“But that wasn’t enough,” Lukan continues. “The war didn’t stop. It escalated as Father’s army sought vengeance for the betrayal. As a last resort, the demiurge created a realm, a place away from humans, and locked up all the monsters on an island drenched in fog and completely hidden from the human world.”
“That’s awful,” I whisper, letting Roan snuggle closer. Press his face into my stomach. “And unfair. They started this.”
“Under different circumstances, separating the two races was the better choice,” Kellen promises. “A lot of those creatures were dangerous even to their own kind. If allowed to stay, they would have destroyed the world.”
“Not that it stopped the monsters from trying to break free and return to their war. Every quarter when the pockets open, the monsters would stumble into the human realm and causedestruction on Father’s orders. Even imprisoned and confined, his rage never wavered.”
“Until her,” Kellen murmurs.
My ears perk. “Her?”
Roan sucks lightly at my breast. Tiny nibbles that have my back arching, pressing more into his mouth.
Lukan brushes the rest of the blanket away to bare the other breast.
“The tiny human who slipped past his guards and found his bed.” He drops his head to join his brother at my tit. “He walked in to find her nestled amongst his sheets fast asleep. So small and helpless. A fierce creature that didn’t balk at the sight of him.” He lifts his head just enough to brush my mouth with his. “He knew the moment she looked at him like he was her whole world that he would burn it down for her. He would crumble the core from the center of the earth and obliterate everything to keep her safe. She was his human. The only living thing that soothed the hurt and gave him a purpose for the first time in centuries.”
I feel it.
Every word holds the reverberating echoes of truth that ring against every bone. It soothes the emptiness no amount of food or water has been able to fill in years.
And I miss him.
This creature they talk about locked up deep in his kingdom. The one who slips into my dreams and holds me like I’m the most important thing in the world. I can’t even be sure I know how to explain it, except there is nothing I want more than to find him and crawl into his arms. Into our massive bed with the solid tangle of roots forming the headboard and our canopy of branches. I long to feel the weight of him curled around me in the night.
My eyelids fly open and I suck in a breath. “What’s happening?”
Lukan kisses me again. Deeper. With an urgency that only intensifies the lightheadedness of my thoughts.
“Don’t resist,” he soothes. “Let them come.”
But I don’t understand how I could have had this entire life and forgotten.
“What happened to me?” I press in between the slow, tender nips of Lukan’s lips over mine. “How is this real? How could I forget him and ... and you?”
“Humans are made to forget their time in Chthonia.” The hairs at my temple are brushed back. My face is tipped further to his. “Once they return to their world, they pine and go searching to find it again. They lose their minds.” He lightly bumps my nose with his. “We had to protect you. It was only for a little while. We’ve been waiting all this time to come get you. To bring you home, sweetheart.”
“And Father?”
“He’s been waiting, too,” he assures, and I shake my head.
“Why does he want me back? As a sacrifice?”
Lukan and Kellen exchange brief glances that don’t tell me anything, but his expression is thoughtful when Lukan faces me once more.
“Those are all things he needs to tell you, Rina. Our job is to keep you safe and guide you back. We can answer your questions. Not all of them, but I can tell you this...” He frames my face between his hands and peers into my eyes. “Father would tear himself apart before he ever hurts you. You are his everything.”
I believe him.
It’s insane and holds zero logical reasoning, but like everything else, my brain willingly accepts it. It absorbs theinformation as true and dedicates no more time for further analysis.
“What happened after he found me in his bed?”
Pleased, Lukan drops his head back to my breast, rejoining Roan. I inhale shakily and hold the backs of their heads, keeping them against me as they nuzzle and tease.
“He kept you,” Kellen answers for them. “You willingly broke into his house, his bed. This sweet little human, and begged him to do the most depraved and filthy things to your tight, perfect body. And he obliged. He spread your legs and tasted you for hours while you came for him over and over again.”
The men at my breast groan and suck harder. The third slides off the table and kneels between my knees.
