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“You didn’t”
That wasn’t true, but he appreciated her saying it At the end of the day, he was the Malachai Whatever his future self did, it was him, too
Now he understood why Ae the past His future self had told hi That any day, he expected the Malachai to devour his conscience and render him a merciless monster Because of it, Ambrose was barely sane at ti the sae To steer Nick onto another path that kept hione, the Malachai would take over and kill everything and everyone That hat his species had been born to do
Man, it sucked
“You should have told me the truth before now, Kody”
“You weren’t ready to hear it, and you definitely weren’t ready to accept the reality of what you’re headed toward”
Who would be? No one in their right mind wanted to be told that they would one day destroy the entire world and everyone who lived in it That they would kill or cause the death of every being who ht? It still stung that she’d lied to hie secret “Is that why you came to seeto kill me?”
She looked away “I was supposed to kill you that first day we met at St Richard’s”
That news floored him and flooded him with memories Even now, he could visualize her clearly that day in hisin the office—it seeo She’d looked like a vision So sweet and innocent Confused by her new school, or so he’d thought Meanwhile, there she’d been with the intent of ending his life “Why didn’t you?”
She laughed bitterly before she ht you’d be I went there expecting a cruel Malachai to battle to the death Someone like Stone” The bully who’d caused him to be sent to the office “And instead I found a sweet, bashful, respectful boy ore the tackiest shirt iinable just to h everyone elseto protect his saintly mother’s reputation An innocent soul who found humor at the worst of times and who held himself up with hard-won pride even when everyone else was relentlessly trying to knock you down You have inside you a purity that is so rare The capacity to love unconditionally and completely In spite of what you are, and as unbelievable as it is, you are truly decent”
Sing hard, she wiped at her eyes “Gah, it gets so confusing for me I just can’t reconcile the creature I know you will become—the heartless beast I have battled—with the man you are, here and now”
Savitar handed her a tissue “Life haht we’d be For ed breath as Nick pulled her against him and held her
He buried his face in her hair and inhaled the sweet, precious scent “But now that I know, Kody, I won’t hurt you How could I?”
She shook her head “You don’t understand, Nick When your blood takes over you, you won’t be able to stop The Malachai will control you, not the other way around If you could stop it, I wouldn’t be here I’d be snatched back to my time to live out the life I should have had But the host says that you will ultimately kill me”
“I refuse to accept that”
She patted his chest “You are ever a stubborn Cajun”
“Dat right, cher Born on da bayou, with boudin in one hand and guetting her to laugh “You were born on Menyara’s couch and you hate those stereotypes”
“Yeah, but I am proud to be Cajun and I happily embrace my stereotype … so to hear a stranger speaking out of s I knowwith this?” he asked Kody
She straightened up in the seat “I don’t see your son when I look at him, Michael I see the lunatic I’rin ringed by di ears”
“Yeah, you do” She reached up to touch one “Not in this body, but the one at hos to fly You could just wiggle the ears and catch a breeze”
He pretended to be wounded by her teasing “Now that’s just cruel, woman”
With an innocent expression, she held her hands up to her ears and waved her fingers like wings
Savitar rolled his eyes “You knohat truly terrifies me, Michael?”
“Very little?”
“Well, yeah … that’s true But for the moment, it’s the fact that the fate of the entire universe rests in their hands” He shifted his gaze to Kody “You really should do us all a favor and end him while you can”
She scoffed at words that seriously offended Nick “Don’t take it to heart, hon Savitar had a chance to kill you hiht you how to surf”
Savitar screwed his face up as if surfing was the ine “Surf?”
She nodded “I asked you once why you didn’t kill Nick during the two years he spent with you on your island, and you knohat you said?”
“I’h “You told ood he needed to do and that if you’d killed him then, people you love would have suffered because Nick wouldn’t have been there to help them when they needed it But what you didn’t say hat my father told ruffness, you, like my father, carry hope You curse it, but for whatever reason, no o”
Savitar ust “I take back what I said Your father’s the idiot”
“No, he wasn’t He was the ent man I’ve ever known Even you respected him, Mr Hostile”
“And I find that impossible to believe”
Nick took a moment to study Savitar He knew from his future self that Savitar would be important to him one day But he didn’t knohen or why Only that this was an extre
A shiver went over him as he leaned to whisper in Kody’s ear “Are you sure Savitar is on our side?”
“I can hear you, kid,” Savitar growled “And yeah I’ My other former allies turned out to be myths And you,” Nick said to Bubba, “are supposed to be in awhen the priest called With Savitar, as explaining you and Kody to me”
Nick scowled “You already knew Savitar?”
The ed an a time now We’ve headed offturn Nick hadn’t expected “So you’re as crazy here as you are in hed “No Michael’swhat he loves … with Mark”