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“Having just come face-to-face with death, yeah, I do. We can’t cheat it, and I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt trying to help me, okay? I know everyone else in the family feels that way too.”
“You’re telling me this ‘cause you’re going away, aren’t you?” he asked, and I nodded. “Good. You have to be the one to bring her back,” he whispered.
“I know.” Signaling to our frantic family with a tilt of my brows and a slight angling of my head, I continued, “Take care of them, okay? They won’t understand.”
“You have to make them understand.” He shrugged. “Besides, you’ll be safe.”
Not an ounce of concern escaped him, and I couldn’t help but wonder what that meant. He was the youngest of us all, and one would think that made him the most naïve. The truth was that he was probably smarter than anyone in the room. He’d proved it time and time again.
“You haven’t happened to have read any books about Tartarus, have you?”
He smiled, shaking his head. “No. The library doesn’t have any.”
“Damn. Was hoping you could tell me what to expect.”
“You always tell me to expect the unexpected,” he said, his big, brown eyes sparkling with mirth.
“I suppose I do.” I cupped his cheek. “This is more dangerous than grave digging, though. The Soulless One is . . . ruthless.” I sighed. “He wants the soul I guard, but now he’s claiming we’re mates. I don’t understand what’s happening here, but I can’t leave Clara there while I figure it out.”
Not a damn thing made sense anymore and it made me feel uneasy. Eres stirred inside me, but I ignored her. She’d shut herself off from me for sixteen years. She could freakin’ wait.
“Maybe there’s more to him than you realize,” he replied, picking at a loose thread on the doll.
“I seriously doubt that,” I huffed.
“Why? There’s a time in our lives where we’re limited in what we know just. We believe what we are told to believe, and we do because we don’t know any better. It’s only by opening our hearts and minds to listen are we able to experience the world around us. We need that knowledge and understanding so we can grow.”
My jaw slackened at the strength of his words. It was almost as if someone else was speaking.
“Dude. You’renine,” I said, after finding my voice again. Giving him a tiny squeeze of his shoulder, I shook my head in disbelief. “How can you be so smart?”
“It’s ‘cause I read all the books in the library. If you find new ones in Tartarus, bring some back for me,” he whispered. A mesmerizing light flickered in his eyes, and an invisible force pressed upon my skin, enveloping me in what I could only describe as comfort. My breath caught, and before I could ask him what he was doing, my family seemed to have noticed my backpack and turned their attention to me.
“The hell you think you are doing?” my father said forcefully, crossing his arms.
After a few more seconds of staring at my youngest cousin in awe, I shook myself free of where my thoughts had taken me. Clearing my throat, I stood up and looked at my dad directly. “I’m going to get Clara.”
“You can’t seriously think I’m going to just let you walk through that portal with that—that monster waiting for you on the other side?”
“Um, yes, that is exactly what I am going to do. There is no way we are leaving her there, and you heard him. He told his two stooges not to let anyone else through except me, and I’m pretty sure they’re good at following his orders.”
Sin pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut. “For all you know, you’ll cross over and he’ll just kill you both.”
“You know damn well he could have done that while he was here. Hell, he agreed not to hurt any of you, and technically, he didn’t,” I argued, irritation crawling over my skin.
“Reagan, you can’t risk your life this way. You have the other half of his soul. That’s all he’s ever wanted. Crossing over means he could take your life at any moment. You know the stories as well as I do,” my dad pleaded, talking with his hands the way he did when he was exasperated.
I glanced at Jo, and he dipped his chin, and I replayed his words in my mind.
“Do you mean the stories that Mom was told before she was sacrificed? The ones that creep and his lackeys told me?” I laughed coolly, without humor. “I know who Caius is, Dad. Iknowwhat I guard. The origin of the stories are real, but that doesn’t mean they’re the full truth. Something happened today that we can’t explain. He was the one that saved me for crying out loud.” I shot back. “I knew I was dying, Dad. I felt it. I was on the brink of death, but hesavedme.”
Gods, was I actually defending Caius? Add that to the list of things that didn’t make sense. At least he wasn’t here to hear me. I could just picture the smirk on his perfect face.
“Butwhydid he do it? He wasn’t exactly forthcoming with answering questions, and once you woke up, Clara had us shoved out of here before we could find out what we needed to know. He claims he’s your mate, but is that it? What motive does he really have?” My dad shook his head angrily, clearly put off that I wasn’t backing down. “If all the stories passed down were true, he’s willing to destroy everything to get back the other half of his soul, and you aren’t strong enough to protect yourself?—”
“And whose fault is that?” I shouted, not realizing the hurt that was lingering beneath the surface. So much had happened so quickly that the truth of what he’d done to me had all been temporarily squashed, but that one sentence brought it right back up.
My dad winced, the words hitting him harder than any fist ever could. His shoulders sagged as all the fight he had in him left. “Reagan . . .”
