“It’s tradition, moron.” Just like the ruby stud in his left ear that said he was a free man and not owned by his wife—which was a rare thing for her tribe. “And also indicative of our rank in their society.” Urian scratched at his bare shoulder. “So is there a point to your visit? Or were you two bored and thought, what the hades? We’ve got nothing better to do, let’s go annoy Urian?”
Archie rolled his eyes. “And here we were actually missing you.” He glanced over to Theo. “Why again?”
Shrugging, he held his hands up. “I don’t know. Maybe because we had something to show him?”
Now that was a scary thought. “What? Did the two of you finally locate a single brain cell between you and you needed someone to show you how to use it?”
Archie shoved him.
The moment he did, an arrow went whizzing for his heart.
Urian barely caught it before it landed in the center of his brother’s chest. Had he been a breath later, it would have killed his brother instantly.
Eyes wide, Archie went pale. “What the—”
“Halt!” Urian snapped as his wife’s guards moved forward to slaughter his siblings. Smirking, he returned the arrow to Birgit, who’d shot it. “I appreciate your protection, but I’d be most upset if you killed my brother for his stupidity.”
“Forgive me, Majesty.” She cast a warning glare at Archie before withdrawing back to the doorway.
Both of his brothers gaped in shock.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Urian gave them a smug grin. “Not your little brother here.”
“Apparently.” Theo let out a nervous laugh. “Damn, Uri. How are you doing with it all?”
Some days were better than others. But he wasn’t the kind to share those thoughts.
So he cleared his throat. “Why are you here again?”
Recovering their earlier mischievousness, they exchanged a grin. Then, they pulled open their tunics to expose their chests to him. More to the point, the Daimon’s mark that now rested over their hearts.
Urian’s stomach shrank at the sight. For several seconds, he didn’t react. He couldn’t. Honestly, he didn’t know how to respond to their news. While a part of him was glad to know they wouldn’t die horribly from Apollo’s cold stupidity, another part was sick with the thought of how they’d have to live from this night forward.
That their futures could end in a single heartbeat if they didn’t kill on time …
As precarious as life was for an Apollite, it was so much more for a Daimon.
Theo sobered. “Aren’t you happy?”
“More confused than anything.” He scowled at Theo, unable to understand why he’d convert so soon when he didn’t have to. “You still had three years left until you turned twenty-seven.”
“I know, but Archie was afraid.”
That he understood. They were only a few months away from Archimedes’s birthday when he would have to make a choice. But …
Archie rubbed at his neck. “I couldn’t do it, Uri. I tried so hard … I did. Theo had gone with me and I had the human there. Compliant. I had the human’s will mesmerized to my own, just as Solren had taught us. More than willing to surrender his soul to me. The human was a bastard dog with no regard for anyone—he abused everyone around him, I figured he deserved to die so that I’d have less guilt killing him. I mean, the world is better off without his ilk. And he was more than willing to give up his soul. But then he started whimpering and begging pathetically, and I … I couldn’t do it.”
Theo nodded. “So I did it for him. I killed the human and took the soul, then shared it with Archie.”
Urian flinched. “So what does this mean?” He frowned at Archie. “You’re having to live as an Anaimikos?” They were Daimons who fed from other Daimons in order to remain alive—like a baby bird feeding from its mother.
Sheepishly, Archie nodded.
However, that image quickly turned into something much more graphic and horrifying as Urian thought about how Theo would have to “feed” Archie. Surely this wasn’t as sexual as when Apollites fed …
Was it?
His eyes widened.
They immediately protested as they caught on to where his mind had drifted.
“Oh dear gods!” Archie snapped. “It’s not like that!” He shuddered violently. “I’d rather die!”
“Why would you think something that disgusting?” Theo started to slap Urian’s arm, then glanced at the guards and lions before reconsidering. “It’s not the same as a feeding! Besides, if I were going to sleep with a man, I’d pick someone a lot better-looking than that oaf! Uh! He’s revolting! I’d at least go after Davyn.”
Urian scoffed. “Well, how would I know how you share a soul? I’m not a Daimon!”
Theo rolled his eyes. “Soul exchanges are completely different.”
“How so?” Urian had always been curious how it worked. It was the one thing no one would ever go into. Rather the best-kept secret of their people.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. It’s something you have to be shown when you’re ready.”
Urian moved closer to Theo so that he could study him to see what else might be different about his brother. “So what’s it like?”
They both sobered.
“I don’t know how to describe it, really.” Theo didn’t move as Urian fingered his ear. “My powers are heightened now. In ways you can’t imagine.”
Archie made a face. “For one, the souls are loud.”
Theo nodded in agreement. “I now know why the treli go mad. You can hear the human in your head all the time. It’s like the worst sort of nagging wife.”
“Aye.” Archie sighed. “They beg and whine and barter. And you can’t escape the sound. It rattles in your brain.”
“Is there anything you can do to quiet them?”
They shook their heads. “Solren says it’ll get fainter as they weaken and the soul dies. That we have to pay attention as that will tell us when we need to hunt again. So for that reason, we want them to be yelling loud and clear in order to maintain our life.”
That was terrifying. His own inner monologue was loud enough at times. He couldn’t imagine having something inside him trying to outshout it. “And there’s no other way to live?”
They shook their heads.
Archie scowled. “What about your wife’s people? How does it work for them?”
“Their goddess bonded them to fire demons to preserve their lives. I don’t recommend it, either.” Especially given some of Sheba’s more particular vicious mood swings whenever the demon in her acted up.
Archie glanced over to the guards. “So are they Apollites?”
Not anymore. Even their young were different from what Urian was used to. “The Marzanni are a different species … more akin to Daimons. With some differences.”
Theo arched a brow at that. “Such as?”
“They don’t age the way we do, but they’re not immortal. They can still have children, at any point.” Unlike Daimons, who couldn’t have children. Once they ceased to be Apollites, they lost their fertility.
“Can they walk in daylight?”
Urian shook his head. “No one has thwarted that part of the curse yet. At least not to my knowledge. Though I’ve heard of some who’ve tried.”
All had ended in disaster. It seemed Apollo was determined to make sure no one with a drop of Apollite blood would ever again see the light of day.
“Majesty?” Niva nervously cleared her throat from the doorway shadows. “Forgive my interruption, but my lady bid me to remind you of your duties.”
Ever his horny mistress. He sighed. “I’ll be right there.”
She scurried away.
“Duties?” Archie mocked. Then he sobered. “Truth. Are you happy?”
He couldn’t honestly call what he had here happy. While it wasn’t miserable or abusive, he’d only ever been really happy with one person.
Xyn.
And
since she wasn’t here and he was never able to see her …
“I’m content.”
“That’s not happiness, Urian.” Theo passed a concerned glance toward Archie.
How he hated the fact that his family could read him so easily. He’d never been able to hide anything from them. No matter how hard he tried. “You two worry like old women. But I would ask one thing before you leave.”
“That is?” Archie cocked his head.
“Would you escort my children home to their mother? They’ve been missing her and I know they’d like to see her.”
“Sure.”
Urian inclined his head to Archie before he went to ask Niva to gather them for the journey. Nephele in particular had been begging to see her mother. Keeping them away from Xanthia had been the shittiest act of spite he’d ever done in his life, and given some of the things he’d done to his older brothers as a boy, that said a lot.
But the truth was, they’d been the only part of his marriage to Xanthia that he’d enjoyed. And they’d been the one thing that had kept him sane here with Sheba and her people. A balm against his loneliness and his own homesickness.
Especially where Sarraxyn was concerned. He’d needed them as a distraction so that he didn’t dwell on how much he missed his friend.
Nay, not friend. The only woman he’d ever loved.
The one woman he could never have.
And the thought of being here without his children …
Heartsick, Urian sighed. It wasn’t fair to Geras and Nephele, and he knew it. They didn’t belong here and they were miserable. He was being selfish and it was time for them to be with their mother. Not their stepfather.
“Baba!”
He paused at his bedroom door as he heard Nephele’s call from the other end of the hallway. Her voice echoed off the stone as she came running toward him. Even though she tried not to show it, he saw the excitement on her beautiful face as she neared him.
“Are you really taking us home?”
Those words were a fist to his gut. How he wished, but if he went home, he’d never return here either and that would cause a war between their people.
Urian sighed at the tears that choked him. “Nay, love. My brothers are here. They’ll take you and Geras back to your mata.”
“Oh.” Her voice mirrored the same disappointment he felt. “What about you?”
Pain swelled up inside as he fingered her blond braids. “I have to stay here with the Marzanni. But if you wish to stay in Kalosis, I won’t force you to return. I shall miss you terribly, though.” His voice cracked on that last bit. He would miss them every day.
Tears welled in her eyes as her lips trembled. With a sob, she threw herself against his chest.
Closing his eyes, Urian held her there as he fought against his own tears. He really did love his children. He always would.
Geras came running and threw himself against them so that he could pout over the fact that Urian wouldn’t be joining them.
His heart breaking even more, Urian held them until he heard Sheba calling for him to join her from the other side of the door.
Damn it. He shouldn’t have to choose between her and his children. But life was never fair.
And it seemed to take a special joy out of racking his balls.
“I have to go and your uncles are waiting.” He kissed them each in turn. “Take care. I shall come visit as soon as I can.”
“I’ll miss you, Baba!” Geras said.
“Miss you already, scamp.” Urian chucked him on the chin, then wiped away the tears on Nephele’s face. “Be good for me.”
“I will. You take care, Baba.”
Her words made his heart swell and ache. Every time they called him that, it tore him apart and made him glad that in spite of how it’d ended, he’d married their mother. For them alone, his hell with Thia had been worth it.
He paused to watch as they walked down the hall. Geras glanced back to wave and Nephele to blow him one last kiss.
Urian returned both gestures with a heavy heart. I hate change. He always had.
That was the worst part about being an Apollite. Change came fast and furious for them all in their pathetically brief lives.
Twenty-seven years just wasn’t long enough for anyone to live and die. They were gone before they had a chance to begin.
Game over. Why? Because his own grandfather was a selfish ass. Why did people have to be so selfish and cold?
What a world it would be if others could look around for three seconds each day and realize that they weren’t the only ones in pain. That everyone suffered.
If people would take a breath before lashing out to take into account everyone who was in their line of fire.
Yet they never did. Instead, anger was a double-edged sword that cut in both directions as it swung a wide arc and left a bloody swathe in its wake.
Urian sighed. His personal fate was looming faster than he could keep track of. He had less than five years to that fateful birthday.
Five years …
A blink, and he’d either be dead like his mother or a Daimon like his brothers and father. In a way, he envied his brothers for having already made their decisions. It no longer weighed on their minds.
Would he be able to do it? Or would he be like Archie and Davyn, and have to be fed by another Daimon?
While Urian thought himself strong enough to go Daimon, he didn’t really know for certain. It was one thing to tear apart the humans who’d hurt his mother. Another to kill those who were innocent.
The gods knew that Archie was the last one he’d have thought would falter in the face of a human. His brother had never spared him any conscience.
Or any blow. Physical or mental.
And he’d been the one to rip apart the human children that night …
But then the true measure of any warrior was never known until the day they were battle-tested. Only in the heat of that moment would they come to know if they would be shattered from the blows of a superior enemy or rise victorious to overcome all challengers. It was one thing to say what he’d do in the abstract but another to actually do it when that moment came barreling down with crushing brutality.
Stand and fight, or turn and flee.
The irony wasn’t lost on him that the brother who’d gone out to avenge their mother and slaughter humans in her name wasn’t the brother who’d been able to turn Daimon to save his own life. Yet the one who’d been a coward and run home to hide that night had been the very one to take that soul to save his own.
You just never know who will fight for themselves and who will fight to save another.
Whom you could trust and when. That was the most frightening part of life. It was ever unexpected.
Opening the door, he found Sheba waiting. Just as she’d said.
Even though she was highly agitated, he didn’t let it bother him, as that was basically her normal state of being. Rather he undressed and returned to bed. Ever the dutiful pet.
She frowned as soon as she saw the grim expression on his face. “Are you all right?”
“My brothers … they went Daimon.”
Her jaw dropped. “Did they want you to join them?”
“Not yet. It was merely a courtesy call.”
Sheba ran her hand over his chest, raising chills in the wake of her warm caress. She paused over his heart, where a dark Daimon’s mark would rest were he to convert as they had. “You know you have a choice, love. I can petition our goddess to make you one of us. You don’t have to go Daimon like them.”
Her eyes flashed that peculiar shade of amber-orange as she trailed her hand lower to cup him and toy with his sac while she slowly teased his Adam’s apple with her tongue. Urian sucked his breath in as his cock hardened in her palm.
It was a tempting offer. To become a different sort of demon. Serve another goddess.
At least he had options.
“Just say the word …”
How could he whe
n at the moment he couldn’t think straight while she did that? He was a slave to his hormones whenever she stroked him like this. All he could feel was her.
Suddenly, a jarring scream rang out through the stillness. “Majesties!”
Well, that ruined the mood. And irritated the crap out of him.
More screams were followed by the sounds of clashing steel. Frustrated at another interruption, Urian used his powers to flash himself into the armor that his wife insisted he wear to blend in with her army, and gathered his sword and shield while Sheba scrambled from the bed with a rush of creative expletives.
Worried about her given the escalating violence that was heading for them, he used his powers to dress her in her own armor.
She met his gaze with a grim smile. “Remind me later to tell you that I love you.”
He handed her battle helm to her. “Rather remind you of that when I do something that pisses you off.”
Laughing, she rose up on her tiptoes to give him a hot kiss. “You are a sexy beast, Urian Deathbringer.” Her eyes smoldered as she scraped his chin with her fangs. “I ache for you to fill my belly with your children.”
Guilt stung him as she pulled away to grab her own sword and shield. While she never held it against him that he had yet to make her pregnant, he dreaded every month when her flow came and he saw the disappointment in her eyes that she hadn’t conceived. That was the only good thing about Apollites. Once they converted to Daimons, their women could no longer carry children and that part of nature’s cycle ceased for them. While the transition could be hard on some of the women who mourned their premature loss of fertility, others met it with joy.
Sheba craved children. So much so that she’d been a good stepmother to Thia’s. It was why he had yet to tell her the children had left without saying good-bye. He wasn’t sure how she’d handle it.
But that could wait.
Placing his helm on his head, he stepped outside and sucked his breath in sharply as he saw the chaos that awaited them.
Never had Urian seen such carnage. While he’d been on raids, those were skirmishes … such as the night they’d attacked the human village. The humans had been caught off-guard and asleep.