Page 30 of The Guardian (Dark-Hunter 20)
Chapter 10
Lydia scowled at Jaden and his dire prediction for her death at Seth's hands. One thing was certain. Even without her powers currently working, she wasn't about to describe any of them to an unknown being. "I don't know what you're talking about."
He tsked at her. "Yes, you do, little girl. And you can't hide anything from me so don't even try. I will know it for the lie that it is even before it forms in your thoughts."
Yeah, he was every bit as scary as Seth, but in an entirely different way.
Jaden crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a smile that said he might be considering her for lunch. "You're a Kattagari jackal. The scent of it is so strong on you that if Seth had recognized it, he'd have already cut your throat. The only reason why you're in human form right now, and can maintain it even when you sleep, is that you're also a Dream-Hunter. Lucky you. Unlike the rest of the Kattagaria, you have complete control over your animal half regardless of your physical stresses. I'll bet you're even immune to losing them when you're shocked."
That was all true. It also helped that Seth had taken her powers, including her ability to shift.
"I heard that, and you're right." He laughed low in his throat. "Fascinating mixture of blood, isn't it? I wouldn't have considered it possible, but then it does make sense in a weird way when you think about it. Dream-Hunters are gods. Different genetics entirely than a human or Were. They've been able to impregnate everything from insects to trees to every species known. Given that, it makes sense that a god could impregnate a Were-Hunter even without the Fates mating them." An evil gleam sparked in his bicolored eyes. "That must have seriously pissed off those three bitches."
Lydia was stunned by his mini rant. How could he possibly know all of that? She had never breathed a word of her mixed heritage to anyone. She knew better. People didn't like things that were different and she was about as different as anyone could be. Her birth had been so unusual that, in human form, her mother had worn gloves to the day she died so that no one would ever learn she'd given birth without mating. There was no telling what the other members of her pack would have done had they discovered it. They might have been elated. Or horrified to the point they killed them.
Her mother had never been willing to find out the answer.
To Lydia's knowledge, only Solin had ever known the truth of her birth. And he would die before he told it.
Maybe Jaden was only bluffing or guessing.
Jaden's smile was so patronizing she wished she had some way to knock it off his face. "Don't bother denying it. I told you. I'll always know the truth no matter how deep you think you have it buried."
A chill rushed down her spine. She was desperate to know what she was dealing with right now-why he had the powers he did. "What are you?"
"Fubar."
She'd never heard of such a creature. Had his mother mated with a piece of steel or something? "Fubar?"
He wiped his thumb down the corner of his mouth as if he'd heard that thought, too, and was trying not to laugh about it. At least he had a sense of humor.
"Fucked up beyond all recognition." His features sobered back into the deadly sincere expression. "Kind of like you, only worse. I at least had a choice ... Chose wrongly, big understatement there, but I did this to myself. You..." He let out a long bitterly amused breath. "Yeah. You were born screwed ... just like Seth."
Which brought her back to one of many questions she had yet to have answered about her surly jailer. And this time she might actually get an answer-Gods love the chatty.
Thank you, Seth, for bringing me here.
"What is Seth, exactly?"
Jaden shrugged. "Like you, a demigod. Only in his case, his mother was human."
"And his father?"
"The Egyptian god, Set."
Well, that explained how he knew ancient cultures so well. Interesting that he'd neglected to tell her that himself. Most people would have bragged about having a pedigree that impressive.
But if his father was a major Egyptian god, especially one as powerful and feared as Set ...
"What's he doing here?"
Jaden's answer made her blood run cold. "A pack of Katagaria jackals sold him to Noir when he was thirteen."
She sucked her breath in sharply. That explained why he'd kill her if he found out what she was. And who could blame him? There wasn't a hole in hell deep enough to even begin to make them pay for what they'd done to him.
Thank the gods, he'd taken her powers from her when he first saw her. Otherwise she would have transformed to fight him.
And he would have killed her for it.
But she still didn't understand why he was a slave here. Why would his father have allowed him to be sold to Noir, of all beings?
If anyone could have saved Seth from this horrific existence, surely it was his father. As a god of war, chaos, and total evil and destruction-which explained so much about Seth's personality and nature-Set hadn't been the kind of god to play around with anyone. He'd been known as the embodiment of total aggression, another thing Seth shared with his father. So much so that Set had killed his own brother, Osiris, and scattered his remains throughout Egypt.
If that wasn't bad enough, during an eighty-year war against his nephew Horus, he'd torn out the god's eye. Neither Horus nor Osiris were known for their weaknesses by any means. They'd both been strong gods, too.
Set's reputation had been one of lethal vindictiveness and the kind of cold brutality that only someone as sick as Noir could envy.
Even given all of that, she just couldn't wrap her mind around Set doing this to his own son. Her parents would have torn down Olympus to protect or save her.
The jackals must have had some nerve to risk Set's wrath by selling Seth. "Why did the jackals do that?"
"For the money Noir offered them. Why else? Greedy stupid bastards. And the sickest part? It really wasn't all that much. Barely more than pocket change and they spent every bit of it in less than a week."
She felt ill over that. Not that the amount mattered, really. But a low one would have kicked Seth's esteem down a lot harder than a fortune. "Why was he with them?"
Jaden let out a tired breath. "You sure you want to go there? Think long and hard before you answer. 'Cause once you start down this path, there's no turning back. No way to unsee the painted landscape that comes straight out of the lowest level of Rod Serling's Night Gallery."
Now there was an analogy. And maybe he was right. Maybe she should turn back before she heard any more. Because the more she learned about Seth, the more she was drawn to him.
I'm out of my mind. He would never accept kindness. And yet ...
"I want to know." Actually, it was more than that. She had to know the truth.
