AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Why haven't you gone to get him back?" Taj demanded, his brown eyes bleeding black fire and his arms flickering with it where he held tight to me. "Why are you still fuckinghere?"
"We don't know where he is," I replied, my voice small and weak. "Eidolon disappeared when he took X, and unless we give him the rest of the infernal relics, he's—he'll—"
"Fuck," Taj grunted, letting go of me to drag both hands down his face. I kept a close eye on his claws to make sure he didn't hurt himself; he was already injured enough without poking his eyes out. "But if we hand them over, the bastard will be strong enough to take over Hell. He'll be the devil, andno onewill be able to knock him from power unless he has a weakness to exploit."
"He doesn't," I rasped. I tried to find one for years. The bastard was too clever, too observant, and utterly heartless. There was no angle to exploit, no one to take captive and threaten, and now he had the crown—Dev'scrown—he was practically immortal.
Taj laughed, a dark, bitter sound, and dropped his hands. His eyes were full of bleakness.
"So it's a choice between X and all of Hell?" He shook his head, lips twisting into a sneer. "It's not a choice at all, is it? Where have you already looked?"
"Reports came in this morning of a sickly storm sweeping towards the black armoury," Arkan said, his voice strange. When I looked at him, true and utter devastation was written across his sharp face. "So we'll—we'll go there today and take the sceptre before Eidolon can—can get to it."
I’d never seen him falter this badly.
"Shit," I whimpered, and crawled off Taj to throw myself at Arkan. "It's okay, we can—we can—"
But I didn't have any comforting words when, deep in my heart, I believed we'd already lost our incubus.
"It's okay," I murmured, stroking Arian’s white hair, my lips pressed to his forehead. "It's okay, we're here."
Arkan's arms snapped around me like bands of iron and he hauled me so close, held me so fiercely, that it hurt. But no way in Hell was I about to complain. My calm, stoic, poker-faced mate was a moment away from tears. He'd cried earlier, when Taj came back to us, too. It was like he'd built an impenetrable wall around his emotions, and brick by brick, it was now coming down.
The sofa dipped beside us and Taj grunted as he sank into the cushions, grabbing Arkan's shoulder in a rough squeeze.
"Careful with those claws," I warned, ignoring the choked quality of my voice.
Taj raised an eyebrow. "I've been a demon all my life; you've had a demon form for what, two months, and you're lecturingme?"
"Shut up," I muttered, not sure how he had the energy to be a snarky fucker.
"Where's your head, Ark?" Taj asked, turning from me to watch him closely.
"I'm fine," Arkan replied hoarsely, his hands flexing against my back. The bond was a total wreck, Ark falling apart on the other end.
"Answer the question," Taj pressed. "Where's your head?"
Arkan stared down, fixed on where his hand rested against my hip. He exhaled a great sigh.
"If I hadn't disgraced wraiths by abandoning my post and allowing Eidolon to kill Koa, they'd have come to our aid instantly during the attack. X would still be here. You wouldn't have almost died. Your father wouldn't have been weakened. Joseph wouldn't be going crazy locked in the safe house's shields. Avie wouldn't be breaking."
Myheartwas breaking at the confirmation of how badly Arkan was struggling. At how much he blamed himself. I wanted to stab myself for what I said in the psychic gardens.
"None of that is your fault," I said viciously. "Your wraith army meant Eidolon left us alone, and they're probably the only reason he hasn't come back to the castle. They're still here, aren't they?"
Ark nodded, scraping his teeth over his bottom lip. "I hadn't considered they'd be a deterrent."
"That's good, right?" Taj coaxed, sounding so unlike the Taj I knew that I half expected him to grow three more heads. "Not your fault; youhelped.As for Koa, you know my stance on that."
"Stance," I mouthed, wondering who the hell this gentle, compassionate demon was.1
Arkan's throat bobbed. He nodded in Taj’s direction without looking at him. "I still disagree."
I stroked my fingers through Ark’s hair, leaning close to lay a kiss on his jaw. "You don't need to beat yourself up, Ark. We were all to blame for this. Joseph, X, and I knew what we were getting ourselves into going to the training hall."
"And you and I knew there'd be shit kicking off when we went to rescue them," Taj added gently. "This is all one person's fault, and it isn't fucking yours."
Arkan stared at my hip and said nothing, clearly disagreeing.
