That finally seemed to get through to her. She blinked at him. “Your father killed you?”
“Yeah. How many times do I have to tell you that? Why do you think I don’t live here anymore?” Grimacing, he wiped at the blood on his neck.
The fury returned to her eyes. “You murdered my grandparents, you bastard!”
He did do that. Urian couldn’t deny it. “You weren’t born then.”
“You think that makes it okay?”
“No, but—”
“You lied to me about so many things!” When she moved to slap him again, he caught her wrist.
“I’m not your whipping boy, Phoebe.”
“You used me!”
He shook his head. “I protected you and I loved you.”
She bared her fangs at him. “You’re incapable of love.”
Those words lashed his heart and left it bleeding. “You’re wrong about that.”
She snatched her hand from his grasp. “Had you loved me, you would have told me the truth. You wouldn’t have allowed me to care about a monster who destroyed my family. What? Did you laugh at us? Did you think it funny that you kept me like a toy while your father killed us off, one by one?”
“Oh my God, Phoebe! I lived in hell the entire time I was with you. I loved my father and because of you, I was forced to lie to him.”
She shook her head. “No. You chose to lie to him.” She punctuated her words by poking him in his chest. “You chose, Urian. You could have left him at any time and stayed with me, but no. You must have enjoyed the lies or you wouldn’t have gone crawling back to him constantly.”
“It’s not that simple. He was my father!”
“And yet you live with your enemy now? How quickly you got over it, huh?”
This was insane! She wasn’t making any sense.
“And you could have told me at any time you were still alive. Why didn’t you?”
“Look around!” She threw her arms out to indicate the walls around her. “Your father locked me in this hellhole and threw away the key.” She shoved him again. “I screamed and screamed for you. I kept thinking that surely you could hear me. That you would love me enough to come. You never did!”
Her shrieks tore through him. Not just the words, but the fear that he had heard her and had dismissed it as nightmare hauntings.
Because she was supposed to be dead. He’d heard so many voices in his head for so long. How was he to know that hers was real?
“What do want me to do, Phoebe? Apologize? I’m sorry! I never meant to hurt you.”
“But you did.” Tears welled in her eyes. “And I refuse your apology. There are some things that ‘sorry’ doesn’t fix!”
“Fine. I’ll take you to Cassandra, and—”
She cut his words off with a bitter laugh. “You don’t tell me what to do, and you don’t own me. Remember we’re Apollites. You carry my last name, Urian Peters.”
That was their custom. Since paternity was never an absolute given, but everyone knew who the mother was who birthed a child, it was Apollite tradition to trace lineage through the mother’s family and to assume the wife’s name upon marriage. As the Apollite saying went, “Mama’s baby, Daddy’s maybe.” He wasn’t sure where she was going with that.
Not until the thorns around the room began to thicken.
“What are you doing?” Urian summoned his sword.
She laughed darkly. “Planning to use that on me?”
“No.” He hoped. “But what’s going on?”
A cold, sinister smile curled her lips. “You left me here to rot, Urian. I’m returning the favor.”
The floor below his feet buckled and released the souls he’d warned the others about. They rushed him with a screeching howl.
“Apollo!” she called out. “See our bargain met. Behold the son of your enemy! I deliver him to you in exchange for my freedom!”
*
“Shadow? What do you mean you can’t get through? That’s your schtick! You’re a cockroach. You get into places no one can.”
With an offended scowl, he turned to face Blaise. “Really, mandrake? Cockroach? Least I don’t lick my own balls. And for your information, whoever constructed that barrier did a bang-up job of it!”
“That would be me.”
They all turned to see Apollymi in the mist.
Xyn went cold at the ethereal beauty of the ancient goddess who eyed them all with malice. Her black gown blended in perfectly with the darkness, but her white hair and eyes seemed to glow, making her appear even more haunting and frightening.
Her gaze went to Styxx, Stryker, and Bethany, who had found the others. Then to Xyn. “I should be furious.”
She narrowed her gaze on Xander. “Beyond rage … and if this were anyone other than Urian, I’d skewer the lot of you for being here. As it is…” Apollymi threw out her arms and the walls opened.
“Wish you’d joined the party sooner.” Bethany had the audacity to admonish her.
Apollymi’s jaw dropped.
“Yes, I yelled at you. I have not forgotten the ass-whipping I still owe you. Remember that I was pregnant at our last encounter. Not pregnant now, Pol. You want a rematch … Any time.”
“Beth, Beth, Beth.” Styxx pulled her gently away from Apollymi. “Let’s not anger the nice goddess who opened the door so that we could get our son. Okay? Focus on Uri. Your baby needs you. Save the whup-ass for the bad guys who have our child.”
She pointed her finger at Apollymi before she nodded. “Okay.”
Xyn expected Apollymi to blast her. Instead, the goddess actually smiled.
When she realized Xyn was watching her, she gave her a smirk. “What? I’ve always admired Bet’anya.”
Xyn wasn’t about to get in the middle of that. Besides, she had more important things to think about. Like finding Urian. Running to catch up with the others, she quickly learned why this wasn’t the side to be on.
Holy evil …
The screams that echoed on this side were deafening. Xyn covered her ears. Even Simi was grimacing.
Xander looked at Stryker. “Why don’t you eat some of these and shut them up?”
“Really? You just went there?”
“Given how loud this is? Yeah.”
“Shield your ears,” Apollymi warned.
Xyn knew what was coming. She transformed into a dragon an instant before Apollymi let loose with a sonic blast so loud, it shattered two of the walls around them. She barely extended her wings in time to shield her charges from the rubble of the ceiling that rained down on them.
Styxx was the first to recover from it. “Thank you, Xyn.”
“Yes.” Bethany petted her on the wing. “Thank you so much!”
“No problem.” She carefully lifted her other wing to make sure everyone was safe. Luckily no one had been harmed.
“What? No one thanks me for stopping the noise?” Apollymi shook her head. “Ingrates! I’m always surrounded by ingrates!”
Bethany grimaced at her. “We wouldn’t be ungrateful, Polli, if you hadn’t dropped a house down on top of us.”
“There’s just no pleasing you.”
Slack-jawed, Bethany looked at her husband. “Why did you stop your conquest? One more day … just one more friggin’ day!”
“Don’t go there.”
Xyn changed back into her human form and moved to stand next to Brogan, who was being strangely silent. “You have something?”
“I’m not sure.” She had that glassy, odd look about her that she got anytime she was communing with the aether.
Then Brogan’s eyes cleared. “We have to hurry.” She took off at a dead run.
They followed.
By the time they reached the other side of the barrier, Xyn was both proud and horrified as she saw her Daimon in all his bloody glory. There were bodies everywhere. Urian stood with his shield and sword as he held them off, but they were about to overrun him.
Closing her eyes, Xyn used her powers to cover him with her armor while she summoned her own gear for herself. She ran into the fray and rolled to come up behind him and catch the Adoni who was about to attack him there.
“What kept you?”
“Had to get my nails done.”
Urian laughed at her answer. “Should have got your hair done while you were at it. You’re getting split ends.”