Aba pulled the throw from the bottom of the bed and covered him. Ely found more blankets in the closet and added those. She lowered to her knees at his side and put her palm on his chest.
His heart beat slowly but steadily now, and she sighed in gratitude.
Whatever his needs were to feed his symbiont, they would find a way to work through it. His chest rose and fell, then his jaw clenched, revealing his internal struggle for control even in his healing sleep.
“Nate, calm down. It will be all right now. Let yourself heal. I want you at full strength because I have a lot to say to you once you’re on your feet,” she threatened. “Telling me to find someone else. As if.”
Ely could sense Aba’s amusement. She smoothed the blankets over Nate’s chest, then lifted her gaze. “So, Aamon, huh?” she asked, remembering what Azgor had called him.
“Not something us old demons want anyone to know. Names give power to those who do. Aamon is just part of an ancient title.” He fingered one of the many slashes on his bloodied shirt.
“I know…”Wait, what?“A title?”
“Aye. After the loss of my family eons ago, it no longer held much interest to me. Azgor, as the head, rules over everything.” Sorrow darkened his brown eyes as he glanced back at Nate.
“Wait, wait, back up. Azgor rules? What do you mean?”
“He’s my…sibling. It’s probably why he didn’t kill me when I stole that symbiotic blood, but punished me instead. He knew I hated a violent life and made sure I had one, anyway. But my son lived, and it was the only thing that mattered.”
So she’d learned. “And Maita?” Ely asked.
Anguish flashed briefly. “My consort. She was a gentle soul who didn’t belong in the darkness of Ys and its violence. It’s one of the reasons she fell for me, and not Azgor, though he went after her, too. While I was away on the job, she and our young were killed by my enemies—”
“Did Azgor not protect them?” Ely asked, horrified.
His expression hardened. “He cared little once Maita and I mated, cut our filial connection, so no. But he made me stay on as his enforcer. After my loss, my life became an eternal wasteland, and I didn’t care what I did.” His attention settled back on Nate and gentled. “Then millennia later, I found him. He filled that emptiness.”
“I’m so sorry. Does Nate know about you and Azgor?”
Those dark eyes lifted to hers. “Aye. It’s not something we speak of since Azgor didn’t treat me any different from any other minion bound to him, except for not killing me. Once I had Nate, I decided to live on the earthly realm. I didn’t want him to lose his humanity, but he did anyway because of me—because of the symbiont.” His throat worked. He turned and made his way to the floor-to-ceiling window, stopping near the small coffee table and the navy sectional. He slid his hands into his pants pockets, staring outside.
She didn’t know how to comfort him but tried anyway. They all made mistakes. “You saved him, Aba. And Nate is much stronger than we gave him credit for. After what we saw in that fiery volcano in the Infernii Realm, and then later—as hurt as he was—he could have just let go of his formidable control, and his beast would have killed us.”
“Yes, he has an indomitable will.”
“See? He still retained some of his humanity. Aba—”
“It means father in my world,” he said softly, glancing back at her.
“Oh…I’m sorry. Should I call you Aamon?”
He smiled. “You are mate and consort to my son, so yes, I’d like it if you’d continue to call me Aba.”
Voices drifted to them, distracting her.
Drat. They’d followed her. At least they hadn’t stormed into her new home.
Soft footsteps sounded inside the apartment. She picked up on Kira’s sparkling essence, then her friend’s steps faded. The others waited outside.
“I’ll stay with him,” Aba said, returning to the bed. “They are your family. They care about you.”
What she longed for was a shower and a moment to get her breath back while Nate healed.
“You have a much bigger heart,” she muttered, still feeling a little betrayed and frustrated.
Ely scrubbed her grimy, soot-covered hands over her cheeks, rose, and crossed to the bedroom door. Then she stopped, her gaze rushing around the room, realizing only then that Hedori had not only replaced the bed but had redecorated the place while she’d been gone.
It wasn’t anything like the castle with its priceless paintings and luxurious décor that was, in a way, far too reminiscent of her old home in Ademéras. The enormous new bed was an improvement over the futon, though, and the new corner sectional overlooked the ocean.
