Mesmerized, Nick couldn’t take his eyes off the grisly sight. Being a New Orleans native, he was used to bad news reports. They seemed more the norm than happy events.
But this …
There were riots and battles everywhere. It looked like someone had detonated a nuke in the center of the city. Cars were overturned and burned out. Stones were missing. Buildings crumbling, with barbed wire wrapped around businesses and gates.
Tears welled up in his eyes at the destruction of a home that had meant everything to him, but he refused to let them fall. Instead, he held the pain inside and wished he’d never seen the horror of his future.
“Was it this bad the first time you came to see me?”
Ambrose shrugged. “Since I haven’t done that yet, I have no idea what motivated me to go seek you. My guess is it must not have improved.”
“It could be the fact that we came here first.” Kody jerked her chin at the Eye. “That would make sense, right?”
Ambrose nodded. “Especially if we’re keeping time straight and I was only doing what I was so supposed to.” He picked up the stone and grimaced. “I remember how much I hated this thing. It drove me crazy. Seeing all futures at once. Feeling the life force of the universe.”
“Exactly. I kind of hate you for giving it to me.”
Kody didn’t comment on that as she moved to stand beside Ambrose. “Where did you get it from?”
Ambrose turned it over in his hand. “An asshole who wanted me to understand Savitar and Acheron gave it to me.”
That wasn’t helpful, as Nick knew a large number of assholes he’d had to deal with. “And which one might that be?”
“Thorn. He told me to use it to do the right thing.”
Nick cringed as Ambrose mentioned the Prince of All Darkness. Thorn was an interesting character who walked a weird line between good and evil—which was why he traveled in their company.
Only thing about Thorn—he could be quite merciless if you rubbed him the wrong way. “You must have really hated me to give it to me, then.”
“I do. Self-loathing is second nature to me. The more time passed, the worse it became.”
Nick sighed as he considered what Ambrose had told him. “I still don’t understand something.”
“You’re doing better than I am. There are lots of things I don’t understand.”
He ignored Ambrose’s comment. “How is it that while I was working for Kyrian, we have no memory ofyouor this?” he asked, indicating the Eye.
“How do you know that?”
“You told me so.”
Ambrose stroked the Dark-Hunter double bow mark that rested on his cheek. An unfortunate “gift” from Artemis when she brought him back to life after their mother had died. “A higher power must have intervened to take those memories.”
“Any idea who?”
Kody shook her head. “Not Acheron. He’d never, ever do such a thing.”
Nick agreed with Kody. Given the horrors of his life because someone had tried to circumvent his fate and his brother’s, Acheron refused to tamper with anyone else’s.
“We know it wasn’t Savitar,” Ambrose added.
Again, Nick agreed. When it came to interfering with fate, Savitar made Acheron look like a three-year-old with no impulse control. He would never, ever tamper with anyone’s destiny either.
A loud crash sounded.
Nick and Kody jumped, but Ambrose didn’t even blink.
“What was that?” Nick asked.
