Page 65 of The Guardian (Dark-Hunter 20)
There's something not right with that one. You can never trust the gods or their by-blows. They're tricky, sneaky bastards.
But it wasn't just the gods.
It was everyone. All beings served their own agenda. No good deed was served without them expecting something back in return.
And he was through being hurt and kicked for no reason. "You know, I'm really not as stupid as everyone thinks. I am. I can tell the difference between you and the jackals who fucked me over ... But then maybe not. Because right now, I'm thinking what you've done cuts me a whole lot deeper than what they did."
I expected better from you.
Seth headed out of the nearest set of doors he could find. He had no destination, other than to get as far away from her as he could.
I can't believe I was so stupid. After everything he'd risked for her. She still didn't trust him.
Why do I bother?
"Maybe I should just go back to Noir," he breathed.
At least in Azmodea, he knew the rules and they never changed.
There, he knew how to protect himself.
Yeah, okay, so he sucked at it, but he knew what to do to not get thrown through a wall. There, he saw the punches coming and he decided beforehand if he wanted them or not.
But here ...
It was a minefield where he was assaulted when he least expected it. And the blows Lydia gave him hurt so much more than the worst torture Noir could devise.
"Seth?"
Why did the sound of his name on her lips weaken him so? He didn't want to stop or turn around.
But he couldn't walk away. Not from her.
Against his will, he paused and waited for her to run up to him.
Lydia slowed down as she reached his side. He stood as proud and powerful as ever with that mop of riotous curls softening a countenance that was as deadly as it was beautiful. All of her life, she'd dreamed of finding someone who made her feel the way he did.
Someone who could make her laugh when she shouldn't, and who would talk to her about absolutely nothing. Someone she could sit with and not speak for hours, and that would be okay, too.
Most of all, she'd dreamed of a man who made her feel beautiful when he looked at her. Not with words. But with the light in his eyes that would shine only for her.
The tenderness in his touch.
Who would have ever dreamed that man would be Seth?
She moved to stand in front of him, but he still wouldn't look at her. The way he bounced his gaze around to look at anything else would be funny, if she didn't care about his pain.
But she did.
"I wouldn't hurt you for anything. Not now. In the beginning, yes. But..." She braced herself for whatever off-the-wall reaction he might have. "I love you, Seth. I just wanted you to know that."
Seth froze as he heard the last thing he'd ever expected someone else to say to him. The one thing no one ever had. "What?"
"I love you. And only you."
He stared at her in total disbelief as those words echoed in his heart. Were they true?
Did he dare hope or believe that they were?
How should he react? He honestly didn't know. A multitude of indecipherable emotions exploded through him all at once, paralyzing him.
She looked at him expectantly. "Aren't you going to say something?"
What? What was he supposed to say? Nothing in his screwed up past had ever coached him on how to deal with something like this. Pain he could handle. Contempt he was well versed in. Insults rolled right over him.
But love ...
What did someone do with that?
Lydia waited for some kind of response, but all he did was stand there, eyes wide, like a statue that strangely made her think he was waiting for a pigeon to come crap-bomb him.
Suddenly, he started looking around again. At the sky, the yard, behind them, in front of them. Everywhere.
"What are you doing?" she asked with a light lauth at his strange behavior.
He leaned toward her to whisper in an awed tone. "I'm looking for something bad to happen."
She frowned. "I don't understand."
"You can't love me. No one does." The sincerity in his voice and expression was heart-wrenching. He truly couldn't fathom anyone caring about him.
Not even her.
Laughing, she pulled him into her arms so that she could bury her hand in the curls at the nape of his neck and hold him close. "You silly man. Of course I can love you."
Seth wrapped his arms around her, stunned and shocked, as she swayed him back and forth. He couldn't even begin to sort through his rapid-fire emotions right now.
But at the bottom of it all was an equal amount of euphoria ...
And holy ranking terror.
What did people do when they loved each other? He tried to remember the few years he'd lived with the jackals, but it'd been too long ago, and he'd banished all those memories to the darkest part of his mind.
Now he trod a whole new landscape where nothing was familiar. The only thing that kept him grounded was the woman in his arms who'd rocked his entire existence.
The woman he would die for.
"What does this mean, Lydia?"
Lydia smiled up at him as she finally understood his bizarre question. For a man with so much worldly experience and a thorough understanding of the worst things in the universe, in many ways, he was like a small child who was baffled by a simple act of kindness.
"Well, when people love each other, they usually make a commitment to each other ... or the man runs for the door in stark, raving terror."
His look turned to steel. "I don't run from anything."
"I know, sweetie." She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss the stern frown from his brow. "It's one of the things I love most about you." She held her hand up with the sign she'd taught him in bed. "This is how you say 'I love you' in my language."
He duplicated the gesture and laid his hand against hers like they'd done earlier. The unspoken happiness in his gaze set her heart pounding even faster.
"How do you say it in ancient Egyptian?"
He actually had to think about it. Something that made her eyes water as she realized why he had to struggle to remember. After a few seconds, he shrugged. "I don't know. I never heard those words said together."
She sniffed back her tears. "You will always, always hear them from me. Every day. I promise." Lydia's gaze dropped to his neck where she'd planned to kiss him, but something else caught her attention.
Was that ...
No. Was it?
Standing on her tiptoes again, she pulled the neck piece of his armor down so that she could get a better view and double-check what it was she thought she saw.
Seth stepped back. "What are you doing?"
"The swallow..."
"What of it?" he asked after a few seconds when she didn't continue speaking.
Lydia was aghast at the sight. She couldn't get over it. "It's different now."
"How so?"
She traced the tail feathers with her fingertip. "The heart inside its tail ... It's no longer broken." She used her powers to conjure a mirror so that she could show him. "See ... the heart's whole."
Seth leaned his head back so that he could see his mark. She was right.
Finally, after all this time, his swallow could fly again.
He was whole.
Because of her.
He leaned down to kiss her lips, but before he could, something bright flashed around them. It came and went so fast, that he wasn't sure if it'd been real or imagined.
Not until Lydia arched a brow. "Was that lightning?"
"I don't know."
It flashed again. Then four more times in rapid succession.
This time, Seth recognized that pattern and what it signified. "It's Maahes. He's in battle."
And there was only one person Maahes could be fighting here in this realm.
Verlyn had found them.
