Deity (Covenant #3)(90)

His chest rose against my back. “Is it so hard for you to accept that Lucian cares for me—for you?”

“He doesn’t care about us! He just wants to use us.” I kicked my legs out to use the wall, but Seth anticipated this and spun me around. “Damn you! You’re smarter than this!”

Seth sighed and started dragging me toward the hall. “You’re such a little fool sometimes. You will want for nothing, Alex. Nothing! Together we will be able to change our world. Isn’t that what you want?” We had reached the bottom of the steps, and I kicked for the statue of some god I didn’t recognize. “Gods! Knock it off, Alex. For someone who’s so short, you’re freaking heavy. I don’t want to have to carry you up these stairs.”

“Gee. Thanks. Now you’re calling me fat.”

“What?” His arms slackened.

I slammed my elbow into his stomach hard enough that the impact rattled my entire body. Seth doubled over, but didn’t let go. Cursing wildly, he flipped me around and bent at the waist. He clamped his arm down on my waist and hauled me over his shoulder. Before I could kick him where it counts, he caught my legs and held them down.

“Put me down!” I pounded on his back with my fists.

Seth grunted as he started up the stairs. “Seriously, I can’t believe I have to do this.”

I continued my assault on his back to no avail. “Seth!”

“Maybe you deserve a spanking, Alex.” Laughing, he rounded the landing as I jabbed him in the kidneys. “Ouch! That hurt!”

We were making enough noise to rouse every Guard in the house, but no one intervened. I recognized the upside-down hallway and the door Seth pushed open. It was my old bedroom in Lucian’s house.

Seth stormed across plush white carpet that so had not been in my bedroom when I’d stayed in this house. Back then, I’d had bare floors that had been cold in the winter. He dumped me unceremoniously on the bed and then planted his hands on his hips. “Behave.”

I sprang to my feet. Seth caught me around the waist and pushed me back down with little effort on his part. An incredible amount of rage filled me with energy, sweeping through me like a rush of roiling waves. And I let the fury swell and spread like the rising tide.

“You’re being ridiculous, Alex. And you need to calm down. You’re making me wish I had some Valium.”

My hands balled into fists. “He is using you, Seth. He wants to control us so he can overthrow the Council. He wants to be greater than the gods. You know they’ll never allow that! That’s why the Apollyons were created in the first place.”

Seth arched a brow. “Yeah, Alex, I know why the Apollyons were first created. To make sure no pure-blood achieved the power of the gods and blah blah. Let me ask you a question. Do you think any of the gods care if you die fighting a daimon?”

“Obviously they care, because they brought me back.”

He rolled his eyes. “What if you weren’t the Apollyon, Alex? What if you were just a normal half? Would they care at all if you died?”

“No, but—”

“Do you think that’s right? That you’re forced to be either a slave or a warrior?”

“No! It’s not right, but the gods didn’t decree that. The pures did, Seth.”

“I know, but don’t you think the gods could’ve changed that if they wanted to?” He moved closer, lowering his voice. “Change needs to happen, Alex.”

“And you think Lucian is really going to bring that kind of change?” I willed Seth to understand. “That once he takes complete control of the Council, he’ll free the servants? Relieve the halfs from their duty?”

“Yes!” Seth dropped to his knees in front of me. “Lucian will.”

“Then who will fight the daimons?”

“There will be those who volunteer just like the pures who do now. Lucian will do this. All we have to do is support him.”

I shook my head. “Lucian has never cared about the halfs. All he has ever cared about is himself. He wants ultimate power—to enslave the mortals instead of the halfs. He said so himself.”

With a disgusted humph, he stood. “Lucian has no intentions of doing such a thing.”

“He told me in the car!” I grasped his hands, ignoring the way the cord jumped. “Please, Seth. You have to believe me. Lucian will do none of the things he’s promised you.”

He stared at me a moment. “Why would you even care if enslaving mortals was his ultimate plan? I don’t get it. You couldn’t stand living among them when you did. Why would you want to protect the gods when the Order killed you—killed you—to protect them? And you have a problem with a few pures dying along the way? Look at how they’ve treated you. I don’t get it.”

Sometimes I didn’t get it myself. The pures treated us halfs like crap. And the gods, well, they were as much to blame as the pures. They’d allowed this to happen. But this was more wrong. “Innocent people will die, Seth. And what do you think the gods will do? They may not be able to touch you and me, but they can be vengeful and downright sadistic. They’ll start slaughtering halfs and pures by the busload. Apollo has said so.”

He squeezed my hands. “Casualties of war—it happens.”

I pulled my hands free. My stomach turned over. “How can you be so uncaring?”