Three Trials (The Dark Side Book 2)(57)

The two look very odd paired together.

He tosses it to Jude, who catches it midair and starts reading from beside me.

“Read it aloud, jackass,” I tell him as I eat one of my ten burritos.

Told you I was starving.

Kai snorts. Jude glares at me.

“Please,” I add with faux sweetness as I bat my lashes.

He rolls his eyes, working to hide his smile that he really doesn’t want to give me.

Some things never change.

He gave Lake that smile, but I don’t bring her up. The house is still in disarray because of my death—which is highly empowering—but clearly they’ve only started to heal from her betrayal.

I’m just happy she’s dead and that Jude killed her for me.

That’s better than any smile. I’m the Devil’s daughter, so it’s okay to be insane like that.

It’s the universal excuse to all my issues now. That’s the upside.

Jude blows out a breath. “It says we’re four parts of one balanced compass, and essentially the metaphorical needle shifts toward whoever is needed the most for the compass holder.”

“I’m guessing that’s me,” I say with a frown. “I forced you all to be my balance or whatever after giving you that piece of my balance?”

Suddenly, the seven remaining burritos don’t look as tempting because my stomach starts to sour.

“I don’t think so,” Jude says distractedly as his eyes scan the next page, apparently reading ahead silently.

“Aloud,” the other three all snap at him.

“For fuck’s sake, you read it,” Jude growls, shoving it at me.

Pushing my unwanted plate back, I take the book, go back to the first page and start reading it where he left off.

“Lucifer needed four soldiers to divide four treacherous, dangerous powers between. Power that, if seduced by greed, could lead to the world’s ultimate demise,” I read aloud.

The words on the next page take a moment to rapidly shift through fifty or more languages before finally settling in English.

“Since greed was not one of her impurities and she was bored, Apocalypse decided to remove this burden from him and tasked it to herself. As the world grew, she became in need of more power without disturbing her balance, and four soldiers that strong could provide that balance infinitely through time.”

I look up, confused. “I thought Lamar said I was balanced and you four weren’t.”

“Yeah, all the children are—apparently not as well as you, but still balanced. However, they still have to maintain that balance. Needing more power means needing a counter balance,” Ezekiel tells me. “Hence the reason Lilith offers a gift with a curse. Cain has his methods, along with the rest. This is saying you found a way to grow stronger and balance yourself with little maintenance.”

I push the book away, not wanting to read more, and Gage picks it up to start scanning its contents.

“So I stole you and somehow tethered you to me to help me keep this balance,” I say quietly.

This morning’s incredible rendezvous now seems…cheapened. And wrong. Even with my new universal excuse for the wrong things I usually enjoy.

“No,” Gage says, smirking as he starts reading aloud. “Apocalypse wanted four strong, fiercely loyal men in her harem who couldn’t be recycled during one of her brothers’ tantrums or stolen when one of her sisters decided to take new lovers.”

“Not helping,” I say with a tight smile.

“But she chose four of the most damaged men in the underworld who could no longer exist inside a mind without madness,” he goes on. “To keep balance.”

“That makes no sense,” I point out.

“They were already too imbalanced. In other words, you were able to give a gift with no strings attached, because of that imbalance. You were the only one who had to sacrifice anything, because they’d—we’d—already suffered too much,” Gage patiently tells me.

“I still don’t get it, and it’s starting to make me feel like an idiot,” I say on a sigh while running a hand through my hair.

Kai starts explaining. “When you’re a resident of hell, you can’t repent. You can hold only a certain amount of impurities—usually it’s a very high threshold. But if those impurities tip the scales, you’ll start going mad. Much like humans, only on a much more volatile and dangerous level.”

“Once you start going mad, there is no turning back,” Jude goes on, frowning. “At least not that I’ve heard of. It’s why we try to keep balance. If you preserve balance, you maintain balance within yourself. Affecting the balance of the universe without consideration for the balance will drive you mad.”

“Okay…” I draw the word out, looking around at them.

Gage continues reading. “These four were deranged, scarred from hell’s black heart where they were kept when they couldn’t be recycled.”

Kai groans, pushing his own food away. “We were in hell’s black heart?” he asks incredulously. “No one leaves there.”

“Hell’s black heart?” I ask, lifting a finger as though I’m asking a question in class.

I suppose I’ve never really attended class.

“It’s a place where they send the ones they can’t recycle. Madness keeps that from happening, because there’s no mad monster Lucifer wishes to create. There’s a chance the imbalance would just force them to cease to exist, but they seem leery of that option. So hell’s heart is where you’re left chained, alone, and forgotten for all eternity.”