“Octavian?”
“Hmm?” He combed his fingers through her hair.
It was her turn to hesitate as she weighed just how badly she wanted an answer to her question. “Where’s my father now? His body, I mean,” she amended, realizing she wasn’t sure she wanted to know where the soulless went when they died.
His fingers stilled. Under her cheek, his heart gave an unsettled kick. “We wanted to keep him for when you woke up, but …” He tucked a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face up to look into his. “You can’t keep an inanimis’ body.”
“Where is he?”
He looked down, seemingly bracing himself. “The only way you can really kill one of us is by burning our body otherwise we just come back to life. You can’t kill an immortal, not even with an angelic blade. That will only slow it down, momentarily paralyze it, but you have to destroy its body to kill it.”
Riley felt her insides twist. “You burned my father?”
Pain reflected in his eyes, dancing with the glow from the fireplace. “He wasn’t your father anymore. It wasn’t safe to keep him.” He took her hand. “I’m sorry.”
She tried to be upset about what he was telling her, but she couldn’t bring herself to be. He was right. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t her father. Her father had died the moment he’d struck his bargain with Baron.
“Why did he do it?” she asked at long last. “What could he possibly have wished for?”
Octavian shook his head. “I don’t know, baby.”
Riley slicked her lips, prolonging her next set of words just long enough to swallow back the tears threatening to spill. “Baron did it.” She sniffled. “I know he did. He deliberately sought my father out right after he was here. This was his way of warning me that he can toy with me. What I don’t understand is why doesn’t he just kill me? He already said he could whenever he wanted.”
“Some like the thrill of the hunt.” He tugged on a strand of her hair. “And don’t talk like that.”
She ignored his last statement. “Why can’t he go get some other Selkie’s pelt? Why does it have to be mine?”
“Because yours is the only one he knows where it is and we are the last Selkies in existence.”
She raised her head just enough to rest her chin on his chest and peer up at him. “Where are the others?”
“There are no others. They died in the war. We are all that is remaining of our kind and since I am the first to find my mate… we have not had any children.”
“Will they be like you?” she asked. “The children, will they be Selkies?”
“Part and part human.”
“And they’ll have to visit the pond once a month?”
He nodded. “What?” he asked when she giggled.
She shook her head, ducking it as she tried to hide her flush.
“No, no, tell me.” He poked her ribs, making her jump when he struck a ticklish spot.
“I was just picturing what they would look like in the pond, little gray tadpoles with tails all surrounding you as you teach them to swim, unless they are born already knowing how.”
So careful not to hurt her, he twisted onto his side, dragging her down with him until she was on her back and he was bent over her on his elbow. His free hand swept back her hair as he peered into her eyes.
“They’re not,” he murmured quietly. “The parents teach them.” He hesitated a second as he studied her. “Would you come with us?”
Riley frowned. “Why wouldn’t I?”
His shoulder moved in a twitch that could have been a shrug if it hadn’t been so stiff. “I wasn’t sure if it would bother you.”
She tipped her head a fraction to the side to get a better look into his face. “Why would it bother me? I saw you and I was fine.”
“Yes, but these would be your children.”
Now she was really confused. “They’d still be my children when they turn, wouldn’t they?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes, but it would be different. They won’t look human. They’ll look…”
She raised an eyebrow. “Like their father?”
He seemed to still at her words. His eyes fixed on her face, something hot and fierce passing over his. “Yeah.”
She grinned at him. “I think I can handle it, but you’re teaching them to swim. I’ll probably drown them. I mean, I can swim, but I’m nowhere near as good as you.”
He snorted. “They won’t drown. You can’t drown a fish, can you? Besides, their pelt protects them.”
“And where do the pelts come from? Are they born with it?”
He nodded. “The pelt protects the child from danger when they are alone. It covers them, like a security blanket. When they are older, it becomes their source of power. As long as we are in possession of it, nothing can harm us. We are immortal. But if it falls into the wrong hands, we become enslaved to them. Mom, once we no longer needed ours pelts for protection, sewed them into the bracelets and hid them in the one place no other creature can ever go.”
“The pond.” She raised her head to peer at him. “Why can’t anyone else go there?”
“During the war when it became apparent that we were becoming extinct, the remaining Selkies gathered together and created the protection around the pond with Selkie magic and only Selkies and their mates can ever find it.” his expression became serious. “If anything ever happens to me, and you’re in danger, you must go there. You’ll be safe.”
Her gut twisted. “Don’t talk like that. I’m not going anywhere without you.”
He scowled at her. “Why must you be so stubborn?”
She smirked at him. “It must be a Selkie mate thing. Would your mother leave your father if something happened to him?” she challenged when he snorted and rolled his eyes. “Would you leave me?”
His face contorted into one of anguish. “It’s not the same.”
“Says you.” She reached down with her good hand and laced her fingers through his. “You’re stuck with me, Octavian. I’m not going anywhere.”
Eyes chips of hot, melted silver, bore into hers vehemently. “I’m holding you to that.”
Chapter 33
It took three weeks before Riley was allowed out of bed. Even when the thin, jagged puckers stretching from shoulder to collarbone had healed and she could nearly raise her arm over her head, she was prohibited from leaving the bed, then the dining area and she was only allowed there if she promised to sit and do nothing. Reggie nearly took her head off once for moving a salt shaker two inches from the left to the right.
By the end of the third week, she was ready to beat someone with her shoe — something else she wasn’t allowed to put on by herself, because heaven forbid she strain something.
“Will you please stop fussing!” she moaned when Octavian did up the buttons on her white blouse.
“Last one!” he snapped back, slipping the last button into its hole. He tugged the shirt down over her jeans and smoothed it out.
“I do know how to dress myself,” she muttered. “And my arm can handle slipping a shirt on.”
“Yeah?” he challenged. “What if it makes it worse? This is serious, Riley. You had a lot of damage done and nerve endings and tendons that need to set properly.”
She was pretty sure it didn’t work that way, but he sounded so convinced and so concerned, she didn’t have the heart to correct him.
“I’m fine,” she told him, touching his hand. “I promise.”
He continued to scowl. “I wish you’d reconsider. You don’t need to ever go back there.”
“I need to,” she murmured. “It’s time I… it’s my home. All my things are there and… I just…”
He pulled her into his arms when her voice wavered. “I know, baby. I just….” He shook his head. “Never mind.”
Pressing her face into his shoulder once, she pulled back. “Ready?”
With a resigned sigh, he nodded. “I’ll grab Magnus and Gideon.”
A smile
curved her lips as she watched him leave the room she’d come to call theirs and shook her head. His overprotectiveness was aggravating, if not a tad endearing. Maybe it was because she never had anyone be protective of her or concerned that it was daunting, but she really didn’t know how to handle everyone being so compassionate. At the same time, secretly, she enjoyed having a family that cared. Even Magnus, although he never made a show of it, was always there to grab things for her or pick something up. He never said anything or waited for her to thank him, but continued on with whatever he was doing. His gruffness was beginning to grow on her. She’d seen enough of his gentleness to know he went through a great deal of trouble to pretend he was some tough guy who didn’t give a crap about anyone.
Then there was Gideon. She was almost certain she’d have lost her mind a long time ago if it weren’t for him. He kept her company when Octavian slept during the days and never once treated her like she would die at the drop of a hat. If anything, he had her laughing so often that, for those moments, she was able to let go of her guilt over her father and Magnus, and even Septimus’ ominous warning predicting her death was a distant memory. As brothers went, if she’d had the choice of growing up with one, she would have chosen him, not to say she didn’t love Reggie. He’d just become much more somber over the last few weeks, going days without seeing anyone. She assumed his mood change was because of everything she was putting his family through, even if Gideon assured her that wasn’t the case.
Moving to the dresser, she ran a quick brush through her hair using her good arm. Her right arm only went up about halfway before it began to tremble and she had to lower it. Using her left arm had become a new experience considering she was right handed. Kyaerin assured her that she would, in time, get use of both arms once more, but it clearly wasn’t about to happen anytime soon.
Setting the brush back down, she did a quick check of the room, making sure she had everything before making her way downstairs to the diner. Gorje ignored her greeting as she walked through the kitchen. The Raver, as Reggie had once told her, didn’t like anyone as a rule, but liked humans even less, which explained his aversions of her. But that didn’t stop her from being nice at least in passing.
She stepped into the diner, nearly running into Liam as he stood right on the other side.
“Riley.” He smiled at her. “How are you feeling?”
Riley nodded. “Fine. Thank you. I’m just waiting for the boys.”
“Wait no longer. Your heroes have arrived!” Gideon barged in after her with Magnus and Octavian right behind him.
Riley smiled at them.
Octavian passed his brothers to stand at her side. “We’ll be back.”
Liam nodded, but said nothing as they started for the doors. Thankfully, they didn’t take Gideon’s hearse, but Octavian’s Lexus. Riley sat in front with Octavian while Magnus and Gideon climbed into the back. They drove in silence.
“This time, when I tell you to run…” Magnus prompted as they climbed out.
“I run,” Riley promised, determined not to make a mess of things a second time.
Magnus and Gideon took lead. Octavian kept a full three steps behind them with Riley tucked behind him. Magnus opened the door and disappeared inside. Gideon followed. Octavian waited on the threshold until Magnus’ voice gave the all clear, and only then did he move aside to let Riley through.
The place was exactly how she’d left it with an added bonus of dust coating everything. It was eerily quiet despite the four people crammed inside. Riley pulled off her jacket and set it on the counter as she’d done a million times in the past. But it didn’t feel right. The whole place felt foreign, like she was trespassing through someone else’s home.
“What do you want to do, Riley?” Octavian asked, coming up behind her.
Her gaze went to the bedroom at the end of the hall and her gut sank. Her palms became clammy and she was certain she was about to be sick.
Maybe Octavian was right. Maybe she shouldn’t have come. How could she think it would be easier to face what she’d done? She wasn’t even through the hallway and…
“Hey Riley!” The phantom voice had everyone in the room jumping as though an electric surge had gone through the air, zapping them all. They whipped around in the direction of the source. Magnus and Octavian had their silver blades out, prepared to take on the cheerful, yet slightly tense voice coming from the kitchen.
Gideon looked up, one finger on the button of Riley’s answering machine. He blinked gray eyes in surprise of the blades aimed at him. “What? She had messages.”
Magnus punched him in the arm as Daphne’s voice poured through the apartment, each one becoming increasingly more agitated as the days went on.
“Riley! I am seriously wigging out over here. Where are you? I swear if that boyfriend of yours killed you and buried your body… call me!”
“Riley, if you don’t phone me back, I’m sending Daniel over there and he’ll kick the crap out of your boyfriend until he gets answers, so call me!”
“Okay, seriously, how much room does your answering machine have ‘cause I’ve left like three hundred messages?”
“Riley, this is your conscience calling, pick up the phone, Riley. I went to that wacked out Frankenstein’s castle place you sent me to and talked to some dude I think may have been Liam and asked him what was up. He said he’d take care of it, whatever it is. Oh and I met your lover boy. I got two words… o.m.g wow! Or is that four words? Anyway, you were right, the guy is seriously edible. I could like live off just looking at him. True, he’s not as sexy as Reggie, because that boy is just—”
Riley bolted across the kitchen and slapped the off button. She could feel all eyes on her, burning into her as her face enflamed.
“Your friend sounds interesting,” Gideon mused. “It’s that little carrot top isn’t it? The one that keeps coming to FJ looking for you?”
Slowly, Riley turned to face them. “Daphne. Yes.”
Gideon clicked his tongue. “Can’t say she has very good taste if she thinks Reggie’s sexy.”
“She’s very nice,” Riley defended, not sure why, but it seemed like the thing to do when Daphne was the only friend she had.
Gideon pushed away from the counter he was leaning against. “Nice doesn’t mean she has any taste. We all know I’m the better looking brother in this group.” With a smirk, he sauntered out of the kitchen, into the short hall and stopped in the living room.
Riley stared at the machine and the thirty missed calls winking back at her. She knew they would all be from Daphne. No one else had her number, except…
“What’s the date?” She turned to the two still standing behind her.
“The… second?” Octavian glanced at Magnus for confirmation. The other man nodded.
“Oh no!” She spun back to the phone, but the base was empty. Where was the phone?
Once frantic sweep of the room proved it wasn’t there. She stabbed the locator button and waited for the three consecutive beeps to fill the apartment.
“Riley?”
She put up a finger, stilling Octavian’s question as the low chirping led her into the living room and the sofa she’d hastily tossed the thing onto after calling Daphne all those weeks ago, so it was no surprise that when she found it, it was dead.
“What?” Gideon asked when she cursed and tossed the phone down.
“I have to call the landlord,” she said. “The rent was due on the first.”
“Are you staying here?” Gideon said, looking appalled.
“I don’t know,” she murmured honestly. “Not sure where else I can go.”
“With us,” Gideon said as thought it made all the sense in the world. “Back to Final Judgment.”
Unease closed around her gut like a cold fist. “What will your parents think?”
Octavian’s brows creased in genuine puzzlement. “What do you mean?”
“Well, they’re old fashioned, aren’t they? Girls don’t
just up and move in with their boyfriends. Not decent ones at least. They’ll think—”
“Nothing,” he cut in. “You are my mate, Riley. By our laws and definition, you are my wife. That is the rules my parents were raised with. Humans started the tradition of white dresses and marriage certificates. In my world, I am yours and you are mine. My parent’s will only see that I’m bringing my wife home.”
Octavian's Undoing (Sons of Judgment) Page 35