Could you please go with him and help him free Aeron?”
Kaziel placed a brotherly hand on Xev’s shoulder before he vanished.
“You sure you don’t want me to—”
“No!” they shouted in unison.
“Okay,” Nick said, holding his hands up in surrender. At least that broke their melancholia.
Caleb manifested a small hand mirror for Xev and held it up for him to see. “Thought you’d want to know.”
He gasped as he saw himself whole for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years. “Why would he lift this portion of the curse?”
“No idea. The others will kill him when they find out.”
Smiling, Kody walked over to him. “You look so strange like this. I’ll miss the old you.”
He laughed at her words. “You’re the only one who felt that way.”
“Cherise, too.”
He lowered the mirror. “My two Arelim.” Cupping her cheek in his hand, he kissed her forehead. “Treasure her, Nick. Those who judge only by the heart are far too rare in this world.”
“Believe me, I know.” Nick paused as a bad feeling went through him.
“You okay?”
Not really … he still felt odd. “Weird feeling just went through me.”
“Weird feeling how?”
Before Nick could speak, a searing pain exploded inside him and drove him to his knees.
CHAPTER 14
Jaden fell back as he manifested near Noir’s main bank of “special” rooms where he kept his most hated guests. He was rather sure his name was engraved on the door of the room at the far end of the hall.
As was Seth’s.
Guilt wrenched his gut as he paused by that door and he did his best not to think of the horrors that were visited daily upon its occupant. And the fact that there was nothing he could do to spare the demigod his eternal suffering.
All because of Adarian Malachai.
And because of him.
He had so much to atone for. Wrongs made against others for things he’d thought were the right reasons at the time. But with perspective of age and distance …
Jaden regretted so much of his existence. Yet nothing weighed on him as much as the gulf that divided him from his own children and the wretched fates that were theirs because of his own failure to protect them.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried. That was the bitterest pill of all. Like his sister Apollymi, he’d done everything he could to spare them from the cruelty of others. Sacrificed everyone he’d ever loved and everything he’d ever cherished, and what had it gotten him?
Hated.
Condemned to hell.
Imprisoned and tortured for untold centuries.
He’d once been a primary power of the earth, a fierce, feared primordial god. And now he was reduced to being nothing more than the punch line of jokes bandied about by slug demons or worse. A broker for lesser beings to summon so that they could commune with the brother and sister he hated beyond tolerance or measure.
A brother and sister he’d done his best to destroy the moment they’d been spat out of the farting abyss of darkness itself.
Life was never what you planned for. Never what you thought.
And he was so tired of being sucker-punched by it.
But this wasn’t about him and his weary, eternal journey. He’d let his children down enough. For once, he would be there for them.
As he moved forward, he felt a powerful presence behind him.
Jaden turned, ready to battle. Yet to his utmost shock, it wasn’t one of the revolting, shattered, and twisted souls that called this infernal realm home.
It was Kaziel.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m your reinforcement, like.”
“Did they not trust me?”
Kaziel snorted at his question. “They were worried.” And with that, he changed into his dire wolf form.
Much more touched than he wanted to admit, Jaden took a moment to savor the miracle that had sent the wolf to him. All he ever remembered was fighting against his children. Hurtful, bitter words that cut straight through the heart and seared their very souls.
He was as guilty of it as they were.
Whatever fool had penned the nonsense that words could do no harm should be condemned to Tophet’s lowest fiery pit. For they did far more damage than mere broken bones that eventually healed.
Furious, hate-filled words spoken by a loved one left bleeding gashes that no amount of time or apology ever masked. The slightest frown or look could rip the scabs open and begin the bleeding anew as if no amount of time had passed at all from the initial injury.
Yet the most amazing thing about love was how willing you could be to