For that reason alone, he had to maintain control and keep the demon inside him leashed. Otherwise, he’d be no better than Cyprian. Better his son destroy the world than he did it himself.
Staring over the devastation, he sighed. “Vawn, you and Caleb stay here with Aeron.”
“What?”
Nick held a hand up to stop their protests. “I have Kody, Xev, and Bubba. Y’all need a few to lick and tend wounds. We can handle this. Stay here and we’ll be back for you.”
Kody bit her lip. “I don’t know, Nick …”
“It’ll be fine. I have no doubt about our success.”
Xev cleared his throat. “For the record, I do.”
Honestly, so did Nick. And it didn’t help that two of their party were dead or wounded. The last thing he wanted was to lose anyone else.
He clapped Xev on the arm. “C’mon,grand-père. We can handle this.”
“I’m glad you have found your confidence. Just wish it wasn’t right now.” Xev followed reluctantly.
Nick didn’t respond as he dug through his inherited memories to find a map of this place. All of his predecessors had been here at one time or another. His father had called it home for centuries.
In Adarian’s case, it wasn’t by choice. He’d been held captive here. It was part of what had driven him insane. A Malachai never did well in captivity. They would cut off their own limbs to escape. Kill any- and everyone they could. There were just some beasts it didn’t pay to capture.
And as Nick was tripping through those memories, he saw one of Xev.
“You visited my father here?”
Xev nodded. “Many times.”
Because his father had bartered Xev’s blood to other demons and even to his overlords. Their abuse was biblical.
“No wonder you hated me when we first met.”
Xev’s harsh gaze softened. “I didn’t know we were related.”
That was the least of it, and Nick doubted it would have mattered, given the severity of Xev’s treatment. He’d been afraid Nick was as evil as those who’d come before him.
Good bet, actually. Nick felt that evil course through his veins with every beat of his heart.
But he’d never treated Xev that way. He’d freed him from the hell that had been his punishment.
“I’m sorry for everything previous Malachais did to you.”
“Not your fault.”
Xev might say that, but Nick knew the sadness he felt. It resonated inside him. Like Caleb and Bubba, he’d paid a harsh price for being loved.
Nick’s heart broke over that. People like him took for granted the love in their lives. Nick had never had to pay a price. His mother’s love was unconditional and eternal.
As was Kody’s.
They had never charged him for it or asked anything more than for him to love them back. Caleb and Xev had been forced to hide their love. To let no one know for fear of losing everything.
In the end, they’d lost it anyway.
I am lucky. At least he knew it. He didn’t take for granted the people in his life who would die for him. The people who valued him more than themselves.
Yeah, it might suck to be the Malachai, but unlike those before him, he had a family.
