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It would also likely help the next phase of my plan suck less, if I caught a bit of a buzz first. I snatched up the decanter and poured a few fingers into two glasses before taking them over to Jeremy and handing him one.
He narrowed his eyes at me in suspicion, and I almost laughed. It was the same look Raven had given me the first time I had handed her a coffee back in Toronto. I was sure he was wondering if I had poisoned it. I told him the same thing I had told her.
“Don’t worry, it’s just whiskey. If I was going to kill you, I would just slit your throat.” I said mildly, and his already angry expression grew tighter. He took the drink though, and I felt the corner of my mouth turn up, before taking a large sip from my own glass.
“She’s alive.” I told him, looking out at the volcano with him. He let out a strangled puff of air.
“How could you possibly know that?” He snapped at me, and I shrugged.
“Well, for one, I’m not dead. So, by extension we can assume she’s alive. That’s how it works.” I explained. “Two, she’s powerful. Like, really powerful. You should feel what it’s like when she loses her shit on someone.” My skin rippled and my pupils dilated. The first time I had enjoyed being bonded to her, was when she had gone apeshit and melted that bitch Maria on the docks. Holy fucking gods, was she strong. To feel that kind of energy ripping through me had been comparable to the first time I had rolled on ecstasy.
“So even if some crazy shit is popping off over there, if anyone can handle it, it’s her.” I said, taking another sip. Jeremy fell silent for a moment, looking down into his own glass.
“I want to go after her.” He said quietly, and I snorted.
“Not happening Pops, look at that shit.” I gestured to the violently erupting mountain. “You wouldn’t last two seconds.” I eyed the volcano critically, “I wouldn’t last five… and I’m a lot more durable than you are.”
He scowled at me and I rolled my eyes.
“You’re going to have to get used to this. She doesn’t need you to save her. Trying to save her is just going to fuck up her plans and she’ll end up having to save you instead. Which, let’s be serious, last time that happened we lost some pretty significant players on our team.” I didn’t bother keeping the edge of scorn and resentment I felt about that fact from my tone.
I expected him to snap at me, or yell, or storm off. Instead, he just looked sad, broken, and lost.
“I feel awful about that.” He said quietly. “I don’t know who those people were, but I know they are important to her. That man…”
“Daemon,” I corrected. He glanced up at me, pursing his lips, as if the word didn’t sit right with him.
“That daemon,” he amended, “He’s what… like, her boyfriend?”
I choked on my whiskey, not even caring that the fiery liquid was burning a hole in my septum as I coughed. He scowled at me as I worked to get my laughter under control.
Boyfriend.
For fucks sakes. “No, Pops, not like a boyfriend. Closer to what humans would call a husband. Still more than that, though. They’re life mates. It’s like a two for one special. A package deal. Two sides of the same coin. There’s no chance of a break up, or a divorce. This is it for them, forever. Not just in this life, but all lifetimes, if what the stories say are true.”
Jeremy stared at me, the skin around his eyes tight.
“She’s only eighteen,” He murmured, and I shrugged.
“I don’t know, I feel like she was pretty much fully baked in that womb for a little over three hundred years,” I mused. “Technically she’s older than both of us.”
He rolled his eyes. I knew he was struggling to wrap his head around some of the more outrageous details. I imagined magick would be a tough pill to swallow, if you had no idea it existed until you were in your mid forties.
“Even if that’s the case, she only has eighteen years of life experience.” He rationed, taking another sip of his whiskey. “I wanted more for her than this.”
I nearly choked again.
“More for her? She’s literally Queen of the world! She found her soulmate who saved her from… well, me, and various other assholes who’ve been trying to kill her. She has you as a dad, which, all things considered, doesn’t seem like a fate worse than death. She’s going through some shit right now, sure, but once we put that evil bitch to bed I don’t know what else you could possibly want for her, Pops.”
He eyed me with consideration for a moment before sighing.
“She’s in pain. I feel like it’s my fault that she’s in pain. I feel… guilty.” He scowled down into his nearly empty glass. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you any of this.”
I shrugged. “People tell me a lot of random shit, I don’t get it either.” I drained my glass before frowning at him. “Feeling guilty is a waste of energy. Nothing that happened had anything to do with you. Ash Nevra was just using you to get to Raven. There’s nothing you could have done.”
The anger I had been waiting for finally appeared and he barked at me. “You don’t exactly seem like someone who’s relatively familiar with the appropriate way to feel about things. She traded them for my life. Now, she’s lost someone so important to her that their love is supposed to transcend literal lifetimes, according to you. How am I not supposed to feel like shit about that?”
I shrugged, unconcerned. “All I’m saying is, it wasn’t your decision to make. It was hers and she chose you. Now she needs to deal with the consequences of that choice. That’s how life works.”
