Invision - Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 0,47
took custody of his soul. Poor bastard.”
Xev cursed. “You just had to add that last bit, didn’t you? You couldn’t leave well enough alone.” He made a sound of supreme disgust.
“What?” Jaden asked innocently. “What did I do?”
Caleb joined his brother in making the noises of IBS. “Isn’t it enough I’ve been poisoned and almost killed? Gah! I don’t need the Eye to see this next act of blatant stupidity that Nick’s about to hurl at us.”
The two brothers gave Nick an identical droll stare of utter contempt and irritation.
“Well, don’t give me that look. Obviously, you know me well enough to know what I’m going to say and do. So it’s not going to be any surprise to either of you.”
Caleb hooked his thumb at Xev. “He can’t go. His blood is what’s holding them down there. If he steps foot into Azmodea, it’ll blow those seals wide open and set them free. And if you go, little Malachai, they’ll never let you out. You are their power source. Daddy Dearest Hernia, tell him.”
Jaden nodded. “He’s right. You don’t want to know what they did to Adarian. There’s a reason he was psychotic. Even I felt bad for him, and pity doesn’t come naturally to me.”
Xev snorted. “The poster child for I Need Serious Parenting Classes isn’t lying about that.”
“Yeah, Nick. And it’s not hard to know why.” Caleb jerked his chin toward his father. “You met his parents during our last fun-filled Disney adventure.”
Nick scowled. “I did?”
Kody leaned in to explain what they were hedging around. “Tiamet and Chronus.”
His jaw went slack at the reminder of two of the scariest things they’d been up against in a while. And with Tiamet as a mother, it explained a lot about Jaden.
About everything.
He didn’t know who to feel worse for—Jaden or his sons.
“Those were your parents?”
“She birthed all the original monsters,” Xev muttered as he cut a pointed and meaningful glare toward Jaden.
Jaden arched his brow at the less than subtle innuendo. “Pardon?”
“Oh…” Xev blinked innocently and spoke with utter sarcasm. “Did I say that out loud?”
Jaden narrowed an evil glare on him. “Yeah, you did, and need I remind you that she didn’t birth the Malachai?”
“Oh, pardon. There’s one she didn’t birth. How forgetful of me. Must be all the centuries I spent in hell being tortured. Tends to take a toll on one’s memory.” Xev rolled his eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Need I remind you of where I’ve been? Where your brothers are … because of you?” Jaden snarled.
“I had nothing to do with that!”
“Yeah, sure you didn’t!”
“I didn’t betray my own army!”
While they continued to argue and Caleb blatantly ignored them, Nick’s mind spun with what they’d just inadvertently disclosed.
“Hold on! Wait with the family squabbling for a sec.” He scratched at his head as he ran through what they’d said.
Yeah … that was what they’d said.
He met Jaden’s freaky gaze. “Your father is Chronus, right? That’s what you said. As in the god of time?”
“What of it?”
“Is there any way you can get me into the future to talk to Ambrose?”
Kody turned pale. “Nick, that’s a profoundly bad idea.”
Caleb sat up. “She’s right. No one should know too much about their future and you already know way too much about yours. It’s why it keeps getting screwed up.”
“True, but I need to ask him one more thing. Please?” Nick turned his puppy eyes to Kody. “You said you could help me barter with Jaden to get what I needed, right?”
“I didn’t mean this.”
Xev shook his head. “Listen to them, kid. Don’t do it.”
“Maybe. But all of you, except Jaden, know how stubborn I am. You really think you can stop me?”
Caleb lay back down with a groan. “You know you can’t stop King Stupid from blatant acts of supreme idiocy. Believe me, I’ve tried everything. He wears you down with it and always wins. I’ve learned just to go with it and save my strength for battling whatever nightmare is unleashed by his failure to listen to good advice.”
Nick cleared his throat. “You know, Caleb, I am standing right here.”
“Yeah, and I’m laying right here, bleeding from the last time you didn’t listen to me.”
While he might have a valid point, Nick refused to concede—which was exactly what Caleb was arguing. But he was too old to change his ways now.
Besides, this was the best shot they had.
“Look, Ambrose hasn’t failed us. He’s been honest from the beginning.” At least for the most part and