Gideon's Promise (Sons of Judgment Book 2) (9 page)

Valkyrie nodded. “It does seem that way. Should be interesting.”

He shifted his weight closer, drawn by the pull propelling him forward. “You will have no more need to sneak out.”

She laughed weakly, but it was the sadness in her eyes that cut at him. “Oh, I am sure I will. My father believes me incapable of protecting myself. I am the youngest, you see, and the smallest, but I am fast!” she insisted quickly, like she was afraid he might agree with her father.

“I think you are very good at protecting yourself,” he soothed quietly.

“You think so?” But as quickly as the hope had sparked, it dimmed just as quickly in her eyes. “You are humoring me.”

“No!” He put up a hand. “I swear it.”

She seemed to consider this a moment, then said slowly, “Perhaps we can hunt together.”

Gideon bunched his hands to keep from touching her. “I would like that, Miss Devereaux.”

“Miss Devereaux?” She wrinkled her pert little nose. “I am not a fancy human lady. Valkyrie is fine.”

“Valkyrie,” he repeated, and felt heat tickle his cheeks, but he kept her gaze. “It is beautiful, but it doesn’t suit you.”

Both eyebrows rose. “Doesn’t it?”

He shrugged. “It is strong and powerful and the perfect name for a warrior, but Kyrie makes you feel less threatening.”

If colors could be seen from a laugh, hers would have been a wild mess of pink, yellow, and purple with tangles of light blue and white. It was bright, carefree, and joyous.

“Do I threaten you, Caster?” she teased.

He didn’t bother concealing his grimace. “I have seen you fight.”

She seemed delighted by his remark. “Perhaps I like being threatening.”

He let his neck bend ever so slightly to the right. “Even to me?”

“Perhaps.” She bit her lip and eyed him with feigned suspicion. “So what is your name? You never did tell me, or will you force me to call you Mr. Avery?”

Folding his arms, he raised an eyebrow. “You never asked.”

Mirroring his posture, she arched her own brow. “Well, I am now.”

Pushing up to his full height, he bowed low at the waist. “Gideon Avery. At your service, my lady.”

Her giggle captivated him. “A pleasure, Gideon.”

T
he sound of her voice followed him into consciousness. Gideon lay awake a moment, studying the shadows across the ceiling and hanging on to that memory, to the way her hair had spilled down her back and the way her eyes had danced in the moonlight. He hadn’t let himself dwell on those days in ages. He blamed Octavian and Riley for bringing them to surface now; if they weren’t so lost in each other all the time, Gideon wouldn’t feel the echoing emptiness inside himself. He had, after all, managed to avoid the pull for over three centuries.

A glint of twirling silver caught his eye and he followed it to the figure lounging in a chair next to his bed. He recognized his brother’s dark, brooding form even before seeing his face.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” Magnus muttered, never looking up from the thin blade he was twirling effortlessly around each finger. “I was beginning to wonder if I would need to bring a prince in here to kiss you awake.”

“What happened?” He struggled to sit up.

Magnus ceased his knife play and tucked it into his boot. “The Daitya stabbed you with spider venom.”

Gideon gaped. “I was venomed?”

“Calm down,” Magnus said, leaning back in his seat. “It was just the numbing agent spiders use to incapacitate their prey. It wouldn’t have actually hurt you.”

Gideon pitched a pillow at his brother’s head. It bounced off and dropped behind Magnus’ chair. “Thanks for the concern, asshole!”

“I was concerned.” He spread his hands in indication. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

Gideon frowned. “Why are you here?”

“Because I thought you could use a break from Mom and Riley fussing over you like you were on your deathbed. Those two could try the patience of a saint.”

With a reluctant sigh, Gideon sat back against the mountain of pillows propped up behind him. A frown crinkled his brow when his attention roamed up the span of his bed and the unfamiliar,
pink
sheets adorning his mattress. The spread was scattered with tiny, pink rosebuds and smelled like lilacs. But he was in his room!

“What happened?” He lifted his hands into the air as though fearing some kind of contamination from all the ... ew.

Magnus smirked as he steepled his fingers together in a very evil villain type manner. “Like I said, you owe me and you’re welcome.”

Using just the tips of his fingers, he thrust back the sheets, as far as possible before realizing he was clad in nothing but his skin.

“Whoa!” He couldn’t pull the sheets back up fast enough. “What...?”

Magnus snickered, highly entertained by Gideon’s horror. “Make that double owing.”

“I don’t owe you shit!” Gideon exclaimed, glowering at his twin. “All bets were null and voided when you let two crazy chicks loose on my unconscious body. Jesus! Who knows what those two were doing to me while you were doing god knows what.”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “One’s your sister in law and the other has cleaned—”

Gideon clapped his hands over his ears. “Stop!” He waited until Magnus’ lips had stopped moving before letting his hands drop into his lap. “Okay, subject change. What happened?”

Reclining and dumping his filthy boots on Gideon’s nightstand, Magnus inhaled half the room as though bracing himself. “Well, from what I’ve gathered from the many, many ...
many
times Imogen has told me the story, you were incapacitated. Riley bravely leapt to your rescue, tearing the head off the giant with her bare hands. Then, Valkyrie arrived like a fierce goddess and killed the one who was about to crush your skull with its massive feet. Octavian took down the third one and all was good in the world once more.”

It was impressive how many words Magnus could speak in a single sentence and cram every syllable with sarcasm. But if anyone could do it, it was his brother.

“Any idea why the Daitya would attack us? Seems a bit odd considering we have no quarrel with the giants.”

“Their camp was attacked,” Magnus said. “Several of their men were killed. The women and children were captured and found later ... burned and placed in a neat row.”

“Jesus!” Gideon hissed. “Who the fuck is doing this?” He frowned as another thought occurred to him. “And why attack us? We didn’t do it.”

“It was dark and they moved fast, or so that’s what the Daitya leader told Dad, but it was men.”

“Men?”

Magnus shrugged. “Or at least what resembled men. It gets better, they had angelic blades.”

Gideon hissed a breath through his teeth. “Casters? Why—”

“That’s what Dad’s working on now. He promised the leader we’d look into it. If one of us has switched sides...”

“But who would—”

“It’s not Casters.” Magnus’ dark eyes met Gideon’s and held. The intense heat in them sent a chill down Gideon’s spine. “But someone is going through a great deal of trouble to make it seem like it is.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Gideon rocked his head ever so slightly, trying to shake something lose. “Who would do that?”

“Who wouldn’t?” Magnus countered. “There are very few who actually like us. The rest would like nothing more than to see us all killed.”

It didn’t surprise Gideon. Casters were deemed as monsters. They were the stories told to demon children to behave, and for good reason. Casters were the only things standing between the humans and complete annihilation. There was no telling what the demon race would do if left unhampered. Gideon was the last person to ever agree with the angels, but he had to agree that the human race needed to be protected, even, sometimes, from themselves and their mortal stupidity.

“Was anyone hurt?” Gideon asked.

Magnus rolled his shoulders. “Dad and Octavian have a few bruises, a broken rib or two. But fine otherwise.” But there was something else. It was in the way he refused to meet Gideon’s gaze.

“What?” He shoved up straighter. “What is it? Is Riley okay?”

“Riley’s fine.” Magnus cleared his throat and picked idly at the zipper of his coat.

“Mom?” Gideon guessed.

“Mom’s fine, too.”

He threw up his hands. “Are you going to make me keep guessing?”

“Kinda.” Magnus grinned crookedly at him. “Watching you squirm brings me great joy.”

Gideon pitched a second pillow at him. Magnus caught it this time. “You know what will bring me great joy? Beating the shit out of you. Now stop being a douche and tell me.”

“Okay, okay, take a Midol.” Dropping his feet back to the ground, Magnus folded and stuffed the pillow into his abdomen and leaned forward. “When you collapsed, no one knew what had happened. Imogen thought you were dying. She even sang your death song.”

“I knew it!” Gideon exclaimed, outraged by her lack of faith in him. “Sorry. Keep going.”

“Valkyrie tried to revive you.” He paused. “You told her not to touch you.”

A cold, sinking feeling settled in the pit of Gideon’s gut.

“Well, I had to,” he murmured. “If she’d touched me...”

Magnus put his hand up. “I know why you did it, Gid. I think you made the right call. It would have been worse if you’d let her.”

He tried to take comfort in the fact that someone was on his side, but the fist griping his lungs refused to relinquish its hold.

“Did ... did she say something?” he couldn’t help asking.

“No...” Magnus trailed off, traced a rosebud on Gideon’s bedspread with his eyes.

“But?” Gideon prompted, quickly losing patience in his brother’s feet dragging.

“There’s no
but
. Gideon.” He got to his feet and tossed the pillow down onto the bed. “You did the right thing. It’s the only way to protect her ... and you.”

“Then why does it feel wrong?”

Needing to get up and move, Gideon motioned for Magnus to turn around as he crawled out of bed. He padded over to his dresser and dressed quickly.

“That’s the imprint pushing you to do what you think is important, but you need to fight it.”

Slamming his dresser drawer, Gideon turned. “I have been fighting it. I’ve been fighting it for over three hundred years. Ever since I realized what this pull was, that’s all I’ve been doing.”

“And it’s for the best!” Magnus crossed the room and stood before him. “You know how Harvesters are. You know their laws. They can only marry those their leader choose for them and Arild Devereaux will never allow an outsider to marry his daughter. Plus Valkyrie will never forgive you for getting her exiled from her family.”

Everything Magnus said was the truth, but hearing them out loud was only a dagger being thrust deep into the cavity of his soul. He didn’t know whether he wanted to punch his brother for reminding him, or just scream until he was hoarse.

“I know all this,” he growled instead. “I don’t need you to remind me.” He moved away to keep from following through and clocking Magnus in the jaw. “I clearly haven’t forgotten or she would already be mine.”

Magnus nodded slowly. “I just want to make sure you don’t get any insane ideas in your head, what with Octavian and Reggie both finding their mates. I mean, look at what Octavian went through for Riley and look at what Reggie goes through every day—”

“I don’t need to look!” He whirled around to face his brother. “I feel it every day. I feel
her
. I have lived with this pain with my every waking hour. I have watched as I killed every ounce of love she had for me by pushing her away and I knew it was better than the hatred she would feel for me if I ever touched her.” His hands curled into fists that trembled as hard as he was. “So don’t tell me what needs to be done, Magnus. I have done enough.”

His brother had the decency to lower his gaze. But it didn’t ease the pain coiling deep in the pit of Gideon’s stomach. What killed him most was the fact that it wasn’t Magnus’ fault. Gideon knew why his brother was pushing him so hard not to succumb, and he agreed. Harvesters were not known for their mercy.

Before the Great War, they were the Harvester of souls, showing warriors who died bravely in battle the way to heaven, or paradise, or whatever they believed in. They believed only in justice and loyalty to the blade. But Valkyrie had been different. She hadn’t been cold and aloof like her sisters. There had always been a fire inside her, a warmth that made her glow. That was before he realized who she was. Before he realized what her existence really meant to him and why he always had an inexplicable desire to touch her. He had never been so happy in his life, until he learned of their laws.

Unlike selkies, Harvesters didn’t have mates. They didn’t imprint. Their king chose their partner and anyone who dared refuse was killed. That was before the war, which had severely decreased their numbers. Now they simply exiled them. But it was a fate worse than death to a Harvester. It was a sign of dishonor. The warrior marks they received through blood, tears, and brutal trial was stripped in the most brutal fashion and they were whipped, three hundred lashes over the course of a week.

For Valkyrie, who had fought tooth and nail to become a Caster, to prove to her father and the court that she was a warrior, being banished would kill her. She would never forgive him, nor could he forgive himself for being the cause of her pain and suffering. It was best that he alone carried the burden that came with the knowledge that they were soul mates. Even when it came time for her wedding match to another man.

“Gideon...” Magnus touched his arm.

He jerked away. “Leave me.”

Magnus inhaled sharply and exhaled with equal remorse. “It’s for the best.”

Gideon said nothing as his brother walked quietly from the room and left him alone in the darkness.