Immortal Rider_ Lords of Deliverance Series_ - Larissa Ione [138]
A thousand bursts of pain shot through his hand, and he looked down to see that he’d squeezed the flask so hard it had shattered. Clay shards were embedded in his palm, wrist, and fingers. Marrow wine mingled with blood and rain and ran down his arm and puddled on the parched ground at his feet.
Part of him wanted to get down on his knees and lick the wine before it seeped into the dirt. Somehow, he resisted.
Harvester was not going to win again.
Harvester flashed back to her place, where Whine was waiting for her, head bowed, eyes downcast. She’d been in a shitty mood when she’d found Reaver at Mount Megiddo, where he’d been cursing up a storm. Literally. She hadn’t wanted to see him again so soon after dropping him off, but orders were orders, and only a fool ignored Lucifer.
Feed his addiction, Lucifer had said. Keep him sodden. Easier said than done. Although she’d fed Reaver a steady diet of marrow wine while she had him in chains, he’d never asked for it, even when withdrawal tremors and fever set in. She’d stood nearby, wine in hand, waiting for him to beg.
Never once had he done so. She’d been forced to overpower him and dribble it into his mouth. Once he tasted the wine, he took it freely, but he’d possessed the incredible ability to never ask for it.
Such a proud, powerful angel.
She both admired and despised him for that.
Bitterness stung her tongue as she beckoned Whine to her. In a heartbeat he was before her, kneeling and kissing her feet. The scrape of his teeth on her skin infuriated her—the only time he was ever even a little careless in the way he touched her was when the full moon was rising in his native Hungary, which meant that she’d need to release him for three days in order for him to work off his warg energy.
Dammit. This day just kept getting better and better. Eons of planning was coming together and yet… it was so close to falling apart.
Arranging for the Aegis girl to get pregnant had been one massive gamble.
In nine months, that gamble would either pay off for Harvester or ruin her.
In nine months, the Apocalypse would either be averted… or it would break the world.
Thirty-seven
Arik stared at the empty space where Reaver had been, wondering when and if the world was going to get back to normal. His best guess amounted to when hell freezes over, and wasn’t that a joke, because if Pestilence got his way, hell was going to be right here on earth.
“Dammit,” Kynan said. “This is a mess.”
“A mess?” Arik pivoted around. “Understatement of the century, don’t you think? The Aegis is fucking lucky they didn’t break Than’s Seal with that little stunt.”
“At least we were trying to do something to stop the Apocalypse,” Kynan snapped. “The R-XR is sitting on its damned ass. By the time they act, it’ll be too late.”
The military had always been reactive rather than proactive, just like the government, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, The Aegis had always leaped before it looked. But this was old news, not worth arguing about, and ultimately, Arik’s anger wasn’t directed at Kynan. It wasn’t even directed at himself for keeping his knowledge about Regan away from Limos, though he was definitely kicking himself for that.
What it came down to was that Arik knew he had a decision to make, and it was one he never thought he’d have to face.
Kynan, who had always been able to read a situation as if he were two steps ahead of everyone, knew exactly what Arik was thinking. “You coming back to us, or not?”
“You going to make me keep secrets from my family?”
There was a long silence before Kynan sighed. “Man, I know where you’re coming from. I’m a Guardian with demons for in-laws. I’m mated to a demon. My loyalties are tested every day.”
“But?”
Ky’s denim blue eyes drilled into Arik. “But you’re in chin-deep with people who could turn on us hard if their Seals break. There are things we have to keep close to the vest.”
“I get that, and I know Limos does too.” His girl might be pissed right now, but she was far from stupid, and she understood the consequences if she went evil.