Page 71 of The Guardian (Dark-Hunter 20)
Seth felt a presence near him, but he couldn't open his eyes to see if it was Noir or Azura. Not that it mattered. Pain was pain no matter whose hand dealt it.
Was it time to be drained again?
Hadn't they already been here?
He couldn't remember. Each feeding now seemed to hurt more than the one before and they blended together into a never-ending cycle of cruelty.
A hand brushed the hair back from his face. Sick from the agony they caused him, he tried to move away and fight, even though he knew it was futile.
Until he managed to open his eyes enough to see the face of his tormentor.
For a full minute, he couldn't breathe as he saw the last person he'd ever expected to see again ...
Lydia felt the tears stinging her eyes as she saw what Noir had done to him.
And all because of her.
The bolt was back in place and he'd been beaten so badly that she barely recognized a single feature on his face. He'd been hit so many times that his eyes were swollen out of shape and colored various shades of purple. He could barely open them even a slit.
She bit back a sob before she spoke. "I told you that I would always come for you," she whispered before she placed a gentle kiss on his bleeding cheek. She stepped back so that he could see she wasn't alone.
Ma'at, Maahes, Thorn, and Solin were with her.
Maahes unchained him while Ma'at healed him, and Solin kept an eye out for any of the demons or Noir.
Seth fought against his release, but couldn't speak until Maahes removed the bolt. He choked on his own blood, then refused to leave with them. "I can't go. You won't be safe."
"I'm not leaving you here," Lydia insisted.
Furious at her, he glared at Solin. "Get her out of here before they find her."
Solin snorted. "Believe me, I've tried to talk sense into her. She won't listen."
Seth turned his glare to Thorn. "Why would you bring them here?"
Thorn grinned. "Solin made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Believe me, violating my truce with Noir isn't something I do lightly."
He wanted to kill the bastard for that. But Thorn was every bit the immortal. Plus he had powers even Seth couldn't fathom.
Seth looked back at Lydia. "I have to stay ... please."
Lydia couldn't believe that he was still willing to stay here for her safety. If she'd had any doubt before about how much he loved her, that cleared it. "All right, fine. If you stay. I stay."
"We all stay," Maahes said.
Ma'at nodded. "Agreed."
Thorn snorted. "You can stay if you want. But I'm getting the hell out of here. Noir's side smells. I prefer my demons and slime hole to his."
Seth glared at Solin, hating him for his interference. "Why did you tell her? Damn you! She would never have remembered me."
Lydia arched a chiding brow at him. "My father didn't tell me anything and I'm still angry at him for that. But I remembered you. Even though I didn't understand it, I felt you with me constantly. And if that wasn't enough..." She took his hand and placed it on her stomach so he could feel the slight swelling there. "You left me with a very special gift."
The news slammed into him harder than one of Noir's blows. She was pregnant?
With his child.
Unimaginable joy ripped through him as he felt the slightest fluttering of his son or daughter moving inside her.
But that only solidified his resolve. "You won't be safe if I leave."
She cupped his now healed face in her hands. "No one ever is, Seth. No matter how hard we try. No matter how much we plan and prepare. There will always be an enemy at the door and a storm trying to knock us down. Life's not about security. It's about picking up the pieces after it's all over and carrying on. We can choose to be cowards who fear letting someone inside us, and do that alone. Or we can choose to be brave and let someone stand by our side and help us. I'm not a coward. I never have been. And there is nowhere else I plan to be, except beside you. Forever. Be it on earth, or here in this hellhole if that's what it takes. I will always be with you."
In that moment, he realized he didn't need his swallow to fly him away from pain.
All he needed was her.
And she was right. It took much more courage to lay his heart open to someone else than it did to keep it guarded. To let someone else in to that place deep inside where only they could do you harm.
Only Lydia could destroy him.
And yet only she gave him life ... at least one worth living.
Solin curled his lip at him. "Believe me, I'm not happy about her decision any more than you are, but we are family, and families stay together. So if you don't want to go ... George will hate you forever. He's extremely fond of his room in Greece and won't be happy about giving up the view. But he'll get used to it. Eventually."
Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing. They were willing to stay here to protect him?
Were they out of their minds?
"What about Verlyn?" Seth asked. Noir would only set him loose again to find him. And now that Lydia was pregnant, she would be in more danger than ever.
Lydia smiled. "Don't worry. We have a place to take you where you'll be safe from his reach until all of your powers return."
"How can you be so sure?"
It was Ma'at's turn to laugh. "It was what I was working on when you were taken from my temple. I promise you, you'll be safe there. It's the one place neither Noir nor Azura, nor any of their servants can reach you."
Still, he wasn't convinced.
Until he looked into Lydia's eyes. "I won't leave you here alone, Seth." She kissed the cartouche she wore, then pulled it off over her head to hang it around his neck.
At first, he thought it was the one he'd left with her, knowing it would keep her safe once she came out of the spell he'd placed on her to make her appear dead. But as he looked at it, he realized it was different.
She smiled at him. "It's 'I love you' in ancient Egyptian ... Just so you know. Now, please, come home with me."
He stared at the raised, golden hieroglyphs that spelled out words he hadn't known.
Not until Lydia.
His throat went dry.
Home. He'd never had one of those before either. He wasn't even sure what the word meant.
But when he looked into her eyes, he saw the one thing he couldn't deny.
The only woman he'd die for. So if he was willing to die for her, the least he could do was live for her, too.
"Take me home, Lydia."
