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“I’m surprised you’ve even heard of emotional intelligence.”
“I pick shit up fast.” He kept her hand in one of his and put an arm around her shoulders. “Part of the incredible cosmic powers. It doesn’t mean I always understand what I learn.”
His arm around her shoulders felt way too nice, and she considered shrugging him off, but the thought didn’t make it into action. “Are you going to make some kind of meaningful point here?”
“I wouldn’t get your expectations that high,” he said and tucked her close into him. “My point is simply this. Your sire was a hell prince. His seal power is inside you, and while you’re in hell, you cannot stop it from rising to the fore.”
“Great.” Shade should stink of blood and sweat, but the undertone of musk and honey clung to him. “You’re saying I should get used to ripping demons in half?”
“You didn’t kill them, Eddie.” His gray eyes met hers. “Only a hell prince can end a demon. They’ll reform in another shape and come after you again.”
“But I’m half hell prince, so I might have killed them.” Eddie would love to believe him, but the carnage she’d wrought wouldn’t allow her that comfort.
He frowned in thought. “That’s a good point. I didn’t think of it like that. But”—he squeezed her hand—“the fact remains that here in hell, the rule is vanquish your foe or they will vanquish you. It’s that simple.”
It wasn’t for Eddie. “I’m not made like that. I wasn’t raised like that.”
“I know, Eddie.” His face softened as he studied her features. “And I’m sorrier than I can say that you got dragged into this and are now confronting stuff that you shouldn’t have to. If none of this had happened, if the seals had remained stable, and the hell gate closed, you might have gone on being the same Eddie you were, going about your same life, and none of this would be your reality.”
“Might have been?” Eddie was regretting there had ever been a time when she’d wished for a different life.
He grimaced. “At some point, your Nephilim side would have manifested.”
“I hate it,” she whispered. It made her doubt everything she’d always believed about herself.
“Don’t say that.” He kissed the top of her head. “You’re a special soul, Eddie, and we’re all better off that you are amongst us.”
Bitterness leaked into her voice as she said, “Because I’m a half-hell prince, half-human freak?”
“No, Eddie, because you’re you.” Shade tightened his grip until Eddie could legitimately call what he was doing cuddling. “But this is now your reality, and you’re going to have to adapt. It’s not fair.” His voice softened. “And it’s not right, but it is.”
“Are you telling me to get over it?”
“Maybe.” Shade rested his cheek on her head. “But only in the nicest possible way.”
Get over it. Simple as that.
“Today was not your fault, Eddie,” he murmured. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You did what you had to do. And I’m not going to lie, you probably saved the lads and me from a fairly shitty hour or two.”
Weirdly enough, he was making her feel a bit better. If not better, then certainly more resigned. She was Nephilim, and that meant things she was only beginning to discover. “I hope I never have to do that again.”
“Me too,” Shade whispered. “I hope that for you too. Now try and sleep. The lads and I will keep watch.”
Shade shifted until Eddie was lying with her head in his lap. Her features were soft and gentle as she slept. Her dark hair lay in a silky cloud over his thighs.
Belly-crawling, Cronus sniffed her. “She is well?”
“She’s okay.” As okay as she could be.
His newly healed wounds ached like a motherfucker. Today’s fight had them bitching at him all over again.
What she’d done today still left him reeling. He’d seen fights aplenty, but the smooth viciousness that had flowed from Eddie had shaken him to his core. Nephilim.
Her delicate bone structure seemed too fragile to contain the power he’d witnessed today. In the heat of battle, her glorious blue-green eyes had flashed bright blue and shone with rage. He’d only ever seen one being exhibit that, and the conclusion that led him to was barely palatable.
Eddie sighed in her sleep and burrowed closer to him, more vulnerable in sleep than she would allow herself to be when awake.
Fierce protectiveness pounded through his blood. She had the spirit of a warrior, yet he wanted to shield her from all harm. He chuckled to himself as he pictured her reaction if he ever told her that. Eddie was savagely independent. Growing up as she had, he understood how she’d become that way. Dee had provided the only stability Eddie had known. Her mother and father had abandoned her, and those assholes in the theatre used her for her flawless competence.
