Marie Harte - Aftershocks

Remir simply stared at him, then chuckled and shook his head. “You really are an asshole. Funny, but an asshole. Jonas was right.”

“About what?” Jonas asked, appearing out of nowhere. He glanced at Cadmus and swore. “Shit, Remir. What the hell did you do to him?”

Remir shook his head. “Hey, don’t look at me. If he’d learn to shut up once in a while, he wouldn’t look so ugly. The insults to Ankard’s sister didn’t help. She did most of that to him.”

“Hell, that really was a woman?” Cadmus gasped.

“You see?” Remir muttered under his breath and left at Jonas’ command.

“You’re such a prince.” Jonas helped Cadmus sit up on a nearby bed with gentle hands.

Cadmus bit back a curse as the excruciating pain in his side increased.

“Yeah, looks like Diane broke a few of your ribs. Didn’t the long hair and breasts clue you in?”

“Breasts? I thought that was battle armor.” Cadmus chuckled and groaned. “I’ll have to make amends later. But honestly, I thought all you Djinn were pretty.”

“Pretty? Thanks a lot. But Diane isn’t all Djinn. Her mother was—”

“Don’t tell me, an ogre.”

“You know your Shadren. So tell me why you took such a beating when we both know you could have prevented it.”

Cadmus closed his eyes. He didn’t like apologising, especially to a smart-ass like Jonas, but he knew he owed it to the man who’d saved his life on more than one occasion.

“I’m sorry about what happened earlier.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jonas leaned closer, and Cadmus gritted his teeth. The damned Djinn could hear like a bat. He knew what Cadmus had just said.

“I said I’m sorry about almost blazing the Dark out of you,” he growled.

“How gracious. So I take it you now have full control over your Dark abilities?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You just apologised for trying to kill me. I’m to assume then that your attack was intentional.”

“Hell no. I have no idea how I keep bursting in truth . I’m a Light Bringer, Jonas, with the emphasis on ‘Light’. It’s damned awkward, and not a little disconcerting, to keep bursting into Dark flame.”

Jonas stared. “This has happened before?”

Letting out a breath, Cadmus aired his troubles. “A few months back when we were battling ‘Sin Garu. Then again at Ellie’s place.”

“At Ellie’s? Why? What happened there prior to you phasing in truth ?”

Cadmus flushed, hoping the lighting in this dingy place was poor enough to conceal his embarrassment. “At the time I was thinking about you and her, about how you keep calling yourself her cousin, but I know damned well you aren’t. You’re way too proprietary around her, to the detriment of your own health,” he added the sly threat.

Jonas stared, amazed, and then began laughing. “Cadmus, you’re something else. You’re lying here like death warmed over, and you have the gall to threaten me, a full-blooded Djinn, over a woman you think I want as my own? Incredible.” He chuckled. “Cadmus, Ellie really is my cousin. Several generations removed, but Ethim and I share the same grandfather. But as to your bursting in truth …

“You and Ellie share a connection all too rare in life. I’ve tried to deny it. Hell, I’ve tried to talk to her about it, but the damned woman is as stubborn as her father. She won’t discuss you, and in fact wants to see you right now. You’re both in love, you stupid Light Bringer. Only a tie that strong could pull Ellie’s power into you, stimulating your own inert Darkness while allowing her to withstand your Light. I hate myself for asking this, but have you two, ah, been intimate?”

Cadmus grinned.

“Son of a bitch,” Jonas muttered. “I knew it.” He took a deep breath. “Djinn sexuality is a tie that binds, Cadmus. Obviously, you love her or you would never be displaying such Darkness, much of which, I’m delighted to say, is your own. Dark energy works by like tapping like, increasing and feeding on itself. The sexual connection a Djinn shares increases his or her power, and binds his or her partner with emotional ties that are normally darker in nature. Sex is a Dark force, one you Light Bringers will never be able to fully tap as long as you refuse to search for the balance within yourselves. To a Djinn, no pleasure is too forbidden so long as both parties desire it.”

Cadmus couldn’t help remembering how he’d last taken Ellie, and knew he’d just scratched the surface of their pleasures together.

“That look on your face— Stop it. Whatever’s going through that head of yours, stop it right now. That girl is like my own sister.”

A hoarse laugh shook Cadmus. “I thought you said the Djinn respect sex?”

“We do. But visions of your sorry ass are giving me fits.” Jonas huffed in disgust, rousing more pained laughter from Cadmus. “On another note, Ellie’s had a bad time of—”

“What happened?” Cadmus tried to shoot to his feet but had to grip Jonas to keep from falling on his face. “Is she okay?”

“Easy, Cadmus. She’s fine, physically. But she had a confrontation with her parents that shook her.” He briefly relayed what had been said, squeezing Cadmus’ shoulder when he tried to stand again. “She wants to see you.”

“Not like this. Can you call Lexa in here and have her heal me?”

Jonas blinked. “How do you know what she can do?”

“After nearly killing me earlier, she healed me.”

“Have you noticed that everyone, within five minutes of meeting you, wants to kill you?”

“Only you Djinn and a few Dark Lords. And maybe a Storm Lord or two on a bad day.”

Jonas shook his head. “Wait here.” He vanished.

Like I’m going to go where? And he calls me stupid.

Jonas returned moments later with a pleased Lexa in tow. The woman was positively beaming, and Cadmus couldn’t help flinching back when she neared. She could heal, but he recalled her painful touch all too clearly.

“Relax, Cadmus. I want you to console your affai . And you can’t do that if you look like this.”

“ Affai ?” Jonas looked shocked.

“Well, what the hell else do you think Ellie is?” Cadmus uttered in a voice thick with pain. “You’re the one who told me how much I must love her. What do you think an affai is but the embodiment of a Storm Lord’s true passion?”

Lexa shot Jonas an amused look, and he sighed. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

She placed her hand on Cadmus’ jaw, then on his chest. His body immediately tensed as his bones and muscles knit, but the pain didn’t bother him anymore.

“That’s amazing.” He couldn’t help thinking what a mistake Arim must have made so many years ago. Lexa had so many facets. Sure, she was Dark and no doubt lethal, but there’d been an odd shine of Light that speared her when’d he looked into her past. The visions he’d seen earlier were brutal and confusing but contained a foreign taint he’d yet to encounter. Cadmus knew for a fact Lexa had not committed the terrible murders he’d seen, and he had a feeling Lexa and Arim’s major falling-out stemmed from the horrible killings.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, withdrawing her hand. “You’re the first Light Bringer to ever believe in my innocence.”

He stared in surprise before belatedly raising his mental shields.

“Now, go to your affai and gift her with your love. She’ll need you now more than ever. Soon, Cadmus, the time will come when tests and trust meet truth. Cement your bond with Elliara before evil has a chance to rip it asunder.”

She stepped back, studying Jonas and Cadmus with eerie intensity. “We don’t have a lot of time. ‘Sin Garu and the Netharat are coming. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it this time. Not by myself.”