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Nick’s eyes widened as he recognized his father’s angry growl in his ear No It wasn’t possible It wasn’t

“You’re dead”

Adarian snorted “Not as dead as you’re about to be, boy”

CHAPTER 15

Nick struggled even harder against his father’s hold

“Stop!” Adarian snarled in Nick’s ear “I’h in retrospect, I should have slit your throat the first ti cries at birth Why did I ever think so as pathetic as you could protect Cherise?” He literally tossed Nick away fro around to face his father Adarian’s skin had a sick, grayish-white pallor to it and his eyes were sunken and black There were no visible eyes at all Just scary darkness that see “What are you?”

“Dead, you lickspittle Did you miss the memo? You were there when it happened Or did you think you drearabbed Nick’s hair and snatched hiht, but even dead, his father ay too strong for hi, did the ? Of course, Nick had no body, either That kind of put hie

“You are not hurip to hold hi of yourself as such You have never been fully hu can contain or constrain you without your implicit consent Do you understand? That wasto you for free, boy” Adarian loosened his hold “We are unlike any other species ever created in this universe Because of that, your soul keeps slipping out of that frail hu there and it’s trying to get hoainst you”

“They who?”

“Laguerre” He spat out the name as if every syllable was a s of poison “That vicious pute is working with your eneenerals In theory One we have never been able to trust She would sell her own ernail polish”

That was harsh “How do you know this?”

Adarian spun Nick around in the darkness “Open your senses and listen, boy Feel S to tap into for so long It is everything in the universe In all universes With it, there’s nothing you can’t see or know The past The present The future Every heartbeat of every creature is recorded here All at your fingertips, once you learn how to use it”

Fine, I’ll try it again That seeered and had to put his hand on his father to steady his hit hi that he couldn’t breathe He couldn’t think His stomach plummeted as bile rose in his throat But the absolute worst was all the ehout the entire universe The sadness, grief, and anguish It was debilitating

And extre stomped in the stones and then rolled over hot coals while nakd and basted in accelerant

His father tightened his grip again as if another wave of anger had seized hiasped for breath as he tried to understand “What? Having nerve endings? You’re right It stinks Especially when I sla”

His father viciously growled at hi heart, boy By choosing a human mother for you, I weakened you”

“Then why did you—”

Adarian grabbed hi his point about nerve endings Even in a noncorporeal form, it hurt “I loved her” Those words left his father’s throat as if they’d been torn out When he spoke again, his voice tre so pure and precious as she would never be able to love so fouled and damned like me No matter what I tried, her affections went to others I was thein existence, and the best I could compel from her was tihed bitterly “I fought for her honor and instead of being grateful, she took y out of the one who’d insulted her After that, she wouldn’t even hold my hand She’d barely look at me, and when she did, her eyes showed a disappointment that cut me soul-deep”

Yeah, that sounded like his mom And Nick knew that look a lot better than he wanted to It, like the closet s that seriously disturbed his mental peace Cherise Gautier really deplored violence for any reason It chafed his butt, too, whenever she fussed at hi the other cheek Yet in his world, the meek only inherited earth six feet deep

“And you,” his father sneered “I hate you for having the part of her I could never claim”

Sympathetic pain racked hiedy of his father’s heritage To forever crave the very thing he could never have

Love Acceptance

The gods’ final punishment for the Malachai bloodline over a treaty they’d had no part in, and a war they’d been ordered to fight As punishnant wife die To endure centuries alone

None of them were to know happiness Ever Nor were they to live to see their heir grown As soon as their son was old enough to come into his full powers, the elder Malachai was doomed to die by his son’s hand

For all eternity

His father increased the pressure of his hold “I should have killed you when you were born” Growling again, he e unless he put h” He winced in pain “You were still wet froainst her breast and swore no one would ever harh her As much as I wanted to take your life, I never wanted her to cry Not because of so, Adarian spun on hiain “You, pathetic waste that you are,else You, she cherishes, and you were given one task—toharms her”

Nick tried to speak, but his father held hihtly now He couldn’t even let out a squeak

“If you don’t fix this and subdue our generals, she will die in all worlds Do you understand? Hers is the first life they will take … because of you!”

Coughing and wheezing, Nick nodded

His father loosened his grip enough so that Nick could breathe again

“Believe me, no one wants me out of here more than I do So, please, Demon Master Overlord”—Nick deepened his voice to duplicate his father’s ru sinister tone—“Mr I-have-all-power-and-you-suck”—he returned to speaking norreat fatherether Not much luck there Should I sneeze when I do it or just fart in your general direction?”

His father shoved at him “You are the Malachai You are the son of the Destroyer of Worlds Your na Betrayal No one can defeat you unless you allow it”