Page 19 of Emerald Rising
I took another step closer and looked deep into his eyes. “What are you hiding?”
His frown deepened. “What do you mean?”
I couldn’t explain it. But I knew, as sure as the stars would shine, that he had a secret he was deliberately holding back on. “I can taste it on the very air you breathe. Whatever it is you don’t want to share with the rest of us.”
“What is she on about, Griff?” River asked sternly as he walked towards us.
“That’s not important,” Griffon replied as his eyes searched mine, like he was intently looking for something in my soul.
“It’s not?” River replied, his eyebrows rising in surprise at Griffon’s unwillingness to answer his leader’s question.
“No. The important question here is: how many demons do you know with the ability to seek out truth?”
GRIFFON
The answer was none. No demon had the power to seek out a liar’s truth. Truth seeking was a completely angelic trait and that meant—
“She’s part angel?” Ash asked incredulously.
I nodded. I’d feared something like this. This very scenario was the worst thing that could ever have happened. I had figured she was the secret lovechild of one of the royal bloodlines. Only they would have enough money and power to organise hiding her and my brothers for so long. But only someone with a truly dark secret would go to the extremes of bonding us to her for eternity. We didn’t need the bond to protect her; we could have just been ordered to do it. But the fact that we were bonded to her forever meant that there was something about her that no one could ever find out about.
Emmy’s eyes widened at my words. She had such beautiful eyes. A rich green the colour of emeralds and I could have stared at them for hours. But that was foolish. I couldn’t let myself feel anything for her, other than the need to protect her. I could tell the other three were already under the sway of the bond. I could smell them all over her and my heart twisted with the pain of rejecting the bond that I’d agreed to all those years ago. I was more dangerous than any of my brothers knew. I had a dark secret and it would put them all, including Emmy, in danger if I ever let myself get too complacent. I was more than just an angel and if anyone ever found out what I was, I was a dead man.
I needed to keep a distance from them all. I knew Emmy thought I was aloof and disgruntled. I had spent the years as her neighbour cultivating that image so she would stay away which was torture when all I had wanted to do was talk to her, be near her, to just breathe the same air as her. I knew it was crazy; she was so young, and I was, well, older. Much older. But I think that was what drew me towards her. She was so sweet, so innocent, so unjaded by the world that she could still see it in all its beauty. I hated that I was going to be the one to change that. To open her eyes to the cruelty and viciousness of the dark corners she didn’t even know existed.
“What does that mean?” Emmy asked softly, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she gnawed on it with worry. I had a sudden, wild urge to take it between my own teeth and bite down hard enough that I could taste her scream on my tongue. I bet it would taste sweet, just like her.
I held back the moan that threatened to escape my throat.Keep it together, Griff.
I looked down at her and my heart panged at the words I was about to utter. “It means that you shouldn’t exist. That you were never meant to be born. According to DivineandHellish Law, you are an abomination and should be destroyed.”
She gasped and her face turned deadly pale. I wasn’t one for mincing words, I just ripped the band aid off and said the truth as bluntly as I could. But looking at Emmy now, her eyes glazing over and her fingers trembling, I started to regret the harsh edge to my words. She was such a little thing, naïve to the horrors of the world, that maybe I should have cooled my tendency for candour. She looked like she was about to collapse.
“Emmy, are you alright?” I asked, my voice thick with worry.
“Of course she’s not alright!” River shouted angrily from behind me. “You called her an abomination!”
That’s not what I meant at all. She could never be an abomination, not to me or my brothers. Shit. Through my lack of tact, I bet that’s exactly what she thought.
“Emmy, look at me.” I cupped her jaw in my hands and dragged her eyes to mine. She was so close I could feel her shaky breaths caress my lips.
“Gray… I…”
Her eyes rolled back in her head and her body went limp as she surrendered to oblivion. I captured her in my arms before she hit the ground and I marvelled at her slight frame. She was going to be a truly magnificent creature one day. Even though she was small and dainty, every inch of her would radiate power like nothing the world had ever seen before. She was a royal demon and part angel. A combination that had never before been known to exist. There had been hybrids before, but never from a royal bloodline, or if there were, they’d never lived to mature into their powers.
As I placed Emmy down on the sofa, my mind wondered what this little Princess would be capable of. It was a shame that I had to tell my brothers, that in order to keep her safe from the threats I’ve seen increasing lately, we’d have to wipe her mind of all knowledge of us, the bond and anything they’d discussed in the last twenty-four hours.
