Immortal Rider_ Lords of Deliverance Series_ - Larissa Ione [112]
“My wife died at your order,” Ares snarled. “What about my sons? Did you plan to kill them too?”
“You sent them away before that could happen,” she croaked. “But I didn’t want them dead, Ares. I swear.”
Pestilence barked out a laugh. “Only because as Ares’s offspring, they were potentially powerful.”
True. They could have been useful as they grew. Unfortunately, they became casualties of the demon war, so yes, she was responsible, if indirectly. She risked a glance at Arik, who stared at her in stunned silence. Shame constricted her chest, and when she looked at her brothers, the loathing and disappointment in their eyes constricted everything else.
“The demons slaughtered most of my family,” Thanatos said, his voice so icy she shivered. “I watched almost my entire tribe be torn apart by Soulshredders. Do you know how they kill, Limos?” Leaping to his feet, he seized her by the beautiful pearl collar of her ruined dress and got right in her face. “Do you?”
Yes, she did, but before she could reply, Arik was there, shoving his muscular arm between her and Than.
“Back off, Horseman.”
Than’s voice was an avalanche rumble. “This isn’t your concern, human.”
“It became my concern about an hour ago, when I drank her blood from a cup.” Arik said. “So back the fuck off. Now.”
No one was more shocked than she was when Thanatos released her. But he wasn’t done with her. Not by a long shot.
“That reminds me,” Pestilence said casually. “I’ve released thousands of Soulshredders in the human realm. Things are going to get real fun, real soon.”
Ares jabbed a finger at Pestilence. “We’ll deal with you later.” He turned back to Limos. “But you.” He practically spat “you” at her. “You’re as bad as he is. At least Pestilence has the excuse of a broken Seal.”
Her eyes burned with unshed tears. “You said you loved me no matter what. You said you couldn’t hold what I did thousands of years ago against me—”
“That was before I knew you are responsible for the deaths of everyone I loved,” he roared. Ares’s hatred lanced her so fiercely that she stumbled backward, pain radiating through her chest.
“Did you know how Heaven would react?” Thanatos demanded. “Did you know angels would be sent to punish and curse us as Horsemen?”
“No,” she rasped. “That wasn’t part of the plan. You were to be my wedding gift to Satan.” Her fingers flexed at her sides. “Before we were even born, he’d foreseen that we would play a role in the Apocalypse, but he didn’t know how. So I was to bring you to him. But I was too slow. Lucifer warned me that Heaven would only tolerate so many human casualties before they took action. I miscalculated, and before I could take you to Sheoul, angels interfered and we were all cursed by them to be Horsemen.”
She’d paid for her failure in blood. After two months of torture, she’d been sent back to the human realm to make up for her mistake.
“Tell them the rest.” Pestilence folded his arms over his broad chest, the metal clanking loudly in the cold night air. “Tell them how you worked against us for hundreds of years to break my Seal. And tell them how you were responsible for stealing Deliverance from The Aegis, not because you didn’t trust The Aegis to keep it safe, but so you could destroy it and prevent Ares or Thanatos from killing me if my Seal broke.” Pestilence bared his fangs in a diabolical smile. “The best part of all of this? She killed Sartael to shut him up, isn’t that right? You thought he was the one person who could find your agimortus, but you were willing to give that up just to protect your piece of shit self. You pissed off the wrong person, Limos. Sartael was Lucifer’s pet, and Lucifer’s sworn to take out his fury on all of you. So not only did Limos ruin your old lives, she’s going to fuck the shit out of your current ones, as well.”
“Limos.” Ares’s big body trembled