Page 59 of Judge of Saints and Sinners

Atlas leaned forward, elbows to knees. “I don’t see the problem.”

“You wouldn’t, would you? Not until you have seen what I can become once I am whole. What I will become again.”

“We need every bit of power now, my lord. To fight the Drude and drive the Corrupted back into the river. If you can’t handle that, what happens at the courthouse? What happens to all those souls at the bridge waiting on judgment? I know the risk is high, but so is the reward.”

I knew this, she had said as much, daring me to love her. Knowing that I may never be able to return.

“Not yet. My brothers will make do.” I glanced out the window, the sunlight flickering through the trees. “My father is more than capable of assisting as soon as he chooses to get off his throne.” My fist closed on the flickering soul, and it vanished, waiting under my skin, not a part of me in the way it craved to be. Simply stored there held far from my heart, which ached more than I’d been prepared for.

“I’ll miss you,” she had said. The memory was burned across my mind like an arrow. Just as sharp, there was tightening on my wrist, and I turned it over, staring down at my skin as a dark tattoo began to appear, as if an invisible hand was writing.

Justine, in looping, feminine handwriting appeared on my wrist. Before the line on the final letter was even complete, I was racing to the door. Blinking, I tested my magic, knowing the full moon was soon, when it would be easier to get into the living world. I could count on that to help me. I refused to arrive where she needed me and not be ready to do whatever it was necessary.

Atlas stumbled down the stairs after me. “My lord, where are you going?”

“Justine needs me.”

“You are needed here, Nephesh. No one can do what you can. Besides, you are not bound to her any longer. How will you find her?”

I decided not to mention the tattoo, instead focusing on tugging my boots on as I throw open the front door of the courthouse. “I’m the Prince of Hell. I can manage.”

“And if you can’t?”

I snarled, fangs flashing. “Then I do it the hard way.”

Atlas’s brows rose. “And that is…?”

I glared at him. “Unless you are my father, I don’t owe you any kind of explanation. Now, get the fuck out of my way. My mate needs me.”

Atlas’s wide eyes were the last thing I saw as I let my magic bloom up around me. Flames of gold and red consumed me whole, taking me to the place I was needed most in any world.

I kept my fist pressed to my chest, over the aching place where my own fear pierced my heart. Monsters did not deserve soul mates, but I would protect her to my last breath. No matter what the consequences were.

My magic rippled, the soul I had tucked away growing ever more hot under my flesh.

But then, there it was.

A call. Not unlike the one I had once felt while making deals for my father. I studied it, straightening as I did.

It was her.

Something was wrong. My fangs filled with deadly venom took only a minute to send a message to my brothers through the mental connection we always shared. I didn’t owe them an explanation, but I offered them my forgiveness, and I wanted to grant it before we braved whatever evil had come for my mate.

Justine had once said all we needed was a chance. I hoped to Hades that we got two.

***

Nephesh

Something was very wrong. I stood outside of the apartment building that had somehow become home with Justine.

Something felt tainted. Like metal on my tongue, I tasted it everywhere I looked. Fear. Her fear. It invaded every one of my cells, driving my heart rate up and my power to my skin. Ignoring the burn as the flames of my power leaped about under my skin, I moved around to the side of the building, where the fire exit was. Where our window was. I cast a shielding spell, strong enough to keep whatever had scared Justine from seeing me, and then released my wings from their place.

Snapping them to wakefulness, I shoved air down, sending myself skyrocketing into the air. I landed on the ledge of the window a moment later, and the lock opened with a wave of my hand. I knew it was empty the moment I slipped inside, the metallic traces of her fear less here than outside. I moved around, noting the discarded bag on the floor and the unlocked front door.

Something slithered through my veins, beneath my power, making it throb and pulse ever higher. Fury, it called to me, to the monster deep inside that lurked and thrashed in the cage I barely managed to withhold. The desire to unleash him, the me deep inside, nearly undid me. I reared back, my head falling back as I sucked in not just Justine’s scent, but the fear that coated it too.

I wanted it all. I needed it all to do what I needed to do. For the first time in over fifty years, I let down the walls of my cage ever so slightly. My eyes burned then sharpened into the nearly telescopic vision that my innermost form carried. The monster there snarled as I held the chain that still restrained the secret part of myself.