“It’s not so bad, is it?”
Urian scratched at the back of his neck. “Honestly? It’s not the best. Especially in the beginning. I spent a lot of those first months sick with it. Tricking a human into granting permission to take their soul isn’t as easy as you think. Picking a human with a strong soul is even harder. They’re corrupt little bastards. And the constant whining will drive you to insanity.”
“Then how do you cope?”
Urian gave them an evil grin. “I live on venom.”
“I could do that.”
He snorted. “You’re too much in love. But I’m here to help. If you need anything, you let me know.”
Nodding, they left him alone. Urian waited on his father since they were the only two who didn’t have anyone else.
“You worried about me?”
He heard the stern note in his father’s tone. “A little.”
“Don’t. I’m not that fragile.”
Perhaps. But unlike his brothers, Urian never forgot the fact that his father really wasn’t that much older than they were. He’d been a teen when Archie and Theo and Tannis were born. Barely twenty when Urian and Paris had come along. Too young to have been thrust into the decisions that Apollo had forced onto him.
Too young to be cursed to die.
His father met his gaze. “So are you.”
“Pardon?”
“I can hear your thoughts, Urian. And you’re too young to have been put through so much.” His father picked up Tannis’s pillow from the bed and pressed it to his face so that he could breathe her scent in. Then he cradled it to his chest like an infant and closed the distance between them. “I don’t want to bury another child. Help me protect your brothers.”
“I intend to.”
“Good. And I’ve been thinking about what you said.”
“About Helios’s prophecy?”
He nodded. “Apollo had another Apollite mistress. We’ll start with that line before we worry about ours. I want you in charge of hunting down every last one of them and cutting their throats. Let’s see if there’s any truth to this.”
“You sure?”
Tears welled in his eyes as he stroked Tannis’s pillow. “Kill them for me, Urian. Every last fucking one of them.”
He winced at the agony in his father’s voice. It mirrored his own. “I will see it done, Baba.”
Urian sat byXyn’s pool, with his feet dangling in the water, seeking some form of comfort, even though there was none to be had for his vacant and damned soul.I am too young to feel this old and defeated.
Because today, he felt ancient. Indeed, the weight of his soul and grief was so heavy that if he were to throw himself into the water, he had no doubt it would drag him to the bottom of those black waters and drown him. He’d have no ability to swim with it wrapped around him like this.
How did his father manage? If he hadn’t respected the man before, he definitely did now. Because this shit sucked the very breath out of his lungs and made him want to just surrender to the pain and end it all. It was a struggle to come up with one single reason why he should bother to find another soul and not just allow the one that was currently screaming in his brain to take him to the grave and end it all.
Unlike the rest of his family, he was completely alone. Even his father had a girlfriend or wife or whatever Nelea was.
Urian wasn’t really sure what her true role was, other than a convenient meal. As much as she stayed at their home, he was rather sure she lived there and nowhere else. But neither she nor his father had made a firm declaration of their relationship, and Urian wasn’t certain if he wanted to know whether he had a new mother. So he didn’t ask, and they didn’t say.
He simply remained cordial with her, and passed brief, polite conversation with her whenever their paths crossed.
Sitting up, he rubbed at his head. For some reason, the human soul inside him was screaming louder than normal. He didn’t know if that was because of his grief or perhaps the human had been whinier than most.
Whatever it was, it only added to his misery. He should probably go to the hall and find someone to feed with. It might help alleviate some of the internal screaming. But he wasn’t hungry. What he wanted was real comfort. Too bad there was no one to make him feel better.
