Chapter Nine #2
Crispin was absolutely terrified of Zander.
He was waiting for him to condemn him for not doing more to save Kami over the years, but he was a victim, too.
Actually, the Goddess of Illusions had done her best to completely destroy him.
And when that didn’t work, she had tried to kill him.
He had only survived by staying far away from the Winter Kingdom and remaining out of her reach.
He loved his sisters, but he had always thought of himself as more of a hindrance than an asset.
He wasn’t a fighter, nor was he particularly useful as anything but a healer.
While his siblings excelled in leadership, always ready to defend their loved ones and take decisive action, Crispin often felt overshadowed by their boldness and bravery.
He had spent most of his life honing his skills in medicine, focusing on the art of healing rather than confrontation.
Zander mentally sighed. Hurting Crispin would be like hurting a tiny, defenseless animal. And that was something even he wouldn’t do.
Kami sent him an impression of her laughing, which helped ease the last of his ire. “A defenseless animal? You can never say that to him out loud.”
“I didn’t plan to. Forgive me, mate. I deviated from our plan.”
“You sure did,” she agreed with a chuckle. “But I don’t mind since you did it for me. You should give them the fruit and smooth things over.”
“The Tree of Life gifted you the fruit.”
“But we are a unit now, so what’s mine is yours and all that.”
While her words amused him, he was also touched. She wanted him to use the fruit as an offering so her family and friends wouldn’t be so afraid of him. Since that was the case, he was willing to comply.
He allowed Kami to pull him toward the table as he listened to her internal debate on how to introduce him. She decided that listing all of his titles might scare the crap out of them, so she went with the basics.
Wrapping her arms around one of his, she sent the group a cheerful smile. “This is my mate, Zander.”
He nodded in response to their tentative smiles and half-hearted waves of greeting.
Unsure how to present the gift, he manifested the two pieces of magical fruit they had received from the Tree of Life into his hand and set them on the table.
When everyone just stared at the glowing fruit like they were bombs waiting to go off, he sighed.
“A first meeting gift,” he explained. “Fruit from the Tree of Life. One for you, and the other one is for Nick and Bianca Frost. It might help them recover faster.”
“What the—?” Micah gasped.
“The Tree of Life?” Jackie asked breathlessly. “Like, the real Tree of Life?”
“Yes. That’s a long story,” Kami said, hedging a bit. “Try the fruit. It’s really good.”
“You actually ate fruit from the Tree of Life?” Kellen asked.
She nodded. “Don’t worry. It won’t hurt you to try it. I actually felt great after taking a bite. The taste is surprisingly sweet and light. It’s almost what I imagine ambrosia tastes like.”
“It is ambrosia,” Zander corrected.
She turned to gape at him. “Really? I…hmm.”
When he just continued to stand there, Kami pulled him toward a chair and pushed at his large shoulders in a hint to sit down. Instead, he swept her off her feet and gently placed her down on the chair. Once she was settled, he sat down on the seat next to her.
“Should we…?” Crispin asked, gesturing toward the fruit.
Micah shrugged. “I’m game.”
Picking up a knife, he cut the pear-shaped fruit into pieces. After a brief moment of hesitation, he offered the first piece to Jackie.
She popped the piece into her mouth and chewed. “Oh, wow. That’s really good. It tastes like fresh honey.”
“It tastes like spun sugar to me,” Micah said after eating a piece.
“That’s odd. I think it taste like chocolate,” Lia informed them.
“Cotton candy,” Kellen said as he chewed.
“I would agree with Jackie, and say honey,” Crispin finally said. “That’s amazing! A few seconds ago, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes opened, but now I feel like I could run a marathon.”
Kami thought the fruit tasted like salted caramel. Since everyone said something different, she figured everyone tasted their favorite sweet treat. She guessed it really was ambrosia, the food of the gods.
“I remember what else you thought tasted like salted caramel,” Zander purred through their bond.
“Don’t you dare say that out loud!”
He chuckled. “I wasn’t planning to, beloved.”
“Thank you for the amazing gift.” Pleasantries done, Jackie wasted no time starting the interrogation. “Where have you been, Kami? I’ve been trying to call you for hours. I can’t believe you hung up on me!”
“Zander took me to his home.” Kami laughed lightly. “You only called for a few hours? I can’t believe you gave up so easily.”
Jackie’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean? You only disappeared this afternoon. I was just about to start calling you again after we finished dinner.”
Kami blinked in confusion, then she remembered what Mali had told her.
With everything that had been going on, she had completely forgotten about the whole time difference thing.
She still wasn’t sure exactly how that worked, but they had obviously been gone a lot longer than a few hours.
It had been days since the reapers had woken up in the Realm of Illusions.
“About that…” At a loss for words, she glanced over at Zander.
“Time works differently where we live,” he said simply.
That wasn’t much of an explanation, and clearly, the others weren’t amused.
“What the hell does that mean?” Micah asked, sounding perplexed.
“I thought you were somewhere in the Hell Realm,” Kellen added. “Isn’t that what Braxton said?”
Micah shook his head. “That was just a guess.”
Kami was unsure what she was allowed to say. She didn’t want to give away any information about the In Between if Zander didn’t want her to. It was his home, after all.
“It is your home as well,” he corrected. “We live in the In Between, a realm that exists beyond the six realms.”
Lia’s eyes widened. “There’s another realm? Why do more of those keep popping up? That’s just weird. Why the hell is it called the six realms then?”
“I know, right? I said the same thing.” Kami beamed a smile at her. “Who knows how many other realms are just floating around out there. And I still don’t know what to do with mine.”
“I thought you said you were going to just forget about it. Without a power source, it should just disappear, right?” Kellen asked.
Zander shook his head. “The Goddess of Illusions needed a power boost to create and expand the Realm of Illusions, but now that it is fully formed, it will remain as is.”
“I’m not sure I’m happy about that news,” Kami admitted.
Before she could say anything else, Devlin Excess teleported into the great hall.
The male was impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit the color of dark smoke, a white shirt, and a black paisley tie.
His clothing was modern and perfectly tailored, but the white sword he was brandishing was clearly an ancient relic.
The combination seemed odd, but somehow, it worked for him.
His eyes glowed pure white, reminding Kami exactly who he was.
Conquest, the rider of the white horse.
“There you are, you bastard!”
Zander pushed away from the table and slowly rose to his feet. His eyes turned pure blazing red, and he held out his hand, summoning his own weapon from the room back in the In Between. When the red sword materialized in his hand, its blade pulsed with a mysterious glow.
Moving fast, Zander and Devlin came together in a fierce battle.
The clash of metal rang throughout the great hall, and sparks flew with every impact, illuminating their determined faces.
Zander moved with calculated intensity, his strikes precise and forceful, while Devlin countered with fluid agility, meeting each attack with equal skill.
They were magnificently terrifying.
Alarmed, everyone at the table stood up the moment the battle had begun. Everyone but Kami, who remained in her seat admiring her mate’s glorious body as he moved. He really was the perfect God of War. She lifted the glass of fairy wine Crispin had set in front of her and took a long sip.
“Umm, Kami? Your mate is kind of scary as hell,” Lia whispered.
“What’s going on?” Jackie demanded. “Why are they trying to kill each other?”
“They’re not,” Kami denied, watching the fight.
“That’s Devlin Excess,” Micah said. “What is he doing here? And why are their eyes glowing like that? Don’t tell me they change their eyes to freak people out like Lucifer does.”
“No, that is their normal color.”
“I’ve never seen glowing eyes like that before,” Kellen pointed out. Crossing his massive arms, he said, “Spill it, Kam. What is going on?”
“They aren’t fighting. Not really. Trust me, those two are closer than brothers.”
“That…is difficult to believe,” Crispin said with a wince as the fighting continued across the room. “Seriously, Kami. Who in the world are you mated to?”
“War.”
“We already know he is the God of War,” Jackie stressed.
“Why are your eyes and hair so different now?” Lia asked.
“And what’s up with your mating mark?” Kellen added. “Why is it so dark?”
“That’s because it was made with source magic.”
“Kami,” Jackie growled in frustration. “Stop being so evasive. What is going on?”
She sighed as she realized it was time to confess. “My mate isn’t just the God of War. He is War, one of the Four Horsemen, a Keeper of the Seal, and a god born straight from the magical source. But you can call him brother-in-law.”