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Nudging her other hand, Xerxes inserted himself between her and Wrath.
Wrath growled at him.
Xerxes growled right back.
“I wanted to speak with you.” Wrath cleared his throat. He threw a scowl at Xerxes. “Privately.”
“There is nothing you can say to her that we cannot hear.” Cronus turned his blood-red eyes on Wrath.
Eddie chuckled. Having these two with her gave her a strange sense of normal. Her new normal apparently. “They’re discreet.”
“Right.” Wrath shoulder checked Xerxes. “When we were linked.” He studied the landscape around them with a thousand-yard stare. Eddie was getting the sense that any personal discussions made Wrath uncomfortable. “I did not go digging through your mind and feelings,” he said. “But it was impossible not to…”
Eddie believed him, but it was still rather unsettling to think of your father having access to your most private thoughts. “Okay.”
“The thing is, Eddie.” He took a deep breath. “I realize that I am late to this fathering thing, and I have no right to interfere in your life.”
Why did that make her sure he was about to do some interfering?
“But I need to speak to you about Asmodeus.”
Was she psychic now? “What about him?”
“Asmodeus is lust.” Wrath rubbed his nape and sighed. “He makes people feel lust. He makes them feel lust for him as well.”
The incident with Lillian rose fresh in her mind. The things he made her feel as well had her tied up in emotional knots. “Yup, seen that.”
“And humans are…” He cleared his throat and studied the horizon. “Even Nephilim, because of your human part, are subject to confusing lust for something…er…deeper. More profound.”
Wrath had seen into parts of her she didn’t even want to visit. She couldn’t afford to admit the possibility that her feelings for Shade were more than just physical. If her cynical side was right, and none of it was real, she had the nasty sense she’d be in for a whole universe of hurt. “You mean love.”
“Yes.” He looked relieved. “Humans are such emotional creatures. It is why we guard the sins and the virtues and keep them in balance. Imagine a world in which, say my demesne, wrath, was allowed free reign.”
Eddie was pretty sure she’d seen horror movies that did that.
“And your feelings for Shade, whilst pure and wonderful, are perhaps…not real.”
Wrath was so uncomfortable having this conversation, it helped her over her own awkwardness.
“I’m not sure I have any feelings for Shade. And I have in no way put a name to those feelings.” She held up her hand to stop the denial she could see building on Wrath’s face. Had he seen more in her heart than she was willing to face? “I know that I have felt lust for him, and he does affect me in a certain way.” Her face heated, and she joined Wrath in studying the land around them. “But I also don’t know how much of that is coming from him and how much is coming from me. And until I do, there will be no acting on any of those…er…urges.”
“Good.” Wrath heaved a massive sigh. “I would hate for you to be hurt by this, Eddie. The relationship between myself and your mother did not end well. Even were Shade’s feelings for you genuine, there is still the matter of you live in one realm and he lives in another. He cannot leave hell, and this is not the place for you. The human part of your soul would wither and die here. You would have none of your friends, your theatre, Dee, no—”
“I get it.” She ended the recitation before it got more depressing. She knew what Wrath was saying, and honestly, he wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t thought, but it hurt to hear, nonetheless. Some ridiculous part of her wanted to believe the way Shade was with her meant more. That same part wanted to believe in fairy tales and happily ever afters. It also wanted to bellow fuck the consequences and throw her headlong at the tempting possibility of more with Shade. “Nothing will happen between Shade and me. When this is over, I will go back to stage managing, and he will go back to his demesne.”
Her heart twisted sharply, and her belly dropped with a sickening lurch. Sucking in a deep breath, she tried to convince herself that she would be fine with that future. Liar, whispered her heart. Nothing will ever be the same without Shade.
“Good.” Wrath gave a curt nod. “That is good.”
The needy little girl in her took the reins and she asked, “What about you? When this over, will I see you?”
“Daughter.” Wrath’s face softened, and he smiled sweetly. “Not the combined forces of hell princes, archangels, and guardians could stop me from seeing you.”
Tears pricked her eyelids, and she felt warm and squishy inside. “Good.”
“Yes, good.” Wrath cleared his throat.
They trudged on in an uncomfortable silence for another minute or so before Wrath waved a hand toward his horde. “I’ll just go…er…control…something.”
