Page 61 of Into the Abyss
“I dare say,” Lix said, “I’m intrigued.”
“So am I,” Erin murmured.
Lix and Erin fell in behind us as we strodeback to rejoin the others. I told Magnus to take over therevelation as I wasn’t up to it, and I needed time to absorbeverything I learned earlier.
I mourned the lost fae, but I suspected itwas a good thing the original jinn were gone. The jinn I lovedcould be downright savage; I couldn’t imagine what they would belike if theyonlycared for themselves, like those long-agojinn.
“I think the merging of the fae and jinn wasan evolutionary survival tactic,” Magnus said. “It wasn’t a plannedone, but one that came about as a way to preserve bothspecies.”
His words caught my attention. “What do youmean?” I asked and rose from where I’d sat against the wall.
Magnus turned toward me and spread his handsbefore him. The flames of the small fire danced within his silvereyes when they met mine, giving him an utterly demoniccountenance.
“The fae weren’t strong enough to surviveHell, not even with having the Abyss to retreat into. Whether thefallen angels entered Hell or not, they would have eventually beenkilled off. They didn’t have active powers, and they had little, ifany, inclination to fight. Their time would have inevitablycome.
“The jinn were turning against themselves,and with their violent nature they would have wiped each other out,or more demons would have banded together to destroy them. TheFae-aulted were willing to fight for each other. They couldn’tavoid being sealed away, but they evaded extinction, unlike thefull-blooded jinn and fae.”
My mouth parted and I started to reply, butI had no words for him. I’d been feeling sorry for the fae, but hewas right. The fae lived longer than anyone believed they would,and the Fae-aulted continued their bloodline as well as that of theoriginal jinn.
“So what do we do now?” Erin asked.
“Amalia and I will return to the Abyss andsee what we can do there. Either Caim or Raphael must startsearching for Sloth. You can’t both go at the same time, as we needat least one of you should something happen to the other. We can’tsend out a ground search because we don’t have the numbers for it,but the hunt for Sloth has to start. If we can find and destroyhim, maybe his spell over them will break, and we can wake some ofthose here,” Magnus said.
I was loath to pop the bubble of hopeemanating from all of them at these words, but…. “They’re ensnaredalready, destroying Sloth is a good thing, but it won’t help anyonein the Abyss.”
I noticed a slight droop in Magnus’sshoulders I doubted the others detected. I was becoming moreattuned to his body language, probably because I spent the sparetime I had raptly watching him.
I resisted going to him and hugging him toease some of his distress. We’d nearly had sex, but that was sex,hugging was something else entirely. Hugging involved an emotionalattachment of some sort whether it be friends or somethingmore.
Then, I recalled the tender way he restedhis hand on my shoulder to offer me comfort when speaking with theFaulted. Warmth had spread through me as he calmed me.Therearealreadyfeelingsinvolved, Irealized,but how deep do they run?
I frowned as I pondered this. Demons weren’tsupposed to have feelings for anyone who wasn’t their Chosen,except for their kin or close friends, and Magnus was none of thosethings to me.
Okay, maybe he’d become a friend throughoutall this, but it was the start of a friendship and not a deep one.Besides, I had friends, and none of them made me feel as cherishedor desired as Magnus did. They’d never acted as protective towardme as Magnus did either, and they’d never made me feel jealous asMagnus did when he hugged Erin earlier.
“We’ll send Caim to hunt Sloth,” Corsonsaid. Shifting his hold on Wren, he settled her gently on theground before standing.
Caim snapped his heels together and threwback his shoulders. “I will find the horseman and bring the lazybastard down.”
“Pride goeth before the fall, brother,”Raphael murmured.
Caim laughed. “Then it’s a good thing I haveno pride; I’m just arrogant.”
Raphael’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s time for us to get back,” Magnussaid.
“I still think more of us should go in withyou,” Corson told him.
“I think more of you are needed here in caseSloth, or someone else, discovers this cave.”
Corson and Magnus gazed at each other beforeCorson’s eyes fell to Wren. No matter how badly he wanted to plungeinto the Abyss and pull her out, he wouldn’t leave her bodyunprotected.
“We will see you soon,” Magnus said to himbefore turning to me.
• • •
Amalia
