“What?”
“Kobal toured all the seals. He went and looked in on every single creature and demon locked down there.”
“The fuck he did; I never saw him.”
“Maybe it was during one of the times when you were hibernating, but he went down there. Iknowhe did. He looked in on every single seal.”
A muscle twitched in Wrath’s jaw. “Good for him. He still did nothing about it.”
“What was he supposed to do? Free you so you and all the other things behind the seals could help Lucifer? Because that’s pretty much what happened when those seals came down. Some creatures like the púca and drakón are on our side, but the rest of you couldn’t wait to join with the enemy.”
“The varcolac has to pay,” he grated through his clenched teeth.
“There is no reasoning with you. Live with your anger and your desperate need for vengeance; let it continue to destroy your life. You’re right, that’s a much better way to live now that you’re free.”
We didn’t speak again for a while as our bare feet fell silently on the golden floor, but from the corner of my eye, I saw him occasionally scowling at me. I’d struck a nerve.Good.
As we progressed deeper into the darkness, I kept waiting for Mytaz to emerge, but only the shadows and statues continued to greet us.
After a while, he said, “I’m sorry about your sister.”
I glanced at him to make sure he wasn’t being an asshole, but he was serious. “Thank you.”
“Were the two of you close?”
“Yes. Then she was gone. But I guess that’s the way of things. One day, someone you love is there, and the next, they’re gone and you have no idea what happened, how it happened, or what to do with yourself. So you keep going when it’s the last thing you want to do because that’s the only option you have.”
“I wouldn’t know; I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
“You’ve never lost someone you loved?”
“I’ve never loved anyone before.”
For some reason, I found this infinitely sad. The man was older than any demon I knew, yet he’d never experienced love. I’d never been in love with another before, but I’d loved my parents and my sister. I loved my king and my friends. I may not know how to show it, and I may not ever say it, but I loved them all, and I would grieve them forever if I lost them. I would always mourn my friends Verin and Morax, who perished during the final battle with Lucifer.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“For what? No one has hurt me before.”
“And that’s what I’m sorry about.”
He looked at me as if I’d lost my mind or morphed into a calamut tree. “It is a good thing.”
I wasn’t so sure he believed that. “That’s a long time to live without ever experiencing love.”
“Love is for fools.”
Thishe did believe, I realized as I took in the steely glint in his eyes. He desired me, and he would until the day one of us died, but unlike many other Chosen couples, he would never love me. I found this infinitely sad and depressing too. And I’d had enough of sad and depressing.
“That sounds like something a fool would say,” I said.
His eyes narrowed on me, but he didn’t respond. The firelight played over his handsome face and the chiseled muscles of his chest and abdomen. His pants, hanging low on his hips, revealed the perfect V of muscle pointing to his groin.
The man was perfection brought to life. I yearned for him so badly it had become a constant physical ache inside me, but I could never have from him what I truly craved from my Chosen.
I tore my attention away from him and focused on the tunnel again. “How old are you exactly?”
“I don’t know.”
