Worse, she itched to return to Micah. Her Lynx identified him as family and safety, even though she and her demon both rationalized he wasn’t the best individual for her. Only Nix wished to bring out her good qualities.
But…reservations aside, she’d launched into a deal with him without a moment’s hesitation. To return her son to Hell. What kind of mother agreed to that? Not one that vowed to protect him.
Nix should be furious with her. Disappointed, too, not that she couldn’t beat herself up more than he would. She’d been at the tail end of the anchoring ceremony when she suddenly found herself in her bedroom. The Kings had altered to their angel form in front of her. Magnificent creatures, all of them, and each diverse in their beauty.
Raguel’s bronze skin sparkled like glitter and no one could mistake his lime-green, orange-flecked eyes as human. The first to begin the anchoring ceremony, Raguel had slit his wrist and offered it to her. She had latched onto his wound like the black liquid offered her a lifeline to immortality.
As she’d ingested his blood, the bronze King went to his knees before her, gazing up at her. “My sister Queen.”
Without any coherent thought, words tumbled from her lips. “My brother King.”
“Who’s next?” Micah’s breath had stirred against her ear, and she’d twisted her head to gaze at him.
She’d claimed his lips in a fast, wet kiss. Afterward, she’d nipped his bottom lip and sent him a look that promised a very sexed-up-later in his bed. Oh, yes, she’d planned to fuck him six ways to Sunday. As if he could read the promise in her eyes, he’d smiled. And she’d begun to make good on her silent vow when she’d been dragged out of Hell.
Elias had come next. He’d wrapped his hand around her throat and stared at her the longest time. The muffled screams of damned souls were the only noise in the room. He’d burst into angel, and Madison’s jaw dropped.
His skin was a darker shade of blue than Micah’s pale-arctic ice blue, and marbleized with skeins of terracotta. Straight, fiber-optic ginger-colored wings—not the corkscrew shape of Micah’s—dripped with yellow highlights. His brown eyes had flashed gold, with a hint of his kingly rank in his pupils. Navy-colored talons, veined in yellow, had gripped her—
“What are you thinking about?”
Madison jerked at Kur’s question. Until that moment, she hadn’t realized she’d zoned out. She shook her head. “Nothing important.”
Gravely important. But that omission would wait a bit.
“Pardon me if I choose not to believe you.” She blinked and focused on the dragon. The black slashes of his eyebrows drew together over the bridge of his nose. “You’re eyes have gone Lynx. Please advise you do not require sustenance.”
“I’m fine.” She hesitated before walking to him. A finger to his chin, she tipped his head back. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He threw her same words back at her, and she suspected he fibbed just as she had. The door opened as Kur said, “Nothing a good night of uninterrupted sleep won’t cure.”
That relieved her fears. Madison glanced toward the door and froze as Nix, Zen, Petra, and Amos entered. She must have tightened her grip on Kur, because he grasped her wrist and tugged her hand away from his face.
“Don’t jump to conclusions, Madison.” Kur kept his voice low, and she contemplated him, relieved at not having to meet Nix’s blaming gaze just yet. Of course that was the coward’s way. “If anyone understands the lure of Hell, it’s Phoenix.”
“Thanks.” A small frown tilled across his forehead at her gratitude. “For feeding me.”
A wicked gleam glinted in his dark eyes and a grin tugged at the corners of his lips. “I’m jealous you chose Phoenix as the appetizer.”
Nix glared at him. Kur smirked. Uncertain of the sudden surge in aggression that spiked in the room, she peeked between the two men. What trouble did the dragon seek to inspire? Kur teased; Nix should be aware of that fact, as well, so why the hostile glare?
No time for such adolescent behavior, she shrugged aside their conduct. Madison turned and walked away from the dragon. Halting when she reached the desk, she leaned a hip against the wood and crossed her arms over her middle, hugging herself. She could do this, tell them how she’d screwed up in Hell. Not like she had a choice if she wanted to protect her son and Nix.
Zen came straight to her and halted a step away. Their gazes locked. As always, she couldn’t get into his head, but she predicted he peeled away her secrets easily enough. He would know everything before she spoke one word.
Talk to me, he said telepathically. It sounded like the desperate plea of a man in unfamiliar territory.
About?
Anything. Your thoughts are muffled like whispers I can’t catch clearly.
Madison flinched and hugged herself tighter. Her immortal friend leaned his forehead against hers. A public display of comfort from him was rare enough it indicated how spooked he was. Nonetheless, she embraced his consolation like she would a pillow. I almost anchored to Hell.
Amos said as much.
She groaned. He saw that?
Not all of it. Parts of it were blacked out to him.
Is now a good time to tell you I’m scared of losing myself more than ever before?
He kissed her forehead and moved away. We’ll figure this out, Madison.
She couldn’t remember the last time he’d tried to cheer her up.
You know what you have to do for this to end well.
“No.” Zen’s features hardened and Nix shot him a questioning glance. I won’t allow Micah to steal the first family I’ve had in centuries.
Madison ignored Nix, and how he didn’t take a seat the way Zen had. Kur made no move to give anyone his chair. “And you.” She turned to her son. Micah’s demon daughter, Petra, hovered behind him like she knew he needed her support. “All we’ve been through….” She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to judge, not when her mistake could be counted a bigger transgression than his. “How long have you been visiting Hell and your daddy? Four months like he said?”
“What?” Nix’s voice elevated a couple of notches higher than normal.
“I had a vision—”
“I didn’t ask that.”
Amos fidgeted with his hands, shuffled his feet. “Since Nix went to Hell.”
Nix cursed in Xapil.
“He knows the language.” Suddenly very cold, she rubbed her arms.
“Micah never once let it slip that Amos visited.” He put his fingers through his short, spiky hair. “I had no idea, Mads.”
She had no reason to not believe him. “What’s done is done. We have to figure out how to avoid the fallout.”
Kur’s head snapped forward. Obviously he tired of pretending disinterest. “That’s a smidge non-aggressive.”
“If he had a vision, then he made the choices he did with good intentions. Over half of my decisions were rarely made with good intentions.”
“She’s right,” Zen asserted. “I disapprove of his clandestine trips, but Madison speaks true.”
“I knew when I accepted my Lynx and killed Pandora it was the wrong action. I didn’t care. Whatever it took to get Nix out of Hell was all that mattered. I like to think saving him was for the good of mankind, which tallies my sacrifice as legitimate. What’s one more demon in this dark infested world compared to the purity of the Ark of Heaven?”
“Goddamn it, Mads—”
“Nix….” She took a deep breath and forced herself to meet his eyes, expecting the worst in his expression. She found nothing except irritation instead. “I’m entitled to my opinion, regardless if you agree with me or not.”
His jaw tightened and the gleam in his gaze said the argument was a long way from being over. He turned away and became overly fascinated by the books lining the shelves.
Madison tossed her hair over her shoulder and pushed the conversation forward. “Now might be a good time to mention that if the Demon Lock drops, everything will go
to hell fast. Literally.”
Nix jerked to face her, worry plowing across his forehead. Kur sat straight in his seat and gripped the arm of the chair. Zen’s demeanor failed to alter even a little. Amos took in everyone’s expressions. Her son had always observed the small things, ingesting the minor particulars that said so much more than words.
Petra swirled a lollipop in her mouth and said, around the sugary ball, “Daddy got his claws into you?”
Madison studied the rug beneath her feet, reluctant to confess her indiscretion while looking at them directly. “I covenanted with him.”
“You what?” She closed her eyes at the strain in Nix’s elevated voice.
“Damn, Micah works fast.” Kur’s comment sounded a tad impressed.
Zen’s silence bothered her the most.
You got nothing to add? She sent the thought to her immortal friend.
I’m waiting for the rest of the anvil to fall before I judge.
She didn’t bother correcting his distorted saying.
Then Nix was there beside her, his fingers on her chin, forcing her head back. “Give us the details.” She watched his mouth move, wishing they were back in bed and those lips were exploring her body. “If that Lock drops, what will happen?”
Grudgingly, she elevated her gaze to his. “I’ll bring him Amos.”
His fingers pinched. “You sold him your son?” Incredulity tainted not just his voice, but his expression, too.
“That’s not the way I looked at it while there.” No doubt she’d lost his respect. “I was tasked with bringing him home, but that didn’t mean he had to stay. And since he’s already been visiting….” She shrugged, unable to continue. On this side of Hell, all of it sounded like weak excuses.
Nix’s hand fell away. He stared at her as if she’d turned into a freakish monster.
Haven’t I?
Cannot turn into something that wasn’t already a part of you. Yeah, as always, her Lynx was accurate. Always had the monster in us.
Crinkles at the corners of his eyes betrayed his disquiet. “What happens if you renege on the deal?”
“Everyone I love dies, they gain control of the dragons and…the rest doesn’t matter. It all concerned me.”
His voice dropped a notch and darkened. “What else, Mads?”
“Elias tortures me.”
“Tell me you received something worthy from the deal?”
“Their complete trust. No more hem-hawing about where my loyalties reside.”
Green eyes glittered and a muscle ticked in his jaw. “You betrayed your son for that?” The words were spoken low, highlighting his anger all the more.
Madison couldn’t justify her actions, so she remained mute. Nix stalked across the room, hands fisted at his sides. He reached the exit and she expected him to slam out of the study. Instead, he kicked the door and struck the wood with the flat of his hand.
Madison focused on the other men. Kur stroked his jaw while Zen rested his forearms on his thighs and looked like he counted his fingers.
“How close did you come to completing the ceremony with the Kings?” Petra removed the lollipop from her mouth long enough to ask the question.
“Only Micah remained to anchor me to Hell.”
“What does that mean?” Nix rotated to face her. He leaned against the door with his arms crossed over his chest. If he clenched his jaw any tighter, teeth were in danger of cracking.
“I couldn’t see it all.” Her son perched on the edge of his chair. “And I’m not scared to go to Hell. I know how to get out.”
“You’re not going to Hell. Not if I can stop it. Got it?” He nodded and Madison continued. “Short version of the ceremony: I was to consume all of their blood. What would have happened after that, only they can say. Unless Petra knows more?”
As an answer, Petra shook her head.
“It doesn’t bother you that they weren’t forthcoming of what it means to be anchored to Hell?”
Even though Nix asked the question, Madison swept them all with a gaze. “I told all of you, with the exception of Amos, that I wanted to remain in Hell. So why should it bother me, Nix? I didn’t care what he wanted. Micah was alive. I was happy to see him. What does that say about me? Or my relationship with you?” She clenched her fingers around the edge of the desktop. What does that say about me? It’d be so easy to break down or to give up, but when she looked at her son without his father’s influence, her perceptions were so much clearer. “I asked for a point-blank answer about our roles in their plans. They refused to provide an explanation. But I got the feeling it was more than a new Trinity as Petra explained. All the Kings are involved somehow, not just Micah.”
“I have no idea how to react.” Kur laced his hands together over his stomach and slumped into the chair again.
“I know all their angelic names.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. We can work with that.” Nix came away from the door.
“What’d you do for them to entrust you with those?” Petra gaped, the candy suspended midair near her mouth. “I don’t even know Daddy’s name.”
“They have my demon name.” She looked at the immortal, aware Nix drew closer. “You’re quiet, Zen.”
“Processing.” His dark hair fell over his forehead. He made no move to swipe it off.
“I can’t speak their names aloud or they’ll know I gave them to you. But I’ll write them down. A spell should be cast to protect Amos from any of their nefarious intentions.”
Nix gripped the back of her child’s chair. “He’ll come for you.”
“I suspect he will.” She met his gaze directly. “And I’ll fall to his whims.”
His hold tightened, his fingertips going white. “Why are you so certain of that?”
“Because of the way I acted in Hell.”
“Amos should leave the room before this conversation progresses.” Nix gave the boy a pointed look and nodded toward the door.
“I’m tired of being kicked out.” Her son jumped to his feet. “I know more than y’all think I do. Momma’s hiding something I couldn’t see in Hell.”
“Pouting is beneath you, Amos.” That type of comment, coming from Zen, usually had its desired effect. Not today.
“By the look on Momma’s face, I’m guessing she wants you to do something none of us would ever in a million years agree with. I think that’s worthy of a temper tantrum and not just a pout.”
The gravel in Nix’s tone indicated his seriousness. “Even think it, Zenny, and you and I go to war.” The immortal turned his head to peer at him. “It’s not an option.”
“Agreed,” Zen clipped out. “Threats from you, however, mean little to me. Recall how quickly I neutralized you when you would’ve returned to Hell to help her. Remember that, Ark.”
Nix laughed, but it sounded desperate. “Don’t think I won’t reunite with Micah again either. I will not—”
“Enough!” Both men looked at her as she slashed her hand through the air. “I need resolutions and action taken, not two of the men I’m depending on the most throwing a testosterone war. I’ve screwed up. Again. I need Amos protected. All of you have some supernatural talent. Together you must exceed Micah’s limitations. I’m counting on you.” She left the safety of her perch to go to her child and placed her palms on his shoulders. “What I’m hiding from you, Amos, is how far I fell. I won’t share that with you. I can’t. I’m ashamed of my actions.”
Chapter Six
Nix hung back while everyone departed. Zen went off to do some research. Kur committed to keeping both Locks fresh so there was no possibility of them eroding. None of them would tolerate Amos being handed over to Hell without a fight. Petra and her brother agreed to bring his family up to speed. He figured the boy and Georgie would have a little powwow, also, sharing psychic experiences.
Mads watched him, her expression unreadable, as he shut the door. But he could feel her tension. She turned, snatched up pen and paper, and began to writ
e. The blade strapped to her thigh amused him. But he discovered an armed woman—his woman to be precise—was very provocative.
She offered the sheet of paper to him as he neared. He glanced at what she’d written. The names of the Kings. He refused the list. “Give it to one of the others. I know their names.” He just hadn’t had a moment to think of using the knowledge against them. He’d barely had more than a couple of hours sleep.
Mads tossed the slip on the desk. He had no idea what to think, what to say, but they had to work past the apprehension between them. “I’m sorry.”
Her gaze jerked to him. Surprise created creases at the corners of her eyes. “For what?”
Every fucking thing, even the things he couldn’t be blamed for. Sorry she had the life she did instead of the normal one she wanted and deserved. He’d give her a normal one if he could, even if it meant he’d never have met her. “For starters, sorry for taking you that way against the wall.”
Only a slight blush hit her cheeks and she surveyed him through her lashes. “It was good, Nix. I hadn’t imagined such a position possible, but maybe next time we could try it a little slower?”
“Still, I should’ve asked instead of just taking you.”
“I could’ve stopped you had I wanted.”
True enough. She went to touch him, but pulled back. He despised her uncertainty. He grabbed her hand and laced their fingers.
“I’m sorry for reacting the way I did when you told me you loved me afterward.”
Genesis Queen (The Road to Hell Series) Page 5