Glancing at our parents and then back at him, I said dryly, “I think your boredom has led you to some dangerous pastimes, brother."
He grinned at me. "Oh you have no idea, stay awhile and you find out just how well I occupy my boredom, the havoc we wrought upon the City of Light has nothing to do with what I have brought to Sheol.”
Our mother scoffed, her beautiful face wrinkled with mocking distaste but her eyes glittered at her son. "Here I used to worry that our daughter was always the bad influence on him, but now I do wonder...."
Our supposed father didn't look so easily amused. "Indeed. However, I expect you both to behave as you should, being the children of a respectable and powerful god." His eyes flashed a bright green in warning at us both.
I ground my teeth but it was Emon who stepped forward between us protectively, meeting the death god’s warning stare with a lethal one of his own. “Try telling my soulmate how she should be one more time, death god. I fucking dare you.”
Shea’s lip curled, his teeth flashing brightly in the hovering lights. With a flick of his hand, my shifter soulmate was suddenly covered in a soft long sleeved shirt with dancing rainbow unicorns stitched gaudily upon the fabric. “It seems you need to learn your place as well, shifter king.”
I snorted at the way Emon's thick muscle practically burst from the seams of the fabric, and how his snarling breath made the unicorns appear to be moving across his body.
Riella gasped, her hands tracing the dancing horned beasts on his pink shirt. "Look father, unicorns! I haven't seen one in real life before. Only the shadows showed me! Aren't they pretty? Is this their normal color?"
Emon's fury melted when he looked down at the pure joy gazing up at him. Shaking his head ruefully, his caramel brown hair falling across his brow, he answered her. "Yes, this is what theylook like, although perhaps not always rainbowed." Then his eyes narrowed on Shea. "Who knew you were so insecure, death god."
And there it was…how we were going to survive our stay here was a goddess damn mystery to me. Between my violent seething, Emon’s protective nature, Kade’s glooming darkness, and the arrogance of a death god, I wasn’t sure if it was possible.
My mother seemed to be the only neutral person here.
Shea’s jaw ticked and flames rose in his eyes. "You wanted answers, shifter king. Here it is. The god essence you carry? It would have normally been more than enough to keep you awake here in Sheol, except you are no longer the host for my banished nephew, your panther has been ripped from you and my daughter is to blame."
I gasped at the way my heart plummeted into my stomach, stumbling into Emon’s sudden still form, a sickening feeling churning my insides.
No, I couldn’t have. I didn’t. Ethereal was with him, wasn’t he? I studied the stubborn set of my soulmate’s jaw as he glared back at the smirking god of death, his eyes refusing to meet mine.
The blood drained from my face, I hadn’t once seen him distracted or pause to listen like he normally would when his panther spoke the entire time he was here. “No…” I whispered.
"Shea—" My mother barked angrily, pushing herself away from him, her arms crossed over her chest and her darkness curling up around her like vipers. "This was not the place, this was not the way.”
Except the death god's cruel smirk never left Emon’s face while I attempted to pull my soulmate away. “Do not listen to him, shifter. It can’t be true. He is a god, he can lie.”
"Ethereal, is my sister’s son. The great God of Beasts who destroyed his own world with his infinite power and then was banished inside of you as punishment for his dark deed.” Shea continued, his voice cold, void of any emotion, and mocking. “You are nothing but the rotting cell for my wayward nephew to be held by, shifter king of The West Isles.”
Spinning towards the heartless and cruel death god, I threw a silver dagger at his feet. The sound of it burying into the onyx glass from the sheer force of my throw grating. “Open your mouth one more goddess damn time and I will make sure you permanently can never speak again! It may not be now but one day I will see it happen, and take pleasure in doing so with that dagger.” I noddedat the knife before tugging on Emon’s arm and begging. “Emon, please, don’t listen to him. We will find Ethereal, he will tell us his truth. You mean more to him than just a host, he loves you and he would never abandon you. He is likely trying to find his way back to you right now.”
My shifter did not move, he did not blink. His golden eyes had grown brighter with every hateful word the death god spat.
I inhaled sharply when Riella’s gentle hand reached up and touched his cheek. “Father,” she said, her voice soft and musical, and goddess bless us, it was enough to pull Emon out of his trance. “It will be okay,” she whispered.
Emon blinked at her but did not respond, he just stared, watching her without any emotion.
Riella’s tiny lip quivered as she pet his cheek. “You’ll be okay, father, don’t be sad. You’ll be okay.”
“Emon…”
Slowly, so painfully slowly, my soulmate turned his eyes on me, finally revealing the devastation behind the blazing fury. My arms wrapped around him cradling his head into my body. Falling into me, he stooped his massive frame to get closer, the scruff of his beard dragging along my skin with a slow ragged breath.
“I knew he was gone, Remnant, I just didn't want to admit it. After all these years, just wishing he would disappear and now…fuck. I wasn’t prepared for this.”
"How could you!" My mother’s voice was deathly cold behind us, her shadows swarming around her just like the fury in her eyes.
“Get out,” I whispered, over Emon’s head at all of them.
The blaze in Shea’s eyes snuffed out and it was only then that he registered his own mate’s fury and the looks his children gave him. He stepped towards my mother, “Eve…” he growled but she only stepped further away.
“This is unforgivable, Shea.” Her shadows cut through the air with her icy words. “Our children are not the Gods, we don’t destroy each other for bragging rights and glory. This was an asshole move, even for you.”
