TWISTED (Eternal Guardians Book 7) (41 page)

Nick’s brow dropped. “I don’t think I’m follow—”
 

 
Reunion…

The word. The meaning. This intense powwow. Everything suddenly clicked.

Nick’s gaze shot to Isadora, then to Demetrius again—neither of whom were looking at him—then finally back to Callia. “Someone tell me this is a practical joke.”

An eerie silence settled over the room.

“Seriously,” Nick said, looking from face to face. “This isn’t funny.”

“Do you see Orpheus in the room anywhere?” Zander muttered. “If this were a joke, that lunatic would be here dragging it out, loving every minute of it. This is no joke, man.”

No way. Nick’s chest stretched tight as a drum. No way they were implying that the only way to save Isadora’s life was for him to…

He took a big step back and rested his suddenly sweaty hands on his hips, unable to even think the words. Yeah, there might have been a time when he’d considered it, even fantasized about it because the soul mate curse had been tormenting him and seeing Isadora so happy with his brother had been like a knife to the chest, but no way in hell would he ever have acted on it.

His attention shot toward Demetrius. “You, of all people, can’t be listening to this insanity. Please, Demetrius, for the love of all that’s holy, tell me this is a fucking joke.”
 

Demetrius’s feet stilled. His back was to Nick, and he didn’t turn to face him. But every muscle in his body was clenched and rigid, and the way he reached up, the way he grabbed a fistful of his dark hair and pulled hard, as if he were trying to will away reality with pain, reignited those vibrations all along Nick’s scars.

“It’s not a joke,” Theron said in a hard voice to Nick’s left. “Every Argonaut knows the power of sex.”

Nick cringed. Holy fuck, someone had actually said it. Just the use of the word made his stomach roll and all of this seem that much more real. And fucking deranged.

“Sex solidifies the soul mate bond,” Theron went on. “It’s how we each knew who our soul mate was, without doubt. Callia’s right. The soul mate bond is the strongest force out there. And your newfound god powers are fucking with that bond in a negative way. No one’s saying this has to be a repeat event. Once was all it took to save Atalanta’s life, and since she was your mother, once should be all that’s needed here.”

The leader of the Argonauts made it sound like they were talking about swapping recipes, not Nick
fucking his brother’s wife
.

That dark energy inside rumbled to life with a burst of excitement, but Nick fought it back. Raking a hand through his hair, he grabbed his own damn locks, wanting a little pain to dull the throbbing in his skull.

“If this is a”—gods almighty, he couldn’t believe he was saying this—“a sperm issue—”

“It’s not a sperm issue,” Callia said. “It has nothing to do with fertility or even biology. That’s why the blood transfusion didn’t work. It’s about solidifying a bond. A connection. One that balances energy.”

Holy shit. They really did expect him to have sex with Isadora. Everyone in the room was waiting for him to say yes as if it were no big deal. He glanced toward Isadora. She still hadn’t met his eyes, just kept flicking worried glances toward Demetrius. But just the fact she wasn’t freaking out told him she’d either already accepted this insanity or wasn’t about to make a scene in front of her family and friends.

Disbelief rushed through him. How the hell could she accept it? He shot a look at Demetrius, who was still fucking pacing. How the hell could he? They were in love. Madly in love. He’d seen it up close and personal. This wasn’t something two people in love would ever agree to.

He wasn’t doing it. He couldn’t. Now that he knew what love felt like, he couldn’t—wouldn’t—do anything to jeopardize theirs.

Nick’s gaze shifted to the windows in search of Cynna. Only she wasn’t there. He looked around the room but couldn’t find her. She’d left. At some point when he’d been wrapped up in all this nonsense, she’d slipped out, and he hadn’t even noticed.

Panic pushed at his chest. Had she left before or after they’d decided he needed to sleep with Isadora, the one person Cynna hated more than anyone else in the world?

“I…I’m not doing this.” Nick turned for the door. “This is nuts. You are all fucking nuts.”

Footsteps shuffled behind him. Theron called, “Wait.” But Nick ignored him. He needed to get out of this crazy house before he went completely insane himself.

Zander lurched forward and put his big body between Nick and the door, blocking Nick’s exit.

“Move,” Nick said, ready to be done with this.

“No, you
are
doing this.” Zander’s eyes shifted to a dark, stormy gray, one that indicated his legendary rage was just waiting to be set free.

As if Nick freakin’ cared. He had his own darkness to deal with. “No, I’m not. And none of you can make me.”

He moved to step around Zander, but the guardian slapped a hand on Nick’s chest and pushed him back. “This isn’t just about you. People are going to die if you don’t do the right thing.”

“Zander,” Callia said softly from the opposite side of the room.

“No,
thea
. He needs to know the fucking truth.”

“And what truth is that?” Nick tossed back, that shadow energy now a roaring thunder in his veins. “That you’re all fucked in the head because you want me to screw my brother’s wife? I’m sorry, but I’m not into your sick and twisted games.”

“No.” Zander blocked Nick’s path, still not letting him by. “This is the truth. If Isadora dies, so do Callia and Casey, because they’re linked through the Horae. And I’ll be gone too, since my mate is my weakness. But forget about me. Forget about what this will do to my children or Isadora’s child, or even Casey’s baby, if it survives. Have you ever seen what happens to an Argonaut when he loses his mate?”

Ari’s insanity flashed in Nick’s mind. The crazed look in his eyes. His thirst for vengeance. His unpredictability and irrational recklessness.

“Theron and Demetrius won’t be of any use anymore if they lose Casey and Isadora. That leaves, what? Orpheus, Gryphon, and a handful of other guys to protect the human realm? Orpheus is unpredictable at best. Gryphon’s still pretty well fucked in the head from being your parents’ plaything in Tartarus. And the other guys are tough as shit, but how effective can they be without the rest of us to back them up? And what happens if Argolea loses its queen? Did you stop for one minute to think about that? The Council will rush in and abolish the monarchy. Isadora’s daughter will never be allowed to rule. And your people… Just what the hell do you think the Council is going to do to the Misos when Isadora isn’t here to protect them? When we’re not around to help her?”

A cold chill settled hard in the center of Nick’s chest. He knew exactly what the Council would do. The same damn thing they’d tried to do to him. Only his people weren’t half as strong as he’d been, even as a child. They’d never survive.

A buzzing sounded all through his ears. One that sent his stomach swirling.

“This isn’t just about you.” Zander dropped his hand from Nick’s chest. “This isn’t even about sex. This is bigger than all of us. If you were half the leader your people think you are, you’d man up and do the right thing this time and save them like you should have done before.”

Nick’s gaze shot up, and all that rolling darkness surged forward. “Why, you son of a—”

“All right, enough,” Isadora pushing to her feet. “Zander, you’ve said your piece, now back off. This isn’t Nick’s problem, it’s ours. And this isn’t his fault, so stop heaping blame where it doesn’t belong. If you want to blame someone, blame the gods. Nick.” Her voice gentled, just a touch. But it was still strained, telling him she was just as anxious about this whole nightmare as he was. “No one’s telling you what you need to do, least of all me. As far as I’m concerned, this is one gigantic mess with no right or wrong solution.”

She stepped back from the table, looking even thinner than she’d appeared yesterday when Nick had arrived in Argolea. “I’m going upstairs to check on my daughter.” She glanced toward Demetrius, and Nick couldn’t help but see the hurt and lingering fear in her eyes. “If anyone needs me, you know where to find me.”

She stalked past Nick, then disappeared into the hall. As silence settled over the room, Zander moved back, but he didn’t cut his glare from Nick. And Nick knew everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to say something, to do something, to make it all right. But he didn’t know what the fuck to do. And all he could think about was getting to Cynna, where things made sense.
 

He moved out into the hall, and headed for the stairs. This time, thankfully, no one tried to stop him.
 

“Niko, wait.”

Fuck.

Nick stilled at the sound of Demetrius’s voice. With one hand on the banister, he slowly turned to face his brother.

Shadows covered Demetrius’s face, but as he drew closer, Nick saw what he’d missed in Isadora’s office because the guardian had been looking away the whole time. Agony. Pure, unrestrained agony. The kind that could rip a person apart. The kind Nick had seen on so many prisoners’ faces in Zagreus’s lair.

“You have to do this.”

Nick let go of the banister. “No. Just…no.”

“She’s going to die. I can’t save her. Only you can. You have to.”

Nick pinched his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. “Holy shit. Do you realize what you’re asking me to do?”

“I know exactly what I’m asking,” Demetrius said in a low voice. “Do I hate it? You fucking bet I do. But she’s running out of time, and I can’t stop it. We’ve tried everything. I need her to live, Niko. Elysia needs her to live. This country needs her to live. And if that means I have to share her with you”—he swallowed hard as if just the thought sickened him, which Nick knew it had to—“then I’ll do it. I’ll do anything to save her.”

Nick dropped his hand, still unable to believe—unwilling to accept—that Demetrius was asking him…no begging him…to…

Shit
.

He leveled a look on his brother. “No one in that damn office mentioned the elephant in the room. If the soul mate bond is affecting her in the opposite way, you know what could happen. You know what might result.”

Demetrius’s dark gaze never wavered from Nick’s. “The soul mate bond amplifies emotional entanglements. Yeah. I know.”

“Which means she could fall in love with me.”

Demetrius’s jaw ticked.
 

“And you’re okay with that?” Nick asked, wide-eyed.

“No, I’m not fucking okay with it,” Demetrius snapped. “But I don’t have a damn choice here. It’s either this or death. And I can’t—I won’t—lose her. You have to do this. She’ll be in the red suite, on the fifth floor at nine o’clock. I’ll make sure she’s there.”

“Tonight?” Nick stepped back. “Holy fuck. Isn’t that like rushing things just a little?”

“You want her to suffer? Because that’s all you’re doing by making her wait.”

“What if everyone in that room is wrong?”

“They’re not. You and I both know deep inside this is about the soul mate curse. I can feel it. I know you can too. She grows weaker every hour. There’s no telling how long she has left. If the stress on her body gets to be too great, it could push her into cardiac arrest. Callia’s given me every gruesome detail, and I can’t… I don’t…” He drew in a shaky breath. “Meet her tonight and finish this, Niko.”

There was a time, not all that long ago, when Nick would have relished those words from his estranged brother, but not now. This wasn’t any kind of victory. And he knew if he agreed to this, none of them were going to walk away unscathed.

Nick closed his eyes. He’d gladly trade time in Zagreus’s torture chambers for this fucked-up mess. “I don’t want this. I don’t…want to hurt you.”

“Then don’t let her die. Do the right thing.”

Holy hell. Nick didn’t know what the right thing was anymore. He didn’t want anyone to die, not his people, not Casey and Callia, and especially not Isadora. But this… What they were all asking him to do…

Pressure built in his chest, made him feel like he was being sucked under a rolling, brutal wave. He needed Cynna. Needed to see her and touch her. Needed her to center him, like she’d always been able to do. Needed her to tell him what the hell he was supposed to do next.

“I’ll…”
Fuck
. He couldn’t believe he was actually about to say it. “I’ll think about it.”

“Don’t think too long,” Demetrius said as Nick turned for the stairs. “Our soul mate doesn’t have much time.”