by J. S. Scott
But we did have that strange path of mental communication. Could that be because…?
No!
She couldn’t even think about the possibility of being Kristoff’s radiant. Obviously she’d been meant for someone, but it couldn’t be the Sentinel king. Why would he end up with a hideously scarred woman who wasn’t even familiar with the modern human world? What kind of support could she ever provide him as his mate?
I wouldn’t be an asset; more like a liability.
Sophie jumped as the goddess took shape right beside her, followed by the two other women who had come with her to the Evils’ dimension, and three of the Sentinels Sophie had seen slaying a whole lot of demons.
“How is he?” one of the dark-haired men asked, kneeling beside her in concern, even though he looked worn out and injured himself.
“Healed by the goddess, but not conscious for some reason,” Sophie replied, looking up to meet the eyes of the worried Sentinel. “His skin is cold. I covered him, but I didn’t know what else to do.” Maybe because I know almost nothing about healing a Sentinel, or a human for that matter.
The goddess instantly healed any wounds on the men, and then turned to the women, touching each of them as she explained, “I need to make sure none of you are going to get sick from demon realm toxins. Kristoff is still out because I couldn’t totally clear them from his body. He broke a promise, and even though I did what I could, he’ll suffer a little for a while. There’s nothing I can do.”
Sophie was still looking at the Sentinel beside her. His eyes were glued to hers, and although she didn’t see any disgust in his expression, she immediately assumed he was staring at her horrible appearance in the stark light of day.
It’s going to be far worse here. There’s so much…light.
She found herself fighting the instinct to turn her face away. If she was going to dwell among the humans, she was going to have to get used to them staring.
Athena waved her hand. “I’m sending Kristoff to his bed. We can watch over him there. I think he’s been uncomfortable for long enough.”
“I’ll go up and sit with him,” the other two women said in unison, both of them bolting for the steps.
“Sophie?” The man kneeling beside her finally spoke, his voice low and filled with shock and awe.
“Yes? How did you know my name?” Did the goddess tell them? Certainly she’d been a bit too busy for that.
“Sophie. Jesus, I can’t believe you’re here. How are you alive?” he asked hoarsely, his tone clearly astonished.
“You know me?” She suddenly recognized that she had some strange connection to this man. She felt it, and her heart started to hammer against the wall of her chest. His features were somehow dear and so familiar, yet she couldn’t place exactly how she knew him.
He grasped her shoulders and shook her lightly. “Sophie, it’s Zach. Of course I remember you. You might be older and all grown up, but your features are still the same. You look like me. You always did. I thought you were dead. I thought you died of smallpox when you were a child. This is so fucking unbelievable that I’m almost afraid it’s not true. But I know it is,” he said hoarsely as he looked at her with adoration in his eyes.
His expression, so ravaged and yet so hopeful, rendered Sophie almost speechless. “What is true?” she whispered, her heart still galloping as she stared into a pair of dark eyes so much like her own.
“I’ve mourned your loss for so long that I’m afraid to believe it’s really you. But I know you’re my Sophie. Not only can I see it, but I feel it. Sophie, it’s me. Zach. I’m your brother.”
Zach wasn’t sure what to do. Everything inside him wanted to reach out and grab the baby sister he’d thought was gone from him forever, then hug her until she couldn’t breathe. But something was wrong. Something was…off.
He knew without a doubt that this was his only sibling, his baby sister who had died the day he’d become a Sentinel. So how was it possible she was here now?
I’m not going to question a miracle, even if I don’t completely understand. There’s only one thing I really want right now.
“Can I hug you?” he asked, holding his breath. She obviously didn’t remember him. Strange. She’d been young when she’d supposedly died, but old enough that she should have some memories.
Sophie nodded slowly like she was in a daze, so Zach was careful, slowly gathering her thin, fragile body against him, his eyes damp as he cradled his precious little sister. He’d gone through her loss, grieved for her. Really, the sorrow had never gone away. To this day, even after over two centuries, he mourned her loss. He’d never gotten over the pain of causing her death, not being there with her when she’d died.
“Zach,” she said tremulously, and then started to sob against his shoulder.
“You’re remembering?” he asked hesitantly. There had been a little recognition and awareness in her voice.
“Little things are coming back to me…like working together in London, trying to survive. I’m not sure if being in the demon realm blocked my memories, or if I did it myself. It was so long ago, but I remember now how much I missed you. I’m not sure how I ever forgot you.” She put her arms around his neck and hugged him back.
Zach released a sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure why Sophie had lost her memories, but he was willing to bet they’d been stolen by the Evils to keep her lost and confused. Once outside of the demon realm, it made sense that they’d return.
“I’m so damn sorry, Soph,” he said hoarsely. “I’ve always hated myself for not being there when you died.” He hesitated before correcting himself, “But I guess you didn’t really die.” Hell, he didn’t know what to say. Just the fact that Sophie was still alive seemed surreal. Reluctantly, he let her go and pulled her to her feet so he could seat them both on the sofa.
“This is your sister?” Drew asked, sitting in one of the chairs as Hunter did the same.
“Yes,” Zach answered proudly, still in awe because Sophie was sitting right beside him. “Sophie, this is Hunter and Drew, the other Winston brothers.”
He took a few minutes to explain what had happened to him after he’d found her sickbed empty, assuming she’d already been buried in a mass grave. Sophie asked a few questions, but she mostly listened. He noted that although she’d physically changed, she still got the same contemplative look on her face when she was processing information.
“You didn’t die?” Hunter finally asked, sounding curious about what had happened to Sophie.
She shook her head. “No. I was taken by the Evils.”
“You made a deal,” Zach guessed.
The room went silent, and he was fairly certain that his sister didn’t want to admit that she’d sacrificed her own life to keep him from dying. In fact, she’d been so worried about him that she hadn’t cared what happened to her in the process.
Finally, Sophie looked at Zach. “I wanted you to live. I didn’t want you to get sick. I foolishly agreed to go with the Evils if they’d let you stay safe, well, and healthy. I admit that I wasn’t totally aware of what was happening or who the Evils really were. My fever was so high that my thoughts were muddled, but I knew I wanted you to be okay. I knew I was going to die from the smallpox, Zach. My fate was already sealed.”
Zach’s eyes clouded over. “But you might not have—”
“Don’t, Zach,” Sophie pleaded, cutting her brother off. “Even though I was a child, I knew I was going to die. I sensed it.”
He let out a masculine sigh as Sophie put a gentle palm on his cheek, comforting him. His sister was trying to make him feel better, even though he’d screwed up so long ago. He reached up and curled his fingers around her hand. “I can’t believe you’re here. You’re alive.”
“It was always meant to be this way, Zach.” He heard Athena’s voice behind him, making him realize she must have pop
ped back into the room. “Had she not gone with the Evils, she would have died.”
“Then fate sucks,” he grumbled as he slowly released Sophie’s hand. “Why did it have to be so hard for her?”
“Because she’s Kristoff’s fated mate,” Athena replied, meeting his stare when he stood up and faced her. “It wasn’t her time to leave the Earth, but it also wasn’t their time to be mated. She was still a child.”
“So she was committed to what had to have been like an eternity in the demon realm,” Zach angrily shot back at the goddess.
“Would you have gone through anything in order to be with Kat?”
Kat was everything to Zach, and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do, nothing he’d regret if that was what it had taken to be with her. He would have spent thousands of years in the demon realm if it eventually led to being with the mate he loved. “Yes. I would have done anything for my mate. You know that.”
Athena nodded. “Your sister will eventually feel the same way. Give it time. It’s over. Don’t let your anger dampen your joy of seeing her again, and finding her alive.”
“Did you know Sophie was in the demon realm?” Zach asked Athena suspiciously.
Even though Athena wasn’t technically a goddess anymore because she’d become a radiant and then a mate to Hunter, the technicalities didn’t mean shit. She still had the powers of a goddess, even after she’d given some of them to Hunter. And Zach knew damn well that she still got knowledge from the oracles at times.
Athena shook her head slowly. “No. I didn’t know. I was given some garbled information, and I suspected Kristoff’s mate was being held in the demon realm, but I wasn’t certain. And I swear that I didn’t know that his mate was your sister. I was as surprised as you were.”
“I’m here now,” Sophie said as she stood, and then moved to stand close to her brother. “The past doesn’t matter. Like Athena said…it’s over now.” She hesitated before adding, “But I can never be Kristoff’s mate.”
“Why not?” Athena questioned sharply.
“I’m scarred, Athena, in case you haven’t noticed,” Sophie informed her in a self-deprecating tone. “A lot scarred. I barely remember human life, and I know very little about the Sentinels. The only information I got was through the Evils. Fate messed up. I knew I was a radiant, but I can’t be Kristoff’s.”
Zach had been so damn happy to see Sophie’s face that he’d barely thought about her scars, pox marks that had apparently never gone away. Looking at her now, he saw them, and he saw additional scars that had been inflicted during her time with the Evils. The scars affected him, but not in the way Sophie thought they did. His heart ached for every beating she’d suffered through; every mark they’d put on her body.
Bastards!
“Physical appearance doesn’t matter to a Sentinel. You’re not living in the human world anymore. It’s different with a Sentinel mate,” Athena explained. “He’ll always want you. He’ll always think you’re the only perfect woman on the planet. Mating isn’t about the superficial things. It’s an elemental connection that will always draw you together.”
“So it’s not physical?” Sophie asked innocently.
Zach squirmed a little, not wanting to answer his sister’s question. She’d never reached the age where he’d needed to discuss sex with her…thank God.
Luckily, Athena replied, “Oh, it’s extremely physical, but the need to mate is in here.” She pointed to her heart. “And here.” She put a finger to her forehead.
And then it travels to our dicks and we’re totally screwed. Zach didn’t voice his thoughts, but he’d been through the experience of mating. It was like a chronic case of blue balls—times infinity.
Sophie was shaking her head. “How could he not notice how scarred I am? I scared some of the human women.”
“I doubt it was you,” Zach mumbled. “The shock of landing in the demon realm is enough to scare the hell out of anybody.”
He still couldn’t believe it—Sophie was Kristoff’s radiant, and she was alive and well, even after centuries in the demon realm. He knew they’d used her, drained her of power as often as they could. Thinking about what she’d suffered at the hands of Goran made him nearly insane. As strong as she seemed, Sophie still needed healing. Lots of it. And most of her recovery wouldn’t be physical. She was thin from lack of food, but she’d been taken to the demon realm as a child, and regardless of the pain that asshole Goran had caused Sophie, she was still in the dark about a lot of things. This world, her world, was foreign to her now.
“You can’t kill Goran,” Athena said matter-of-factly, as though she’d read Zach’s mind. “I drained him of his excess power. Both Goran and Kristoff need to be alive in order for the balance to remain stable.”
“How do you know?” Zach asked skeptically, hoping he could one day slay Goran for what he’d done to his sister.
Athena shrugged. “I might be a radiant now, but I still have many of my powers as a goddess. The oracles still speak to me.”
Like he didn’t know that? As sweet as Athena might appear, she was fierce, and she could kick the shit out of any of her Sentinels.
“How’s Kristoff?” Drew asked as both he and Hunter got to their feet.
Athena’s brows drew together thoughtfully. “Not as well as I had hoped. I’ve healed his physical injuries, but the toxins are bad, and he’s still unconscious. Now that the poison has invaded his body, neither Talia nor I can help him. He’s drawing into himself. I think he’s having hallucinations and we can’t seem to get him free.”
Sophie let out an audible gasp. “He has to come back. Everybody needs him. I’ll go up right now. Maybe he can hear me mentally.”
Zach watched as his newfound sister sprinted up the stairs, still dressed in rags and looking like somebody had dragged her through Hell—which was, unfortunately, actually a pretty accurate description of what had been happening to her for the last few hundred years.
“I can’t believe my sister is meant to be mated to Kristoff,” he grumbled aloud.
“I thought you’d be happy,” Athena commented, her brow raising expectantly as she looked at him.
“I’m happy and grateful to see my Sophie again. I thought she was dead a long time ago. But I’m not so sure I want any guy attached to her. Hell, she was just a kid when she disappeared. It’s going to be rough thinking of her as an adult.”
Zach knew what happened between mates, and just the thought of Kristoff messing with his sister that way made him wary. Granted, he was going to have to accept her as an adult woman, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
Hunter commiserated, “You took care of her. You were her big brother. It is going to be hard to forget she’s all grown up because you didn’t see her becoming an adult.”
“I agree,” Drew added. “But Kristoff will take care of her. There’s no one you’d trust with her more than him, and you know it.”
Athena spoke in a quieter, thoughtful voice. “He is the right mate for her, Zach. I don’t know any Sentinel who deserves a mate more than he does, even though he doesn’t think so. He’s waited a long time for this. I think he gave up on ever finding his mate a long time ago. He doesn’t think he deserves one, so he’s going to be resistant to the idea himself.”
Zach frowned, wondering why someone like Kristoff would feel unworthy, but he sensed that Athena wouldn’t answer that question. “I know,” he agreed. “I couldn’t ask for anybody better. But I just found Sophie. I guess I want some time to make things up to her.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Athena answered. “If the Evils wanted her, they would have found another opportunity. It’s obvious they knew she was special.”
“Yeah, that’s another thing. What’s her gift, her unusual power? We have everything we need.”
Athena shook her head. “That hasn’t been revealed to me. I’m sorry.
We won’t know unless she mates with Kristoff.”
“Is he going to make it?” Drew asked quietly, absently rotating Kristoff’s ring on his finger uncomfortably, like he wanted it gone and back where it belonged.
“I should hope so,” Athena replied. “If he was able to survive the torture of the Evils, he can certainly deal with the toxins. He has a lot more immunity to them than a regular Sentinel.”
“I still feel like the balance is off,” Drew remarked, sounding concerned.
“It will be off until Kristoff is well. With the amount of Evils we destroyed and after I drained Goran of his stolen power, we should be okay for a while. All we need is our king to be strong again. Just because the balance is restored, that doesn’t mean that it always will be. The balance is a fragile thing, and we’ll always have to be ready to deal with the Evils. Things will go on the same way they did before the gross imbalance started. Kristoff will need to recruit more Sentinels, and new radiants will be born. The Evils won’t give up. They’ll try harder than ever to gain power, and we’ll still need to corral them. However, this time we’ll be a lot more prepared.”
“Will you lead us?” Zach asked curiously, wondering if the hierarchy would change now that their goddess creator was among them.
She shook her head emphatically. “No. Never. The power to lead has always been Kristoff’s. He’s critical to our survival now. If something happened to me, the world would go on. If something happens to him, we’re all screwed. He has powers I don’t possess; powers I gave to him that can never be given or taken back. Not to mention thousands of years of experience.”
He nodded. Her explanation made sense. Athena had given Kristoff the power to create new Sentinels, broker deals, decide what designation each Sentinel would have, and he was a natural leader. Zach assumed Athena had created Kristoff, but his powers were something she didn’t possess herself. Plus, when she designated him the king, it was something that could never be taken back, which was why it was so important for Kristoff to get well and take up his duties again. The originally appointed king was figured into the balance. Athena was not.