Nick wanted blood.
He glared at Menyara. “How could you do that to my mother? You cost her everything!”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen the way it did, Nicholas. We had her hidden, in safety, we thought. She was given a good home, with a kind, loving family, who cared deeply for her. But her light burns so bright that it can’t be disguised or denied. Somehow, she summoned Adarian before we were ready for it. He found her years before she was meant to find him.” She reached out to brush the hair back from his face. “I am so sorry for the pain we caused you and Cherise. We never meant for that to happen. You have to believe me.”
Nick’s gaze fell to his mother’s unconscious body. She looked so young. And she was. Most women her age were just starting their families, not saddled with a teenager. “I’m not the one you should apologize to, Mennie. I’m not the one you hurt. You ruined her life.”
Worse than that, Mennie let him ruin it. And that was what hurt most of all.
Menyara shook her head in denial. “She would be the first to disagree. You know that, Nicholas. That’s what makes her so incredibly special. What gives us hope that you might be able to have a different outcome from the other Malachais before you. You are the only one since the firstborn who was raised by a mother who loves you. A Malachai who unites both the light and the dark. You do not have to strictly be a force of destruction. Because of your mother’s love, you can choose to be a force for good, instead.”
Honestly? Right now, he wasn’t thinking good, happy thoughts. He was all about doing harm to everyone who’d had a hand in setting his mom up for this life.
But Menyara’s words made him flinch as he remembered the sight of Ambrose earlier. His future self hadn’t predicted a happy outcome by any means. He’d been on the brink of conversion. And his premonitions didn’t give him a whole lot to look forward to, either.
From the way things were looking, he was basically screwed. And there was no way to avert his destiny.
Yeah, he was feeling pretty dang defeated.
Lied to. Kicked in the stones.
And extremely pissed off by all of this. “I don’t even know you anymore, lady. Everything you’ve ever told me was a lie. And I do mean every single thing out of your mouth. Even your name. Now you expect me to believe this? To trust you? How can I trust you ever again?”
“I’m still your aunt Mennie.”
Yeah, right. Was she?
Was she Menyara, the Voodoo priestess and Creole midwife who delivered him, or the Egyptian goddess Ma’at, who was related to Kody? Or the ancient primal goddess Cam, related to Caleb and Xev?
How could she just keep changing her identities and relationships like people discarded their socks? It completely boggled those last three brain cells that rattled around his head.
“No. You’re a stranger to me. Someone who used my mother for her own gain, and seriously hurt her, all the while telling her she could trust you.” Nick dodged her hand as she reached to touch him. He wasn’t in the mood for it. Too much was happening, too fast.
Honestly, he didn’t know whom to trust, at this point.
Except himself. While he knew Ambrose wasn’t exactly sane, he knew he’d never lie to himself. Especially not about his mother and her well-being. That was the only thing he could bank on for certain. Ambrose only wanted to save his mother.
Everyone else, even Kody, could be lying to him, for all he really knew. He didn’t want to be that jaded, but he had to face the fact that it could be true. Livia had been one hundred percent right.
No one could be trusted.
He didn’t know what was what anymore. Everything and everyone around him seemed like a lie. His head spun from it all. Truthfully? He just wanted to feel grounded again. To have some kind of anchor he could count on that wouldn’t leave him feeling lost and adrift.
“Am I even Cajun?”
Menyara laughed. “Yes, Nicholas. That you are. Your real grandmother was a true blue zydeco-playing backwoods Cajun that would have made you proud.”
Well, at least he still had that. Thank goodness. He wasn’t sure he could have handled learning he was something weird like the grandson of millionaire mining tycoon.
Thunder clapped and the lights blinked as they tried to come on.
Sadly, the darkness returned and reminded him what he needed to do. “I have to find the Eye of Ananke to straighten this mess out. Has anyone heard of it?”
Four pairs of eyes glanced around aimlessly and refused to meet his gaze, letting him know that as usual he, alone, was the idiot in the room. “What?”
“Where did you hear that term?” Mennie asked.
Nick started not to answer her. He really didn’t owe her any answers given how many lies she’d told him over the years. But at this point…
Why bother? He was worn out by the lies and tired of playing games. “Ambrose told me to find it.”