Savage

Chapter 15

Something was wrong. Myone didn’t know what, but she couldn’t let it go.

Not now.

It’d been weeks since there had been any sign of Xev, and that wasn’t like him. He might miss a week. Maybe two.

But he always came back.

He’d missed her birthday. He wouldn’t do that. Not unless there was something really wrong.

Had they killed him?

Desperate, she made her way to his mother’s temple. Thankfully, it was night here. She pulled her cloak down low over her face and did her best to blend in to the shadows. What she wouldn’t give to have Xev’s abilities.

But they didn’t teach Sephirii how to sneak. They barely taught them stealth.

Xev would be so good at this.

Instead of swordplay, she should have had him teach her this. If she got him back, that would be their next lesson.

Skirting around the building, she tried to find a way in. Sadly, it was sealed up everywhere.

Think like Xev…

He’d go high. Removing the cloak, she flew up toward a balcony.

While many had lights, there was one in darkness. She headed there and landed carefully in the shadows, praying no one would see her. Someone shouted.

Myone froze.

Until she realized that they were just shouting, and not at her. Releasing a pent-up breath, she crept toward the door and tried the handle.

Luckily, it wasn’t locked. She cracked the door open as little as possible and slipped inside a dark bedroom. It took several seconds before her eyes adjusted and she could see the ornate bed and dark red bedding and curtains.

As quietly as she could, she made her way across the room, to another door. A faint light illuminated the bottom, and as she approached it, she slipped on something wet.

Thinking it was water, she looked down and realized there was a puddle of blood.

Bile hung in her throat as she saw the body of a demon sprawled over a rack.

This had to be Azura’s room.

Disgusted, she pressed her hand to her lips and lifted herself so that she wouldn’t track blood over the marble floor.

“Ugh!” No wonder Xev hated his mother so much. She was a monster.

Even more desperate now, she cracked open the door so that she could look down that hallway.

No one was there. Not in either direction.

That was good. But she had absolutely no idea where to go from here. Where would Xev be?

This was hopeless.

How could she even begin to help him?

The palace was enormous. Was he in a room? Or in another building?

How would she know?

Biting her lip, she tried to use her powers to locate him.

Nothing.

Not even a whisper. It was as if he’d never existed.

“Well, well. What have we here?”

Myone squeaked at the gruff voice in her ear.

A light flashed.

Using her powers, she teleported back to her room in Cam’s temple, hopefully before who or what had caught her saw who she was. Her heart pounded so fiercely in her chest that she feared it’d explode. For several minutes, she didn’t move as she waited for them to follow after her.

When they didn’t, she began to relax. Maybe, just maybe, she’d escaped unscathed.

But it didn’t ease her fear where Xev was concerned. If anything, it made it worse.

“Where are you, Dary?”

Would she ever see him again?

* * *

Several weeks later,Myone was still determined to find Xev. It’d been so long since his father had banished him, since she’d had any word of him, that she couldn’t stand it.

She was done with these games.

Heartbroken and needing to find some tangible proof that he’d existed, she teleported into Xev’s old room in Jaden’s temple. No one had been here in a long, long time. Even though his bed was covered with dust and cobwebs, it was neatly made. His personal items were right where he’d left them, as if waiting for his return.

But no one had touched them in all this time. It was as if he’d ceased to exist the day his father banished him, and everyone else had forgotten him.

It didn’t seem right that no one cared.

Even though she wasn’t supposed to be here, she flew to Malphas’s room a few doors down. Don’t do it.

Ignoring her inner voice of reason, Myone knocked politely on his door. “Malphas?”

He opened the door wearing nothing more than a simple loincloth. “What are you doing here?”

Myone glanced away, embarrassed by his meager clothing. “Have you any word or news about your brother Xev?”

He let out a long, tired sigh. “No. Nothing. You just need to leave it alone.”

Same answer from everyone.

Every time she’d tried to ask after him, she’d been told to leave it alone.

“Can I get a message to him?”

“No.”

The coldness of his tone chilled her. “What do you mean, no?”

Malphas let out a long, sad sigh. “Look, I’m sorry. There’s nothing to be done. I feel for you, but the best thing is to forget you ever met him.” He shut the door in her face.

Myone stood there in horror as she digested the news. Tears filled her eyes as she tried to imagine the nightmare Xev had been damned to.

Something had happened to him. She knew it. Otherwise, he’d have still been coming into her room at night to visit.

She knew Xev.

He needed help, and she was the only hope he had.

I have to find him.

But how? Her last attempt to find him had been disastrous. She still had no idea what demon had discovered her. There had to be some way…

She gasped as she remembered one way to find him.

“Shadow?”

At first, only silence answered her.

Then Shadow appeared by her side. “You rang?”

“No. I called you.”

He shook his head. “Yeah. What can I do for you, peaches?”

She frowned at his odd word. “Peaches?”

“Ignore me. I’m weird. Is there some reason you called for me?”

“I need to see Xev.”

He sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth. “Sorry, love. That’s beyond my pay grade.”

She tried to understand his words. But he was so frustrating with all the odd things he said. Sometimes she felt as if they were speaking entirely different languages. “What?”

“Can’t do it. Azura catches you there…Trust me, you don’t want that. Pulling the wings off your kind is her favorite hobby. You don’t want to give her a reason to hurt you. And she’s not any more fond of me, either. I don’t want to think about what she might pull off me if she finds me in her domain.”

It didn’t matter. “I have to see him.”

“Why?”

Because I love him, and I’m not about to abandon him the way the rest of you have. But she wasn’t about to answer that question with the truth. So she tried another tactic. “Please, Shadow? Can you not do this one favor for me?”

He growled deep in his throat. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. Batting those baby blues. Giving me that helpless, yet I’ll-kick-your-butt-if-you-don’t-do-this stare. I’m trying to keep us both alive.”

She batted her eyes at him again. Especially since he’d let her know that it was working. “I need to see him, Shadow…please.”

He shook his head. “I need all my body parts attached.”

“What if he’s hurt?”

He snorted. “Oh, I assure you, he’s hurt. There’s no chance she hasn’t hurt him.”

“Then how can you deny me?”

Shadow really wanted to tell her where to shove her request. But one look at her desperation and he understood why his brother was a complete idiot for her. The concern in her eyes touched him. He would kill to have someone care that much.

Yeah. He’d be a fool for her too. Poor Xev.

Myone was going to get them all killed.

Worse, he knew she was right. There was no telling what Azura had done to poor Xev.

Those nightmares had haunted him, too. More times than he could count, he’d wanted to do something, but there was nothing to be done. No one could barter with Azura. She definitely didn’t want anything to do with him. If he’d even tried, it would have only made things worse for Xev.

His mother hated him more than anyone. Just the sight of him sent her into an apoplectic rage. If she had any idea he cared about his brother, she’d worsen Xev’s punishment just to strike back at both of them. She was that psychotic.

No, she was that vicious.

But if Myone thought she could do something…

Maybe she could help. It was at least worth a try. Because Shadow couldn’t stand the thought of Xev suffering either.

“Fine.” He held his hand out to her.

She didn’t hesitate in placing her hand into his, trusting to an extreme he couldn’t fathom. Damn. He’d never been like that. Because no one has ever betrayed her.

She had no understanding of their nightmares.

No understanding of real brutality. What he wouldn’t give to know her world. To dream her untainted dreams.

Because of that, Shadow dreaded doing this. He didn’t want to open her eyes to the things they knew. To the horrors that haunted their existence. Like his brother, he wanted to preserve her innocence. To keep it sacred.

If only he could.

Trying not to think of all the grisly outcomes for them, he pulled her with him into his domain.

She gasped lightly but said nothing more as he took her through his dark domain, to the shadows where Xev was being kept in the lowest pit of Azura’s hell.

The moment they stepped into his cell, she let go of his hand to rush to where Xev lay naked on the filthy, cold ground. No pillow. No blanket. No sign of any kind of comfort, other than the scurrying vermin.

“Xev?”

Shadow winced at the condition his brother was in. Scrawny from hunger, Xev was less than half the size he’d been before. Almost every bone in his body was visible. His hair had grown long and tangled into snarls that would have to be cut, as there was no way to brush them out. All of his features were obscured by a thick, unkempt beard. And his wings…

They were all but plucked clean.

Shadow hated this for him.

Yeah, Jaden could be an ass. Xev still shouldn’t have handed him over to their mother.

That being said, Xev had been more than adequately punished. Shadow barely recognized his brother. This was not the warrior who’d stood by his side in battle.

And the moment Myone touched him, Xev let out a weak breath. “You can’t be here.”

“Neither can you.” She looked up at Shadow. “Can you get him out of here?”

Was she out of her mind? Azura would kill them all if they tried to remove him. “No.”

Her astonished look seared him all the way to his blackened soul. “No?”

“No,” he said firmly. “If I did that, our mother would demand he return and that we be punished alongside him. Trust me, it would only be worse for us all.” And for his own ass, which he really didn’t want to put in the heated compost. “The best thing anyone can do is stay away from Azura’s notice. Especially right now.”

Myone was aghast. “You really won’t help him?”

“I can’t, and neither can you.” Shadow went to Xev and met his agonized gaze. “I’m sorry, Xev. You know if I free you, it’ll only make it worse.”

“I know.”

Myone wept at how weak those words were.

Xev placed a hand on hers as if she were unspeakably precious. “You must leave…please. No one can find you here.”

She started to argue, until they heard a sound approaching from outside the door.

Shadow grabbed her and pulled her back into the darkness with him.

From there, she saw the demons coming to torture Xev even more.

Unable to stand it, she faced Shadow. “Get me out of here.”

He nodded then took her back to her own room in Cam’s temple. Without another word, he left her alone with the nightmare of Xev’s condition.

But Myone wasn’t finished. This wasn’t right. She had to get Xev out of there. No matter what it took. She wasn’t about to leave him to suffer like that.

A sudden solution came to her mind.

Apollymi.

She was the only one with the powers to quell Azura. The dark goddess terrified everyone.

Including me.

True, but what other choice did she have?

This was probably the dumbest thing she’d ever done in her life, aside from falling in love with Xev. Yet it was the only solution she could think of.

Terrified, she teleported to the goddess of destruction’s dark temple before her common sense could return and talk her out of this.

The huge marble complex was impressive.

And scary. It glistened in the dim light.

Apollymi’s Malachai army kept growing in size, and mixing with the Charonte demons who served her as well. They were everywhere in and around the temple. Three of the Charonte were in the goddess’s antechamber, where Apollymi sat on the floor, playing a game with her young son.

“No fair, Mama. You always win.”

“Not always, Kri. Sometimes I let you win.” Apollymi was returning the pieces to their engraved wooden box when she looked up at Myone.

The laughter in her gaze faded to hatred. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come on behalf of someone who once did you a favor…Xevikan.”

Apollymi went still for a second, then she looked at her son. “Kri? Can you give me a few minutes with this creature?”

He nodded. “Sure, Mama.”

She snapped her fingers for the three Charonte to accompany him as he left them alone. Rising to her feet, she used her powers to teleport the box to a shelf on her right.

Apollymi approached Myone slowly. “Why is he not here to ask for this favor himself?”

“He’s being held by your brother and sister. They’ve done unspeakable things to him.”

Fury ignited in her eyes. Her white hair turned black for a heartbeat before it returned to the color of snow. She hovered over the floor. “Thank you for letting me know.”

Before Myone could ask what that meant, the goddess vanished.

Even though it was against their rules, Myone used her powers to follow after Apollymi. She wanted to make sure Xev was taken care of, and honestly, she was curious where the goddess was off to.

It didn’t take long to find out.

Apollymi exploded into Azura’s throne room. The force of it splintered both Azura and Noir’s thrones and sent Azura careening. The smaller blue goddess landed in a heap against the far wall.

Noir instantly appeared in the room, where Myone was hidden in a corner by the shadows that Xev had once called home.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

Apollymi didn’t flinch as she faced him. “You dared to harm someone under my protection?”

Noir actually paled. “Wait? What? Who?”

Apollymi held her hand out and, using her powers, yanked Azura up from the floor, into her grasp.

Azura did her best to pry her grip loose, but Apollymi wouldn’t give.

“Release Daraxerxes. Now!”

Azura coughed. “He’s my son.” Her voice was weak and raspy.

“You never wanted him.”

“So?”

Apollymi grimaced then slapped her so hard it broke Azura’s nose. “You whore. You drop children like a bitch in heat and give them nothing. I despise you. Release him and never approach him again.”

Then she turned toward Noir. “Same for you. You are never to bother that boy again.”

“Why do you care?” Noir challenged. “He’s nothing to you.”

“He will be a tutor for my son, as he’s the only chaos god I seem to be able to trust. Bring him to me. Now!” That last word clapped in the room like thunder before a fierce storm.

A chill went up Myone’s spine at the command in Apollymi’s tone. How she wished she could do that. But she lacked the confidence of the older goddess. Apollymi knew her powers and position and wasn’t afraid of them.

No wonder her siblings were so terrified in her presence.

None of them possessed that level of confident fury.

Something proven when Noir immediately vanished to fetch Xev, proving he was every bit as terrified of Apollymi as Azura was.

Was that what made the elder goddess so feared? Could it simply be her fierce power, or was there something more? Had she done something to them early in their lives that caused them to fear her so?

Then again, they hadn’t feared her enough to spare Kissare from their wrath. Or maybe their actions now were because they’d killed him, and they knew Apollymi had every reason to harm them over their cruelty.

Whatever it was, they seemed all too eager to appease her now.

Noir brought Xev into the room and laid him at Apollymi’s feet.

To Myone’s astonishment, Apollymi knelt down by Xev’s side. There was actual sympathy in her eyes as she saw what they’d done to him.

Then she raked a hate-filled glower over her siblings. “He’s your son, Azura. What is wrong with you?”

There was no pity or mercy in Azura’s eyes. Only a sick, smug satisfaction. “Your son has yet to betray you, Braith. Talk to me after that happens.”

Apollymi shook her head. “There is nothing my Kri could do to make me hate him. Blood of my blood. I carried him beneath my heart and cradled him in my arms long before I birthed him. I feel his pain deeper than my own. I weep for you that you’re incapable of that kind of love.”

She sneered at Noir. “Or you. Maybe if you could, you’d understand better what matters in this world. So I’m warning you both, this one time only, stay away from what I love. My wrath will be absolute, and I will spare no one from it.”

She placed a hand on Xev, and they both vanished.

Azura glared at Noir. “You idiot! I warned you about her. Why didn’t you listen?”

“I’m not the one who locked Daraxerxes in the basement.” Noir kicked at his shattered throne. “I wish we could kill her.”

“Don’t even say those words out loud, lest she hear them. Did you see what she did to Tisahn?”

He laughed bitterly. “I never thought I’d meet anyone who could make me cringe in their creative cruelty. But I surrender my crown to her. Her viciousness makes a mockery of mine.”

Azura waved her hand and restored their thrones. “We cannot fight her, and she now has an army.”

“She has two.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

Noir gave her a droll stare.

“Then what do we do?” Azura asked.

“Befriend her.”

She was aghast at his suggestion. “How?”

Noir shook his head. “Damned if I know. But we’d best find some way before she finds a cause to hate us more.”

Myone withdrew then, afraid they might find her there and take issue with her snooping. The last thing she wanted was to run afoul of them and risk their anger.

Apollymi might not care if they tortured a Sephiroth. Her luck, the goddess might gift-wrap her for them.

By the time Myone returned to Apollymi’s temple, Xev had been restored to the god she’d fallen in love with. His wings were again full, his hair trimmed short about his angular features. He was still thin, but he didn’t appear quite so skeletal.

Relief flooded her as she saw him hale and whole, and it took everything she had not to rush to him and hold him. But that was the last thing she should do in front of Apollymi.

So she stood there respectfully.

The light in Xev’s eyes told her that he wanted to do the same. That he was every bit as happy to see her and was struggling not to run to her.

Instead, he stayed by Apollymi’s side. “I’m told that I have you to thank for my rescue.”

“I did nothing.” She bowed to Apollymi. “Thank you, goddess.”

“Thank you for bringing it to my attention.” Apollymi glanced between them, then shook her head. “Ugh. For the love of the Source…Embrace, you two. Do you think for one moment I’d betray you? You both reek of love, and it turns my stomach.”

Xev hesitated before he ran to Myone.

“But,” Apollymi said as he hugged her, “remember what happened to my Kissare. I am a jealous bitch. Make no mistake about that. But I’m not an unfair one. I won’t see you suffer just because I did. Your mother is another matter, Daraxerxes. Jealousy flows thick in her veins and rots her heart. Or at least the organ that pumps blood through her.”

“I know.”

When Myone opened her mouth to speak, Apollymi held her hand up to silence her. “Don’t, child. Keep what you have between you and no others. I don’t want to know anything else. Ever. I will do no more favors for either of you. Ask nothing more of me. My pain is too great. Keep this”—she gestured at their entwined hands—“from my sight, too. My mercy has limits. Don’t test it.”

“Thank you,” Xev said, inclining his head to her. Then he pulled Myone into the shadows with him so that Apollymi couldn’t see or hear them.

Myone finally kissed him as she’d longed to.

Xev savored the taste of her. She was the only thing that had allowed him to survive the nightmare of his mother’s punishment.

Had he not been able to send his spirit-shadow form to her, he’d have never made it through. She was his lifeblood.

Yet he knew they couldn’t keep seeing each other. This had to stop.

It had to.

The gods were cruel, and they would never allow them to live and love in peace.

Pulling back, he stared down at her. “Myone?—”

“I know, Dary. I know. But I couldn’t leave you like that.”

That was why he loved her so much. Why he couldn’t lose her. “Thank you.”

Nodding, she kissed him one more time.

Xev pressed her hand to his lips, then took her back to her temple where the Sephirii lived. This was her home. It was where she belonged.

With her kind. Those who were gentle and who respected others.

His was now with a goddess everyone feared. He was an enemy to his father.

Nothing would ever be the same.