronger than any bond with Seth. Delicious sensations rolled through me as his hands tightened around my hips, and when he rocked against me, the way his hands trembled and the powerful way his body coiled completely undid me.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he whispered, his eyes searching mine. “That I should’ve told you—”

“Not right now.” Words would ruin things. They brought logic and reality into the game. I lowered my mouth to his.

A hallway light turned on outside the room.

I sprang away from Aiden as if he’d caught fire. From several feet away, I struggled to catch my breath as my eyes locked with Aiden’s. He came out of the chair, his chest rising and falling sharply. There was a second when I thought he was going to say the hell with it and pull me back into his arms, but the sound of encroaching footsteps knocked some sense into him. Closing his eyes, he tipped his head back and exhaled loudly.

Without saying a word, I spun around and left the room. I passed a sleepy, confused-looking Deacon in the hallway.

“I’m thirsty,” he said, rubbing his eyes.

Muttering something that resembled good night, I fled upstairs. Once inside the bedroom, I collapsed on the bed and stared at the vaulted ceiling.

Things just weren’t meant to happen between us. How many times had we been interrupted? It didn’t seem to matter how strong our connection was—our attraction. Something always got in the way.

Fully clothed, I rolled onto my side and curled up into a ball. I wanted to spin-kick everyone who thought me staying with Aiden was a good idea. We—I—had enough problems right now without throwing myself at Aiden.

Not that I’d really thrown myself at him this time… or the last time. Oh hell…

I reached under my shirt and felt the scar below my ribcage. The act served as a painful reminder that my love problems—or lack thereof—were not my greatest.

CHAPTER 21

THE FIRST THING I DID WHEN I WOKE UP WAS TAKE A nice, luxurious bath in the garden tub. I stayed in that thing until my skin started to wrinkle and even then it was hard to pull myself out of it.

It was heaven in a bathroom.

After that, I went downstairs and found Deacon sprawled across a couch in the rec room. Knocking his legs aside, I sat down. He was watching Supernaturalreruns. “Good choice,” I commented. “They’re two brothers I’d like to meet in real life.”

“True.” Deacon knocked wild curls out of his eyes. “It’s what I watch when I’m not in class or pretending to be in class.”

I grinned. “Aiden would kill you if he knew you skip class.”

He kicked up his legs and dropped them in my lap. “I know. I’ve cut back on the skipping class thing.”

He’d also cut back on the drinking thing. I glanced at him. Maybe Luke was a good influence on him. “You doing anything special for Valentine’s Day?” I asked.

His lips pursed. “Now why would you ask that, Alex? We don’t celebrate V-Day.”

“But you do. You wouldn’t have that… tree if you didn’t.”

“Are you?” he inquired, his gray eyes dancing. “I’d swear I saw Aiden at the jewelry—”

“Shut up!” I hit him across the stomach with the throw pillow. “Stop saying things like that. Nothing is going on.”

Deacon grinned, and we watched the rest of the shows he’d recorded. It wasn’t until the afternoon that I worked up the nerve to ask where Aiden was. “He was outside with the Guards the last time I checked.”

“Oh.”

Part of me was glad that Aiden was doing his babysitting outside. My cheeks caught fire just thinking about us in the chair last night.

“So you two were up pretty late,” Deacon said.

I kept my expression blank. “He was showing me the house.”

“Was that all he was showing you?”

Shocked, I laughed as I twisted toward him. “Yes! Deacon, geez.”

“What?” He sat up and swung his legs off my lap. “It was just an innocent question.”

“Whatever.” I watched him stand up. “Where are you going?”

“Over to the dorms. Luke’s still there. You’re more than welcome to come, but I doubt Aiden will let you out of this house.”

Pures and halfs could be casual friends, especially while they were in school together, and a lot of them were, although not so much since the daimon attacks at the beginning of the school year. Zarak hadn’t thrown any of his huge parties lately. But for a half to be hanging out at a pure’s house would raise questions.

“What are you two doing?” I asked.

Deacon winked as he backed out of the room. “Oh, I’m sure the same thing you and my brother were doing last night. You know, he’s going to show me around the dorm.”

Several hours later, Deacon returned and Aiden finally reappeared inside. Avoiding my gaze, he went straight upstairs. Deacon shrugged and coaxed me into making cookies with him.

When Aiden finally came downstairs he lingered in the kitchen while Deacon and I made cookies. I sort of gaped at him—dressed down in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt—so long that Deacon elbowed me in the side. Once Aiden loosened up, he joked around with his brother. Every so often our eyes would meet, and electricity danced over my skin.

After eating our weight in raw cookie dough, we all ended up in the living room, sinking into couches bigger than most people’s beds. Deacon controlled the TV for four straight hours before ambling off to bed and Aiden went outside to check in with the Guards—why, I had no idea. I roamed around the house. What had Aiden wanted to talk about before I told him to stop talking? Had he been ready to talk, like he’d hinted when I was still in the med clinic? Restless, I found myself in the MHT tree room.

I poked the bulb, smiling as it swayed back and forth. Deacon was so bizarre. Who had a Mortal Holiday Tree? So weird.

It was late, and I should’ve been in bed, but the idea of sleeping was unappealing. Full of restless energy, I drifted around the room until I came to a stop in front of the door. Curious, and with nothing else better to do, I tried the handle and found it unlocked. Glancing over my shoulder, I pushed open the door and crept inside the softly lit room. At once I realized why Aiden had kept this room off his tour.

Everything personal was crammed into the circular room. Pictures of Aiden lined the walls, chronicling his childhood. There were photos of Deacon as a precocious-looking little boy, head full of blond curls and chubby cheeks that hinted at delicate features.

I stopped in front of one of Aiden and felt my chest tighten. He must’ve been six or seven. Dark curls fell across his face instead of the looser waves he had now. He was adorable, all gray eyes and lips. There was a photo of him with Deacon. Aiden was probably around ten or so and he had one lanky arm draped over his younger brother’s shoulders. The camera had captured both boys laughing.

Moving around an overstuffed couch, I slowly picked up the titanium picture frame that was on the fireplace mantel. My breath caught.

It was his father—his mother and father.

They stood behind Deacon and Aiden, their hands on the boys’ shoulders. Behind them the sky was a brilliant blue. It was easy to tell which boy favored which parent. Their mother had hair the color of corn silk that fell past her shoulders in springy curls. She was beautiful, as all pures were, with delicate features and laughing blue eyes. It was shocking, though, how much Aiden looked like his father. From the almost-black hair and piercing silver eyes, he was an exact replica.

It didn’t seem fair that his parents were taken so young, robbed of watching their boys grow up. And Aiden and Deacon had lost so much.

I ran my thumb over the edge of the frame. Why had Aiden closed off all these memories? Did he ever come in here? Looking around the room, I spied a guitar propped beside a stack of books and comics. This was his room, I realized. A place where he thought it was okay to remember his parents and maybe to just get away.

I turned my attention back to the photo and tried to picture my mother and father. If pures and halfs had been allowed to be together, would we’ve had moments like these? Closing my eyes, I tried to picture the three of us. My mom wasn’t hard to remember now. I could see her before she turned, but my father had the mark of slavery on his forehead and no matter what I did, it wouldn’t go away.

“You shouldn’t be in here.”

Startled, I spun around, clutching the frame to my chest. Aiden stood in the doorway, arms straight at his sides. He stalked across the room and stopped in front of me. Shadows hid his expression. “What are you doing?” he demanded.

“I was just curious. The door wasn’t locked.” I swallowed nervously. “I haven’t been in here long at all.”

His gaze dropped and his shoulders stiffened. He pried the picture from my fingers and set it back on the mantel. Without speaking, he bent and placed his hands over the kindling. Fire sparked and grew immediately. He grabbed a poker.

Embarrassed and stung by his sudden coldness, I backed away. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

He prodded at the fire, his spine stiff.

“I’ll leave.” I turned, and suddenly he was in front of me. My heart tumbled over.

He clasped my arm. “Don’t leave.”

I searched his eyes intently, but couldn’t gain anything from them. “Okay.”

Aiden took a deep breath and let go of my arm. “Would you like something to drink?”

Hugging my elbows, I nodded. This room was his sanctuary, a silent memorial to the family he’d lost, and I’d invaded it. I doubted even Deacon dared to tread in here. Leave it to me to just bust on in.

Behind the bar, Aiden pulled two wine flutes out and sat them down. Filling the glasses, he glanced up at me. “Wine okay?”

“Yes.” My throat was dry and tight. “I really am sorry, Aiden. I shouldn’t have come in here.”

“Stop apologizing.” He came around the bar and handed me a glass.

I took the glass, hoping he didn’t notice how my fingers shook. The wine was sugary and smooth, but it didn’t settle in my stomach right.

“I didn’t mean to snap at you like that,” he said, moving toward the fire. “I was just surprised to see you in here.”

“It’s… uh, a nice room.” I felt like an idiot for saying that.

His lips tipped up at the corner.

“Aiden…”

He stared at me for so long I thought he’d never speak and when he did it was not what I expected. “After what happened to you in Gatlinburg, it reminded me of what it’d been like for me… after what happened to my parents. I had nightmares. Could hear… hear their screams over and over again for what felt like years. I never told you that. Maybe I should have. It could’ve helped you.”

I sat on the edge of the couch, clenching the fragile stem.

Aiden faced the fire, taking a sip of his wine. “Do you remember the day in the gym when you told me about your nightmares? It stuck with me—your fear of Eric and his return,” he continued. “All I kept thinking was, what if one of the daimons had escaped the attack on my parents? How would I’ve gone on?”

Eric was the only daimon to escape from Gatlinburg. I hadn’t stopped thinking about him, but to hear his name knotted up my stomach. Half of the tags on my body were thanks to him.

“I thought getting you out of there, taking you to the zoo would help get your mind off things, but I had… I had to do more. I contacted some of the Sentinels around here. I knew Eric wouldn’t have gone far, not after he knew what you were and had tasted your aether,” he said. “Based on Caleb’s and your description, it wasn’t hard to find him. He was just outside of Raleigh.”

“What?” The knots grew larger. “Raleigh is like, less than a hundred miles from here.”

He nodded. “As soon as it was confirmed that it was him, I left. Leon—Apollo—went with me.”

At first I couldn’t figure out when he could’ve done this, but then I remembered those weeks after I’d told him I loved him and he’d ended our training sessions together. Aiden had had time to do this without me ever knowing. “What happened?”

“We found him.” He smiled humorlessly before turning back to the fire. “I didn’t kill him outright. I don’t know what that says about me. By the end, I think he truly regretted ever learning of your existence.”

I didn’t know what to say. Part of me was awed by the fact he had gone to such great lengths for me. The other part was sort of horrified by it. Underneath the calm and controlled persona that Aiden wore like a second skin was something dark—a side of him I’d only glimpsed. I stared at his profile, suddenly realizing that I hadn’t been fair to Aiden. I’d set him upon this incredibly high pedestal, where he was absolutely flawless in my mind.

Aiden wasn’t flawless.

I swallowed a sip of my wine. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We really weren’t on talking terms then, and how could I’ve told you?” He laughed harshly. “It wasn’t like a normal daimon hunt. It wasn’t a precise and humane kill like we’re taught.”

The Covenant basically taught us not to play with our kills, so to speak. That even though the daimon was beyond saving, he’d once been a pure-blood… or a half-blood. Still, as disturbing as learning that Aiden had most likely tortured Eric, I wasn’t disgusted by it.

Gods know what that said about me.

“Thank you,” I said finally.

His head jerked toward me sharply. “Don’t thank me for something like that. I didn’t do it just—”

“You didn’t do it just for me. You did it because of what happened to your family.” And I knew I was right. It wasn’t so much that he’d done it for me. It was his way of taking revenge. It wasn’t right, but I understood it. And in his shoes I would’ve probably done the same thing and then some.

Aiden went still. The flames sent a warm glow over his profile as he stared down at his glass. “We were visiting friends of my father in Nashville. I didn’t know them very well, but they had a daughter who was about my age. I thought we were just vacationing before the start of school, but as soon as we got there, my mother practically pushed me in her direction. She was a tiny thing, with pale blonde hair and these green eyes.” He took a breath, fingers tightening around the fragile stem of the glass. “Her name was Helen. Looking back, I know why my parents arranged that I spend so much time with her, but for some reason, I just didn’t get it.”

I swallowed. “She was your match?”

A rueful smile appeared. “I really didn’t want to have anything to do with her. I spent most of my time shadowing the half-blood Guards while they trained. My mother was so upset with me, but I remember my father laughing about it. Telling her to just give me some time, and let nature run its course. That I was still very much just a boy and that men fighting would interest me more than pretty girls.”

There was a lump forming in my chest. I sat back, the glass of wine forgotten.

“It was night when they came.” His thick lashes fanned his cheeks as his eyes lowered. “I heard the fighting outside. I got up and looked out the window. I couldn’t see anything, but I just knew. There was a crash downstairs, and I woke up Deacon. He didn’t understand what was happening or why I was making him hide in the closet and cover himself with clothes.

“It all just happened so fast after that.” He took a healthy swallow of the wine and then sat his glass on the ledge. “There were only two daimons, but they had control over fire. They took out three of the Guards, burning them alive.”

I wanted him to stop, because I knew what was coming, but he had to get this off his chest. I doubted he’d ever put that night into words, and I needed to deal with it.

“My dad was turning the element back on them, or at least, trying to. The Guards were dropping left and right. Helen was awakened by the commotion, and I tried to get her to stay upstairs, but she saw one of the daimons attack her father—ripped his throat open right in front of her. She screamed—I’ll never forget that sound.” A distant look crept across his face as he continued, almost like he was there. “My father made sure my mother got up the stairs, but then I couldn’t see him anymore. I heard him scream and I just,” he shook his head, “stood there. Terrified.”