Sin & Surrender (Demigods of San Francisco Book 6) Page 6

  “Until he goes crazy and we have to kill him in his sleep and then take off,” Mordecai said.

  “Yes, obviously.” Daisy rolled her eyes.

  I stared at the two of them and couldn’t decide if I wanted to hug them or slap them. I settled for wiping away a tear and threatening them. “Do not do that again. Children are supposed to be seen and not heard. From now on, you stay silent, do you get me? If Kieran gets rejected, let him handle it politically.”

  Neither of them nodded.

  “Do you understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Mordecai mumbled.

  “Fine,” Daisy said.

  “Alexis.” Kieran was waiting to go back onto the promenade with the crew lined up behind him.

  I took my place, trying to shrug off the anxiety coiling tightly within me as we started walking again. The beautiful surroundings should’ve helped me relax, but the calculating eyes of those we passed negated the effect.

  “Pass him. Do not engage,” Amber said, walking closely behind Kieran.

  A man with a strange peacock robe passed us, his gaze rooted to Kieran. The look was not returned. The man’s team followed him in a mostly straight line. The first couple looked beyond Kieran to his people, but the next few only had eyes for me. A glowing ball materialized in the palm of one, and another’s eyes turned bright green, a warning of some kind. I had no idea what those magics might be.

  “Do all Demigod’s significant others get threatened?” I mumbled, anxious shivers racking my body. It was clear many of these magical people were bored with their positions. They were trained to battle, but instead of getting to use their talents, they were relegated to offices and lavish homes while their Demigods engaged in shady dealings and behind-the-scenes maneuvering. They were ready to stretch their magical wings, and they were clearly looking for the right opponents with which to do it. Like us.

  It likely wouldn’t happen tonight, but we would be fighting. I’d have to take my magic for a spin, and I would likely be standing in front of Mordecai and Daisy, protecting them, when it happened.

  “Make eye contact, but do not stop,” Amber said.

  Kieran’s head jerked down to me. “Who is threatening you?”

  “Keep your focus,” Amber hissed.

  Kieran glanced at the passing woman, but his gaze returned to me too quickly. He was going to leave her hanging.

  Trying to compensate, not thinking, I threw her a grin and a thumbs-up. The woman, regal and elegant, with a dress of purple satin and a perfect hourglass body, frowned in confusion before her face smoothed over, ageless.

  Grimacing, because what the hell was I thinking, I ripped my thumb out of the air. I tried to affect an expression of boredom, but the facial gymnastics probably made me look crazy. My social reflexes had not been made around important people.

  “Alexis, this is not a sports stadium,” Amber said, pained.

  “Sorry,” I said, too loudly. The woman slowed, staring at me a little longer before finally going past. “God, I suck.”

  “You shouldn’t be threatened here, no,” Kieran said, slowing as he studied my face. “I haven’t felt your concern. What sort of threats were they?”

  “They weren’t threats,” Zorn said, “so much as previews of what’s to come.”

  “Might I remind you that, as far as the Summit is concerned,” Amber said, “she is not your significant other—she is your mistress with an unsanctioned mark.”

  “I understand that, but she is currently walking at the front of my people, by my side, holding my hand. She should be given the courtesy of her placement if not her standing,” Kieran replied. “That someone would…offer her a preview, right under my nose, is crossing a line.”

  “Given that you didn’t notice, it is merely walking the line, sir,” Amber said. “I would guess that they were looking for a reaction. Trying to get a clue as to her power and efficiency. You must remember that very few at this Summit have encountered a Spirit Walker in the flesh. Harding was an assassin with a perfect record, but Lexi is an unknown. They’ll all want to be the first one to bring down a Spirit Walker.”

  “The first person that tries will get a horrible surprise,” Zorn said, his deep, gruff voice full of uncharacteristic humor.

  “I hope I am there to see it,” Amber said.

  “Me too,” Zorn replied.

  Kieran took a deep breath, his head held high. He made eye contact with the next woman to pass, and nodded a hello to the man who followed.

  “We should’ve gotten married before the Summit,” he murmured.

  I felt a strange slice of spirit cut across my middle. I bristled, but souls were everywhere—some bright, some dark, some fluctuating—and I had no idea who’d just taken a shot at me.

  “We would’ve had to do a quickie wedding.” I scanned the faces at the side—the observers who were watching people pass. More than a few regarded me curiously, but none seemed hostile. A soul flickered through the trees and bushes, jogging by, quickly out of my range. “People would’ve just said you were marrying me to make the mark seem more legit.”

  “That is certainly true—” Amber’s voice caught, and I felt another slash of spirit. Judging by Kieran’s face, he didn’t feel a thing. “We have a middle-grade attack here. Spirit. Given we’ve trained with Lexi, it’s more annoying than anything.”

  “Who?” Kieran asked, his gaze staying straight ahead, though more than a few people were trying to catch his notice.

  “Don’t know,” she answered. “As far as I know, we haven’t passed anyone who can use spirit, either on the path or along the sides. There are new faces, though. I don’t know everyone. Yet.”

  “Someone just ran through the trees behind that wall of flowery bushes.” I felt for the soul again, straining to expand my range. “Gone now, though.”

  “Ah. There’s your answer.”

  I glanced ahead to see what Amber had seen.

  A short man in a silk fuchsia shirt that showed off all the wrong elements of his flabby upper body walked beside a slender woman with an upturned nose and sour mouth. His team stretched out behind him, as few in number as our crew, and all of their gazes were aimed our way. The man’s watery stare landed on me and stuck like glue, his eyes hungry and his mouth set in a grim line.

  “Demigod Aaron,” Zorn hummed, and a shock ran through me.

  “Do not engage,” Amber told Kieran. “Not here. Let him pass.”

  But I was already cutting across the path, unable to help myself. My blood boiled. Anger made me senseless. My cats bounded up with me, keeping pace.

  “Alexis,” Kieran said between his teeth, trying to pull me back.

  I ripped out of his hold and made a direct line toward that miserable excuse for a man.

  “Because of you, my wards almost died,” I said, low and rough, as soon as he was within hearing. I didn’t care about politics. This was personal.

  His eyes narrowed and stayed rooted to mine. “Demigod Kieran, what is the meaning of this?”

  “Demigod Kieran is my boyfriend and the holder of my mark, not my keeper, and you, sir, are a cowardly little bitch who needs his balls cut off.”

  “I will not be spoken to that way—”

  I stopped in front of him. “Nice spirit shape, by the way. You know, the one you hid behind when you showed up in the dead of night with your army, trying to kill Kieran and kidnap me? Hilarious, that shape. Does everyone know you assume the shape of a huge being with a slim waist, broad shoulders, and huge muscles? There has never been a clearer example of a man compensating for his shortcomings, if you ask me. Love that fuchsia top, by the way—your tailor clearly loves you as much as I do.”

  Someone seated to the side of the path snickered.

  “Demigod Kieran—”

  I leaned into his face and cut him off. “Kieran will not save you from me. No one will save you from me. You’re a desperate little man clutching at straws. Just because Demigods don’t get punished by their
peers for breaking the rules doesn’t mean they won’t get what’s coming to them. Maybe not today, maybe not ten years from now, but one day you will stand in judgment for what you have done to me and my family. Do you hear me?”

  A smile showed his white teeth and his eyes glittered with malice. “I see your threat, and I’ll give you one better. One day you will belong to me, and I will make sure you’ll hate your existence until the end of time. What that Lightning Bolt went through will be nothing compared to your existence strapped to my bed. Do you hear me?”

  “The better question is, does your wife hear you? Because it’s some bullshit to say that right in front of her. Don’t you have any respect? I won’t even need to kill you—hopefully she’ll suffocate you in the middle of the night with a pillow. You’d deserve it.”

  “Alexis,” Kieran barked, and I could feel the worry threading through his middle. I’d pushed my hand as far as I could.

  I straightened, beating my stare straight into Aaron’s head. I’d meant every word—someday I would have my vengeance. This clown’s clock was starting to wind down.

  “You might want to control your woman,” Aaron said to Kieran in a lofty tone as I walked back to my place. His wife stood beside him with a bland expression and a blank stare, clearly just enduring what had to be the latest distasteful conversation in her life. “She’ll get you in trouble one day.”

  Kieran spread his hands. “I can’t really blame her. Like she said, you attacked our family in the middle of the night and almost got her kids killed. She has a right to her anger. She hasn’t harmed you, though. She has not broken the rules of this promenade, which is more than I can say for you. If your person in the trees attacks us one more time, I’ll let Alexis tear them down, gain control of their body, and send them right back to you in a way you won’t love. Consider yourself warned.”

  Dead silence filtered through the scene as Aaron’s face turned red. He opened his mouth for a rebuttal of some kind, but Chaos dove for his feet, batting at the golden tassels. Aaron danced away like his feet were on fire, bumping into those behind him and tripping. Chaos bounded back with the grace of a cat a quarter of his size and darted through the trees. Havoc stretched out her paw and bent to lick it, not bothered.

  “Your camp is a madhouse,” Aaron hollered, tripping over someone else and staggering, nearly falling. “Despicable. You’ll never amount to anything in this place, I will personally make sure of it!”

  Kieran looked away, exuding bored arrogance. “You’ll personally see to it, will you? Wonderful. I won’t worry, then, given you haven’t been able to follow through on anything else. Wave to Amber as you pass. Your ridiculous attempts to kidnap her were laughed about at our dinner table.”

  Kieran walked on, channeling every bit of the cool grace and infallible confidence I’d come to expect from him. His feelings through the soul link, for a wonder, matched. He wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Aaron.

  “Excellent,” Amber murmured when we’d passed his collection of people and the gawking bystanders to either side. We’d held up the path for so long that we’d essentially gathered an audience. “I worried that Alexis had gone too far, but that played out perfectly. He will be your number one enemy, and extremely dangerous for all of us, but if you continue to make a mockery of him, you’ll discredit his naysaying of your political ideas. People will think his gripes are personal and not professional. You’ll make it harder for him to tear you down.”

  “Magnus wasn’t lying about her Chaos magic,” Zorn said as the male cat loped back toward us. “The cats just add to the effect.”

  “Hence their names, yeah,” Bria said from the back.

  As we continued on, the number of people standing or sitting along the sides increased, leaders taking a break to watch the crowds go by. I felt the heaviness of their stares—many calculating, some curious. As I passed, their looks slid to the rest of the group, probably landing on Dylan or Jerry next, maybe Thane, one of the stars of the YouTube videos released six months ago. Kieran made eye contact with a few, nodded very seldom, and only bowed once to an important-looking woman wearing designer labels from head to toe.

  “Zander,” Amber murmured as a man in a tailored suit ambled toward us. His style was impeccable, from the pocket square that perfectly matched his pale pink dress shirt to the accenting tie. His graying goatee and salt-and-pepper hair didn’t match his smooth face, devoid of lines or wrinkles. A polished wooden cane swung lazily from his hand and tapped the ground every so often, clearly for show. His free hand held that of an elegant woman wearing a beautiful, flowing dress without any sort of bedazzling, her hair up in a French twist, her features embellished with a touch too much makeup. Her skin nearly glowed, enhancing her loveliness tenfold, and I knew that was Zander’s mark burning brightly for all to see.

  A flurry of nervousness bled through the soul link. Zander had a large, thriving territory and had been well regarded within the magical world for a long time. He would be a great ally for Kieran, but from what the others had said, he was slow to make new acquaintances and much slower to trust. He voted according to his personal set of morals and principles and only backed a couple of people.

  I knew for a fact that Kieran hoped to someday be one of those people.

  “Remember, Zander gave nothing more than a mutual nod of respect to Valens when they occasionally met on this walk,” Amber murmured. “That’s typically the most he gives anyone. You should openly look at him, but do not feel slighted when he ignores you. Alexis, keep your crazy to yourself with this one. Daisy, Mordecai, if you act up, I will literally peel the skin off your hide. With a very precise knife.”

  I swallowed down a sudden lump in my throat. It was clear she meant that threat.

  Their procession drew closer. Chatter died down to a hum, then cut to silence as people watched from the sidelines, clearly wondering what Zander would do. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Zander’s wife. The serene look on her face was that of a woman in love.

  Though I was probably supposed to be all stoic and arrogant and bored, I couldn’t help a budding smile. They came closer still, only twenty feet away now, and her eyes flicked to me for a moment. Another two steps and her gaze returned, the pause longer this time. And again, even longer, until she was reading my face. She was probably just trying to interpret my smile, but maybe she saw what I did—that we both had a deep connection to our partners. From what I’d witnessed, it was a rarity in this world.

  Unable to contain myself, I shrugged a shoulder and then nodded in hello. It was breaking custom, I knew, but screw it. Seeing the two of them together like that, enjoying this lovely walk without needing to worry about the stakes, resonated with me. I wanted that to be Kieran and me someday. I wouldn’t be threatened, or a curiosity, and Kieran wouldn’t be belittled for his youth and newness. We’d just be.

  Dare to dream, probably.

  She looked away again, but a small crease formed between her eyebrows as they continued to walk. I’d messed with her chi. Oops.

  Zander, only five paces away from Kieran, looked over. Their eyes met, and Zander slowed for a moment.

  Fireworks exploded through the soul link, followed by absolute shock. Kieran bowed deeply, his arrogance quickly stripped away. I stood there stupidly, wondering if I should bow as well. I hadn’t done so with anyone else, but Zander seemed like a bigger deal.

  A glance back to Amber and she shook her head then showed me her teeth, her signal that I had better turn back around or she’d probably try to kill me in my sleep.

  When I faced front again, Zander’s wife’s gaze was on my dress. My subconscious had reacted to the pressurized situation by inviting in spirit, and it was caressing my skirt. I cut it out immediately.

  My face flamed as Zander’s gaze switched from Kieran to me. His gaze found my chest, and I knew he wasn’t checking out my rack. His look traced the invisible line connecting my middle to Kieran’s. He’d clearly heard about the soul link
. He wouldn’t be able to verify the rumors by sight.

  Zander walked on, not speeding up. Looking back, braving Amber’s stare of death, I saw why.

  Dylan kept his eyes front, but his jaw was clenched. I wondered if his fists were clenched as well. He was being scrutinized by a Demigod of his magical line and not loving it.

  “Should I—”

  “Don’t you do anything,” Amber ground out through her teeth. “He is merely curious. All of Zeus’s line will be curious. Gianna didn’t show Dylan around much. You’ve heard why.”

  “Keep walking, baby,” Kieran said softly, looking straight ahead. “Stay cool and keep walking.”

  It wasn’t until we sauntered around the bend that a loud sigh escaped from Amber.

  “We made it,” she said, and her stress was clear.

  “You need a strong drink, woman,” Zorn told her as we continued on our way.

  “Don’t I know it,” she replied. “It was never this nail-biting…the other times I was here. Things were always planned down to the last detail, and usually everything went off without a hitch. This whole evening has been a shit show, and I’ve been waiting for it to smear across our faces. Why it hasn’t is beyond me. I’m simply amazed it has mostly worked out.”

  “The chaos isn’t only Alexis’s doing,” Zorn said. “Demigod Kieran has always had a wild streak. He’s not as orderly as he’d have you think.”

  “Telling all my secrets, Zorn?” Kieran asked in a light tone.

  “Just helping her do her job,” Zorn replied.

  After a brief pause in which Kieran ignored someone trying to nod at him, he asked, “Why did Zander notice me?”

  “I think he was giving himself leave to check out Dylan,” Zorn said.

  “I’d mostly agree with that,” Amber said, “though he expressed interest in Alexis, as well.”

  “The soul link, I think.” I turned a bit to look at her. “His gaze traced the connection between our—”