She couldn’t blame him.
But she had no idea where to start, let alone how to ask him what she wanted. She inhaled deeply, the words rushing out. “Nate told me you rescued him as a child and saved him by giving him those symbionts.”
“I guessed he would tell you, and I should have known you’d come seeking answers.”
“Of course, I would. I care about him!” she bit out, and at his startled look, she winced. “I’m sorry—”
“It’s all right.” Aba sighed, staring at his coffee. He set the mug on the counter near the kitchen door and thrust his fingers through his short, dark hair. “He’s just as stubborn when I tried to explain the dangers of your relationship.” His dark stare held hers. “You won’t have peace.”
Like she didn’t know that. “It’s why we prefer to keep this quiet.”
Aba didn’t respond, his gaze skeptical, but he nodded. “All right. What is it you want to know?”
She pushed back her braid with shaky fingers. “How long ago did this happen when Nate was mortally wounded?”
“That would have been over two decades. I remember it well. I was in the Village, chasing after a target…”
Her breath caught. And her heart pounded against her breastbone as she waited for more.
“I heard a gunshot, more a thud, really. The assailant used a silencer, and a pained cry followed. A child’s cry…” Aba stared out through the window, likely drawn back to that time. “I couldn’t walk away. I saw the bastards in an alley, kicking a small body lying on the ground. They shot at me, then disappeared before I could seek retribution. When I reached him, I was furious and would have killed his assailants. He was so small and bleeding profusely from a chest wound. He died in my arms—” he broke off, brow furrowing. “He said something before taking his last breath, asking for…” His eyes widened and he stared at her.
“What did he ask for, Aba? What was it?” she breathed.
“His car. Said his angel had it.”
Tears flooded her eyes. Without a doubt, the child she’d tried to save was Nate. She’d picked up his fallen car, but in her rush to keep them both safe, she’d forgotten to give it back to him. Nate clearly didn’t remember that. Didn’t remember her.
Her legs caved, and she sat on the couch.
“I never told him all this about the angel and the car,” Aba continued, confirming her thoughts. “Why bring back a past that would only hurt him? When he was older, he asked what had happened to him. Why he wasn’t like the other lads and had abadsymbiont—his words—since he had to feed constantly.” His throat worked, pain and sadness evident in his almost black eyes and tight features. “His life had changed so much, but I didn’t want to lie to him, so I kept to the bare facts and told him I heard a gunshot, found him in an alley, and took him to the Dark Realm to save him.”
Her throat hurt. Unshed tears spilled down her cheeks.
“What happened, Ely?” Aba’s gaze sought her wet ones. “It was you, wasn’t it, his angel?”
Finding it hard to speak, she nodded. Then she removed the small blue car from her jacket pocket and held it out. Aba took the toy, and he dropped onto the armchair opposite her as if his legs wouldn’t support him.
“I’d just fallen through a portal into this world,” Ely had to force out the words from a throat clogged with tears. Aba glanced up from the toy car, pale as the snow outside. “I was on the run…” She left out getting hurt and falling into the river, and told him about her parents, the arranged matings, and searching for her brother. “Anyway, it was night here. I ended up in some part of the city and hid in an alley…”
Ely scrubbed her hot face and revealed the rest, about a woman’s anguished cry drawing her out of hiding to the little boy crashing into her and dropping his toy. “With footsteps hurrying toward us and a male snarling ‘kill the brat,’ and my pursuers after me, I grabbed the toy and dematerialized us, ending in a place I know as Brooklyn now. With them closing in on me, I gave him to an old couple and left. I didn’t want him caught in my fight.”
“Well, he didn’t stay with them if I found him in the alley, shot,” Aba countered, expression hardening. “Once he understood what had happened to him, reprisal was all that kept him going, wanting to find the one who left him behind and get his vengeance. But after the changes in him occurred, and he took over my job, he never mentioned it again. By the dark gods!” Aba expelled a shaky breath, staring at the ceiling. “This is a nightmarish situation.”
“He didn’t forget.” Ely shut her eyes. “He still wants retribution against the person who changed his life, for this fate he was handed—” She jerked to her feet and paced the small living room, scrubbing her hot face. She spun back to Aba, anguish flaying her.“Me.”
“I am sorry, Ely. Only the Fates know why they deal out these hands.” Then he frowned. “How does he not recognize you? Granted, he must have been about seven or so when this occurred. Your hair is…rather unusual. Memorable.”
Because the damn stuff glowed when she didn’t shield her angelic aura. “He said he didn’t remember anything of his past life after you brought him back with the symbionts. He only knows what you told him and a seer’s skeptic words.The one who left him to his first fate will be the light who ends him.”
“Yes, Qinera.” Aba nodded. “She’s a demoness, a healer, and a seer. I remember what she said.”
“I couldn’t come back to check on him.” Ely wrapped her arms around her waist, trying to hold herself together as she disclosed to Aba what happened all those years ago… “And when I came back to Earth again, I hadn’t realized just how much time had elapsed.”
Aba nodded in understanding. “Now what?”
“I must find him a-and speak to him. T-tell him the truth.” She swiped the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand.
The seers words pounded in her head. Gods, she hated it was her who left him to his first fate, and now she wouldendhim by telling him the truth?
