A bad feeling went through Urian. His father was acting really, really peculiar. He glanced over to Davyn, who appeared equally concerned. Meanwhile his phone was vibrating again. He reached to silence it as his father headed toward him.
’Cause that wasn’t unnerving at all.
To his instant chagrin, his father draped an arm over his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek.
What the fuck was this? While it wasn’t unusual for his father to be affectionate, he’d never done it right before battle and in such a public manner. Urian scowled even more at the action and grew rigid as he waited for some shit to go down.
“Children are the very thing we live for, aren’t they?” His father played with the leather laces that held his blond braid. “They bring us joy. Sometimes they bring us pain.”
Was he blood-high?
“Of course, you’ll never understand the pain I mean, Wulf. Your son won’t live long enough to betray you.”
Urian opened his mouth to explain, but before he could, his father slashed open his throat with his dragon claw. Then he shoved him away.
Stunned and unable to speak, Urian fell to the floor gasping, holding his hands against his neck to stanch the blood flow. But it was useless. It ran through his fingers and spread over the floor.
“You didn’t really think I was stupid enough to fall for this trick, did you?” His father’s gaze bored into Wulf. “I knew you would never bring me the baby. I just needed to get the guardians away from Elysia for a while.”
Wulf cursed at his words as he moved to attack.
His father vanished into a black cloud of smoke while the Daimons attacked.
“Ak’ritah tah!” Acheron shouted.
The portal opened.
One of the Daimons laughed. “We don’t have to go through—” Before he could finish the sentence, the Daimon was violently sucked through the opening.
The others quickly followed.
Meanwhile Urian lay there, blinded by his tears as he tried to breathe. He had to get to Phoebe. He couldn’t die like this.
Ash ran across the floor and knelt by his side. “Shh.” He covered Urian’s hands with his own. “Breathe.”
Warmth spread from Acheron’s hand through Urian’s body as the Dark-Hunters moved to surround them. With each heartbeat, Urian’s breathing became easier and the pain receded.
Until it was gone.
Urian took a deep breath as he realized that for reasons unknown, Acheron had healed him. “Why?”
“I’ll explain later.” Acheron stood up and lifted the hem of his shirt until his stomach was exposed. “Simi, return to me.”
The baby shot out of Wulf’s hands immediately. She turned from an infant into a tiny dragon, then laid herself over Acheron’s skin until she became a tattoo.
A blond Dark-Hunter snorted. “I always wondered how your tattoo moved.”
Ash didn’t speak. Instead, he raised his hands.
One second they were in the Inferno. The next they were in the middle of Elysia.
Urian shot to his feet as he ran to find his wife. Horrific screams and pleas for mercy rent the air. Bodies of Apollite men, women, and children lay everywhere. He hadn’t seen anything like this in centuries. Not since the days when humans used to raid their villages.
“Phoebe!” Urian headed straight for his apartment. Fear tore him apart as every instinct he possessed told him what he’d find. And he was terrified of being right.
Why hadn’t he answered his phone? Why?
And the moment the door opened, and he saw the destruction in his apartment, he knew.
He knew.
Everything had been torn apart. Their furniture was overturned. The stereo had been ripped from the wall and Phoebe’s records, tapes, and CDs were littered everywhere, as if his father had wanted to punish them for trying to have a life without him.
Urian choked on his tears as he tried to come to terms with this moment.
With this reality.
Life with no Phoebe.
It was like the day he’d lost Xyn. Sinking to his knees, he threw his head back and cried out in fury. How many times in his life was he going to lose everything? Why? Was it too much to ask to be loved? To have one person he could keep in his heart?
One person for himself?
Was that really so selfish?
Damn you, Acheron!
The bastard should have let him die! Why couldn’t he have left him where he was?
This was so much worse. Phoebe was dead and it was all his fault! He’d done this to her. Caused it.
Blinded by tears, he heard the others outside who shared his grief. That, too, was his fault. He’d failed them all.
Shaking and heartbroken, he paused as his gaze fell to something glittering amid the wreckage on the floor. At first he thought it was a reflection caused by his tears until he realized it was something else.
Something metallic.
Phoebe’s necklace!
Incredulous, he scooped it up and let it dangle from his fingers. This was all he had of her. Such a paltry trinket for a life so vibrant. And yet it was worth more than the Taj Mahal. More than all the gold and diamonds of the earth. Because it had belonged to her and it was all he had left.
He would kill anyone who ever laid a finger to it. That was how dear and precious this worthless trinket now was. Because it was Phoebe’s.
And he wished himself dead to be with her. Not here and now to feel this pain wrought by her absence.
I can’t do this without you, Pheebs. He didn’t even want to try. Because honestly, he was too old and too tired to have one more fresh start in him. He was done with this life.
Done with trying.
Honestly? He just wanted to die and be done with it all.
*
Ash found Urian on his knees in the center of the trashed living room. There was a small gold locket in his hands as the man wept silently.
“Urian?” Ash said in a low, steady tone.
“Go away!” he snarled. “Just leave me alone.”
“You can’t stay here. The Apollites will turn on you.”
“Like I care.” He looked up and the empathetic pain Ash felt from Urian made him take a step back. It had been a long time since Ash had come into direct contact with so much hopeless grief. He remembered a time, long ago, when he’d felt the same way, and it staggered him for a moment. “Why didn’t you let me die too? Why did you save me?”
Ash took a deep breath as he grappled with a past that had once brutalized him and left him a hollowed-out shell. If he could, he would save Urian from that additional misery. “Because if I hadn’t, you would have sold your soul to Artemis over this and killed your father.”
“You think I’m not going to kill him over this?” He turned on Ash with a growl. “There’s nothing left of her. Nothing! I don’t even have anything to bury. I…” His words broke off as he sobbed.
Ash placed his hand on Urian’s shoulder. “I know.”
“You don’t know!”
God, how he wished that were the truth. Ash gripped his chin and lifted it until their gazes locked. “Yes, Urian, I do know.” In ways this Daimon couldn’t imagine.
Urian struggled to breathe as he saw images flickering through Ash’s swirling silver eyes that were identical to Apollymi’s. There was so much pain there, so much agony and wisdom.
It was hard to maintain eye contact with him.
“I don’t want to live without my Phoebe.” His voice broke on the words.
“I know. For that reason, I’m giving you a choice. I can’t lock onto your father to monitor him. I need you to do that. Because sooner or later, he’ll be back after Apollo’s lineage.”
So what! Urian curled his lip. “Why would I protect them now? Phoebe died because of them!”
“Phoebe lived because of them, Urian. Remember? You and your father were responsible for killing her entire family. Did you ever tell Phoebe it was you? You. Who killed her grandmother? Or her sisters?”
Urian looked away shamefaced as that guilt tore through him. “No. I would never have hurt her.”
“Yet you did. Every time you, your father, or one of your Spathis killed one of her family, she felt the pain you feel now. Her mother’s and sisters’ deaths tore her apart. Isn’t that why you saved Cassandra to begin with?”
Of course it was. One tear from Phoebe’s eyes had always shattered him. “Yes.”
Acheron stepped away from him while Urian pulled himself together as best he could.