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Caius was quiet for a moment. “You have an old soul.”
“Literally,” I said before I thought better of it. Thankfully, he cracked a smile.
“When did you become the guardian? I’m a bit fuzzy on the details since I was on this side of the portal the whole time.” My smile waned, and Caius noticed instantly. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“It’s okay,” I said slowly. “I’m just not used to talking about it. My family all knew what I was, but it wasn’t exactly something casually brought up at the dinner table, you know?” I raked my hands through the sweaty, loose curls that formed around my face.
He nodded. “I assumed as much when Nog pointed out your ex didn’t even know.”
“It wasn’t safe to tell anyone.”
“If you’d rather not?—”
“It’s okay,” I repeated. “Really. It’s normal that you’d be curious. It’s your soul, after all.” I rolled my shoulders and leaned back, putting my weight on my elbows. “I was a newborn when they put it in me. It was customary that it moved from mother to daughter, right after birth. Then the cult I was born into would raise the guardian, ensuring she do her duty and have a baby at twenty-five, and the cycle would begin again.”
His lips parted. “The day I saved you, at your house, when you were asking me not to kill your family ... you said witches put it on you as a baby. You were serious ...”
“Yup. Shitty doesn’t cover it, right?” I huffed a small laugh.
“You’re not twenty-five,” he said after a pregnant pause.
“I’m not.”
“You’re older.”
“I am.”
The quiet spread between us, his unasked question hanging there. I took pity on him and answered it. “I escaped as a child. Back then I had Eres and some pretty powerful witch magic if my memories are to be believed.”
“Eres?”
“My unicorn.”
“Ahh, most people here don’t name their animals. I wasn’t aware yours had a name.”
“We were separated for a long time. That separation, well, let’s just say it’s made our relationship rocky at best. She and I could use some couple’s therapy.”
The internal grumbling of a certain death god in my psyche indicated she disagreed.
“What happened to the cult when you escaped? Are they still hunting you?” Something dangerous flashed in his eyes.
“No, Eres killed them when I escaped. Or I did. The details are a bit fuzzy.” He relaxed a fraction. “Why? Planning to handle them yourself?”
“If I could, I would,” he replied. “Part of me wants to bring them back just to end them again but I promised I would leave your world since it rejects my magic and therefore me. If they were still breathing, I’d send Styx and Legion to bring them here. Then I could torture them for eternity for what they did to you.”
Wow. That was oddly sweet, if a little crazy. “You can do that? Bring back the dead?”
“Not exactly. When a soul leaves, it still exists. If they haven’t been reborn yet I could trap them in their rotting corpse if I wanted. It would be a painful experience on their part, and that’s before the torture.”
I snorted. “You sound like Clara. She traps evil souls in the stuffed animals she crochets and then gives them away to kids in The Crossroads.”
“She does what now?” he asked, stunned.
“Spirit witch, remember? She says it’s their penance.”
Caius raised his eyebrows in what appeared to be surprise coupled with approval. “That’s what she’s crocheting all the time?”
I nodded. “She only looks sweet and innocent, but she’s ruthless.”
