For a time, it hadn’t.
Now that the haze of passion had worn off, she realized they hadn’t talked about his conversation with his brothers. He was obviously torn up about it. But she couldn’t just let it fester. It would kill him.
She would make him open up whether he wanted to or not.
Brynn rolled onto her back and stretched. For the first time she noticed the other side of the bed was empty. The sheets didn’t appear ruffled, as if Keegan hadn’t slept there.
No, wait. The bed wasn’t empty. A scrap of paper lay on his pillow.
She sat up and flipped on the bedside lamp. Prickles of dread broke out over her body, coalescing into a heavy lump in her throat. This wasn’t good. Even without reading it, she knew that. Heart racing, she picked up the paper and read it.
Brynn,
Someone will be coming for you tomorrow. He’s promised to watch over you, keep you safe. Please go with him.
Don’t try to find me. Your safety is more important than anything. Not just to me, but to the world.
Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself.
Keegan
“No.” Brynn crumpled up the paper and threw it across the room. “No!”
She jumped off the bed, barely pausing to yank on her robe before she threw the French doors open and ran out onto the balcony. “Keegan. Keegan!”
Nothing. Only silence.
She rushed back inside and peeked into the spare bedroom before flying down the stairs.
She darted toward the front door and threw it open, stopping long enough to flip on the floodlights before she raced out into the night. “Keegan. Where are you? Please, answer me!”
There was no response. Nothing but silence. She headed toward the boat dock and ran until she reached the edge.
Empty.
Her heart slammed up against her ribs with all the force of a sledgehammer.
He’d left her. He’d taken the boat and abandoned her here so that he could save his brothers, and he’d mostly likely gone to his own death.
That was why he hadn’t told her about it. That was why he’d marooned her here.
Panting, Brynn fell to her knees in the sand. She lifted her head and tried one more time. “Keegan, please!”
Nothing. Nothing but the damning silence.
Bowing her head, she blindly stared down at the sand in front of her. She couldn’t believe he’d left her without a good-bye, knowing he would probably never see her again.
She blinked back the moisture from her eyes, willing a sense of numbness to kick in. But it wouldn’t come. The pain was all too real.
Damn you, Keegan. Damn you.
…
By the time Keegan arrived, it was early morning in Egypt. He found a concealed ledge that overlooked the Valley. The flight alone had taken almost an entire day. The two days Mammon had given him were just about up.
If Mammon had broken his promise not to hurt them…
He concentrated on breathing evenly, trying to calm the rage and despair churning around in his gut.
Earlier, he’d told Brynn there was no such thing as Hell.
How wrong he’d been. There was a Hell, and he was in it.
Thinking about her brought the crushing weight of hopelessness down on him. He would never again know her warmth or feel her arms around him. For the first time in his life, he’d found someone worth fighting for, and worth dying for. But she would never be his. They’d had no more than a few stolen moments in time together.
It had been so unexpected, so sudden. So unavoidable.
Keegan picked up the cell phone he’d taken from an unsuspecting man at the airport and dialed Taeg’s number. As he’d expected, Mammon answered.
“Where are they?” he said to his father.
“Keegan.” Mammon’s voice was jovial. “I was beginning to think you’d backed out. Your brothers’ guards grow antsy.”
“You mean their torturers.”
Mammon laughed. “Should I inform them to prepare for disappointment?”
“We’re here,” Keegan responded.
“Excellent.” There was a moment of quiet. Keegan lifted his binoculars. As he’d expected, mere moments later the rayamaras lifted off, circling the area. “Will you be coming to join us, then?”
“Don’t bother with your flying demons,” Keegan said. “They won’t find us.”
“Ah…that close, hmm?”
“Yes. But you won’t get what you want until you bring out Taeg, Ronin, and Cresso. I want to ensure that you’ve kept your word not to harm them.”
“So distrusting?” Mammon asked. He didn’t sound too upset about it, though.
“I learned from the best.”
“Indeed. Very well. Just a few moments.”
He spotted movement from the largest tent on the grounds and shifted his binoculars as Leviathos headed to a smaller tent.
“I trust you’ve explained all of this to the heir?” Mammon said.
Keegan didn’t bother answering. Instead, he said, “I want you to swear a blood oath.”
“I’ve already given you my word,” Mammon said in a disgruntled tone.
“And we’ve already established just how much that’s worth. Jack shit,” Keegan ground out. “Swear a blood oath that you will let them leave unharmed, and that you won’t ever again cause harm to any of us. Or to Brynn, for that matter.”
“You ask for too much,” Mammon said.
“Think of what you’ll get in return, Dad. An entire world to rule as you wish.” When silence answered on Mammon’s end, Keegan pressed, “You’ve already promised me as much. This makes it official.”
“Fine,” Mammon finally spat. “I swear to you that I will leave them and your precious heir unharmed. But you haven’t even revealed yourself to me. I won’t guarantee your safety until I see that you have delivered what you have promised.”
No more than he’d expected. And Keegan was willing to live with it. Or, in this case, die for it.
“Done,” he said.
The flap to the smaller tent opened and Leviathos exited, followed by Taeg, Ronin, and Cresso. Though they staggered, that was probably due to the guards hauling them around with their hands tied behind their backs. Compound that with the fact that this was probably the first time they’d walked in days, and it was a miracle their feet supported them at all.
With the exception of their tattered, frayed clothing, they appeared relatively unharmed. But he knew better than anyone that appearances were deceiving. Knowing Mammon, he’d probably forced Ronin to heal himself and the others so he could torture them over and over again. The sadistic bastard.
The flap to the large tent lifted and Mammon stepped outside.
Hatred churned within Keegan at the sight of his father, threatening to bubble over into pure rage. He forced it back. Now was not the time to go berserk. Even if he did summon his fire-breathing ability, he couldn’t save all three of them. Not before Mammon got to them.
“Do you see them?” Mammon said into the phone.
“Yes. Now your oath.”
“Knife.” Mammon spat out the terse order to one of the minions guarding the tent. The guard hastily dug a knife out of his pocket, and Mammon used it to cut a shallow groove into his arm. “I swear by my blood, in exchange for your presence, no harm shall come to your brothers, your friend, or the heir. The prisoners will be free to go, as will the heir once she’s satisfied her mission.”
Mammon threw the knife to the ground. “Satisfied?”
He was. A blood oath was unbreakable to one of his kind without dire consequences. “Be right down.”
He stepped out of his hidden recess, sprouted his wings, and glided toward the camp. He ignored the rayamaras, who spotted him and circled behind, blocking his escape. They didn’t understand that he wasn’t about to escape. He’d freely accepted his fate: one life for many. There was no choice to be made here.
Mammon’s expression grew from baffled to su
spicious to downright livid when Keegan touched down alone. “Where is the heir?”
Keegan cast him a toothy grin. “Not a clue. She’s not with me.”
“But you said we,” Mammon said in a low, furious tone.
“You said I’d be a prince.” Keegan gave him a casual shrug. “I was using we in the royal sense.”
“Deceiver!” Mammon yelled. He moved lightning-fast and struck Keegan full on in the face, dropping him to his knees.
Shit, that hurt. Mammon always did have a stone fist.
But then again, it was all too familiar, being in this position in front of his dad. Just some old father-son bonding time. Nothing new here.
“Keegan!” Taeg called, but when he tried to rush forward, the guards held him back.
Keegan rose to his feet, spitting out blood. His nose cracked as it mended itself. Instantly, four of Mammon’s guards surrounded him, yanking his arms behind him while his father furiously walked back and forth.
“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” Mammon said.
Keegan shrugged. “You swore an oath to set them free without harm.”
“Keegan—” Ronin said.
“Shut up!” Mammon shouted. He turned back to Keegan, a tight smile on his face. “But you don’t have the same protection, do you?”
Keegan adopted a bored expression.
“Bro,” Taeg said in an alarmed voice, “what the fuck are you doing?”
Mammon gritted his teeth and whirled to face Keegan’s brothers. “You are all eternal disappointments. It’s beyond me how any of you could be children of my loins.”
“We often wonder the exact same thing,” Ronin said in a dry tone.
Ignoring that, Mammon took a cell phone that Keegan recognized as Taeg’s out of his pocket and tossed it in front of Taeg.
“Deposit them in the back of a vehicle,” he said to the guards holding them captive. “Drive them to Cairo and then let them go.”
Leviathos’s expression grew anxious. “But Lord—”
“I swore a blood oath, you idiot. Besides, they are no longer of any use to me.” Mammon turned, dismissing his lackey and ignoring Ronin’s and Taeg’s shouts as they were dragged away.
Keegan ignored them, too, keeping his focus on Mammon. It didn’t matter what they had to say. Now they were safe. As their big brother, he had a duty to protect them, and that was all that mattered.
Mammon studied him for a moment, then gave him a sly smile. “You think you are doing the noble thing, sacrificing yourself for your brothers?”
Damn right, he did.
“We’ll see,” Mammon said, reading the look on his face. “You believe you’ve won, but you’ve only postponed the inevitable. You see, now I have the one thing the heir wants most.”
“You’re wrong,” he said, keeping his voice level.
Mammon barked out a laugh. “You underestimate the power of love.”
Love? Keegan ignored that foolish little kernel of hope that rose in his chest. He didn’t want her love. He wanted her to live, to be happy—even if his heart wrenched at the thought that it wouldn’t be with him. “Brynn doesn’t love me.”
“Are you so very foolish that you don’t recognize love when you see it?” Mammon shook his head, his eyes dark with pity. “I recognized it solely from invading Brynn’s dreams. But then, I’ve always recognized love. It is the best of all emotions because it makes those feeling it the weakest. What better thing to exploit than that? The heir will come for you, and when she does, I’ll get what I want.”
“No.” Keegan shook his head in denial. “She won’t.”
After what he’d sacrificed, what they’d all sacrificed, she couldn’t possibly consider giving herself up for him. And if there was even the smallest chance she might, he’d taken precautions to ensure she didn’t.
Mammon turned to the guards who held Keegan captive. “Take him to the holding area.”
“What should we do with him?” one of them asked. He gave Keegan a vicious poke in the ribs.
“Use your imagination.” Mammon whirled about and started back toward his tent. He turned at the last second and gave Keegan a long, slow look before shaking his head in clear disappointment. “Such a waste.”
“Glad you think so,” Keegan couldn’t help but respond, even though he knew he should be keeping his mouth shut if he wanted things to go easier on him.
Mammon pursed his lips and turned back to his men. “Start draining his blood slowly. We want to give the heir motivation to come sooner rather than later, don’t we?”
After Mammon left, the guards unleashed their fists on him with blow after blow. He fought back, relishing in each jab and hit he landed, taking perverse pleasure in the scream one of the guards let loose when his arm broke with a loud snap. He ignored his own broken bones and the pain as they healed. Nothing existed but this fight and releasing as much ass-kicking as he could before they inevitably brought him down. Yeah, he’d pay for it in the torture tent, but right now, he didn’t give a fuck. They continued hitting and kicking him until he stopped fighting altogether, his strength completely zapped.
It’s no more than I’d expected, he thought as they dragged him toward the torture tent. Mammon knew his weakness—that he would no longer have the ability to heal himself once he’d been fully drained. He knew he would die.
At least my brothers are safe. Brynn is safe.
At the very least, he had that.
Chapter Twenty-seven
By the time Brynn heard the rumble of a motorboat approaching, she’d already tried to think of a million different ways to get off this stupid island. After all, it had been well over a day since Keegan had left her. But short of swimming to the mainland, there was no way out. To think that such a dreamy safe haven could so rapidly become a prison.
Where was Keegan now? The mere thought of him in Mammon’s grasp was beyond horrifying. If his father got ahold of him, she had no doubt the torture he’d endure would be unbearable. Why hadn’t he stayed? She understood his loyalty to his brothers, but why did he have to go it alone? Together, they might have found another way.
Brynn rose to her feet on the dock and watched as the boat came closer. She didn’t see anything at first, as it was close to midnight, and even with the floodlights from the house the night was still dark as hell. Squinting, she shaded her eyes from the bright light on the front of the approaching boat.
Who would Keegan have sent for her, anyway? With the exception of his brothers—who, as far as she knew, still wanted to kill her—and his father, she didn’t think he knew anyone else on Earth.
The engine cut, and the person inside looped a rope over the dock post. At last, its spotlight dimmed and the figure stepped off the boat.
Brynn blinked as her eyes adjusted to the change in light. Then, once she made out who it was, she gasped. “You!”
“Brynn—” Dagan started, but she didn’t let him finish. She turned and sprinted toward the house.
“Brynn,” he yelled. His footsteps pounded hard on the sand behind her.
She panted as she flew toward the front door, trying to ignore the stitch forming at her side. If she could just get inside, she’d… Well, she didn’t know what she’d do, but at least she’d have a few extra moments to think.
“Wait!” A second later, he tackled her to the sand.
She went down hard, biting her lip in the process. The metallic tang of her blood filtered onto her tongue.
“No,” she cried, grabbing two handfuls of sand as he twisted her around to face him.
He pinned her with his body. “Listen—”
She closed her eyes and threw the sand in his face.
He reared back. “Shit.”
Brynn swung her palm at him. When it connected with Dagan’s chin, he yelped, but before she could fight him further, he grabbed her hands and trapped them high over her head.
It was no use. He was far too strong.
“If you hurt me, Keega
n’s gonna kill you,” she spat at him.
“Damn it, Brynn, that’s what I’m trying to tell you,” he said. “Keegan sent me.”
Shocked, she stopped struggling. “Why would he do that? He knows you’re trying to kill me.”
“Not anymore. If you’d listen for a moment, you’d know that.” From the way he shook her for emphasis, she figured he was more than a little pissed about the whole sand thing.
She opened her eyes, blinking them furiously, and shook her head to clear off the remaining grains of sand. Admittedly, if he had wanted her dead, she probably would be by now. “You’re not trying to kill me?”
A drop of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. “Okay, how would I even know to find you here if Keegan didn’t tell me?”
He had a point. Brynn relaxed under him.
“Are you going to stop attacking me now?”
“Sorry,” she said.
Dagan pushed off her with a curse, sitting on his heels. He rubbed the grit from his eyes and spat some blood to the side. “Shit. You managed to blind me and make me almost bite off my tongue.”
“Really?” She did that?
“I can see you’re torn up about it,” he said dryly. “Don’t worry, I’ll heal.”
Yeah, well, he’d wanted to kill her before, so he could suck a big one. Besides, she was absurdly proud she’d managed to hurt him. If she could injure a powerful demon even without her abilities, maybe she was stronger than she thought.
“I promised I would keep you safe,” he told her grimly. “So that’s what I’m going to do.”
That was what Keegan had said to her in his Dear John note. The memory of it came back to her in one searing flash, sending an echo of pain slicing through her gut. Brynn sat up. “Keegan really sent you here?”
Dagan dropped his hands from his face. “Yes.”
He lifted to his feet, then offered her his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, she took it. “What made you change your mind? About killing me, I mean?”
Dagan laughed, the bitter sound slicing through her. “If he’s sacrificing himself to save your life, the least I can do is honor his wish to keep you alive.”