TWISTED (Eternal Guardians Book 7) (37 page)

“So,” he said, shaking out his napkin, working for casual because he knew he could never admit all that to her without freaking her out. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you yesterday how you know the witch.”

She stilled, then swallowed the bite in her mouth and quickly reached for her coffee. “You mean Delia?”

“Was she the one in that house?” He cut into his pancake.

“Yes. She was a friend of my mother’s. She helped me escape when Kyrenia was attacked. I told you that before.”

“So she’s not a relative?”

“No. I’m not a witch, if that’s what you’re asking.”

He wasn’t. But it was nice to know she wasn’t hiding any trippy spells for later use. He lifted his coffee. “How did your parents end up in Kyrenia?”

She moved the bite around in her mouth, but apprehension slid across her features for just a split second before she swallowed. “My father used to be involved in Argolean politics. After a while, he didn’t agree with what the Council was doing to the refugees in Kyrenia, and as a show of defiance, he chose to relocate with them.”

Nick sipped his coffee. “He was a politician? What kind?”

Cynna hesitated but didn’t meet his eyes. And several long seconds passed before she said, “He was a Council member.”

Whoa. Yeah, that would piss the Council off. And made Nick wonder if a big part of the reason the Council had attacked Kyrenia was in retaliation against the guy. He didn’t put it past them to wipe out an entire city just to spite one person who’d turned his back on them.
 

“They’d been trying to force him out for years,” Cynna said, finally looking up. “He was only selected to the Council to appease the dark-skinned portion of the population, which has dwindled over the years. Most were slowly forced to the fringes of society as jobs slowly became unavailable, and many wound up in Kyrenia. The witches don’t discriminate.” She looked back down at her plate and cut into her pancake again, only now there was a hint of anger in her eyes and words. “Unlike the Council, they don’t see in shades of color, only the quality of the soul.”

He understood her anger. The Council didn’t like anyone who was different.

“Anyway,” she went on. “He stayed on with the Council, hoping to instill change. When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, he decided to relocate to Kyrenia and help establish a new government. My mother was a refugee there.”

“And she wasn’t a witch?”

“No.” She swallowed another bite, careful, he noticed, to keep her eyes on her plate. “Just someone who’d once lived in Tiyrns.”

There was more she wasn’t saying, about who her mother had been and her father’s involvement with the Council and how that had impacted the attack on Kyrenia. But something in Nick’s gut said now wasn’t the time to push her on it.
 

He slid his plate back and folded his arms on the table in front of him, hating what he needed to ask next but knowing there wasn’t any way around it.
 

“I need to go out there today. To Kyrenia. To see my people. They know I’m here. Yesterday, when I followed you, several saw me. I didn’t stick around to talk to them, but I know they have to be curious. If I don’t go, they’ll come here to find me.”

She lifted her coffee from the table. “How did you find me anyway?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just focused on you and knew where you were.”

“Have you always been able to track people that way?”

“No.”

“Hm. Another new gift.”

Yeah, it was. And he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. A lot of these new powers were pretty cool, but he didn’t know if that meant he was getting closer to breaking like Hades and Zagreus wanted, or if he was growing stronger and somehow might be able to resist that ultimate break.

The shadow energy came raging back, but he didn’t focus on it. Instead, he focused on her. “I need to ask you a favor.”

She set her mug down again. “I seem to be doing you a lot of favors lately.”

She was, but he sensed she didn’t mind. And that relaxed him. At least enough so he could beat back the darkness. “I need you to…” No, that wasn’t how he wanted to phrase it. “Would you…please…go to Kyrenia with me today?”

She lifted her dark lashes and stared at him from across the table. And as their eyes held, he picked up a memory flash, one she was projecting, though he was sure she didn’t realize she was doing it. Of seeing him standing in the middle of that burned-out courtyard at the colony, staring at the blackened ground around him, his shoulders hunched, his head dropped, and the shudder that had passed through him.

Pain and guilt and anger rolled through his chest. All the emotions he’d felt that day staring at the remnants of a battle he should have stopped from happening but now could never change. But before they could consume him, he had another memory flash. This one his own. Of her taking care of him, cutting his hair, comforting him after he’d nearly lost it, making him feel human again when she had no reason to even try.
 

A newfound strength surged inside. One that made him feel as if he could do anything, so long as she was by his side. “Please, Cynna.”
 

She pursed her lips and looked down at her plate. “Did you ask anyone else to go with you?”
 

“Only you. You’re the only one I want.”

Several seconds passed, and his pulse beat hard waiting for her answer. Finally, her eyes met his. “Okay. I’ll go.”

He reached across the table and closed his hand over hers, feeling like he could breathe again and knowing it was all because of her. “I owe you.”

“No, you don’t.” She pulled her hand from his grip and went back to eating. But as she did, something dark passed over her features. “You don’t owe me anything.”

But he did. More than she would ever realize. And he planned to make it up to her as soon as he got through this.

N
ick was already agitated. Cynna could see it in his tight shoulders, in the way his jaw flexed, in the sweat gathering against the palm of her hand where he held her as they walked toward the gates outside the Kyrenia settlement.
 

They’d flashed here from the castle in Tiyrns, but as she still wasn’t able to flash through walls, even with him, they had to pass through the front gate.

He gave their names to the guards, and they waited. A few snowflakes drifted down from gray clouds above, and Cynna shivered in the lightweight denim jacket. She should have grabbed something warmer to wear, but she hadn’t wanted to take the time to find a coat. Nick had been anxious to get here so he could do whatever it was he had to do and leave, and she was anxious to help him however she could.

She shivered again, and he looked down at her. “Are you cold?”

“No. I’m fine,” she lied. Honestly, being cold was kind of nice. She’d been stuck in Zagreus’s tunnels so long, any kind of fresh air was welcome, brisk or not.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the giant doors groaned before he could get the words out, and then his attention shifted toward the doors rolling back and the courtyard appearing before them. He drew a steadying breath and muttered, “Don’t go too far. I may need you.”

Cynna squeezed his hand in reassurance. “I won’t.”
 

He didn’t seem to hear her. He’d already let go of her and was walking into the courtyard. Several people milling around spotted him. Excited voices rang out. A couple of children squealed. Before Cynna could get her bearings, a cluster of people formed around Nick, talking at once, people hugging him right and left, the crowd pushing her back until she was on the fringes, standing on her tiptoes to try to see over them.

Nick’s voice rang out through the crowd, but Cynna only caught pieces of what he was saying. “Yes, I’m fine,” and “No, nothing like that,” and “Yeah, I got here as soon as I could.” But with every answer, his voice grew tighter and more gravelly, and though his people probably didn’t notice, she could tell every question was grating on his patience and control.

She pushed her way through the crowd to try to get closer to him, ignoring the odd looks and whispers as she went by. A few muttered, “That’s her. The one from yesterday,” but Cynna ignored those too. She spotted Nick at the center of the crowd, and was only about four feet away from him when a slim, athletically built blonde called, “Nick!” from across the courtyard.

His head came up. His eyes narrowed on the female. Before Cynna could reach him, he excused himself from the people around him and pushed his way out of the circle, heading right for the blonde.

Cynna tried to follow but was trapped in the crowd. The blonde’s hair was pulled back into a neat tail. She wore jeans, boots, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a light jacket. And her blue eyes absolutely lit up when they locked on Nick’s.

Nick caught up with her, and the blonde threw one arm around him, hugging him tight. And though Cynna knew she had no right, a burst of jealousy whipped through her, making her wonder who this new female was and what she meant to Nick.

“Oh my gods. Nick,” the blonde exclaimed, lowering to her feet. “I’m so glad to see you. You have no idea.”

“It’s good to see you too, Helene. Where’s Kellan?”
 

Helene’s eyes darkened as her gaze skipped over Nick’s face, and her lips turned down in a sad expression. “He…didn’t make it.”

Cynna pushed her way to the edge of the crowd and watched the exchange. The blonde held her left arm at an odd angle against her body, the sleeve of her jacket missing, and looked up at Nick with both remorse and regret.

“When?” he asked in a low voice.

“During the raid. We lost fifty-eight before we were evacuated. It would have been more if not for the queen.”

Nick dropped his head, rubbed his temples with the thumb and forefinger of one hand, and looked down at his boots. And the hunch of his shoulders, the clench of his jaw told Cynna he was fighting that darkness again. Just as he’d been at the colony.

Cynna crossed quickly to stand at his side. The blonde—Helene—glanced at her with surprise and a hint of suspicion. “Hi. I’m Helene.”

“Cynna.”

“You’re…”

“A friend,” Cynna answered.

Nick didn’t look Cynna’s direction. “Helene helped me run the colony.”

So she’d worked with him. That explained the female’s excitement upon seeing Nick again. But Cynna could tell Helene was happy to see him for other, more personal reasons, as well.

“What about Mark?” Nick asked.

Helene’s blue eyes darkened once more, and she shook her head again.

Nick drew a deep breath, dropped his hand, then noticed the way Helene was holding herself. “What’s wrong with your arm?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tell me what happened, Helene.”

She sighed. “It was chaos. There were young on the playground when the attack happened. I went out to bring them in. A daemon…”

Her voice trailed off, and Nick’s shoulders went rigid, his eyes as hard as Cynna had ever seen them.

“We all got away,” Helene said quickly. “None of the young were killed, but a few of us were injured.”

Nick’s fiery eyes shot to her arm, held close to her body. “Your arm isn’t—”

“No, no,” Helene cut in. “It’s not like my leg. Don’t worry, it’s still there. It just didn’t mend quite right, and Callia, the queen’s personal healer, had to operate to repair the damage.” She pulled her jacket back with her good arm so he could see the sling beneath and the sleeve she’d tucked inside so it didn’t flop around as she moved. “See? In a few weeks, I’ll be back to normal. This is just temporary.”

That little bit of good news didn’t seem to alleviate any of Nick’s anxiety. “Who’s running things here?”

“I am. Well, as much as I can. Delia is helping too, but we could really use you. The Argonauts are here now and then, and the queen herself as well. But this land, Nick… It’s not at all what I expected. Their Council of Elders—”

“Nick!”
 

A child’s voice rang out, and Nick turned to his left. A little girl, no more than seven, with dark, bouncing curls, wearing a thick coat and boots and carrying a doll in one hand, rushed toward him.
 

Nick dropped to his knees just as she reached him, opened his arms, and caught her in a hug. She threw both arms around his neck, her doll dangling from her fingers as she squeezed him tight. “Nick, Nick, oh, Nick. I knew you’d come back.” She looked up at Helene. “Didn’t Minnie and I tell you he’d come back?”