Guardian

by Unknown

  It’s what you get for trusting someone. If anyone knew better, it was he. They had a traitor in their midst, and that betrayal had cost Lydia her life.

  He would find the turncoat Dream-Hunter, too, and bathe in their blood.

  But first he had a daughter to bury.

  * * *

  Lydia groaned as she blinked open her eyes. She felt so incredibly sick. What had she eaten?

  Where am I?

  She looked around the lush bed with linen curtains surrounding it. The sound of the sea and smell of saltwater was thick in the air. Over the top of the bed was a gold medallion and a crystal chandelier that, when lit, would cast dancing deer on the ceiling.

  She frowned as she realized where she was. Solin’s house.

  But why was she here?

  Why was she dressed in this garish white gown?

  Oh good grief! She was in lace and ruffles. Ick! It was something her father would put her in, and something she’d only agree to wear if she had a severe head injury … or was dead.

  “Damn it, George, I wanted the white ones for today! White! Do you hear me?”

  She jumped at Solin’s angry shout. How strange. She’d never heard him fuss at poor George before. He normally had infinite patience with his valet, who was more family than employee.

  Yawning, she stretched and sat up at the same time Solin came into her room.

  He froze to gape at her, then a heartbeat later he flashed himself across the room to grab her into a hug so tight, she couldn’t breathe.

  “You’re crushing me.” Lydia didn’t know who was most stunned when those words came out.

  Her or her father.

  Shocked to the core of her being, she stared up at him as he looked down at her, gaping. “Was that you?”

  She touched her throat, almost too afraid to try again. “I think so.”

  Dear gods, she could speak …

  But how?

  And still, why was she at Solin’s? She kept coming back to that because she had no explanation whatsoever. “What am I doing here?”

  Solin scowled as he tried to grasp what was happening. Lydia was alive.

  Alive!

  He’d planned to entomb her body in only a few hours. But here she stood, whole and hale, and …

  Alive.

  He kept repeating that one word because he couldn’t believe it. The Guardian hadn’t killed her?

  It was inconceivable. She’d been here for two days while he made preparations. No pulse. No heartbeat. And now she was just as she’d always been.

  “Don’t you remember the last week?”

  Lydia shook her head. “I was at home. I remember that I was angry about something, but I don’t remember what. Then I woke up here. Did you teleport me?”

  “No, baby, I didn’t. You really have no memory of…” he didn’t want to mention Azmodea if she didn’t remember it, “coming after me?”

  She shook her head. “Why did I come after you?”

  Solin’s eyes misted as he realized what the Guardian had done for her.

  He’d freed Lydia forever so that she could finally live her life without either of them having to fear that the other Greeks would find her. Everyone thought she was dead now.

  For the first time in her life, she was completely safe.

  But why would he have done such a thing?

  Why do you think?

  The Guardian loved her. There was no other reason for it. None. He’d given his own freedom, his life, for Lydia.

  Solin stood there, amazed and grateful. Never in his life had anyone done anything like this for him. “Do you remember anyone from the last couple of days?”

  She arched her brow. “Like?”

  “A man with red hair?”

  “Haven’t been to McDonald’s in a long time. Are you okay? You’re looking at me really strangely.”

  “Never better.” He smiled at her. “I’m just grateful you’re awake. You’ve been extremely sick the last few days…” He’d have to explain eventually why she was missing several days out of her life. What better way than illness? “We were worried about you, that’s all.”

  But inside, he felt like shit as he debated what to do. He hated to keep a secret from her, especially one that involved someone who obviously loved her as much as the Guardian did.

  She had a right to know what he’d done for her. But if she had no memory of the Guardian, why disturb her with the truth?

  Obviously, her safety had meant more to the Guardian than anything else. Who was he to interfere?

  So long as she didn’t remember, he would never speak of it.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked, touching her warm cheek—something he would never again take for granted. “I can have George make you anything you want.”

  Lydia smiled at his offer. “Banana pancakes would be wonderful.” She didn’t know why, but she had a strange banana craving.

  “Get dressed and I’ll have them waiting in the atrium.” Solin kissed her hand as if it were a holy relic and hesitated before he finally let go and left her.

  Yeah, okay, her father was in a very, very strange mood.

  As she went to the armoire and opened the door to get something a little less hideous to wear, there was a shadow in the back of her mind.

  A world beyond a world.

  Why did that seem important?

  She opened and closed the armoire door. The way the blue wallpaper flashed on the ceiling reminded her of something. But what?

  It was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t quite grasp it.

  Blue on the ceiling?

  What did I get into? She felt woozy and had a voice. But what really confused her was when she pulled her gown off and saw …

  Was that a swallow?

  What on earth?

  Frowning, she fingered the weird tattoo on her shoulder just below her collar bone that hadn’t been there before. It was incredibly colorful and beautiful, but she had no memory of having it done. And if that wasn’t strange enough, she had some weird Egyptian cartouche around her neck.

  Okay, remind me to never, ever drink again.

  * * *

  “You’re so pathetic.”

  Seth didn’t bother to look up at Noir as the bastard came to drain his powers again. He was so weak he could barely breathe. Since his return, as part of his punishment, he hadn’t been allowed to charge them at all.

  And for that small mercy he was actually grateful.

  Without his powers, he had no way whatsoever to see Lydia. There was no temptation to even try …

  Which kept her safe.

  Still, he would give anything to have one more second with her. To see those beautiful topaz eyes …

  Noir laid his chest open, bringing him out of his numbed state as pain seared him. His overlord had become even more sadistic in his attempts to make sure Seth suffered as much as possible. And in guaranteeing that Seth would never escape again.

  Not that he would.

  He had no reason to go anywhere and every reason to stay. So long as he was here, Lydia was safe.

  That was all that mattered to him. At least that was what he kept telling himself. But over the weeks, it’d gotten harder to remember the sound of her voice. The softness of her touch.

  It terrified him that the day might come when he’d have no memory of her whatsoever.

  And that was a far worse torture than anything Noir and his demons could dish out.

  But his initial torture on his return here had at least clarified one thing in his memory. He knew why Lydia’s jackal form had seemed so familiar.

  Her mother had been one of the jackals in his adoptive family.

  Her grandfather was the one who’d sold him to Noir.

  The irony of that stayed with him. But it didn’t stop the part of him that loved her anyway.

  Noir raked his claws down the side of Seth’s face as he finally pulled back. “You are too repulsive to look at.”

  Seth ha
d no response as he closed his eyes and tried to escape in his mind.

  But he’d given Lydia his swallow and cartouche to keep her safe whenever she awoke, and without those he had no choice except to stay here and feel everything.

  * * *

  Lydia floated in the dream realm on her white gossamer wings. She didn’t know why, but her swallow tattoo kept pulling her here at night. It was almost as if it were trying to tell her something.

  But whatever it sought, they never found it.

  Arching up toward the dark sky, she saw a shadow moving far below. One that was terrifying and …

  She saw eyes of steel set in a face that reminded her of warmth.

  But as soon as she saw them, they were gone.

  Yeah, I’ve lost my mind now.

  And she had.

  Time to wake up and see about moving the rest of her things from her home in England to her father’s estate. She was still sick from the week she’d been in a coma. And he was too worried about her to leave her alone. Which was fine with her.

  Lydia had a feeling that in the coming days, she was going to need someone with her.

  She just didn’t know why.

  * * *

  Seth felt a presence near him, but he couldn’t open his eyes to see if it was Noir or Azura. Not that it mattered. Pain was pain no matter whose hand dealt it.

  Was it time to be drained again?

  Hadn’t they already been here?

  He couldn’t remember. Each feeding now seemed to hurt more than the one before and they blended together into a never-ending cycle of cruelty.

  A hand brushed the hair back from his face. Sick from the agony they caused him, he tried to move away and fight, even though he knew it was futile.

  Until he managed to open his eyes enough to see the face of his tormentor.

  For a full minute, he couldn’t breathe as he saw the last person he’d ever expected to see again …

  Lydia felt the tears stinging her eyes as she saw what Noir had done to him.

  And all because of her.

  The bolt was back in place and he’d been beaten so badly that she barely recognized a single feature on his face. He’d been hit so many times that his eyes were swollen out of shape and colored various shades of purple. He could barely open them even a slit.

  She bit back a sob before she spoke. “I told you that I would always come for you,” she whispered before she placed a gentle kiss on his bleeding cheek. She stepped back so that he could see she wasn’t alone.

  Ma’at, Maahes, Thorn, and Solin were with her.

  Maahes unchained him while Ma’at healed him, and Solin kept an eye out for any of the demons or Noir.

  Seth fought against his release, but couldn’t speak until Maahes removed the bolt. He choked on his own blood, then refused to leave with them. “I can’t go. You won’t be safe.”

  “I’m not leaving you here,” Lydia insisted.

  Furious at her, he glared at Solin. “Get her out of here before they find her.”

  Solin snorted. “Believe me, I’ve tried to talk sense into her. She won’t listen.”

  Seth turned his glare to Thorn. “Why would you bring them here?”

  Thorn grinned. “Solin made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Believe me, violating my truce with Noir isn’t something I do lightly.”

  He wanted to kill the bastard for that. But Thorn was every bit the immortal. Plus he had powers even Seth couldn’t fathom.

  Seth looked back at Lydia. “I have to stay … please.”

  Lydia couldn’t believe that he was still willing to stay here for her safety. If she’d had any doubt before about how much he loved her, that cleared it. “All right, fine. If you stay. I stay.”

  “We all stay,” Maahes said.

  Ma’at nodded. “Agreed.”

  Thorn snorted. “You can stay if you want. But I’m getting the hell out of here. Noir’s side smells. I prefer my demons and slime hole to his.”

  Seth glared at Solin, hating him for his interference. “Why did you tell her? Damn you! She would never have remembered me.”

  Lydia arched a chiding brow at him. “My father didn’t tell me anything and I’m still angry at him for that. But I remembered you. Even though I didn’t understand it, I felt you with me constantly. And if that wasn’t enough…” She took his hand and placed it on her stomach so he could feel the slight swelling there. “You left me with a very special gift.”

  The news slammed into him harder than one of Noir’s blows. She was pregnant?

  With his child.

  Unimaginable joy ripped through him as he felt the slightest fluttering of his son or daughter moving inside her.

  But that only solidified his resolve. “You won’t be safe if I leave.”

  She cupped his now healed face in her hands. “No one ever is, Seth. No matter how hard we try. No matter how much we plan and prepare. There will always be an enemy at the door and a storm trying to knock us down. Life’s not about security. It’s about picking up the pieces after it’s all over and carrying on. We can choose to be cowards who fear letting someone inside us, and do that alone. Or we can choose to be brave and let someone stand by our side and help us. I’m not a coward. I never have been. And there is nowhere else I plan to be, except beside you. Forever. Be it on earth, or here in this hellhole if that’s what it takes. I will always be with you.”

  In that moment, he realized he didn’t need his swallow to fly him away from pain.

  All he needed was her.

  And she was right. It took much more courage to lay his heart open to someone else than it did to keep it guarded. To let someone else in to that place deep inside where only they could do you harm.

  Only Lydia could destroy him.

  And yet only she gave him life … at least one worth living.

  Solin curled his lip at him. “Believe me, I’m not happy about her decision any more than you are, but we are family, and families stay together. So if you don’t want to go … George will hate you forever. He’s extremely fond of his room in Greece and won’t be happy about giving up the view. But he’ll get used to it. Eventually.”

  Seth couldn’t believe what he was hearing. They were willing to stay here to protect him?

  Were they out of their minds?

  “What about Verlyn?” Seth asked. Noir would only set him loose again to find him. And now that Lydia was pregnant, she would be in more danger than ever.

  Lydia smiled. “Don’t worry. We have a place to take you where you’ll be safe from his reach until all of your powers return.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  It was Ma’at’s turn to laugh. “It was what I was working on when you were taken from my temple. I promise you, you’ll be safe there. It’s the one place neither Noir nor Azura, nor any of their servants can reach you.”

  Still, he wasn’t convinced.

  Until he looked into Lydia’s eyes. “I won’t leave you here alone, Seth.” She kissed the cartouche she wore, then pulled it off over her head to hang it around his neck.

  At first, he thought it was the one he’d left with her, knowing it would keep her safe once she came out of the spell he’d placed on her to make her appear dead. But as he looked at it, he realized it was different.

  She smiled at him. “It’s ‘I love you’ in ancient Egyptian … Just so you know. Now, please, come home with me.”

  He stared at the raised, golden hieroglyphs that spelled out words he hadn’t known.

  Not until Lydia.

  His throat went dry.

  Home. He’d never had one of those before either. He wasn’t even sure what the word meant.

  But when he looked into her eyes, he saw the one thing he couldn’t deny.

  The only woman he’d die for. So if he was willing to die for her, the least he could do was live for her, too.

  “Take me home, Lydia.”

  EPILOGUE

  Lydia lay on the bed, watching as Seth
fed their son for the first time. He was still terrified he was going to hurt the babe, even though she’d promised him he wouldn’t. He was far too gentle for that.

  “What are we going to name him?” she asked.

  Seth looked up with the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen. “Ambrose?”

  His choice surprised her, but it made total sense. The Malachai had kept his word after all.

  Not the elder Malachai, Adarian, who’d made the pact with Seth. It’d been Adarian’s son who had honored his father’s word and kept them safe in his home in New Orleans until Seth’s powers had returned. But for Ambrose, Noir would have found them.

  “You don’t want to use Nicholas?” It was Ambrose’s human name.

  Seth shook his head. “It’s too common and there’s no one else like our son.”

  That was certainly true. He was a rare, rare breed.

  Watching the two of them staring at each other with equal wonder and adoration, she smiled as she remembered what Seth had said when she’d asked him why he made her forget him when he’d left her with her father.

  “I couldn’t bear living if I knew I’d caused you pain. I’d rather you not know me at all, than to think of me and cry.”

  He looked up and frowned. “Did I do something wrong?”

  Lydia smiled through her tears. No matter how much she tried to explain it, he didn’t understand that people could also cry when they were happy. “No, sweetie. I couldn’t be happier than I am right now.”

  Seth swallowed at those words that meant so much to him. He still couldn’t believe, after all he’d been through, that he had her in his life, any more than he could believe this tiny little being had come from something like him.

  His son was perfect in every way from the top of his bald head that was dusted with auburn hair, to his topaz eyes, to the tiniest toes Seth had ever seen.

  And he would never deny him. No more than he could deny Lydia anything she asked of him.

  Even the world.

  But what scared him was how close he’d come to not having any of this. How many times he’d lain himself down in defeat.

  Had he not tried that one last time … had he not found the courage he needed when he thought he had none at all …

  He didn’t want to think about that. He couldn’t. Because in the end, this one perfect moment was worth every bit of pain he’d been dealt.