Savage

Chapter 11

Myone knew this was all kinds of forbidden, and yet she had to know Xev was all right. She hadn’t seen or heard from him in what seemed like forever.

Desperate, she knocked on the door of his room.

There was a muffled sound inside, but she couldn’t quite make it out.

Go home.

That was the sanest thing. Too bad it wasn’t in her to leave without an answer. So she pushed open the door.

The room was uncomfortably warm. The windows were shut, and it appeared as if no one had been here.

Until her gaze went to the bed.

Xev lay there, sweating.

She moved to stand over his inert body. “Are you all right?”

He remained as still as a corpse. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I know.” But she was so relieved he was in his bed, and alive. “I had to make sure you were all right.”

Snorting, he rolled over to show her that he was anything but.

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the bruises marring his face and bare torso. “What happened?”

“Motherly affection.” He brushed his thumb over his swollen bottom lip.

Feeling terrible for him, she sat beside him on the mattress and brushed the hair back from his battered forehead. “I wish I could get you away from her.”

“It’s fine. I did what I set out to do.”

She scowled at his odd words. “What was that?”

“Infuriate her.”

Myone sat back and shook her head. “Maybe that shouldn’t be your goal.”

Sitting up, he snorted. “I can think of nothing better. Other than having you come check on me.” He wrinkled his nose then cursed in pain. “Maybe have you kiss some boo-boos.”

“You’re silly.”

Xev took her hand in his. Only for her was he ever silly. Anyone else…he was deadly.

Although, at the moment, he didn’t think he could fasten his own sword belt, never mind hurt someone.

But Myone was here. To have her look at him like this, he’d endure a thousand maternal encounters.

“Daraxerxes?”

He cursed silently at the sound of Jaden’s voice and the loud banging on his door. “It’s my father,” he whispered.

“I’ll come back later.” She vanished just as Jaden pushed the door open.

“Did I hear voices?”

Xev shrugged. “Why are you asking me? I don’t know what sounds play in your head.”

“You’re not funny.”

“I think I’m hysterical.”

Jaden scowled as he finally focused his attention on Xev’s damaged body. “What happened to you?”

“Ran afoul of the nightmare that birthed me. Thank you so much for that, by the way. You just had to get frisky with her, didn’t you?”

He actually appeared sympathetic. “I’m sorry.”

Hollow words. Especially since Xev knew his father didn’t really care what happened to him. “We’re all sorry for something. And I know that’s not why you’re here. Care to enlighten me?”

Jaden sighed. “I know who the father of Braith’s child is.”

Xev didn’t move as he waited for his father to continue. When he didn’t, Xev prompted him, “And…?”

“I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Why are you bothering me?” Was he seeking a conscience? “There’s nothing to do. Leave her alone and let her raise her child in peace.”

“You make it sound as if that’s an easy thing to do.”

Just like a Primal. They were forever meddling in things they should leave alone.

Like Xev’s life.

He sighed. “It is. Just pretend you know nothing and go about your business.”

“Is that what you do?”

Now his father had lost him. “How do you mean?”

Jaden’s mismatched gaze intensified. “I know you keep things from me.”

“Yeah, well. You’re not special. I keep them from everyone.” Except Myone. He loved her to distraction, and there was no need to keep anything from her. She never judged or held them against him.

Unlike his father. Xev didn’t dare tell him anything, as he had no idea how his father would react to any given thing he said, thought, or did.

Jaden shook his head. “I know my siblings. They’re not going to let this go. They will punish Braith for this.”

“Why?”

“Because they know what she’s capable of. The last thing they want is another person having power over her.”

What could a Sephiroth do? They didn’t plot mischief. He’d yet to meet one who schemed.

It was part of what made them so damn boring. And irritating.

And what made him treasure Myone most of all. She was never conniving or vicious. All they did was compliment each other.

Be nice. If only the rest of the world could be so decent, they’d all be better off.

“I don’t see the harm in leaving her in peace.”

Stepping further into his room, Jaden drew up a chair so that he could sit beside Xev’s bed. “Neither do I, but the others won’t chance it.”

Xev ground his teeth in irritation. After all this time, his father finally wanted a bedside chat. Seriously?

“So why does that bring you here?”

Jaden met his curious gaze. “I want to know from you how hard is it to be a child of light and dark.”

Xev had to bite back a snide quip that he knew would cause his father to explode and probably beat him even worse than Azura had. “Don’t you know?”

Jaden scowled at him. “Of course not. How would I?”

Xev looked away. Say nothing.

“What do you know?” Jaden asked.

Don’t say it, Xev’s mind repeated.That was the smartest thing to do. Unless he wanted to live with Azura again…and he most definitely did not.

But if he didn’t answer, his father wouldn’t let it go.

“Xev?”

He had to say something. So he decided to hedge a bit. “How often you slum with demons.” Hence the birth of Malphas.

But Mal’s mother wasn’t the only demon Jaden had trifled with. “Why would a light god be so determined to hang out with demons?”

Jaden’s gaze narrowed. “You have a theory?”

“I have an opinion.”

“And that is?”

“That the demons we know and love were born from you.”

Jaden paled. “What makes you think that?”

Think, nothing. Xev wasn’t stupid. It was common sense. “I know for a fact that they’re not from Azura. Someone had to create them.” Who better than his father?

“There’s always Noir.”

Xev chuckled. “No. He’s more monster than Azura. There’s nothing in him that could create a benevolent race that can turn as vicious as a god. No reason why he’d bother.”

The demons were as at odds as Jaden’s eyes.

“I didn’t birth them, I promise you.”

Xev hadn’t accused him of birthing them. He’d accused him of creating them.

Wordplay. His father was good at that. Cam wouldn’t have bothered. Xev knew Braith hadn’t done it, nor had Rezar, and Lilit had created her own special creatures.

That left his father. No one else would have bothered.

Jaden scratched at his ear. “I have another question for you.”

“That is?”

“When this war breaks, whose side will you be on?”

That was an easy question to answer, and Xev was offended that Jaden would even ask it. “Whichever side opposes Azura.”

Jaden nodded. “I don’t blame you. And you still haven’t answered my original question. How much of her blood is inside you?”

“What do you really want me to say? That I never feel the need to lash out and hurt something? That I only try to do good? Even if that were true, would you believe my answer?”

Jaden looked away.

“Exactly. If you’re asking me how much of Braith’s genetics this child will inherit, I have no idea. I imagine, like all creatures, he will be good and bad. The spirit that will sustain him will be whatever spirit’s fed the most.”

“Meaning?”

“If his mother hates him and teaches him hatred from birth, then he will know nothing of kindness or goodness. That hatred will be all he knows and all he practices.”

“That was all your mother taught you, and yet you’re not a monster. I’ve seen you do good. Be good. All the time you’ve spent here, you’ve never once struck out at anyone.”

Nice of his father to finally admit that he’d been spying on him. Not that Xev hadn’t known it.

No one, other than Myone, had ever trusted him without question. Not that he blamed his brothers for their mistrust.

Still…

His father shouldn’t hold his birth against him, since he’d had no say in his own conception.

“My mother wasn’t Azura. I was birthed by that bitch you chose, who cast me out to die while I was still wet from being born. But I was cared for and nurtured by another.”

“You never speak of that.”

Maybe not to him. “I refuse to sully her memory by talking about her lightly. She’s sacred to me and will always remain that way. She died protecting me. I would give my life today if it would return her to the living. She didn’t deserve what she got. And it infuriates me to this day that I wasn’t able to save her.”

Jaden actually winced. “I’m sorry. I never wanted your life to be so difficult.”

“I never wanted a life at all.” Because it had been nothing other than misery and misfortune from the moment he’d drawn his first breath and hadn’t been smart enough to not expel it and refuse to draw another.

All he’d ever known was misery.

Except for the few moments whenever he was with Myone. Like his Inari mother, she brought him warmth and comfort.

Xev rubbed his thumb over the split on his lip and winced at the pain. Hoping to be rid of the paternal unit he’d rather not deal with, he answered Jaden’s question. “There’s no way of knowing how her child will be or what powers he’ll hold. All I can tell you is the best way to keep him sane is to befriend him and show him something other than cruelty.”

“If that doesn’t work?”

“Guess between him and Braith, we’ll have our asses handed to us.”

Jaden raked his hands through his long, dark hair. “You really think he’ll have more powers than we do?”

Xev shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m not as worried about him as I am Braith. Do you think you and your two snub buddies have the power to control her?”

Jaden frowned. “Snub buddies?”

“Cam and Rezar.” The other two gods who walked around acting as if they were better than everyone else. Especially their other four siblings they detested.

“Rezar’s powers equal hers.”

Xev burst out laughing. “Glad you think that. But if I were laying odds, my money says she’d mop the floor with all three of you. Wring it out, then finish off Lilit, Noir, and Azura just for fun.”

“Why do you say that?” Jaden asked.

“The one thing I learned in my childhood from Azura was the power of hatred. Never underestimate it.”

Jaden scoffed. “The power of love is far greater.”

His father was even dumber than Xev had thought. “Say fools and philosophers who’ve never really been screwed over. Believe me, I’ve known love, and it will inspire and has its place, but nothing, and I do mean absolutely nothing, tops hatred for spurring someone into action. Braith’s love for that child and its father is what will keep her weak. She will be too afraid of losing them to do anything to anger her siblings where they’re concerned. Take my word on this. Do whatever you can to make sure she lives in happy bliss with them.”

“Why?”

“Because if anything interferes with her love and takes it away, then you’ll face the unrelenting, absolute hatred I’m talking about. Don’t make it so that she has nothing left to lose. Because if they’re gone, then none of you will have any ability to control her. You will all die, screaming in agony.”

“We can’t die—we’re immortal.”

“Are you?”

Jaden stood up, and this time Xev saw the fear in his eyes. “What do you know?”

“That eternal death was born alongside the seven of you. He hides, but he’s here. Are you absolutely sure that not even the great Primals are able to defeat him?” He left out the part about Lilit. Because he really wondered what had happened with Lombrey and her.

If Lombrey went after them, what would happen now? Would Lombrey lose, or would the Primals die?

Did anyone want to take that chance?

The color faded from Jaden’s cheeks. “I thought that was a myth.”

“I’ve met him. Pray you don’t.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, Father. I’d never threaten you.”

Jaden returned his chair to the table then paused. “Your mother and Rezar are demanding the name of the father. Do you think I should tell them?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“How suicidal you’re feeling. If you know nothing else, you know Braith’s temper. As brave as I like to think I am, and as suicidal as I know I am, I haven’t breathed a word of it. ’Cause the one thing I do know…You betray her and you will regret it.”