The Sweetest Burn

I’d ask Zach after we found the staff, I decided, telling myself I wasn’t taking the coward’s way out. I was only being practical. Whatever the truth was, it could wait until then.

* * *

WE TUMBLED INTO the light realm soaking wet from the East River. Well, all of us except Zach. He somehow emerged without a drop on him, then had the nerve to give me a condescending back pat as I coughed out the water I’d inadvertently swallowed.

Archons. They really rubbed in their superiority at times.

“Ivy!” Jasmine exclaimed, running over and hugging me despite getting dirty river water on her. “Are you okay? What happened? You were gone so long!”

“Just two days,” I began, then stopped. Right, time moved differently here. “How long has it been on this side?”

Jasmine let me go, flipping back her odd streak of white hair. “Weeks,” she said, a catch in her voice. “Zach came by an hour ago to say he was bringing you back soon, but before that, I hadn’t seen him in weeks, either.”

I turned to give the Archon a scathing look. “You promised me that you’d look out for my sister.”

“And I did,” he replied in that infuriatingly calm tone. “I left Jophiel to watch over them.”

“You’d like him,” Costa said to Adrian, giving him a hand slap instead of a hug. “He quotes Scripture all the time.”

“And I missed that?” Adrian replied with heavy irony.

“Yeah, but—” Costa eyed the ring on my finger that Jasmine hadn’t noticed yet “—guess you were busy with something else.”

Adrian’s hand covered mine, hiding the ring. “We were, but before we get to that, I owe both of you an apology.”

Costa’s brows rose, as if he’d never heard those words from Adrian before. My sister looked at our clasped hands and her mouth curled down, but all she said was, “For which thing?”

I shook my head at her choice of words. Good to know she still had her spiteful side even after being trapped with a Scripture-touting Archon for this timeline’s version of weeks.

“For accusing you of betrayal.”

The words fell flatly from Adrian, but his hand flexed around mine almost convulsively, indicating his true emotions.

“It wasn’t you, Jasmine, although I was sure you’d done it,” he went on. “And it wasn’t you, Costa, although I thought you were the only other option. It was me.”

My sister’s features darkened until all the blood must have been rushing to her face. “You,” she almost hissed. “Again.”

“Not by choice,” I said quickly, squeezing Adrian’s hand hard. “This wasn’t like before. Demetrius was, um, able to track Adrian through his blood, but none of us knew that.”

Now Costa’s brows really rose, although I wasn’t going to tell them how. That was Adrian’s secret to keep or to reveal.

“I’m sorry, too,” I said, meaning it, but also trying to fill the new, ominous silence. “I thought it was you who’d snuck behind our backs to Demetrius, Costa. Please forgive me.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw as he glanced at Adrian, then he gave us a lopsided smile. “I guess I’m sorry, too, because I thought it had to be Jasmine since I knew it wasn’t me.”

“And I thought it was you for the same reason,” Jasmine said, with a pleading look at Costa. “I’m really sorry.”

“Looks like we all are,” Costa said, but I noticed that he took Jasmine’s hand and no one else’s. Then he turned to Adrian. “That must be powerful magic Demetrius is using.” His tone was casual, but the look he gave Adrian made me wonder if he suspected the truth. “Do you have a way around it?”

“Yep, Zach fixed it, we’re all good,” I rushed to reply.

Adrian sighed. “I’m not hiding this from my best friend, Ivy, even if he’s no longer my friend once I tell him.”

“Tell me what?” Costa asked with open challenge.

Adrian dropped my hand and squared his shoulders. “I’m Demetrius’s son,” he said in an unwavering tone. “His real son.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

WE DIDN’T HAVE a chance to tell Jasmine and Costa about the binding ceremony. Not with how they took the news about Demetrius. Costa was the opposite of congratulatory, of course, but my sister just lost it. She railed at Adrian, at me and even at Zach, who pulled his usual disappearing act after her first shout at him. Finally, Costa suggested they take a walk.

“It’ll give us time to think,” Costa said, tugging her a step down the hill. “Let’s sit by the river. You love that.”

She snatched her hand away. “No. I’ll go alone.”

I stared at my sister as she stomped down the hill. I would’ve gone after her if I didn’t believe my presence would do more harm than good. Right now, Jasmine might believe that this proved all her worst suspicions about Adrian, but after she calmed down, she’d realize it was no more Adrian’s fault that Demetrius had fathered him than it was my fault for being the last Davidian. Sometimes, the only choice life gave you was how you handled the things you didn’t choose.

“She’s confused, angry and worried, but she’s strong,” I said once she was far enough away that she couldn’t hear me. “She’ll come around. She’s handled everything else that’s been thrown at her since demons kidnapped her six months ago.”

Adrian’s gaze held hints of sadness as he looked from Costa to me. “Maybe she can’t handle this. It’s about more than who my father is. It’s also about who I am, and that’s half-demon.”

“You were half-demon when you worked with an Archon for years to rescue innocent people from becoming realm slaves,” I said, my tone sharpening. “You were half-demon all the times you faced a horde of murderous minions and demons to protect me, and you were half-demon when you bound your soul to mine so you’d prove to me and everyone else that you weren’t fulfilling your fate.”

“You did what?” Costa said in disbelief.

Adrian glanced at him. “Living with demons taught me that trick, only this time, I used it against them instead of for them.” To me, he said, “Demons tie humans’ souls to theirs to create minions. It’s how regular humans suddenly get superhuman strength, and also how demons ensure that minions won’t betray them because, as you know, then the minions would suffer the same consequences. That’s how I knew that Zach could tie my soul to yours. Any power that demons have first originated from Archons.”

I gripped his hand. “See? Once more, you prove that your bloodline is just that—a bloodline. Not a template for who you are now or who you will be later.”

He touched my face, his large, strong hands managing to be feather soft against my skin. “You believe that, and I love you for it. But I don’t think most people share your opinion.”

“Most don’t,” Costa agreed, ignoring the quelling look I sent him. “But some do, and I’m one of them.”

Adrian stroked my face a final time before going over to Costa. “Thank you,” he said, grasping Costa by the shoulders.

Costa rested his hands on Adrian’s arms, leaning in until their foreheads touched. “For decades, I saw who you used to be, and I hated that man. Then you rescued me and Tomas, and I spent the next several years seeing you fight to become someone else.” Costa’s voice thickened. “You did, and I love that man like a brother, no matter who his father might be.”

Adrian pulled Costa into a hug that made tears prick my eyes, especially when Costa hugged him back just as hard. Then they separated, doing those awkward back slaps that men did when they were trying to downplay the fact that they’d experienced an emotional moment.

“Hey, I noticed something in those photos,” Costa said, changing the subject, which Adrian seemed glad to do, too.

“The tablet ones?”

Costa patted his pants pocket, where I presumed Father Louis’s phone was located. “Yep. There’s no service here, so it was either look at those or listen to Jophiel recite entire books from the Old Testament.”