Daughter Trilogy Bundle (81 page)

"After the accident, the cops found a folder close to the wreckage.  It had all my information in it.  He knew where I lived, what college I was in, all my favorite shopping sites
… everything.  He was coming to finish the job he never got to," I shiver out.

Devin's grip tightens around me, and I feel him pulling me into his lap while sitting in a chair.  The sand escapes between my toes as my feet lift off the ground.  I curl up against him, but everyone still seems to be waiting on more.

Theia finally shakes her head as if she's objecting to my explanation.

"In order for one to lead an army of the dead, they have to be killed by either a mortal destined to be immortal or an already transformed immortal.  This doesn't make any sense.  And fire
… you shouldn't have fire.  You've rewound time, you have fire, and a mortal who died in a car crash is leading the army of the dead.  How did the car crash?"

"I knocked it off the road with the flick of my wrist," a man's voice chimes in from behind.

The hair on the back of my neck rises, and Persia's eyes gape in disbelief as she whispers to him.

"You're here."

I turn to see a familiar face, but I don't know where I know him from.  Persia runs to him, and his arms fold over her before he pulls her to his body.

I gasp as their lips collide, and suddenly they seem to forget about the audience waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Who's he?" Hale murmurs.

Persia turns around to finally address her suspended crowd, and the man takes her hand to lead her back to us.

"What do you mean?  You killed him?  But why?" I stammer out.

His eyes fall on mine, and I see such guilt radiating from them.  I've seen that form of guilt before
… from Persia.  But this can't be… it's not possible he's…  Is it?

Oh no.  It is.

I know where I've seen him now.  He's the ghost from the picture.

"Because that cowardly son of a bitch was going to kill my daughter," he says to answer both of my questions - the spoken and then unspoken.

"Kahl?" I gasp, and everyone else sounds out my same startled response.

"Hello Aphrodisia," he murmurs softly, and he doesn't waste time pulling me out of Devin's lap.

His arms close around me, but I'm not sure how to respond to such an overwhelming revelation.  I jerk back, and my eyes scold him before my mouth does.

"You're alive?  Why haven't you been here for all this?  Where were you last time?  Persia died, and you stayed hidden in the shadows?" I blare.

His eyes stare down at the sands trembling from my harsh implications of his own cowardliness.

"He died last time after he found out about me.  He was coming to exact his revenge when he made a careless mistake, and the bloodhounds that have been searching centuries for him finally capitalized on their opportunity to take him out.

"He has stayed hidden so he didn't add any further issues.  Your father is just as sought after as I am, but they don't know you exist.  Your other side isn't as dominant as your Aphrodite half, or at least it wasn't," she mutters, her eyes casting their shadows to the ground when she tries to hide the rest.

"Wasn't?" Theia gasps.  "Krios nor Asteria had the ability to blaze," she objects, bringing Persia's ashen face up to meet Kahl's glare.

His eyes scold her for the accidental slip.  Persia looks down again as she flinches.  What's so secretive?

"Right now, let's just focus on the army of dead that will be returning.  My daughter needs her strength, and I don
’t want to burden her with the grueling discussions that will be taking place on the matter.  You now know I killed him, and you know he was a merciless fiend while still in his mortal flesh.  He's going to be even more vicious and harder to kill," Kahl asserts with a powerfully stern tone.

Theia seems a little taken aback with his interfering dominance.  He just showed up, and he acts as though this is his show to run.

"You don't get to come in barking orders.  You haven't been here when we needed all hands on deck."  I turn my gaze back to Persia when something else stumps me.  "And how do you know he died after you?" I ask suspiciously.

Kahl's arms tighten around her, and he answers instead of her.

"Essentially, I can do the same as Theia with extracting and shifting memories.  Your mother came to me directly after she learned of a rewind in case there was something I needed to know.

"It's been too damn hard to stay away after watching her and you die through the memories Theia granted her access to.  I didn't only see through her eyes, I saw through yours as well.  I ditched the mongrels chasing after me after I incinerated half their crop and I came here as soon as Persia told me where you were going."

"Incinerated?  You have fire too?" I ask promptly.

His lips tighten, and now Persia's eyes are scolding him for the slip up.  He gives nothing away as he turns to address Theia.

"I think the heads of the families should move this discussion indoors now."

He's so bossy.  He's so
… oh damn… he's a hell of a lot like Devin.  Crap.

Kahl turns back to me suddenly, and his arms pull me into him once again.  I barely pat his back as a show of return, and then his hand takes Persia's before flashing away.

"Who the hell does he think he is, and why is everyone obeying him?" I implore as I leap out of Devin's lap.

"He's your father," Devin answers mildly.

"My father?  No.  You've met my father.  This guy didn't even show up the last go around," I gripe.

"He didn't know who we were dealing with then.  Now he does," Devin argues.

"Why are you defending him?  We don't know anything about him," I growl.

Devin pulls me back into his arms, and then his finger strokes my new tattoo with pained eyes.

"If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't be holding you right now.  I would have never known you or love at all," he murmurs softly, and then his lips fall on mine again.

He pulls me tighter into his embrace, forcing me to leave my anger unresolved, and I feel the fire stirring - Aphrodite's fire, not the blazing fire.

The earth beneath us begins to rattle, and suddenly the sand begins to vibrate.  We look around to assess what's going on, but as soon as we pull apart, the ground settles into silence.

"Is she doing that?" Hale gasps.

Devin's eyes narrow to mine, and I can tell he's studying me.  His lips tighten, and I feel so strange.  This is all such a new feeling, and I haven't even tapped into my Asteria yet.

"I need to learn to control Asteria's power," I quickly interject to distract the odd stares I'm getting.

"We'll get there.  Your father could help with that," Devin insists.

"Was that an earthquake or Adisia?" Theia gasps as she flashes back outside.

"We don't know, but we think it was her," Kry answers.

"It was her," Kahl mutters too softly.

"She needs to learn control over her Asteria half.  We were just discussing how you would be the best to train her.  She's going to need some understanding of how to draw the power out and force it in," Devin smoothly offers, and I know he's pushing for a reconciliation.

"Asteria didn't like being controlled by her own self.  I don't have her power in me.  My father's half was dominant.  She shouldn't have so many dominating powers.  It's rather unprecedented.  How have Asteria and Aphrodite both being awake not ripped her apart?" he prompts.

"If you had been here, you would have known," I growl.

His eyes lower with heavy guilt, and Persia strokes his arm encouragingly as she soothes the burns left behind from my tongue-lashing.

"She gathered that control long ago.  I don't understand it, but the two being awake is no longer affecting her in any other way than making her very powerful."

"It looked like she had control over Asteria when she knocked me through the damn wall," Slash mumbles.

"That was just Aphrodite," Devin smugly interjects.  "If it had been Asteria, you would have been dead."

"I saw the white in her eyes," he counters.

"It was temporary.  She didn't deem you worthy of her presence for long," I retort.

He narrows his eye, but doesn't provoke me further.  Kahl looks confused by the conversation.

"What'd he do?" he muses.

"He's a trickster.  He wore Devin's face and tried to fool Adisia.  She knew it wasn't him, and we thought she had lost control for a moment," Persia murmurs very warily, and it's as if she's afraid to go any further.

Kahl's eyes flash red with crimson swirls teeming in them, everyone gasps, and suddenly he's grabbing Slash by the throat and launching him through the air.  I scream at the man acting like a protective father.

"He's already been dealt with, and you have no right to come in and act as though you give a damn," I blare.

"I do give a damn, and you have no right to say otherwise," he pops back.

"Oh yeah?  Persia showed up the moment I changed.  She endured my cold, callous remarks because she cared enough about me to be here.  Where were you?" I growl.

"I've already told you where I was.  You and your mother shared an enemy the moment you flipped the Aphrodite switch.  I wasn't going to lead my enemies to your door.  I've watched you every chance I got all along the years.  Your mother and I took turns watching various events of your life so we didn't draw in too much attention.  I've been here more than you realize," he pleads.

I huff out loudly, and Persia comes over to take my hand in hers.

"It took my death to make you fully accept me as a mother last time.  We don't get another rewind to offer you another chance to embrace Kahl as a father," she whimpers.

She's right, but I'm not ready to just throw my arms around him and call him
daddy
.

I look around to see everyone pale - no one speaking at all.  Kahl drops his head back as if he realizes he's done something stupid.  I address the stupefied or terrified faces
… I can't tell which.

"What?" I bark.

Devin pulls my hand back into his, and Persia sighs.

"Krios was my grandfather," she bumbles.  "No one knew about Aphrodite ever having a relationship with a titan, and she was too promiscuous to ever settle down for long, so it was an easy secret to keep," she huffs.

"So you two are related?  Oh that's so gross," I grumble in disgust.

Kahl stifles a grin, but everyone else still seems to be in shock.

"We're not related.  Oh fuck.  The eyes always give me away every time," he exasperates.

"I don't understand," I muse.

Devin's arm now snakes around my waist, and I can see everyone taking a step back as if they're scared.

"So that's who else is in her.  She certainly needs to be trained for that.  I didn't think it possible for her to have another entity that powerful in her," Devin murmurs under his breath.

"That's not a power that should even exist," Theia murmurs through her ashen lips.

"Relax," Kahl soothes.  "I've never controlled the dead.  I don't possess half the power my father did, nor the malice.  She won't either.  Don't be scared of us like the fools who've been chasing after me for so long," he gripes.

"No one is scared of Adisia.  At least, not while she's in control," Hale asserts, and then he cowers back as if he's worried of repercussions.

"You shouldn't fear me either.  In case you've forgotten, my father gave his life in the great Aphrodite war.  He saved the life of my wife, and my mother gave her life for her as well.  It's because of them Athena was weakened enough to be killed, and you all know she wasn't far from reaching the reign of tyranny Rhea was already at.

"It would have been a bloodbath between the two, and we would have been the armies they controlled.  Where were all of you when the daughters of Aphrodite were being stalked down by the masses?" he blares.

They've been together a hell of a lot longer than Persia confessed if they were together during the Aphrodite wars.

Everyone looks away shamefully, and Kahl's eyes turn to Devin.  I'm a little taken aback at the defensive outburst, and I see his glare burning through my fiancé.

My eyes widen when I realize he thinks Devin stood by idly when my kind was being slaughtered.

I quickly chirp out, "He wasn't born yet."

Kahl lets out a smirk, and Devin stifles one of his own.  I'm still baffled by the whole unknown ancestor, and Kahl exhales loudly before calmly readdressing the group.

"Can we please get back to preparing for the army of dead?  As you now know, I have a bit of knowledge in that department, and I would like to make sure we live through this battle."

"We can," Theia says with a more humbled tone than normal.

She strokes my arm as she comes over to me, and then her hand cups one side of my face as she speaks with a little
awed
adoration.