Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(55)
“If you would follow me, I will explain.”
I slammed the door closed and followed Ranook up a long, twisting path toward an expansive Victorian house. A large porch, decorated in wicker furniture, wrapped around the impeccably kept home. Innocent. Peaceful, even. But one deep breath told me it was anything but. This was no human domicile. It was inhabited by demons.
Ranook pushed through the door with me on its heels. The inside of the house was like the outside. Innocuous and unassuming. A familiar scent hung in the air, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t place it. “Where is Malphi?”
“I told you,” Ranook said. “You’ll need to prove yourself. Malphi has been in hiding for safety reasons. Most of the others don’t know that she’s here.”
What little patience I had was waning. “You’re telling me Malphi is afraid of our clan?”
“Most of our clan is…angry with your mate. They distrust her motives.” An image flashed through my mind. It was shadowed and impossible to make out the details, but I felt the emotion behind it—an overwhelming sense of anger and betrayal. “And it’s no secret that Zenak wants her dead. She’s been a constant threat to him in every one of her human incarnations.” The demon chuckled. “She’s killed him several times, you know. They have something of a history…”
“What do you mean, a history?”
“Your full memory will come back in time. With each human life you inhabit, it always does, but maybe this will help you.” Ranook gestured to the floral disaster of a couch in the center of the room. “Malphi was presented to Zenak, chosen to be his mate by the Lord Lucifer. Unfortunately, she had already set her sights on you.”
I sat, and the demon took the chair across from me. “Continue,” I said.
“Before our exile, before the great war, you instructed her to go to him under the guise of acceptance. She was to kill him before their union was consummated and return to you.”
“And did she?” I almost said it, but caught myself in time.
Ranook shrugged. A sly smile tugged at the corners of its lips. “She tried, but failed. Their union was consummated—by consent or force, it is unclear. You didn’t care though. You wanted her back and so you took her.”
“I stole her from Zenak.”
The demon leaned back, kicking its feet onto the table. “I suppose you could say that Malphi is hell’s own Helen of Troy.”
“That’s what started the war between our clans?”
“In part, yes. The two clans were always at odds, but not until Malphi was there such violence. It took the equivalent of two hundred Earth years to reacquire your love. During that time, Zenak was not…kind to her, fostering her hatred for him. Several times, after being born back to Earth, she has sought him out and ended his life before consummating her union with you. Unconsummated, Malphi was not a royal—”
“And by spilling Zenak’s blood, was unable to end the exile,” I finished, understanding. Azi stirred, furious at the memory, yet the affection it felt for Malphi was palatable. The potency of the feelings should have scared me. I needed to kill the demoness to save Sam, yet I found comfort in the affection. Familiarity and warmth.
“Yes,” Ranook said. “You were understandably upset by her actions. Unlike this incarnation, your only goal was to restore your clan to its former glory. She made it impossible, and so you had to wait. Then when you were reborn, you and our enemy ended up in the body of twins…”
“Do not question my intentions,” I warned, unnerved by the ferocity of my voice. It was Azi, and yet it was me as well. I was furious that he hinted at disloyalty. “I will see us restored, kings among sheep, as it should be.” The words were meant to placate Ranook, a string of lies with only one intention. Saving Sam. Yet something about them rang with truth. “Get on with it. What does Malphi need me to do to prove myself?”
Ranook’s grin widened. “In time, my lord. In time.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sam
They’d finally given it a rest and gone back upstairs, but not without promising to return. Next time, the angel said before closing the door at the top of the stairs, they were going to start removing limbs. It wasn’t my body they needed intact.
That was kind of hard to ignore.
A tremor rippled through me, and I bit back a sob. Crying wouldn’t do any good, yet the tears welled up, slipping down my cheeks and leaving molten trails of desperation.
I closed my eyes and pictured Jax’s face—sharp lines and stormy gray eyes that held the promise of danger, and just the smallest hint of vulnerability. Eyes I wanted desperately to see again.
My entire body ached, a throbbing pain that had nothing to do with the angel’s attempt at getting me to consent. The demon cuff squeezed against my skin, sending a painful reminder of the ticking clock. With each hour, the frequency with which it contracted increased, and it made me wonder how bad it would get before it all ended. Would the pain be debilitating? Would I beg for death? Being confined to an obscure basement, stuck with the angels, didn’t leave much wiggle room. But maybe this was better. Jax might want to kill Malphi to satisfy Chase’s bargain, but Azi would never let him.
I bit back a gasp as another wave of pain came. The hinges of the door at the top of the stairs groaned open, letting a beam of light wash over the steps. A moment later, the wooden steps groaned beneath someone’s weight.