Page 79 of Jay's Silence
Lux still hadn’t dropped me, and I wiggled forward, forcing him to make me a spot in our line of scales and claws.
The double doors dramatically opened, blowing Marduk’s over-the-top white cape. The ancient mage hadn’t aged a day.Tall and lean, with a broad smile and too keen blue eyes, his gaze dropped to my definitely not as flat as it used to be belly.
I took a single step forward, forcing a confident smile onto my face. “Sorry to disappoint, old friend.” I rubbed my stomach with my free hand. “It’s all wine and cheesecake.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
REHAN
The man standing in front of me wasn’t human, or at least hadn’t been for a long time. Like his demons, cracks of silver-blue power leaked through his skin. Long robes made of strips of shimmery pastels flowed down his body like water. He laughed. The resounding booms shook his body, though not his hair, which sat like a plastic doll, perfectly slicked back.
My mate stood opposite him. I couldn’t help but compare them. Both immortals and powerful, beyond my understanding, they were nothing alike. Jay’s long black hair was a mess in its ponytail, and her dark clothing clung to her dirty skin. She didn’t glow with power, and I couldn’t picture her taking on such an ostentatious mantle. Deserved or not.
Jay told Lux she was a dragon because time gave everyone scales, whether they wanted them or not. I know I shouldn’t have been listening to their conversation, but with my dragon senses on high alert, I couldn’t block them out.
Jay’s armor was born of lifetimes of empathy. I wasn’t sure she even realized it. She could have been this man, surrounded by demons and golems of his own creation, focused on onlyhimself. Instead, she surrounded herself with supernaturals and was hellbent on helping us whether we wanted it or not.
My heart swelled with pride, and determination gripped my soul. I had to make sure Jay understood how amazing she was.
“A promise made, even in bad faith, is still a promise.” The man smiled, his gaze flicking to Caoimhe. “I see you brought back my newest lamb.”
Next to me, Tyson swung his head around the room as if looking for an actual lamb.
I let out a frustrated puff of air. “He’s talking about Caoimhe.”
“You will never have her,” Caoimhe promised weakly as she protectively curled in on her middle.
Tyson looked between Caoimhe and Jay. This time, I shared his confusion.
“A promise made. A deal sealed.” The man’s eyes took on a feral glow, feeding off Caoimhe’s fear.
Jay waved her hands, drawing our attention back to her. “Caoimhe can’t be more than a month along, assuming she got pregnant at the social.”
My breath caught in my throat. No one was talking about Jay. Caoimhe had a bun in the oven. I looked at Tyson, who’d turned to the side to study Caoimhe, hopefully drawing the same conclusion while Lux and Og both shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably.
Jay took another step forward, another step away from us.
I didn’t like it.
“She still belongs to me,” the man’s smile grew wider. “A half-fire dragon, half-fire nymph. My daughter will level cities. Though,” he tapped his chin. “It will still only have a fraction of the potential your inevitable spawn will give, Jaiyana.”
“She will never be your daughter,” Caoimhe spat as Tenzin pushed her behind him.
My vision tunneled in on Marduk as pieces of information clicked. Caoimhe’s unborn child belonged to this man, who could only be Marduk. My mate made the same deal. A memory of Jay off-handedly mentioning this exact scenario as if it were just another fact of her life came to me.
I tried to muster Jay’s confidence and nonchalance. But good or bad, I’d spent my entire life surrounded by family. My grandad always had a moment for me. My dad, helpful or not, had drifted around our territory, ready for the next party. My moms, even my dragon moms, were my teachers. Everything that made me a functional adult I owed to them. Probably everything that made me dysfunctional as well. The point being: family was my world.
What drove Jay to make that deal? What kind of a monster stole people's families?
“You gave away your firstborn?” Tyson stepped toward Jay; his fiery gaze full of accusation. At. My. Jay. My mate, my soul mate who made herself miserable so others could be happy.
I didn’t remember turning to Tyson, but I felt my balled fist impact his scaled face. The fire dragon soared backward. The blood and guts from two different fights still covering him flew off, dripping onto us and the floor. Before he could hit the wall of demons surrounding us, he managed to hook the ground with a foot. His tail burst out of his backside, stabilizing him.
“Wrong person to be mad at,” I growled. “I trust Jay. He’s the monster who offered the deal.”
To my surprise, Tyson ducked his head and slinked back to us.
I focused on Jay just as she smoothed her face back to its usual confident mask. But I hadn’t missed the shock, pride, and almost painful hope written into her features. It made me want to punch Tyson again and anyone who dared to make her feel like less of a person.