He looked back at Isadora, who also had her slim arms crossed over her chest but now refused to meet his gaze, then glanced toward Theron, standing at her side, looking frustrated and guilty all at the same time. “That’s not how the soul mate curse works, and you all know it. Only the one with the markings is cursed. They’re the only ones who feel it.”
Nick was glad Theron had ushered most of the guardians and their mates out of the room so they didn’t have to listen to this crap. If he had the choice, he’d be out of here too. That darkness was bubbling inside him with every passing minute, and being near his soul mate—the one he couldn’t have—wasn’t helping matters. He chanced a look toward the doorway, searching for Cynna, but she still had yet to return with Skyla.
“Everything about this situation is different,” Theron said, “because you’re different.”
Nick scoffed, rested his hands on his hips, and turned toward the window. “I’m fine.”
“Maelea can sense the energy in you is growing,” Theron said. “And if that’s the case, then it corresponds to what happened to those three mortals who—”
“Those were three dead mortals.” Okay, yeah, Maelea, a product of the Underworld herself, might be able to sense Krónos’s dark energy growing inside him, but that didn’t mean she knew what the hell she was talking about. Nick pressed his fingers against his chest. “Last time I checked, I was alive. And this isn’t the fucking Underworld.”
Theron sighed. “Yeah. But we all know you’re a hell of a lot stronger than you were. Who’s to say your getting stronger isn’t somehow messing with the soul mate curse and making Isadora weaker.”
“It’s possible,” Orpheus said from his spot near the windows. “I didn’t really feel the soul mate pull with Skyla until my daemon started to fade. That pull definitely strengthened the weaker my daemon became.”
Nick rolled his eyes and rested his hands against his hips. They were all certifiable. That was the only explanation. He scowled at Isadora, then turned his glare on his brother. “Don’t tell me you’re buying in to this too. This is your fucking soul mate we’re talking about. The one you told me to stay the hell away from.”
Demetrius’s jaw ticked, but the bastard still didn’t answer. Just stared at Nick with those hard, cold eyes.
“Look.” Callia stepped forward, clearly sensing the tension in the room. “We don’t know anything yet. It’s all just speculation. But I can tell you her vitals are much improved since you got here. Isa”—she turned toward her sister—“how do you feel?”
Isadora let out a breath. She bit her lip as she looked toward Nick, then glanced at her mate near the desk. She turned back toward her sister. “Better. A little stronger. But maybe that’s just a coincidence.”
“See?” Nick said, holding his arms out wide. “Finally, someone with a little sense.”
Callia tucked a lock of auburn hair behind her ear and frowned. “I’m sorry, but Isadora’s pulse regulating when she touched you was not a coincidence.” She turned toward her sister. “We’ll figure this out, don’t worry. Now that Nick’s here, it should buy us some time.”
Oh no. He wasn’t staying. He looked back over the faces in the room. They didn’t actually expect him to remain in this realm, did they?
Footsteps reverberated from the corridor before he could ask, and his attention shifted that direction, his pulse skipping with the hope of seeing Cynna, back to keep him centered.
Except the female who stepped into the room wasn’t the one he desperately needed. It was Casey, her brown hair shimmering under the chandelier above, her violet eyes sparkling as her gaze caught on Nick. “Someone told me we had a visitor.”
Nick fought back the darkness pushing him to run. Casey crossed the floor, rose up on her toes, and wrapped her arms around Nick’s shoulders. But this time—unlike when Isadora had hugged him—he didn’t flinch. Because Casey was not, and never had been, any kind of threat to his sanity.
“I knew you’d come back,” she said softly, lowering to her feet and smiling up at him. “You’re like a bad penny. You always turn up.”
Nick nodded toward her rounded belly. “You’ve obviously been busy while I’ve been gone. How long?”
Casey cast a warm look toward Theron, who was talking quietly with the queen and Callia. The guardian caught her eye, sent her a worried half grin, then went back to his conversation.
Casey turned back to Nick. “Two more months.”
“And how’s the hero with it all?”
“A bear. Worried. Constantly.” Casey grinned. “Not a whole lot different than usual.”
Nick huffed.
Casey hooked her arm in his and drew him toward a couch in the sitting area of Isadora’s palatial office. “The bigger question is, how are you?”
She was the first person who’d asked. The first one who even seemed to care. But then, being a half-breed—one of his people—maybe she was the only one who could.
Cynna cared. His mind flashed to the way Cynna had grabbed him and kissed him when he’d given her the chance to run in the tunnels. Then how she’d known he was spiraling out of control and gently taken him upstairs, cut his hair, and dragged him back from the edge of something he was sure he wouldn’t have been able to pull himself free from without her.
“Nick?”
He looked to his right, where Casey was sitting next to him on the couch, one hand resting on the swell of her belly while she eyed him with curiosity. Dammit, he didn’t even remember sitting. “What?”
“I asked how you were doing. After everything you’ve been through—”
“I’m fine,” he said quickly, not wanting to delve into what he’d been through. Not with her. “I’m always fine.”
She frowned like she didn’t believe him. “You’re not happy about being here, are you?”
He leaned forward, rested his forearms on his knees, and worked not to scowl again. The fine hairs along his back bristled. “Let’s just say this isn’t my favorite place in the world.”
“I know. But I’m glad you’re here, even if you aren’t. Isadora needs you right now.”
He turned to face Casey, his eyes hardening as a whisper of animosity—no, a hell of a lot more than a whisper—whipped through him. “She never needed me before. Don’t tell me you’re buying into all this bullshit too.”
“It’s not bullshit. You haven’t been here, so you haven’t seen her deterioration, but something is definitely affecting her. Look at her. She’s thinner now than when I met her.”
Nick’s head shifted Isadora’s way before he could stop himself, and he took a good long look at the queen, standing across the room as she spoke quietly with Callia and Theron. Yes, she was thin, but the last time he’d seen her, she’d been eight months pregnant. It was hard for him to gauge what was normal for her and what wasn’t since he’d stayed as far from her as possible in the past. But as he studied her closer, even he couldn’t miss the sallowness to her skin, the way her eyes were sunken in, her cheekbones more prominent than before, and the tired droop to her shoulders.
Guilt whirled around him. And the soul mate draw, the one that he’d never been able to stop, pulled at something deep in his chest.
Her chocolate gaze lifted and locked on his from across the room, almost as if she’d felt it too. And the shock of it was so sudden, so intense, it sent a shiver of surprise through Nick that made him blink and look quickly away.
“She’s fighting it,” Casey said at his side. “She won’t admit to anyone that she’s weak—especially Demetrius, because she doesn’t want to hurt him—but she is. At least now you’re here, and we can hopefully figure out what’s going on.”
“I’m not staying.”
The words were raspy, forced, and didn’t sound like his own. He cleared his throat.
“Of course you’re staying. You just got here.”
Nick looked back toward the door. Desperate now for Cynna so he could get his mind off Isadora and back o
n something that kept him centered. Where the hell was she?
A quick glance over his shoulder told him Demetrius was still watching him way too carefully. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He started to get up, but Casey’s hand on his forearm stopped him. “Wait, Nick.” When he turned her way, he caught the worry in her friendly eyes. “I know things between you and Isadora and Demetrius are…strained.”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
A half smile curled her lip but faded quickly. “I also know being here is the last place you want to be. But if you can’t stay for her, or them, then stay for me.”
“You’ve got superhero over there. You don’t need me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Our people need you. And I’ll always be one of them.”
“Our people?” Confusion drew his brows together.
“Yeah.” She stared at him. “Don’t you know? After you left the colony with Hades and Zagreus—”
Casey’s words cut off as Skyla stepped into the room. Alone.
Nick pushed to his feet, his eyes growing wide, searching the empty hallway beyond for Cynna. “Where is she?”
“She went out the bathroom window. Good climber, that one.”
Holy fuck. “You let her leave?”
“Relax,” Skyla said. “She can’t get far. I already alerted the castle guards.”
Not far? She’d clearly underestimated the female. Just like Nick.
“She’s Argolean. If she gets outside, she can flash.” And he’d never find her again. He headed for the door.
“She can’t flash through the castle walls, even if she is in the courtyard.” Skyla sighed. “Besides, something tells me she’ll be back.”
Nick didn’t wait for more. Didn’t listen to the protests behind him. He turned out the door and hustled for the stairs.
“What did you find out?” Orpheus’s voice drifted into the hall behind him.
“Something quite interesting,” Skyla answered.
Nick could only speculate what Cynna had told the Siren, but right now he didn’t give a rip. He had to get to her before she was gone for good.
He skipped steps to make it to the first level as quickly as possible. Across the marble floor and towering entry of the castle, Cynna was just pushing her way past the door guards, heading for the outer courtyard and the castle wall beyond.
Nick didn’t yell for her, didn’t want to give her any reason to run. He pushed his legs forward, moving with stealth across the great Alpha seal stamped into the floor. Both guards regarded him with speculation as he drew close, but he’d visited the castle often enough in the past that they didn’t pay him any extra attention. He raced down the front steps and caught up with Cynna yards from the closed front gate, grasped her by the arm, and tugged her around to face him.
“Hold up,” he said. “Just where do you think you’re going?”
Her eyes widened in surprise but quickly hardened. “I’m leaving.”
“No, you’re not.”
Fury flashed in her chocolate gaze. “You don’t get to decide that. You don’t get to choose. I was willing to help you in any way I could, because I know you deserved it after all the shitty things I did to you. But not this. I can’t.” She tugged back against his grip. “I won’t.”
He’d seen her pissed when those satyrs had come at her. But this was different. This wasn’t just anger, it was panic and fear and hurt all clashing together.
“Look,” he said calmly, hoping to settle them both down. “I know you don’t want to be in Argolea.”
“You think this is about Argolea?” She wrenched her arm from his hold. “This isn’t about Argolea. It’s about her.”
“Her who?”
“Her.” She held up a hand toward the castle. “Your soul mate.”
A hard knot formed in Nick’s chest, and his memory skipped back over the last few minutes. She’d obviously seen his reaction to Isadora. He hadn’t been able to mask it, even though he’d tried. No wonder she was pissed. Especially after the things he’d done to her in the tunnels of the colony. Especially considering the things he wanted to do to her all over again.
Nick took a step toward her. “It’s not what you think. Isadora and I—”
“Oh, for gods’ sake.” Cynna stepped back so he couldn’t touch her. “I don’t care that you have a soul mate. I don’t care if you have ten. What I care about is the fact it’s her. Of all the people in all the world, your soul mate turns out to be the one person I hate more than any other. I should have expected it. I should have known, dammit.”
She took another step back and waved her hands, and as he watched her frantic movements, as he saw her panic and anger growing, an odd tingle spread across the scars along his back.
“I don’t care how guilty I feel over the things Zagreus made me do,” she snapped. “I won’t have anything to do with her. And you can’t make me stay anywhere near this disgusting castle.”
She turned to leave again, but Nick caught her by the arm, twisting her back to face him once more. “Hold on. What did Isadora do to you?”
Her jaw clenched, and that dead look, the one he hadn’t seen in her eyes since before she’d tended his wounds in the Prince of Darkness’s lair, crept back into her gaze. A look that was so sudden, so emotionless, it halted every one of those tingles and sent a chill straight down his spine.
“Everything,” she said in a hard, cold voice. “She’s the reason I was with Zagreus. The person I traded my freedom for to see ruined. She’s the one who murdered my entire family.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The disbelief on Nick’s scarred face told Cynna everything she needed to know.
He didn’t believe her. But then, why would he? His soul mate was the queen of fucking Argolea. And he was so completely gone over her, he wouldn’t believe the truth about her even if it punched him square in the face.
Metal ground against metal at her back. Cynna didn’t have to look to know that the castle gates were opening. Someone was coming in. Which meant—because she couldn’t flash through solid walls, even out here in the open—she now had a way out.
She pulled her arm from his grip once more and moved back a half step. “This is finished.”
“Cynna—”
She closed her eyes and pictured home. Or what was left of it. And in a flash, she was floating, spinning, traveling across the distance to the only place in this miserable land where she’d ever felt she belonged.
Her feet connected with the hard ground, and she opened her eyes only to draw in a surprised gasp.
Snow littered both sides of the dirt road. Spindly barren deciduous trees void of leaves stood like decrepit statues while conifers swayed in the cool breeze. Beyond, the Aegis Mountains rose to the gray sky in shades of blue and purple. But what startled her wasn’t the familiar scenery. No, it was the two-story high stone wall that had been rebuilt, the enormous wooden gate—solid, not burned or broken or filled with holes—and the soldiers. Castle soldiers from Tiyrns—she recognized their emblems—manning the entrance.
Her pulse raced, and she looked all around as she moved forward, trying to figure out what was going on.
The guard to her right leveled her with a look and held out his spear. “Halt, female. Papers are required for admittance to the Kyrenia settlement.”
“Papers? What papers?”
The massive doors opened, just a crack, and a young male, close to Cynna’s age, came through, nodded at the guards, and walked past. Cynna peered through the opening as the gates slowly closed. Dozens of people filled the streets. Buildings—those were actual buildings, not ruins—stood on both sides of the road.
Her skin grew hot, and she took a step forward, a new sort of panic spreading through her veins. “Who’s in there? What…?”
The guard shoved a hand against her shoulder, stopping her. “Papers, female. No papers, no admittance.”
“But that’s my home,” she s
aid, pushing against him. “I have every right to be here. I demand to know who’s using my—”
“Cynna? Is that you?”
The female voice from beyond the closing doors slowed Cynna’s struggling. She knew that voice. Knew it well.
Her heart beat hard, this time not from panic but from a warmth that curled through her entire body. “Delia?”
“Open these gates, at once,” Delia demanded on the other side of the door. “She’s one of us.”
Some kind of argument was happening. Cynna couldn’t hear clearly through the closed doors. But seconds later, the heavy grind of the great wood doors parting sounded once more, and Delia’s face appeared—snow-white hair hanging past her shoulders, sharp blue eyes, high cheekbones on a youthful face, and thin lips curved into a welcoming smile. To most she looked to be only in her early thirties, the same age as Cynna, but she was much, much older. And wiser. “My dear Cynna.”
The witch wrapped her arms around Cynna and pulled her into a tight hug, and as the familiar scent of lemon surrounded Cynna, she closed her eyes and held on, for the first time in…years…feeling something other than alone.
“She has no papers,” the guard mumbled.
Delia glanced his direction with an irritated expression. “You and your useless papers. I’ll vouch for her.” She looked back at Cynna, her annoyance fading. “Come. You look a fright, child. Come in out of the cold.”
Delia pulled Cynna into the settlement. A shiver raced down Cynna’s spine as she stepped into the courtyard, and for the first time, she registered the temperature. But even that faded as the gigantic doors closed behind her, and she looked around the bustling city of Kyrenia.
“Looks quite different, doesn’t it?” Delia said at her side, one arm still wrapped around Cynna’s shoulders.
“Slightly.” Cynna swallowed the lump in her throat.
The last time she’d stood in this spot, just before she’d left for the human realm, Cynna had stared at nothing but ruins. Broken stone, charred wood beams, ash and dust and the remnants of a life she sometimes thought of as a dream. But these weren’t ruins. Shops had been rebuilt. Homes had been restored. The fountain in the middle of the courtyard where she’d waded as a child was bubbling. Children dressed in coats and boots were playing tag and throwing snowballs while males and females shopped, chatted, and went about their business.
TWISTED (Eternal Guardians Book 7) Page 20