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Jay took a deep breath. “I gave away my uterus first.” She smiled slyly. “And Marduk didn’t think to check.”
Marduk’s face twisted. Genuine hatred I’d rarely witnessed sparked in his eyes before he controlled himself.
“Though,” Jay made a flippant gesture. “He is a monster who offers bad deals to the desperate. You can’t get much lower than that, really.”
Power swelled around Marduk. The silver on his head and threaded around his body pulsed unhappily. He closed his eyes and stretched his neck to one side. “The fire nymph wasn’t as duplicitous.” He opened his eyes, and dark joy spilled onto his face. He grinned like he knew something the rest of us didn’t. “I have new deals up my sleeve for any who ask. It was time I evolved.”
Jay and Marduk met each other’s gaze. Years of history swirled around them, and suddenly, I was sitting around my family's table again, watching decisions get made instead of being a part of them.
I took the same two steps Jay did, making sure our shoulders touched so she physically felt my support. “Caoimhe is Tenzin’s mate. She’s one of us, just like Jay is.”
My mate’s chest rose with confidence. She reached for my hand and twined our fingers together. The power swirling around Marduk stilled.
“Jaiyana belongs to no one but power.” Marduk's gaze flashed to each of us. “Look at what she’s gathered. Four elemental dragons. You could topple human governments and change the very foundations of this world.” He laughed, throwing his head back. “Jaiyana, my pet, you are just like me.”
Jay’s fingers stiffened in mine. Despite not seeing her face, I sensed her overthinking and worrying as the curse linking us together was spat in her face. I kept our fingers linked, silently showing her how wrong she was.
“You’re not here to save the child, are you?” Marduk asked.
Jay pulled her fingers away from mine. “I’m not.”
A moan of pain ripped out of Caoimhe, and Jay flinched. I wanted to capture her hand again, but she was in the middle of a verbal knife fight, and I didn’t want to take away any of her advantages.
“But,” Jay continued. “Unless you’ve changed your bargains, I need Caoimhe now.”
“So, you can find a way to hide the child from me?” Marduk growled. “Do you think me naive?”
Jay crossed her arms over her chest and winced as it pulled on her side.
Marduk’s calculating gaze lingered on the burned flesh, the occasional spider web still drifting from where it melted onto her. “You’re experiencing a degree of mortality.”
Jay shrugged.
Marduk licked his bottom lip again. “With mortality comes fertility for many supernaturals. I could put the baby in you. Your firstborn would be with its father.”
Jay was in my arms before Marduk even finished his sentence. Tyson and Ogden stepped in front of us while Lux came up on Jay’s other side.
Every demon and the two golems’ took a single step forward in unison. The ground shook, and a howl rose from depths I hadn’t even realized were below us. This was Marduk’s domain. We had no idea how many forces he had down here. Even if all six of us shifted into dragons, our bodies would squash together in the limited space like crushed marshmallows. If we were lucky, the cave would collapse and kill us. If we weren’t, we’d suffocate slowly.
“Mortality didn’t regrow my uterus, Marduk,” Jay stated, not even trying to push through us.
My heart raced. Jay never wanted to stay behind us.
“Even if it did, I’d rather die than carry your parasites.” Jay sighed dramatically. “Why am I here Marduk? Your golem in London looked like a child put it together. Of all the places in the world, why bring Caoimhe under the exact location I just happened to be searching for a key to my curse? What could you possibly want from me after all this time?”
Caoimhe’s whimpers behind us eased. Lux, Og, and I made eye contact while Tyson scowled at the ground.
“You found me,” Marduk answered. “This is my doorstep. Once again, I find you standing on it just as dirty and desperate.”
Jay laughed. “If you look up desperate and dirty in the dictionary, it’s literally a picture of me. You’ll need a different tactic to get under my skin.”
I pictured Jay’s mud-caked body at the end of the hunt. The way her eyes burned with need for me. Desperate and dirty. Jay was the only person I knew who could turn her flaws into studded armor of gold and gems.
The two immortals bit their lips shut, unwilling to be the first to give up information.
This wasn’t getting us anywhere.
“Your demons and the demons growing in the Lay Lines are not the same.” I pointed a clawed finger at Marduk. “You have no control over the ones growing in the Ley Lines.”
