Chapter 93
Chapter Ninety-Three
SEBASTIAN
There comes a time in a male’s life, no matter how long he lives, when he needs to admit defeat.
That time has come to me now.
There is nothing I can say or do to make April see reason, so as always, I switch tactics. She wasn’t wrong when she said I love playing my games and placing pieces together ahead of time, so that when the moment comes, I have full control of the outcome.
Then I met her.
It all went to shit from there.
All my hard-earned control, all the plans, everything turned on its head, bringing me here.
I can push her harder. I can even throw her over my shoulder and take her away kicking and screaming.
She might even fight me and kill me in her anger, but it will be worth it if it keeps her alive.
What stills my impulse to whisk her away is only one thing.
She will be disappointed.
That more than anything chains my urge to deal with the situation like the barbarian she says I am. I know she needs this or the betrayal she carries will fester and stew until it spills out on all of us and burns us to ashes. I’ll just have to stay on top of things and make sure she survives.
I’ll deal with the aftermath later.
Much, much later if you ask me.
Her hand stiffens where she holds my fingers the second Eshe steps out of the shadows she was wrapping around herself.
April might not think that the ancient female will stab her in the back, but I’ve seen it happen too many times to not take it into consideration.
While she and April are focused on each other, I glance at Marcus, jerking my chin up in a subtle move.
He nods in understanding.
While I make sure April doesn’t get hurt, he will keep an eye on Eshe. It’s all we can do right now.
“It’s a nest in there,” Eshe mumbles, glancing back at the building over her shoulder. “They are everywhere, like roaches crawling all over the place.”
“That’s fine,” April dismisses her worries, intent on getting this done now.
A bad feeling erodes my gut, burning its way up to my gullet.
“They may have magic, but don’t forget they are only human,” she argues her decision, but the nonchalance is a little too forced. “We are faster, stronger, and let’s hope smarter.” That last part is aimed at me.
“Indeed,” Eshe agrees. “We just need to make sure we stay away from the magic when they fling it at us.”
“I don’t think they’ll use that green blast like they’ve done twice now,” Marcus adds his two cents, and I glare at him.
“They might be willing to sacrifice a dozen or so of their own as we’ve seen, but here, if they release it, the theater will be a tomb of mass suicide.
All of us will be gone, including them.” He rolls one shoulder in a shrug.
“Fools, the lot of you.” I do not have his confidence. “Underestimating them will be the death of us.”
The air ripples around us and becomes denser, tightening in a bubble to encompass the area we stand in.
My eyes snap to Eshe’s face, and she looks back, unapologetically daring me to call her out on this tidbit of power I did not know she possessed.
She closed off the area so no one could hear us, not even if they stand close but outside of the circle.
Marcus and I glance at each other then, a silent communication passing between us. If she’s capable of this, then why didn’t she use it the night before when April was planning her solo mission through the tunnels. She could’ve made sure I knew nothing about it.
It’s almost as if she wanted me to know and follow behind them.
To what end? The muscle twitching under Marcus’s eye tells me his thoughts are going in the same direction.
Eshe is playing a dangerous game, and ancient or not, I will carve the heart from her chest slowly if she does anything to harm April.
Turning my attention back to her, I make sure she sees the promise in my eyes.
You harm her, you die a gruesome death, my stare conveys, and the bitch has the audacity to smirk and offer a barely perceptible jerk of her head.
“No one is underestimating anyone, Sebastian.” Oblivious to what is happening between the three of us, April waves a hand at me to stop my complaints. “We are just making sure they don’t come up with new plans and fuck us over. We strike first.”
“So much for secrecy,” she tells Eshe dryly. “I guess the cat is out of the bag now.” Referring to the silence Eshe ensured, she casts a wary glance my way.
I refuse to be sidetracked or let things go, so I give it one last-ditch effort.
“That scum in there”—stabbing a finger at the theater, my upper lip curls into a snarl, baring my fangs—“is the most dangerous right now, unlike dealing with them to this point.”
“Did they grow two heads?” She can mock me till kingdom come, but she needs to hear it.
“Think about what we are doing, Tesoro.” Lowering my tone, I resort to pleading.
It’s not just her safety that worries me.
It’s what she is capable of when she feels cornered.
None of us know the full extent of her powers yet, and that can bite us in the ass at the end when it matters the most. More than protecting her from the mages or any other enemy, I have to do all I can to save her from herself.
“All of them are there,” I continue, taking hold of her hand and ignoring everyone around us. “Those that are important to their cast are in that building, and we are surrounding them from all sides.” She waits at least, instead of telling me to fuck off, as is her way.
“They will fight with everything they have, and that … that makes them worthy of notice. When they see there is no way out, the tides will shift because they will have nothing left to lose. An enemy with nothing to lose, drowning in desperation, is the most dangerous of them all.”
April searches my face for a long moment, and a hush falls over us, more oppressive than the dense air of the silence bubble Eshe placed us in.
Holding my breath, I do not dare to hope I’ve penetrated the need to extract her own justice that she wears like an armor.
So, I wait and let her come to her decision.
Either way, despite my insistent demands, I will follow wherever she goes.
At least she is considering what I said in earnest, her head tilted slightly to the side.
The ancient soul she carries inside her peers at me through her irises, searching, accessing and hopefully not finding me lacking for showing a weakness.
Marcus is stiff as a board next to us, not daring to breathe, as well, while Eshe doesn’t show any emotion.
Her hands hang loose at her sides, one hip cocked, and she is watching everything unfold like it doesn’t matter to her one way or another.
“I think you are wrong, lover.” April softens her words with a small curl of her lips.
Giving my fingers a reassuring squeeze, she turns her gaze to the theatre, her eyes going distant as if she can see through the walls into the belly of the structure. She’s silent for a moment, and then she speaks, shutting me up like no one ever in all my centuries.
“What you say is true, and I’ve heard it many times referenced while I was struggling to stay alive and hidden. I believed it too, until not that long ago.”
Her head turns and she looks straight at Marcus, sadness clouding her gaze, and one side of her mouth twitches in a smile she doesn’t manage to offer him.
The bond we share, April and I, is the reason I do not get crazed when I see the unmistakable closeness she and Marcus share.
It’s the same with Andrei, the kinship the three of them formed solidifying with each obstacle we’ve all come across.
She needs them.
They need her as well.
“Now, Sebastian, I know different.” Facing the theater again, she ignores Eshe for some reason, keeping her tone low as if sharing a secret. “Having nothing to lose makes them a worthy adversary. I can’t deny you that truth. Yet, they should fear me more, I promise you that.”
“You are not a monster, if that’s what you are trying to say, Tesoro.” Tugging on her arm, I pull her back to my chest, wrapping my arms around her body. “You will never be a monster.”
“That’s debatable.” She chuckles, but there is no humor in it. She doesn’t pull away from me, either.
“That’s not where I was going with it, however.” Tilting her face up to look at mine, she wiggles her fingers behind her, calling for Marcus.
He takes her hand without question, coming to stand at our side.
“The reason they should fear me, and why I’m the most dangerous creature that has ever walked this Earth for them, is because it’s not just my life I care about when I face them tonight.” Taking a deep breath, she turns from me to Marcus and back.
“It’s because I care that makes me someone they should run from screaming.
Because I do have something to lose. They will fight with despair born from the need to survive at all costs.
I, on the other hand, will fight with the desperation of someone that if I lose, not just my life but the lives of many will be lost. That’s too big of a burden to bear. ”
Stunned, Marcus and I stare at this small female with awe I have no doubt any of us have felt for another person before.
“While they will attack in copious recklessness, having nothing to lose, that will be their downfall. They’ll make mistakes, where I can’t afford to have any. And that makes me more dangerous than anything or anyone they’ve faced before.”
“Ti amo, mia redenzione.” The words spill from my mouth raw and hushed, yet it doesn’t feel like enough. Telling her I love her doesn’t feel adequate.
“I love you too.” April smiles, but the sadness is still rooted deep within her. “Remember how sweet you are later when you feel the need to be pissed at me, too.”
“I think I’m going to be sick from all this bullshit,” Eshe chirps, but her eyes glitter with unshed tears she’s trying to hide behind her “I don’t give a damn” attitude.
“Are we killing, or should we start running around offering everyone a hug?”
“Oh yeah.” Shading the melancholy like it was never there, April steps away from the circle of my arms, rolling her shoulders. “Kill first, I’ll give you a hug later.” She winks at Eshe, and then she’s gone.