Nibo scoffed about that.
As the old saying went,kirast kiroza kirent. Conceived in violence to do violence and to die violently. That was the Malachai curse, and the code they all lived and perished by. Born of the purest, darkest evil—a trio of gods, Kadar, Azura, and Apollymi, who had brought them forth into existence to fight against all that was good—the Malachai fed the three primal dark gods and lived for nothing except to cause as much suffering in the universe as they could. Because of that, the last one in existence had long ago been trapped and imprisoned.
“I should think that a good thing.” After all, if Adarian was missing from Kadar’s hell realm, then he’d be unable to feed the powers of all evil. Thus it would weaken the old bastard who plotted the death and dismemberment of all living creatures, and his return to supreme power. Rather a win-win for the world, if you asked him.
Not that anyone ever did.
“Perhaps, but in the process of escaping it seems he took a bit of fluff with him.”
“Azura?” The queen of all evil and shadows. Given that she was Kadar’s sister and lover—sick as that was—it made sense that the Malachai would kidnap her on his way through the gates of hell and into the human world.
A special little trophy, as it were, to get back at the two of them for keeping him prisoner all these centuries so that Adarian could maintain their powers while they tortured him.
But Jaden shook his head. “Think closer to home …mate.”
He could have done without the bastard’s mocking. “I’d say your mother, but you didn’t have one.” Least none what would claim him.
Father neither, for that matter.
Jaden passed him an unamused glare. Then slid his gaze down Nibo’s chest to where a small treasured trinket lay exposed on a chain, resting near his heart. Just as the woman herself did. Always.
Instinctively, Nibo covered Valynda’s cross with his hand.
Strange how no one had ever noticed his odd feminine fashion choice that matched nothing else he wore.
A horrendous sense of dread turned his stomach as he caught Jaden’s meaning. Nay, surely not even Adarian would be so stupid as to dare that affront. “What are you saying, demon?”
“I’m saying what I’m saying. You just don’t want to hear it. Adarian has your Valynda … and Marcelina.”
An indescribable rage took hold of him. One that burned so deep and dark that it actually caused Jaden to flinch. No easy feat that, given his own dark and lethal nature. Indeed, Nibo hadn’t even known Jaden had it in him to back down.
Until now.
That would be scary if he were able to feel fear. But he and fear had parted company a long time ago. The only emotions he had these days were more potent.
And destructive.
“I see.”
With the bitter taste of unspent rage scalding his tongue and a deep need to rip something down to its basest atoms stirring in his belly, Nibo rose. He reached for his rum and downed it, daring Jaden with his eyes to speak another word. His breath came in a ragged cadence. That sound alone betrayed his fury that urged him to go on a rampage. Unable to speak, he headed toward the door while the sound of rushing blood filled his ears.
“Where are you going?”
To make sure that he didn’t lose another woman he cared about.
Nibo froze before glancing back at the demon broker who watched him with those peculiar mismatched eyes. “To kick the shit out of the idiot who dared to try and take what is mine. No one makes me out a liar. I won’t rest until I’m baptized in their blood and bile and am tying me shoes with their guts.”
No one threatened him. Ever.
If anyone knew anything about him at all, it was that they should never come after what he loved. Not if they had any kind of self-preservation or even a shred of common sense.
There would be a reckoning for this that would make Lucifer himself flinch and cower. One to make the demons from the lowest pits of hell hide in fear.
Good-bye. Good luck.
For the one truth to Nibo was that he had no ability to forgive any slight, and he wouldn’t rest in a world where the one who’d wronged him lived.
His own twin would testify to that. Which had always made Nibo wonder how it was that everyone feared Qeenan so, simply because he’d been designated as the hitman to the loa. How could they forget the fact that he and his brother were identical twins? Cut from the same set of cells.
