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Despite the anger and the venom dripping from his words, Athon recognized the fear behind them.
Anger rose and pulsed through the bond with Jezzie. Athon snapped his gaze away from Roth and looked down at her watching as heat flushed her cheeks as her inner fire was stoked. The wrath of the Devil’s daughter smoldered in her eyes.
“Yours aren’t the only feelings which matter, Roth. You should have trusted us. At the very least you should have trusted Athon. I’d have understood not trusting Nithe and I, but him? Come on, you fucked up there. Big time,” Jezzie bit out.
“Leave. Get the fuck away from me. You have no idea of what you speak, and I don’t want you here.” His eyes searched the trees, as if looking for spies among the branches and underbrush.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, we’re safe here. No one can see us. No one even knows we’ve left the fortress other than Leraie and Lucifer, and not even my father knows where the heck we are.”
Roth looked at them in stunned surprise, as if he hadn’t even considered that Leraie would offer him such protection. Athon remained silent, he wasn’t sure he could talk yet, even if he knew what he wanted to say. Nithe was just staring down Roth, waiting for him to get the memo that they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“Now, let’s go inside. You need to put a shirt on or something. We need to talk, and neither I nor Athon can do so while you look like that.” Jezzie waved her hand, gesturing toward Roth’s naked chest and tight, fitted jeans.
She spun on her heels, grabbed his hand and Nithe’s, and headed for the front porch without looking back. Once they were out of Roth’s sight the tight muscles of her stick straight posture relaxed, her shoulders momentarily slumped, and she released a pent up breath. Athon placed his wrist flat to hers and felt their speeding pulses start to slow.
“This isn’t going to be easy, you know,” he whispered.
“I know, but we can and will get through this. The bond is strong, and we are stronger together than apart.” Jezzie squeezed his hand.
“And if he puts up too much of a fight, I’m happy to kick his ass and my dragon can carry him kicking and screaming back home.” Nithe’s jovial tone and the smirk on his half serious face conjured up the image of him doing just that.
Roth stepped onto the porch and pushed through the front door, not bothering to invite them in. If they considered him rude, they could always leave sooner. By the time they stepped into the cabin behind him, he’d already toweled off and donned a fresh shirt. He stood at the kitchen sink and stared out of the window above it, bracing himself to resist the temptation to pull them close and never let them go again.
“Since you all seem to have something you want to say, you better spit it out already and leave. I have shit to do so this better not take long.” Roth forced annoyed boredom into the words.
“For the love of the Almighty, you’re a stubborn jackass sometimes, aren’t you? Out here in the middle of nowhere with a fully stocked, magical cabin, and you’ve got things to do? That’s pure bullshit. You sure as shit don’t need any more firewood, unless you’re planning to take down every tree out there for absolutely no reason? It’s not even cold out, idiot.” Nithe chuckled as Roth leveled a glare at him.
“You need to come home and stop this nonsense, Roth. We’re all hurting and there’s no reason for it,” Jezzie asserted.
“What nonsense? Seriously, a guy can’t just be done with this thing we have—had? You all think so highly of yourselves, huh?” Roth hated the words even as he spoke them.
“Cut the crap, Roth,” Nithe spat. “They may not want to hurt your fragile little feel feels, but I’m not afraid of doing so. See, if you can hurt them as much as you have, in my mind you kinda deserve it. But these two love you, so you need to face the truth, we aren’t leaving without answers, and we aren’t leaving without you. We found Mara’s note. We know why you left.”
Roth felt the color drain from his face at the implication. He turned to Athon, hurt and betrayal stung his already broken heart. Athon shook his head.
“It’s a bullshit threat, Roth. A means of control and manipulation, and you chose to leave us instead of fight to keep us. You let her win, again. Don’t you know how strong we are? How much stronger we are together? We have the entirety of Hell on our side, and you’re just going to roll over and let some bitch with a boner for hurting you keep us apart?” Nithe ended with a sneer. The dragon peeked out through his eyes.
“It’s not that simple. You don’t know what you’re fucking talking about.” Roth felt shame and anger go to war in his belly.
“Maybe not, but that’s only because instead of talking to us, you shut us out and ran like a little bitch.” Roth saw Jezzie flinch at Nithe’s words, and he couldn’t stop the protectiveness he felt for her spill out.
“Watch the language, Nithe.” He nodded toward Jezzie.
“Why? What do you care? She’s heard worse, said worse, you know,” he shot back.
“I care, more than you know. Mara is dangerous. She got to me in my own home. How the fuck could she do that? You don’t know what she did to me. What she made me suffer. What she made me do. And no matter how strong you think you are . . . How strong I thought I was . . . You can’t fight it . . . You can’t fight her.”
Roth felt his strength crumble like stone walls to dust. The torment of his time with Mara flooded out of him in a rush. Every torrid act of depravity he endured, every time he was forced to commit those foul atrocities. The pain, the shame, the smells, the tastes, the hands upon his person that made him want to vomit. He felt powerless to stop it. As powerless as he’d been back then. He threw the words at them, one last shield to keep them away. But as his words slowed, then halted, he breathed, and with his breath came a weird new sense of calm, love, and catharsis. A weight lifted, a burden shared, and when he looked into Athon’s bloodshot eyes he saw strength and hope.
His gaze shifted to Jezzie’s tear stained face, love and barely leashed retribution shimmered from her in an almost tangible way. Her hands were clenched at her sides, as if struggling to hold herself back. He somehow knew the anger wasn’t directed at him, but rather for him, and it filled his deflated heart a little more with hope.
He hesitated to look at Nithe. The dragon’s energy pulled at the room like a vacuum.
“Look at me,” Nithe demanded softly.
Roth slowly turned his gaze and locked onto Nithe’s golden-green eyes. In them he saw pride, strength, camaraderie, and understanding.
“You are not to blame for the sins of others. A very wise lady once told me that.” Nithe looked at Jezzie, pulled her close, and placed a kiss atop her head.
