Chapter 31
Thirty-One
KELLAN
K ellan let the sigh pass through his lips as he ran a hand through his hair. Hours upon hours of silence haunted him, much like her screams had the night before. The sound tore through him, and then Eire? He’d barely been able to keep himself from tipping over that edge. Had never felt so disgusted by his own family before that moment.
“How is she?” Kane rode up beside him.
Demitria had been riding alone for hours, and Kellan thought it best to give her space to process, but he hadn’t been able to help the lingering stares as he watched her.
Kellan didn’t need to answer to tell his brother how Demitria felt. It radiated off her like a beacon. Lost. Broken. She wouldn’t speak. Wouldn’t look at either of them. Didn’t even flinch as his sister launched into a string of insults. She didn’t even look up. Her eyes glazed over. Demitria hadn’t even reacted to his touch. “Bad.”
He hadn’t had time to process anything that happened leading up to this. The rift with his siblings, Eire specifically. Or how she’d changed her mind on him and his siblings? Not to mention how she’d kissed him!
Kellan couldn’t get that part out of his brain. Had tried to, on numerous occasions, but his mind kept coming back to the warmth of her mouth on his. The way she’d tasted. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this way. If he had ever felt this way. There were so many years he couldn’t remember. Too many to count, down in the trenches of the Underworld where he’d served him as a puppet. That was why he had his own reservations about bringing Demitria with them. He feared the Dark King, probably more than the lot of them combined. And fear was something out of his repertoire. Had been beaten out of him time and time again until he no longer felt it, but after those years, even he couldn’t shake the fear of the male.
Kellan shook his head, running his hand down his face once more. He was fucked. So, so fucked. What he had done, what he was continuing to do, was forbidden. A Horseman and a human girl. He shouldn’t even be thinking about it. It wasn’t right, and Kellan knew that. He was no better than the bastard of a father that had sired him, but he couldn’t help himself. He wanted her, no matter how impermissible the situation was. He was a Horseman of the Apocalypse, his job was to restore the balance, then return to his world with his siblings when it was all said and done. But now? He didn’t know what he was to do anymore.
The wildly feared Horsemen, War, had changed into something that his siblings didn’t recognize.
Something he himself didn’t even recognize.
“Were they close?” His brother’s words pulled him from his thoughts. Kane knew about Jace. He’d explained it briefly to the lot of them, but hadn’t gone into detail out of respect.
“Unbelievably so.” He remembered the way she spoke of him at the community. The day she’d broken down in front of him. Jace had meant the world to her. Even more than that. He’d felt something that day, too. Something he had no business feeling toward the male. Especially in that moment, but he wouldn’t touch on that now.
“Have you spoken with Gabriel at all? About the council?”
“No,” Kellan shook his head. “It’s useless at this point.” He reined the fiery red mount in beneath him, slowing the stallion’s gait further before patting his sleek, muscled neck. “I know what I saw, and they refused my summons. Something more is going on here, and I will get to the bottom of it.”
“Because of Lucifer?” Kellan had been avoiding the name, and he eyed his brother wearily.
“Especially because of him.” His gaze traveled toward the girl before him. Waiting for her to turn around. When she didn’t, he continued. “If what the demon lord said is true, he needs to be dealt with. Eliminated.”
“I agree.” Kane nodded, pulling the pale cloak over his head as those icy-blue eyes seemed to look through him. “We need to talk.”
Kellan had been dreading those words. Had hoped that the others wouldn’t pry, but if it had to be any of them, he supposed Kane was the best-case scenario. “About?”
“You already know.”
“Unfortunately.” He sighed. “Please, tell me how much of a fuck up I am.” He shouldn’t have laughed at the thought, but he couldn’t help it. Kellan had truly, royally, fucked this assignment up so bad, he didn’t think there was any coming back from it.
Kane fixed his gaze on Demitria. “I saw you the other night.” Gods help him. “Are you mad?” Yes. Yes, he was indefinitely mad. Crazed. An absolute idiot. He could name off many things, and he was every single one of them.
“I think I’d rather talk to Gabriel about the council and Lucifer.”
“Human, Kellan. The girl is human.” He knew that, too. As if it hadn’t been painfully obvious.
Gripping the bridge of his nose, he tore his gaze away from her. “Look…the concern is touching. Truly, but I think we have bigger things at hand, here.” Like an entire fucking war about to befall this planet?
The council wanted balance, not an annihilation. And if they didn’t stop Lucifer? That was exactly what would happen.
Defeated, knowing Kellan had been right, Kane sighed. “I know, brother. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”
He didn’t.