Daughter of Kaos (The Daughter Trilogy Book 3) (22 page)

For the first time in a fight, I feel the fear everyone else does. I see the pain, the destruction, and

the chaos just as they all do. The gut wrenching screams ring out louder as more harpies meet their

doom, and I only ever struck one.

I almost feel a little impotent. I’m used to feeling so powerful. Now I feel like a hindrance or an

observer rather than a true force.

Devin rushes over, and his eyes are drenched in fear when he sees the small child I’m holding.

Her face nestles into me to hide her eyes, and I continue holding my arm around her head to shield her

ears.

“Adisia!” Camara screams, and suddenly I feel a sharp pain in my back from a pulsating force

that echoes in my ears.

I scream out, and the child screams to mimic my outburst of pain. I turn my head to see a

different group of women, and this time the green eyes do come to life.

The sky parts and the curly-haired blonds drop to their knees as something new exudes from me.

I feel protective, and now I feel a different power flowing through my veins.

They scream as they curl into fetal position, and Devin flashes over to take the child from my

arms. I hold her tighter, refusing his grasp, and Devin backs away when he sees my determination to

keep her with me.

“Adisia, calm down!” Faith screams. “They weren’t aiming at you.”

“They almost hit her,” I say in my Aphrodite echo.

“They were aiming at the harpies. You have to release them from… whatever you’re doing,” she

pleads.

“No,” I growl.

“They should watch where they’re aiming,” Jace chimes in, and Devin wraps his arm around me

defensively as he glares at Faith.

“My wife was struck, and they don’t seem too remorseful. Furies don’t really give a damn about

who they hurt,” he growls.

“These do. They’re with me,” Faith says, and she steps between the Furies and me.

The blue returns, and I release them from the unknown hold I have. They gasp for air, and then I

see someone I never dreamed I would see again.

My heart sinks to the floor, and if it wasn’t for the small girl in my arms, I would crumble to the

ground.

Devin turns pale, his body rigid the second his eyes follow my trail, though I know he’s already

seen her by now. He was probably just praying I wouldn’t.

“Devin,” Nina gasps in relief. “Thank heavens. We wouldn’t have survived that massive ambush

if it wasn’t for you.”

Devin drops his head, and I hear his mumbled whisper not meant for any ears but his own.

“I can’t catch a fucking break.”

He steps beside me just before she flashes over, and I’m sure it’s because he’s just seen what

she’s about to do. I’m trying not to think about what it is she was planning to attempt.

“Oh. Adisia,” she stammers out. “I didn’t expect to…”

“You didn’t expect to see me again after you did your best to fuck up my marriage?” I crudely

finish her sentence for her.

“No, I mean, I just thought… Thanks for coming to help,” she says while shifting her eyes back to

Devin.

He remains silent, and I’m sure it’s because he’s terrified about how I’ll react if he even looks at

her.

His arm pulls me into him, and it’s all I can do not to release the fury of the skies on her.

At this moment, I really regret binding Asteria. She’s a bitch who doesn’t show regard for

anyone. She’d be especially ruthless to the bitch who tried to break up my home.

Nina wasn’t under the same shadowed influence as Devin. She knew what she was doing.

“What are you guys doing here?” Kry asks to break up the awkward tension that ensues when

Devin still doesn’t answer her.

Nina frowns a little. Her dark hair almost shakes in the form of waves under the wet shine my

rain offered her. Her soft ocean, blue eyes stare hopefully, but not desperately, at my husband.

He avoids all eye contact, and Jace steps between her and Devin as if he’s trying to relieve me of

the loathsome reunion.

She finally turns to answer Kry when she sees the obvious conflict she’s diving into on our end of

the pool.

“We came here to track the harpies. They attacked our home in Greece, and we suffered several

casualties I don’t fully wish to discuss,” she says with an emotional ring.

The small girl stirs in my arms and turns her head to face Nina as she whimpers, “Nina, where’s

my momma?”

This girl is one of us?

Nina tightens her lips, and then looks over to a group that is caring for an unconscious woman. I

read the situation, and I only hope the woman is okay.

“She’s hurt, Nadia, but she’ll be fine. She endured several deep lacerations from those savages,

and the pain has overwhelmed her. She’ll-”

“She’ll be fine. Let’s go find some flowers for her so she has something pretty in her room when

she wakes up,” I interrupt.

Damn. You’re talking to a child, Nina. Act like it.

I start walking away, and Devin keeps his arm around my waist. Nina runs up to block my path.

“Nadia needs to stay with me. Her mother will be worried when she awakes,” she insists.

“No,” Nadia cries, and her hands cling tighter to me.

I pat her back to console her tiny, quivering body. She can ’t be more than five, and yet she bears

the burdens of our world already.

“Bring them to your house,” I whisper to Devin.

“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he whispers back.

His eyes deliberately avoid Nina’s direction, but I know she’s the reason for his pause. I sigh out

a little, and then I lean into him.

“Nadia’s scared, and I can’t just hand her over right now. I’ll be fine. I trust you, and you only

have one shadow. Believe me, I checked,” I murmur with a bit of a dramatized tone.

He purses his lips, and Kry walks over to gauge the odd standoff we’re in. Finally, Devin looks

up and sighs as he speaks to Nina for the first time.

“You and your clan should come back to
our
house. It’s apparent the child is frightened, and

she’s found refuge in Adisia. We need to discuss the organized ambush of the harpies anyways,”

Devin mutters with heavy reluctance.

Nina stifles a grin, and Kry is wide-eyed at the request. He casually glances over to Devin’s solo

shadow, and then to me. I roll my eyes, and then Hale joins us.

“How are the harpies organizing? It’s like the sirens did, but this time they’re not under the

control of Safina. The hellhounds were right down the beach, and harpies loathe hellhounds. They

don’t get within hundreds of miles of them,” Hale says, as if he’s hashing out the riddling puzzle

that’s in his mind.

“We’re going back home. We’ll discuss it there,” Devin asserts, and Hale’s eyes mimic the

stunned reaction of Kry’s.

“Your place?” he stammers out in disbelief.

“Mine and Adisia’s,” Devin adamantly corrects.

“Okay… Um, is that-”

“It was my idea,” I grumble.

Everyone is more apprehensive of this situation than I am. My protectiveness for a terrified child

is outweighing the needless jealously I usually exude.

Devin has one shadow, and I have a deadly aim. I dare her to try something in front of me again.

Nina and Gemma share a disgusted exchange of glances, and Ther drapes his arm across

Gemma’s shoulders as they pass us. Nina struts back over to her group, and one of the men scoops up

the injured woman.

“Let’s go ahead and go. I don’t want Nadia to see her mother that way,” I whisper too low for the

child to hear.

Devin nods, and then we flash back down the beach to the parking area.

This day has been filled with surreal, horrific events - The rainbow brigade of bright-haired

harpies, fire drooling hellhounds, my unnerving new power - and yet Nina’s unannounced and

unexpected arrival is the most disturbing event of the day.

Chapter 9

Not So Sweet Dreams

Nadia’s eyes teeter shut, and Devin joins me on the bed beside her while offering me a sweet kiss

on the cheek. I slowly rise up, and he pulls me to his strong, embracive arms.

“How’s her mother?” I ask.

“Her wounds are closing. She should be awake in a couple of hours, and by morning she’ll be

completely healed,” Devin assures.

I sigh as I stare at the innocent child dreaming about monsters as her face distorts in her sleep. I

cast a light breeze against her as if I’m trying to drag away the fear from her mind.

“I understand it a little better now. I should thank Persia and Kahl for everything they gave up to

keep me safe. Nadia could have been killed today, and there really are monsters under the bed in her

eyes,” I say with tears starting to stream.

Devin’s arms close around me, and I sniffle into his chest. His soft lips call to mine as he tries to

draw out my anxiety through the kiss.

“I love you,” he murmurs gently across my lips.

“I love you.”

“Let’s go join the discussion downstairs. We have to get a handle on the harpie epidemic. They

keep forming at an alarming rate, and the energy dispelled from our fight with Safina should be

drained by now,” he lightly instructs.

He takes my hand when I nod, and I turn back to check on the twisting bundle on the bed before

he flashes with me downstairs.

Nina is propped against the bar sipping on
my
vodka. I can’t drink it right now, and it’s pissing

me off to see it on her lips.”

“Adisia, how’s the kid?” Camara asks when she sees me fuming over Nina’s comfortable

placement.

“She seems to be having nightmares. Jace, could you help her with it?” I ask hopefully while

cutting my eyes to him.

“I should be able to,” he offers kindly, and he flashes by me to fill the request.

“Gloria will be awake soon, and we’ll be out of your hair,” a butch woman inserts.

Gloria must be Nadia’s mother. I smile at her, and Devin pulls me to be in his lap when he sits on

the couch.

“You’re not in our hair,” I murmur.

“The harpies are posing a problem for everyone. I think it’s time we join forces,” Nina chimes

in. “It would make the most sense.”

It would make the most sense, but I doubt her motives for suggesting such really lie in the moral

realm. She does well to not glance in my husband’s direction though. She’s different from Gemma

and Stasia.

Devin’s arms tighten around me, and it’s as if everyone is waiting on me to be the one to reply.

“Oh,” I startle out. “Yeah. It would be the best solution, but you can’t leave the water for too

long. How are you going to travel?”

“We don’t live in the water; we just have to be near it. We travel by boat, and the harpies don’t

move inland. They love the ocean even though it can kill them.”

Deacon shifts awkwardly in his seat before sighing, “Well, I guess I’ll be the one to state the

obvious ripple in this alliance. Nina’s very presence could provoke Aphrodite, and we all know how

dangerous that could be. I love conflict, but I dare not stir the goddess within that goddess.”

His eyes point to me very obviously, making me feel a little too on-the-spot. Everyone mimics

the uncomfortable shifting, and Devin’s arms tighten around me while he continues to remain quiet.

“Aphrodite won’t be provoked. Devin didn’t give Nina a second thought while holding his

freewill. I’m not the least bit concerned by her being here. I deal with Gemma just fine,” I counter,

and Gemma snuggles into Ther’s arms as if she’s completely immune to her old feelings for Devin.

I’m surprised she doesn’t even take a stab at me after my sardonic remark, but I’m also glad to

see the smile on Ther’s face. Devin smirks slightly at my pronouncing my trust in him, but Nina

seems a little taken aback.

“So it was all the shadow of doubt?” she asks quietly.

“Every bit of it,” Devin adds curtly.

“On his end,” I snark.

She looks away shamefully pained, and another one of the water nymphs stands to her feet when

Jace returns to the room.

“She’s sleeping better now. She won’t remember seeing her mother’s attack,” he says softly.

His hand squeezes my shoulder as he passes by, and he joins Faith at her side on the other couch.

I see her smiling, almost glowing, and I realize Jace has a real chance to be with someone. I hope

she’s sincere. I’d hate to use my goddess on her.

A dizzy spout hits me suddenly, and Devin pulls me to his chest when he feels my wavering body.

“We should all get some rest. The battle took a lot out of us,” Devin insists.

“I agree,” Kry groans, and then he pulls his blond bombshell from her resting place to join him.

I smile when she giggles at his silent request for her company, and then he gives me a wink when

they pass by.

My presence has forced all the boys into the arms of women, and that’s both sweet and gross at

the same time.

“I’ll collect Nadia. She can sleep with me,” Nina sighs.

“She can stay in our room. She’s already resting peacefully, and there’s no reason to stir her

now,” Devin murmurs in objection.