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“Everything he’s told you up to this point is true,” Orion said, pausing to nibble at one of the points of his cookie. Even in his human guise, he had sharply pointed canines, and I recalled our previous conversation about how demons suppressed their magic to blend in.
“Why go to all this trouble to fit in here on the Earth plane?” I said slowly. “I mean, I get it. There was a war going on at home, but...escaping to a whole other realm, then staying there...that just seems like overkill.”
And what the hell had happened to make the bastard decide to kill my sister? From what I could remember, she was a weakling among the gods, mostly human. Not someone whose death would benefit the demons.
Orion sighed and set his food aside, pulling his long legs under him and curling up, looking softer and more vulnerable than I’d ever seen him.
“I don’t know what happened for certain, since I wasn’t with him then. All I know is what I’ve gleaned from bits and pieces of things he’s said over the years.” His bright blue eyes met mine and held, his expression earnest. “No matter what you might think, I know without a doubt that he loved you—loves you still—with everything he was. Everything he is.”
I couldn’t stand the intensity in that gaze—the burning desire for me to just see reason and worship the other demon the way Orion so clearly did.
Screw that. I wasn’t completely stupid.
“Derek—Dumuzi as he was known once—was raised to be a lord. A leader, in the true sense of the word.” He shrugged, looking away. “You have to understand, Troya,” he said softly. “In the demon realm, everything is a bargain, a deal. A trade. Everything is a commodity. Physical goods. Information. Creative works.” He let out a sigh. “People.”
I wanted to make him stop right there and explain the pain I heard in his smooth voice. But I needed answers about White right now. The poor incubus would have to wait. My heart clenched, but I ignored it.
“So, you’re saying White fit right in.” I could just see him now, the powerful, arrogant businessman unleashed in a world where everything was business. It would be awe-inspiring levels of terrible.
Orion frowned at me and shook his head, his hair falling back a bit to reveal the long scar that pulled up one corner of his mouth and disfigured his cheek. “What? No. The exact opposite!” He braced his back against the arm of the loveseat, so he could sit facing me as he spoke, his graceful hands dancing in agitation. “Dumuzi’s fiefdom was one of the ones that thrived on the creation of art and poetry. They also had some of the most renowned scientists and innovators of our time. What I’m saying is, he wasn’t made to fight wars or to deal in weapons or flesh. But he was ingrained with the need to protect, manage, and care for anyone in his territory. And when the world suddenly became hostile, he saw it as his personal responsibility to protect his people—people who weren’t soldiers or schemers able to navigate the harshness and politics of war. He was like a single father trying to care for toddlers in the middle of a world war!”
I blinked at him. My mind reeled. No. I refused to think of Derek King-of-the-Damned-Planet White as some benevolent, honor-bound prince.
“Different classes of demons have their own strengths,” Orion continued, oblivious to my inner struggle. “And even then, we all have our own innate gifts—kind of like our own personal flavor of magic.” He shrugged. “Dumuzi could travel between worlds. It’s a power that not many possess.” His face turned grim. “And during the war, those who did possess the ability were used by the other lords to infiltrate the Earth realm.”
“And White?” I said dryly. “Did someone use him too? Or did he decide to bring the war over here all on his own?”
Orion shook his head at my continued refusal to drink the Great-Master-Derek Kool-Aid. “He used his ability to bring his people here to escape the brutality. He knew he couldn’t win a war against the other lords. So, he went looking for sanctuary for his people.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course. Great, generous, kind master Derek saved them all. “Right.”
He shrugged. “Believe me or don’t. It doesn’t change what happened.” Was that a hint of anger in his voice? Holy Hecate. Orion never got angry, but I’d pissed him off twice lately.
“He fought in the war on the gods’ side. He let them access those of his people who were capable fighters in exchange for their promise to let the others go free to seek shelter on Earth.”
I could see where this was going. And I didn’t like it one fucking bit.
“So, he fought in the gods’ war. He dragged his fighters into it as well—what few of them he had. Probably lost a few of them along the way, too—all while fighting his own kind, just to protect his people.” My voice was flat. “Then what? He fell in love with a god and no one liked it?”
Orion leaned toward me. “Outwardly? Everything looked to be a success. The demons were driven back. He had you at his side. His people were safe. But then the war ended. The gods’ new tool wasn’t needed anymore.” He shrugged. “You found him holding your dead sister. He was thrown back to the demon realm without so much as a pretense at a trial. And when he arrived here? He found most of the people he had fought so hard to save had already been banished back to the demon realm long ago. They were never free. The gods had lied, used him, and let him think his people were safe. Meanwhile, those people he thought were safe in sanctuary on Earth had been at the mercy of his enemies the entire time. Some were dead. Some had been tortured or enslaved.”
His blue eyes burned into mine. “When I met Derek White, he was a man on fire. He had been betrayed. The people he had fought so hard to protect had only suffered for his efforts. He had failed them. And he had been ripped from his soul mate, from the one person he loved more than life itself. I don’t know what kind of hell he went through during that time. I only know when he came to my master’s castle to free the last of his enslaved people, he found me chained naked to the floor of my master’s bedchamber, starving, bleeding from wounds I couldn’t heal—the way I’d spent most of my life—and he took me with him.”
He closed his eyes, a shudder wracking his slender frame. “The day my old master’s battered body was tossed at my feet to beg for mercy was the day I swore I’d follow Dumuzi—Derek—anywhere. At any cost. I’ve been at his side ever since.”
I swallowed hard, my eyes watering and my throat constricting with the need to do something to ease the terror and pain...the shame I could feel radiating off the incubus, all twined with a long-suffering heartache. He opened his eyes again, staring blankly past my shoulder. “We arrived on the Earth plane with what was left of his people, the ones he could manage to save. Getting back here used most of his strength. It completely sapped his ability to travel between realms, since the gods had cast magic against his return. It took him longer than he wanted to get his people safely hidden here amid the mortals and regain enough of his power to travel to the realm of the gods.” His eyes refocused, finding my face. “I went with him. And when we arrived there, we found you had disavowed him, taken a potion to end your life and your immortality, so that you would never have to look on his face again.”
My breathing sounded loud in my own ears. My heart pounded against my ribcage like it was looking for a way out. No. None of this was true. Orion was so obsessed with White he’d made him out to be some sort of hero. Had to be.
“I’ve never seen someone as heartsick as he was,” Orion whispered. “We couldn’t stay there and figure out the whole of it, since the gods wanted him dead. But he managed to speak with one of the fates, Skuld, of the future. She told him you would reincarnate. He’s found you and looked out for you every time from a distance, knowing you hated him for something he never did. But this time, it was different. I think he knew, somehow, that this would be his last chance. Or that you’d need extra protection. He has strong powers of intuition that even I don’t understand. But he knew to come here, and to build this entire city up to give you a home and keep you safe.”
I let out a groan, scrubbing my hands over my face. “This can’t be real. Maybe you’ve been brainwashed or something. Derek White is an asshole. He’s a smarmy business tycoon who gets off on running people’s lives. He’s completely ruthless. I’ve heard Gesa’s stories about the things he’s done. The people he’s killed.”
Orion sighed and straightened, sitting with his feet on the floor, his graceful hands laced between his knees and his shoulder-length curls falling forward to hide his face. “Whatever else he is, Derek—Dumuzi—is willing to do whatever he has to do to ensure the safety of the people he considers his own.”
He tilted his head to glance sideways at me, a wry smile lifting one corner of his mouth. “His class of demon can be very territorial and possessive. It’s their one downfall. They’ll quite literally destroy themselves protecting what is theirs. And you’re his, Troya, whether you feel the same way or not. Just as everyone who has ever needed his protection or assistance is his. We all belong to him. And I’m just afraid one of these days, it will take more than he has to keep everyone safe.”
I sighed, slumping to bump my shoulder into his as I leaned against him. “How do you do it? How do you put up with him? Don’t you ever feel like your life isn’t your own?”
He let out a long sigh and hesitantly shifted to slide his arm around my shoulder. “That’s the difference between you and I, Troya. I know my life isn’t my own. I gave it to him willingly, centuries ago. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
I leaned into his soothing energy. “You’re brain damaged.”
He reclined against the back of the couch and I followed suit, wanting to keep his arm around me and his enticing energy close to mine. “You’re probably right,” he said, his face shuttering and his energy going...dark. “Certainly, something in me is broken. You can only glue something back together so many times before it becomes impossible to fix.”
I turned toward him and placed my hand on his chest, over the ripple in his aura that I could sense, right over his heart. “You’re not broken, Orion. I told you that before, and I meant it. I had no idea what kind of shit you’d been through—I still don’t, really. But I know I can help you heal somehow. I can feel it inside.” I placed my other hand over my own heart, where I could feel the golden, burning glow of my own growing...godspark...the thing that helped me heal the physical and emotional wounds of the creatures in White’s clinic.
Orion’s eyes started to glow, and he tensed, licking his lips, darting a nervous glance to the side. “Ah...Troya, don’t do this.” He gripped my wrist, probably to pull my hand away from him, to make me stop touching him. But he wasn’t wearing his gloves. His warm fingers wrapped around my wrist and it was like power just arced between us. We both jolted, like we’d been given an electric shock.
“You said you were kept starved. Before,” I whispered, unable to take my eyes off the glowing aura of power and seduction that was starting to swirl around the abused incubus. “But why do you keep starving yourself now? If White’s doing this to you—”
He stopped my angry growl by clamping a hand over my mouth. “No.” Fangs flashed when he spoke, as he lost his tight control of his power...of his true nature, his hunger. “It’s not his fault I’m damaged.” His glowing blue eyes were haunted. “In fact...he’s tried so many times to help me....”
I tilted my head, letting go of my own power, letting it wash over me in a soft golden wave, reaching out for Orion’s aura, listening with my other senses to see what his magic would tell me. “You think you’ll lose control,” I whispered. “You think you’ve been so damaged that if you ever do feed freely and restore your power, you’ll...go on some sort of rampage and never come back....”
I stared into those glowing eyes, tears gathering. This was what was causing him so much pain. He was terrified that if someone else wasn’t in control, if he ever lost his tight rein on his incubus nature, he’d lose himself completely. He was afraid his old master had broken him all those countless years ago, erased any goodness inside him and turned him into a monster.
“Oh, Orion,” I whispered, leaning in to brush my lips over the trail of tears that traced down his cheeks, my lips brushing over the white, parallel scars that covered one side of his face—as if someone with claws had ripped his face open with a vicious swipe of their talons. Someone who was powerful enough to scar a starving demon. “You’re not a monster.” But whoever did this to him was.
His graceful hands banded around my upper arms, holding me away from him with fingers now tipped in short blue claws. Beautiful blue horns curled upward from the mass of his soft caramel curls. “Please. I don’t want to hurt you.”
I shook my head. “Okay. I’m sorry. I won’t push you.” I lifted a hand and pushed back his hair, so I could see his whole face. He was so achingly beautiful, scars and all. “But I’m not afraid of you, Orion. And I will heal you.”
I pressed my hand over his chest again, somehow feeding him a small slip of my own energy. His grip on me loosened just enough to let me reach his lips. I pressed a soft kiss there, feeling the twin bumps of his demon fangs beneath his plush lips. He still held me away from him, but his mouth moved under mine, letting me in, tentative, but full of yearning. The trickle of power between us flowed a little faster, and I leaned into it. He needed the golden, healing essence that lived inside me these days. And I was more than willing to share—if he’d just let me.
The elevator chimed softly, and footsteps pounded into the room. Orion tensed, his grip on me just shy of painful as he pushed me back, away from him and his deep well of hurt and need. I was still partially lost in the haze of my own power and his incubus allure, and in the euphoria that came from helping ease someone’s suffering. A masculine snort brought me upright and I blinked in surprise at the two irate men standing in the doorway.
“Uh, hi,” I said intelligently.
Chike crossed his arms over his chest and gave me one of his bitchiest looks, his amethyst eyes full of attitude, and his long lavender hair a tangled mess, as if he’d run the entire way here. “Hi? Hi?” He flung his arms up, his short, sharp teeth bared. The way the soft light glinted on his opal scales, setting off little shimmers of rainbow iridescence that would make a unicorn jealous, detracted slightly from his angry rant. “We realize you’ve been kidnapped by White, rush all the way over here to rescue you, and find out you’re just leisurely making out with another guy. And all you say is hi?”
Rhys crossed to stand next to the agitated siren. He was all smooth vampire grace, but his light green eyes were glowing a little, and he slipped his tongue along one fang before regarding me and Orion with his usual America-and-apple-pie smile. “So...I take it you’re not being held against your will?”
I rolled my eyes as Orion clamped down on his power and returned to his usual soft, human butler self. “I apologize,” the incubus said softly, his eyes downcast under the stare of the alpha predator in the room. “I fear Miss Troya feels obligated to help others, even when it would be safer to desist.”
I caught the sideways glance he gave me and narrowed my eyes at him. I remembered quite clearly what he’d said about being afraid White would end up giving too much to protect those he considered his responsibility. Had he just compared me to White? Gross.
“Oh fuck off,” I said, standing. “I didn’t do anything dangerous. You guys should really look into a career in acting once this whole apocalypse thing is over,” I told them dryly. “Your flare for drama is astounding.”
That earned me a bland look and a slight twitch of the lips as Orion stood and returned to the desk to resume his paperwork or whatever.
Rhys dropped a kiss on the top of my head and went to get a drink from the bar. He was way too at home in White’s personal office...but then, he did work for the guy. For all I knew, he came here all the time. Chike grumbled, but came to give me a kiss on the cheek before dropping onto the loveseat and snagging some snacks off the discarded tray. He grabbed up my cocktail too, the jerk.
“Did you really both just rush over here to see if I needed rescuing from White?” I asked, trying and failing to suppress my laughter.
Chike glared up at me. “Halstad said White had you with him and wouldn’t let you leave. Anyone who knows you would assume it wasn’t voluntary. I thought you hated the bastard.”
Rhys sighed and went to look out the window, pointedly not commenting. The traitor.
I shrugged, uncomfortable. I did hate Derek Know-it-all White. I think. No, yeah, I definitely hated him. Murderer. Sister killer.
Champion of his people and fucking martyr to love.
For fuck’s sake, someone just kill me now.
“It’s complicated,” I managed. Shoving everything Orion had just unloaded on me to the back of my mind, I shrugged. “I mean, he’s supposedly protecting the city and all, so...I can probably wait to shank him with my new knife until that whole thing passes, right?”
Chike shook his head. “You know, you might need to have that brain scan after all. Remember when you thought you might have a tumor? Maybe you were right....”
I slapped him in the back of the head.
The elevator door chimed again and the devil himself walked out, looking all perfect and dark and completely unruffled, as usual. His black eyes flitted around the room, then settled on me. “Couldn’t stand being without your lovers for half an hour, Miss Vindler?”
I opened my mouth, but Chike beat me to it, clearly intent on antagonizing the freaking demon lord in the room. “Oh, she was way too busy sticking her tongue down your secretary’s throat to worry about us.” He lifted the cocktail glass in a salute to the demon and started chugging.
White narrowed his eyes at the siren, but didn’t comment. His gaze moved on to Orion, who was focused intently on his paperwork. “I said protect her,” the boss demon said dryly, though without any real anger. “Not seduce her.”
Orion stood, tapping the stack of papers straight on the desk with a sharp bang. He dropped the stack into a nearby tray, then stood ramrod straight, his face a mask of professionalism and his eyes on the floor. “A moment of weakness, Sir,” he said smoothly, his voice devoid of any emotion. “I assure you it will not happen again.”
My jaw dropped. That asshole. I glanced between them, waiting for White to tell Orion what an idiot he was, and that White wasn’t in control of Orion’s damned love life.
But what I saw on White’s face shocked me. I could have imagined it. The expression was there and gone again so fast it might have been an illusion. But he looked...wounded. Hurt.
Fuck. I’d been so intent on helping Orion with accepting his incubus nature, that I’d completely forgotten one vital bit of information.
Orion was in love with White. And now it probably looked like Orion was either putting the moves on White’s long-lost love, or it looked like maybe Orion was being unfaithful or something. I certainly didn’t want White. Or...want him back. Or, whatever. But somehow, I hated that I’d probably just messed up Orion’s chances with the other man.
Aw fuck...I was clearly insane to even be worrying about any of this. They were demons, for Ares’ sake.
“So?” I said, forcing myself to sound calm and rational, and not like the raving lunatic I probably was. “The ward? You get that fixed, oh Great One?”
White’s dark eyes landed on me and I refused to shrink away from the black depths of his gaze. “For now,” he said slowly. “Though there is still the question of how that little breach occurred in the first place. I fear someone in the city was persuaded to let the god in.”
I crossed my arms and gave him a look. “Right,” I said dryly. “What a mystery. Like you’re just so saintly I’m sure you’ve never made any enemies in this city.”
The slow, evil smile that I got in return was startling. The red ring that glowed around those black eyes was even worse. “Oh, I’ve plenty of enemies, my dear. But the question is which of them decided now was a good time to die.”