“Nay. Best I go face the beast alone. I talked him into this godforsaken marriage. While I might only be a daughter, I did inherit the same degree of backbone as my brothers.” Smiling sadly, she kissed his knuckles and released his hand. “A marriage for you soon, I promise.”
Those words hit him like a fist to his gut. “Just one better than yours.”
“Ha, ha. That was low, Urian. Even for you.”
“Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”
She blew him a kiss before she flashed herself out of his room to confront his father and find out if there was anything left of her husband.
Sighing, Urian leaned his head back against the stone wall and closed his eyes. His father’s muffled voice was strangely comforting in its anger. Not because of its fury but because of the love that fueled it. Stryker would never be this riled over anything else. He was a passionate man.
“Damn it, Tannis! I told you not to marry that piece of shit!”
Urian smiled at Tannis’s calm, sweet voice. “Am I a widow, Baba?”
“Nay, but I doubt you’ll ever be a mother.”
Urian laughed. And with that, he craved a visit with his own mata. It felt like forever since he’d last seen her.
Getting up, he used his powers to dress in his armor—something his father insisted they do if they ever left Kalosis. They were also supposed to go out in groups. Never alone.
A minimum of four. More was even better. His father was that paranoid, especially when it came to his sons. Stryker wanted no one to take a chance on being jumped by the humans or gods who hunted them.
That was the only order of its kind that Urian defied. And only when he visited his mother.
Not because he was reckless but to protect her. The fewer who knew where she lived, the better. She was too vulnerable and the last thing he wanted was to make her a target for someone who might need a quick soul to elongate their life. Daimons got desperate and when they did, no one was safe. They would prey on anyone.
Man, woman, child.
Infant.
His siblings could find her if they desired. And while it might be selfish, Urian always preferred to see her without them. Only Tannis didn’t hog his time with her. She would selflessly share their mother whenever they visited, and not try to belittle or upstage him.
Not even Paris was so kind.
Besides, he had Xyn’s armor and so long as he wore it, he couldn’t be harmed. It was like being wrapped in her arms, and he felt safe and comforted in a way that defied explanation. Normally whenever he was upset, she was the one he sought.
But tonight, he wanted his mother’s comfort more.
Leaving his room, Urian went to the chest where they each placed things they wanted to take to their mother on their visits and put them in a small basket. It was something they all did for each other as a favor. Then he walked down the narrow passage, toward Apollymi’s section of the palace where he knew none of his family would be, as they feared the goddess even more than they feared their father. And there he opened a portal to the human world. It was the only safe place to do so without risking detection. If one of the others here detected the rift, they’d attribute it to either Apollymi or one of the Charonte, who weren’t supposed to use the portals, but sometimes they did so at the behest of the goddess, or whenever some human or the demon-broker, Jaden, summoned them out.
The channel began as a cold shift in the air, then a shimmer of glowing particles that swirled faster and faster until they congealed to make a large hole that united the two worlds. The light was blinding to those who lived in darkness. And like moths to a flame, it drew them toward it.
As soon as Urian stepped through, he realized that it was later than he normally visited his mother’s cottage. Closer to the middle of the night, judging by the height of the moon in the clouded sky.
Still, his mother usually kept her cottage lit until well past the midnight hour in case one of them happened by.
The moment he stepped into her realm, Urian shivered at the unexpectedly cold air. That was one thing that was hard to get used to in the human world. The difference in climate. The weather in Kalosis was steady, year round. Never too hot. Never too cold. It didn’t rain.
Out here …
Brr …
Blowing into his hands, he stamped his feet against the ground, then paused as he caught a peculiar sound from inside the cottage. It was a high-pitched laugh followed by a deep moan.
Urian’s eyes widened at intimate sounds he knew all too well.
His mother had a lover.
