The Guardian (29 page)

something back in return.

And he was through being hurt and kicked for no reason. “You know, I’m real y not as stupid as everyone

thinks. I am. I can tel the difference between you and the jackals who fucked me over … But then maybe not.

Because right now, I’m thinking what you’ve done cuts me a whole lot deeper than what they did.”

I expected better from you.

Seth headed out of the nearest set of doors he could find. He had no destination, other than to get as far

away from her as he could.

I can’t believe I was so stupid.
After everything he’d risked for her. She stil didn’t trust him.

Why do I bother?

“Maybe I should just go back to Noir,” he breathed.

At least in Azmodea, he knew the rules and they never changed.

There, he knew how to protect himself.

Yeah, okay, so he sucked at it, but he knew what to do to not get thrown through a wal . There, he saw the

punches coming and he decided beforehand if he wanted them or not.

But here …

It was a minefield where he was assaulted when he least expected it. And the blows Lydia gave him hurt

so much more than the worst torture Noir could devise.

“Seth?”

Why did the sound of his name on her lips weaken him so? He didn’t want to stop or turn around.

But he couldn’t walk away. Not from her.

Against his wil , he paused and waited for her to run up to him.

Lydia slowed down as she reached his side. He stood as proud and powerful as ever with that mop of

riotous curls softening a countenance that was as deadly as it was beautiful. Al of her life, she’d dreamed of

finding someone who made her feel the way he did.

Someone who could make her laugh when she shouldn’t, and who would talk to her about absolutely

nothing. Someone she could sit with and not speak for hours, and that would be okay, too.

Most of al , she’d dreamed of a man who made her feel beautiful when he looked at her. Not with words.

But with the light in his eyes that would shine only for her.

The tenderness in his touch.

Who would have ever dreamed that man would be Seth?

She moved to stand in front of him, but he stil wouldn’t look at her. The way he bounced his gaze around

to look at anything else would be funny, if she didn’t care about his pain.

But she did.

“I wouldn’t hurt you for anything. Not now. In the beginning, yes. But…” She braced herself for whatever off-

the-wal reaction he might have. “I love you, Seth. I just wanted you to know that.”

Seth froze as he heard the last thing he’d ever expected someone else to say to him. The one thing no

one ever had. “What?”

“I love you. And only you.”

He stared at her in total disbelief as those words echoed in his heart. Were they true?

Did he dare hope or believe that they were?

How should he react? He honestly didn’t know. A multitude of indecipherable emotions exploded through

him al at once, paralyzing him.

She looked at him expectantly. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

What? What was he supposed to say? Nothing in his screwed up past had ever coached him on how to

deal with something like this. Pain he could handle. Contempt he was wel versed in. Insults rol ed right over

him.

But love …

What did someone do with that?

Lydia waited for some kind of response, but al he did was stand there, eyes wide, like a statue that

strangely made her think he was waiting for a pigeon to come crap-bomb him.

Suddenly, he started looking around again. At the sky, the yard, behind them, in front of them.

Everywhere.

“What are you doing?” she asked with a light lauth at his strange behavior.

He leaned toward her to whisper in an awed tone. “I’m looking for something bad to happen.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“You can’t love me. No one does.” The sincerity in his voice and expression was heart-wrenching. He truly

couldn’t fathom anyone caring about him.

Not even her.

Laughing, she pul ed him into her arms so that she could bury her hand in the curls at the nape of his neck

and hold him close. “You sil y man. Of course I can love you.”

Seth wrapped his arms around her, stunned and shocked, as she swayed him back and forth. He couldn’t

even begin to sort through his rapid-fire emotions right now.

But at the bottom of it al was an equal amount of euphoria …

And holy ranking terror.

What did people do when they loved each other? He tried to remember the few years he’d lived with the

jackals, but it’d been too long ago, and he’d banished al those memories to the darkest part of his mind.

Now he trod a whole new landscape where nothing was familiar. The only thing that kept him grounded

was the woman in his arms who’d rocked his entire existence.

The woman he would die for.

“What does this mean, Lydia?”

Lydia smiled up at him as she final y understood his bizarre question. For a man with so much worldly

experience and a thorough understanding of the worst things in the universe, in many ways, he was like a

smal child who was baffled by a simple act of kindness.

“Wel , when people love each other, they usual y make a commitment to each other … or the man runs for

the door in stark, raving terror.”

His look turned to steel. “I don’t run from anything.”

“I know, sweetie.” She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss the stern frown from his brow. “It’s one of the things I

love most about you.” She held her hand up with the sign she’d taught him in bed. “This is how you say ‘I love

you’ in my language.”

He duplicated the gesture and laid his hand against hers like they’d done earlier. The unspoken

happiness in his gaze set her heart pounding even faster.

“How do you say it in ancient Egyptian?”

He actual y had to think about it. Something that made her eyes water as she realized why he had to

struggle to remember. After a few seconds, he shrugged. “I don’t know. I never heard those words said

together.”

She sniffed back her tears. “You wil always,
always
hear them from me. Every day. I promise.” Lydia’s

gaze dropped to his neck where she’d planned to kiss him, but something else caught her attention.

Was that …

No. Was it?

Standing on her tiptoes again, she pul ed the neck piece of his armor down so that she could get a better

view and double-check what it was she thought she saw.

Seth stepped back. “What are you doing?”

“The swal ow…”

“What of it?” he asked after a few seconds when she didn’t continue speaking.

Lydia was aghast at the sight. She couldn’t get over it. “It’s different now.”

“How so?”

She traced the tail feathers with her fingertip. “The heart inside its tail … It’s no longer broken.” She used

her powers to conjure a mirror so that she could show him. “See … the heart’s whole.”

Seth leaned his head back so that he could see his mark. She was right.

Final y, after al this time, his swal ow could fly again.

He was whole.

Because of
her
.

He leaned down to kiss her lips, but before he could, something bright flashed around them. It came and

went so fast, that he wasn’t sure if it’d been real or imagined.

Not until Lydia arched a brow. “Was that lightning?”

“I don’t know.”

It flashed again. Then four more times in rapid succession.

This time, Seth recognized that pattern and what it signified. “It’s Maahes. He’s in battle.”

And there was only one person Maahes could be fighting here in this realm.

Verlyn had found them.

Seth hesitated outside the throne room. In battle, it paid to get your bearings before running in half-cocked.

That was the quickest way he knew of getting gutted, and he’d been gutted enough to verify it for a fact.

And while he knew he would survive a good gutting, Lydia might not and he wasn’t about to take a chance

with her safety.

As he listened, the familiar sounds of violence and battle rang out around him, reminding him of the life

he’d had to endure al these centuries past.

I don’t want to go back to that. Ever.

He wasn’t a coward. But he was tired of fighting for every little thing. Of being on guard with every creature

he came into contact with, knowing they wouldn’t hesitate to strike out at him if given a chance.

Lydia had spoiled him with another world, and it was one he never wanted to leave.

Which meant he had to get rid of these assholes so that they could …

Make a commitment to each other
. That’s what Lydia had cal ed it. And that was the life he wanted now.

One with her in it.

That
was the life, the only thing, he was wil ing to fight for.

Closing his eyes, he tapped into the powers that Noir had been stripping from him since puberty. They

were stronger now than they’d been even an hour ago, and they stil weren’t at ful strength. It made him

wonder what they’d be like at maximum capacity. They’d have to be impressive, given what he felt right now.

No wonder Noir had kept him under heel. At ful strength, he would have the ability to give the bastard a

good run for his money.

The jackals should have asked for a higher price when they sold him. Stupid bastards.

And with those powers, he was able to see everything going on inside the throne room.

Verlyn and Maahes were there and engaged in a bloody fight as they stood toe-to-toe. But they weren’t

alone.

Far from it.

Solin, along with other Dream-Hunters and a Greek god he didn’t recognize, were fighting another group

of their own kind. And as he watched and listened, he final y understood why everyone was after them.

Why the gods were after Lydia.

His stomach churned. Verlyn wasn’t here for just him.

There was someone even more important to everyone in that room. He looked back over his shoulder.

The same person who was everything to him.

In her jackal form, Lydia started to run past him, but he caught her against his chest and held her tight

before she made a serious mistake.

Struggling against his hold to free herself, she flashed back to human. She crouched beside him to give

him a nasty glare. “What are we waiting for?”

Sanity.

But it was a little late for that. What the hel ? Not like he’d ever had any to begin with.

He inclined his head to the combatants inside. “The Phonoi and those bitches from my dreams are in

there.”

Lydia felt the blood drain from her face as she heard his news. The Phonoi? Here?

Why would they have come for Seth when he was Egyptian and Noir’s property?

As the Greek embodiment of Murder, Slaughter, and Kil ing, the Phonoi were the triplet goddesses Zeus

sent in whenever he wanted someone kil ed.

But why kil Seth?

“Are you sure?”

Nodding, Seth’s jaw muscle worked furiously. He pinned her with a stare that made her stomach clench.

“You’re the key, Lydia.”

She drew back with a scowl. “The key to what?”

“The key to Olympus that they’re trying to find.”

The man was nuts. “There’s no way. You’re wrong.”

He stroked her cheek, looking at her as if he’d never seen her before. But that wasn’t what scared her. It

was the light in the back of that icy blue gaze that sent a shiver over her because she didn’t know what it

signified.

“Think about it,
sšn
. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Don’t you see? It’s why Solin was the only one

who knew where the key was. Why the Greek Dream-Hunters came for me, demanding I give you to them.

Why else would they want to kil
you
?”

Even though it made sense, she refused to believe it. She couldn’t. “I can’t be the key to Olympus. I know

nothing about it. I’ve never been there. Never met Zeus or any of them. I…”

Lydia’s voice trailed off as a long-forgotten memory flashed through her mind. She saw her mother on that

awful night that was forever branded in her heart. Smel ed the fire and heard the screams and shouts of her

family dying.

“Where is it? Give us the key and we’ll spare the rest of you.”

She’d never seen who attacked them, but now she remembered the angry voices that had been right

outside their smal home.

Their attackers had been looking for a key that night, too. Her grandfather and uncles had gone to fight

them while her mother grabbed her from bed and dressed her to run.

“Stay calm, Lydia. Don’t panic.”
Her mother had kissed her on the cheek.
“I know you’re scared. So am I.

But this is something you have to do alone. I can’t go with you. Now that they have my scent, they’ll be

able to hunt you down and find you if I do.”

Lydia had tried to speak, only to learn that she couldn’t. And that terrified her even more. Why couldn’t she

make even a whisper?

Her mother’s hand had shaken as she stroked her hair to soothe her.
“I did that so that you can never

speak of this night to anyone. You understand? Trust no one … Now, I’m sending you to your father. He’ll

guard you always. You are the key that men will kill to possess. Whatever you do, listen to what your

father tells you. One day, you’ll understand.”

Then her mother had tried to transport her to Greece.

Lydia hadn’t made it. Their enemies had kil ed her mother before she could finish the transport.