Guardian

by Unknown

  “How could you have killed him?”

  Jaden gave her an evil smirk. “There’s nothing I can’t kill. No matter how immortal.”

  “Then why don’t you do us all a favor and kill Noir now?”

  He glanced away from her and curled his lip in contempt. It wasn’t until he spoke that she realized that contempt was directed at himself. “That’s a long, complicated story, and it’s one I will never tell to you or anyone else. Suffice it to say, not killing him when I could have was my biggest mistake and is my greatest regret. It never fails to mystify me how badly we fuck up our lives by trying to protect ourselves, and the ones we love, from hurt and from harm. Unfortunately, life is unpredictable and turns on you at the worst possible times. Too bad we can’t club it in the head until it heels, or better yet dies.”

  Boy, did she ever know that. Whenever she thought things were going well, something always went tragically wrong.

  “Why are you telling me all of this?”

  “To save your ass. I’ve destroyed enough lives in my time. For once, I’d like to save one. Granted it doesn’t even the scales, not by a longshot, but it’s better than doing nothing.” He jerked his chin toward the door. “In spite of what his parents and adoptive family did to him, Seth was decent when he first came here. Angry, understandably, but decent. Unfortunately, that didn’t last. The unending misery and torture would have taken its toll on even the strongest of souls, and I give that boy credit, he lasted longer than anyone I’ve ever seen and that includes me. But after…” he trailed off as a dark cloud settled over his features.

  Lydia frowned. “After what? You can’t leave me hanging after everything else you’ve told me. How much worse could it be?”

  “Ironically it’s not,” Jaden said with a heavy sigh. “It was just the straw that snapped the camel in two and left it bleeding on the ground. Seth made a pact with Noir’s Malachai, Adarian. If he helped the Malachai go free, Adarian was supposed to come back and release him in turn.”

  She stated the obvious. “He didn’t.”

  Jaden shook his head. “Better Adarian had ripped his head off and killed him than leave him here to face Noir’s wrath.”

  She could only imagine how true that was. “I take it Noir wasn’t happy.”

  “Lady, you have no idea. Noir draws the bulk of his power from the Malachai. When he found out why he’d been weakened and who was to blame, he did things to Seth that no one should suffer. Not just for a few weeks or even a year or a century. We’re talking over a thousand years of torture so bad and grueling, I have no idea how that man is still sane. I honestly don’t know why he hasn’t gutted me for it. I wouldn’t blame him in the least.” He touched her again and this time she saw Seth as Jaden had seen him after his release.

  He was perilously thin and weak. Gaunt. His eyes were sunk so deep into his skull that they made him look like a skeleton. But the worst was the huge bolt that had been pierced through his jaw. It went from under his chin, through his mouth and tongue where the upper end was so large he couldn’t swallow for it. Nor could he speak. If he tried, blood flowed from his mouth and choked him.

  Now she understood the significance of the scar under his chin that he touched so often.

  Jaden released her. “I was the one who removed the bolt and took him to his room to heal. Gah, I still can’t believe what Noir had reduced him to. And what kills me most is that mankind owes Seth a debt they don’t even know about.”

  “How do you mean?”

  Jaden held his hand out for her.

  Lydia started to hesitate, but she wanted to see the truth. So taking his hand, she braced herself for the images she was sure would haunt her.

  Seth stood proudly in Noir’s throne room as he told Azura and his master what he’d done.

  Noir narrowed his gaze in warning. “What do you mean, maggot, that you let the Malachai go?”

  Seth shrugged. “You can set Jaden free. He’s not the one to blame.”

  Noir stood up with hell’s fury burning deep in his dark eyes. “Surely not even you, as pathetic as you are, were stupid enough to defy me. Not in this.”

  Seth didn’t back down or cower. He lifted his chin defiantly and braced himself for his master’s wrath. He’d known when he agreed to help Adarian that there was a good chance the bastard wouldn’t uphold his side of the bargain.

  But he’d hoped. Slight though that hope was, he’d been desperate enough to want to believe that the Malachai had held a shred of decency somewhere inside him.

  Now, Adarian had done what Seth had feared. He’d abandoned him to Noir’s fury.

  You could have saved yourself. You didn’t have to speak up.

  True. Noir had blamed Jaden for Seth’s actions. And while Seth hated that son of a bitch with everything he had, Jaden hadn’t turned him in for it. He could have easily spared himself by telling Noir the truth.

  But he hadn’t.

  And while Seth’s moral code wasn’t what it used to be, he wouldn’t stand by and see Jaden torn apart for something he’d told Seth not to do.

  It wasn’t right.

  “What can I say, Master?” He sneered the title with an audacity that was as impressive and fearless as it was idiotic. “I am that stupid. Besides, it was a winning proposition for me. If Adarian had freed me, I would never have to be in your sickening presence again. If he didn’t, then I would get to see your face when you realized that you are too weak to take over the human realm without him.”

  Seth actually smiled at Noir. It was cold, gloating, and cruel, but it was a smile. “After all these centuries of plotting and scheming, right when you were on the brink of seeing all those dreams fulfilled, you now have to watch as all of it slips away. Everything you’d hoped for is now gone. You can’t do shit. And that, my lord … watching you fail to achieve the one thing you wanted most, is worth it.”

  Noir let loose a scream of bloodcurdling rage that echoed through the room. Then he blasted Seth through the wall behind him. His eyes glowing bright red, Noir stalked toward him with a deadly intent.

  Seth lay on the floor with his skull split open and blood pouring out of his eyes, nose, and mouth. Still, he looked up at Noir and laughed through his pain, showing off a mouth full of bloody teeth. “I don’t care what you do to me anymore. So go ahead and do your worst.”

  Now it was Noir’s turn to laugh. “Trust me, little worm. I fully intend to.”

  Jaden released her.

  It took Lydia a couple of minutes to get over the shock of seeing Seth like that. She’d assumed he was always submissive to Noir. That Noir had beat him like a tamed puppy.

  The truth was far different. Even while knowing what Noir was capable of, he stood his ground. He was either the bravest man in history.

  Or the dumbest.

  “Does he always egg Noir on?”

  “Unfortunately. He’s never been able to help himself. No matter how many times they beat him down, he always finds the courage to get back up for another round.”

  She still couldn’t believe he’d rubbed Noir’s nose in it. And inside, she was so proud of him for what he’d done. “Why didn’t you tell Noir the truth about who freed the Malachai?”

  “How could I? Seth would never have been here, but for me. I figured it was the least I could do for him. I never dreamed the stupid little bastard would tell Noir the truth. Like I said, he has never learned when to keep his head down.”

  Obviously.

  “And Noir delivered well on his promise. He rained down utter hell on that boy for centuries. He made it open season for any demon in the realm to do whatever they wanted to Seth.”

  “Thank you for not showing that to me.”

  Jaden inclined his head to her.

  “So what made Noir release him after all that time?”

  “He needed him. While playing,” Jaden said that with complete sarcasm, “with the Dream-Hunters he’d turned against the Oneroi, Noir found out about something called the
key to Olympus.”

  “Which is?”

  “Something that can kill any and all of the Greek gods, including Zeus, and allow their powers to be channeled into one being. He who has the key doesn’t need the Malachai to take over the world. He would be the most powerful creature in it.”

  And if that creature was Noir …

  Yeah. It’d suck to be human or anything in his path.

  “Before Noir could learn more, his Dream-Hunters escaped his hold and returned home. All but one, and he tortured that one for over a year, trying to get the location of the key.”

  “He wouldn’t break?”

  “No, he broke … into many pieces. But before he died, he told Noir that there was only one Dream-Hunter in existence who knew the key’s location.”

  “Solin.”

  He nodded. “And since none of us can capture a Dream-Hunter, he went to Seth for it.”

  She scowled as she tried to figure that one out. “Why would Seth be able to capture one?”

  “Son of chaos, war, aggression, and destruction, Seth has some epically impressive powers. Whenever Noir allows him enough of them, he has the ability to send the swallow on his neck out to do his bidding. It was the swallow that captured Solin in a dream and brought him here.”

  Shocked and stunned, Lydia tried to grasp that concept. While it wasn’t uncommon for gods to have living marks on them, this was completely unexpected. “Where did he get it?”

  “Now there’s the kicker. His sorrow and pain conjured it out of the ether.”

  That didn’t make a bit of sense. “How so?”

  “In ancient Egypt, the swallow was seen in two basic roles. It was a form the dead would often choose to revisit the earth and see their loved ones. Or one the gods would use, such as when Isis became one so that she could search the land for her husband’s remains. While it was venerated and at times welcomed because it was a form the gods would take, the swallow was also seen as an omen of grief and sorrow.”

  Jaden paused for a minute as if he needed to collect his emotions before he continued. “When Noir brought Seth here, he…”

  She knew it had to be bad. Jaden’s breathing was ragged again. “He what?”

  “He wanted Seth to understand his place in this realm. So he set the worst demons he had loose on the boy. For two days straight, they assaulted him and when Noir finally went to get him, the tattooed swallow was there on his neck. No one, not even I, knows how he conjured it. But he did. He’d used it so that he could mentally escape the horrors of what was being done to him. Noir tried to remove it so that Seth would never have that refuge again. But he couldn’t. In the end, he discovered that if he kept Seth weak enough, he wouldn’t be able to manifest it and escape. Now that swallow serves as a perpetual reminder to Seth that he can never get away from Noir. That Noir owns him, body and soul.”

  No wonder he’d clawed at it when she’d asked him why he had it. “Do the colors on it mean anything?”

  He nodded and when he spoke, she wanted to cry for Seth. “Rebirth, victory, purity, death, the sun, and the sky … All the things that Seth longs for.”

  All the things that had been denied him.

  And that made her so angry on his behalf that she wanted to go and stomp Noir into the ground.

  If only she could.

  “Why didn’t the Malachai return for him?” she asked.

  “Who knows. They are innately evil. I’ve never known one who could care for anyone other than himself. Why should he come back and keep his word?”

  “Because you should always keep your promises.”

  Jaden scoffed. “Yeah, right. Trust me, babe, that seldom happens.”

  Perhaps, but the world shouldn’t work that way. Ever. Then again the world was never perfect.

  And that broke her heart even more.

  Lydia squeezed her eyes shut as she again saw Seth as Jaden had found him—with that awful bolt in his mouth. She shuddered in revulsion. “I wish you hadn’t shown me any of his past.” Even though he’d warned her … She’d never be able to get it out of her head.

  “And neither will Seth,” Jaden said, reminding her that he could read her thoughts. “You asked him why he doesn’t sleep. It’s because he relives it all over again in his dreams. I remember when he was little, he’d wake up crying every night, only to be punished for it. Back then, he had no protection from the others. I did what I could to help him, but I’m limited, too. And like Seth, I spend more time in Noir’s dungeons than I do being free to roam.”

  She felt for both men. Trapped here. Forever. She couldn’t imagine anything worse. “Is there any way to break the two of you out of here?”

  CHAPTER 12

  The look on Jaden’s face was heartbreaking. “I have no way to leave this place. Ever. To protect what I loved, I damned myself completely. But Seth wasn’t so stupid. He can be freed. It won’t be easy, but it can be done.”

  That sent the first bit of happiness through Lydia that she’d had in a while. Seth didn’t deserve to be condemned to this place.

  If I can free him …

  “How?”

  “You’d have to teleport him out, and then hide and guard him until his powers recharged to their full level. Until they do, Noir could summon him back if he located him.”

  “How long would it take?”

  Jaden took a minute to think about it. “A month … maybe a little longer or even a little less. It would depend on how low his powers were when he left here.”

  But he could be freed.

  That gave her hope.

  Jaden leaned down to speak low into her ear. “And to answer the question you’re too afraid to ask, yes. I think he can be saved. But it won’t be easy. He has no reason to believe in or trust anyone. We’ve all betrayed him. Bitterly and repeatedly. We traded his innocence for our own selfishness and hung him out to dry over and over again.”

  Tears choked her as she thought back to what little she’d seen. How many more and worse stories were there? She was also too afraid to ask that question.

  Jaden had been right. It was a miracle Seth was still sane. How he could show any form of compassion to her or any semblance of kindness to someone else was a testament to his strength.

  She had to get him out of here.

  “Just don’t lie to him,” Jaden warned. “He would never forgive you for it.”

  “Then I should tell him I’m a jackal and—”

  “He will eat you for lunch.” Jaden cut her words off angrily. “Listen to me, Lydia. He has centered all of his hatred on the family who lied to him and sold him. He hasn’t forgiven me, but he never loved me or thought that much of me, so he doesn’t hate me for what I’ve done. In his mind, a jackal is the symbol of treachery and ultimate betrayal. He will never trust you if he knows you’re one of them. Since he doesn’t know what you are, he has no reason to ask you about it. So, for the sake of the gods and yourself, don’t tell him.”

  If only it were that easy. But her morals were different from Jaden’s. “Omission is a lie in and of itself.”

  Jaden growled in frustration. “That’s your decision. However…” This time, he projected Seth’s past to her without touching her.

  She saw Seth on his knees in the desert sand, clinging to his adoptive father’s hand as he begged for mercy. “Please, It,” the Egyptian word for father. “Please don’t sell me. I’ll do anything you ask. Have I not always been a dutiful son to you in every way?” He held his hands up to show the cuts and calluses on his palms and fingers from where he’d helped his family with chores. “Never once have I asked for anything. Never have I gone to bed and not told you how grateful I am to have all of you as my family. I don’t understand why you would sell me.”

  His father sneered at him as he cruelly wrung his arm out of Seth’s grasp. “You’re pathetic, boy. No wonder your mother left you to die and your father couldn’t be bothered to claim you.” He kicked Seth back, into the arms of the demons who were the
re to take him.

  Seth’s tears flowed down his cheeks. “How can you do this to me? You told me that you loved me. That I was your son.”

  His father sneered at him. “You were never really one of us.” Then his father turned into a jackal and ran off, leaving him to the demons.

  The one on the right grabbed Seth by the hair and leered at him. “We’re going to have a lot of fun with you, boy. Don’t worry. As pretty as you are, you’ll have all the love you could ever want.”

  “Stop,” she said, holding her hand to Jaden. “Please. I don’t want to see any more.”

  “Don’t you know, Seth feels the same way about it. But he had no choice except to endure it, and then to be damned to an eternity of remembering every demeaning, brutal detail. The slightest word or phrase. Sometimes it’s nothing more than a fleeting smell or sound, and all of that floods right back to him with a clarity that leaves him ravaged and aching all over again as if it just happened to him. Just like your memory of the night your mother died. No amount of time fully eases that pain, does it?”

  No, it didn’t. As he’d said, one sound or the darkness and she remembered every detail of that night. No matter how hard she tried to forget, it never went away.

  It was always there, stalking her and hitting her when she least wanted it to. There was no escape.

  Not ever.

  Only times of happiness between those memories. At first those times had been so brief as to not matter. But Solin had made her laugh and learn to live so that those moments would be longer and longer, until they finally outnumbered the bad memories.

  For that, she owed him everything.

  Seth had no one to make him smile. No one to comfort him and tell him that he would learn to live again.