Page 49 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)

Xeraphine

T his place is everything the little girl in me once dreamed about. The smell of nature is calming, giving me a sense of freedom. While it will take me a long time before I can swim in any open body of water, I do enjoy looking at the lake that stretches as far as my eyes can see.

If there were ever a moment I could wish for a normal life, it would be now. This trip being nothing more than a family vacation, with Kairhyse bringing me here to enjoy bonfires, swimming, and incredible sex. To wake up to him making me pancakes, sipping coffee to shake off the late night we had.

For us to have peace.

For me to be happy.

But as always, my life doesn’t work like that. There’s no delusion strong enough to make me believe in that fairytale daydream. I’m more likely to lick Brice’s tail than ever see it come true, and sadly, I’ve never been more confident of anything in my life.

I’m not physically exhausted, but mentally, I’m spent.

It’s not just Tali I’m dodging anymore—now, I’m living with another stalker.

Alaric’s motives for helping me are as selfish as my mother’s.

And then there’s Belial. I have no fucking clue what he wants.

Why he insists on keeping me safe is beyond me.

No, I shouldn’t phrase it like that. Imagining the ruler of the Beyond wanting me protected feels… wrong.

I’d love to have a chat with him. Maybe punch him a few times.

I’ve called to him, begged him to take me beyond the thresholds of this world.

All he’d have to do is remove me from the realm of the living and into his domain.

That’s it. He wouldn’t even have to worry about me breeding.

So, there’s more to this story than whatever this Fallen—currently staring at me—has offered.

“I know everyone is tired,” Alaric says.

We just finished dinner— well, Brice and I did.

Now we’re settled in the living room, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows.

The night outside is pitch black, but none of us need the light to see.

A few candles flicker around the room, their glow casting soft shadows, while the fireplace crackles quietly, its warmth filling the space.

What I wouldn’t give to just sit alone here with Kai…

I sigh.

“We need to discuss what we are going to do next,” he continues.

My eyes shift to Sydni, seated on the couch with Brice beside her, his arm draped casually over her shoulder. When I returned from shopping—what a godsdamned headache that was—Kai filled me in on their conversation. Brice’s loyalty to my princess has spared his neck… for now.

Everyone has their hard gazes on me, and all I want to do is just not be the one to make this decision. “As you said, we should just relax for a while.” Catching Kairhyse’s gaze, he nods. “I’m not a runner, but I need time to figure out how to kill a Succubus.”

And I really, really… want to rest.

Alaric groans, an exhausted sigh following. “It isn’t possible to kill Tali.”

“Then how do we deal with the problem?” Kairhyse asks, irritation clear in his elevated tone.

“I’m not entirely privy to that knowledge, but maybe we can come up with the solution together.” I hate that Alaric looks directly at me with longing eyes. As if wanting to add, “alone, under the sheets, just us…”

I stifle a gag.

“I’ve heard a Demon’s Mark has the ability to subjugate their partners, but not entirely sure how that’s possible.” Alaric seems bored.

“My father, her Mark, is dead. Next.”

“What about burning her body?” Sydni offers.

I shake my head. “We just rise again.”

“Please…” Kai murmurs. “Don’t tell me you know from experience.”

I’ll keep that one to myself.

“Plus, she’d have to sit in fire for several hours, and I promise she won’t just lay down for it.”

The thunderous growl from my monster behind me says I need to shut the fuck up.

Alaric sighs. “Let me add that we are specifically talking about Tali not being capable of being killed by you .”

My eyes narrow, and I shift my position uncomfortably. “Then someone else in this room can kill her?”

He shakes his head. “Unkillable by mortals.”

I look at Kai. “Uh…”

“You really don’t know anything about…” he cuts himself off, likely because I’m shooting daggers at him with my glare.

“Mortals have an expiration date.” Okay that’s a cold way to put it, I like it.

“Immortals can have an expiration date. Eternals, such as Fallen and Demons, do not have an expiration date.”

“You said mortals,” I retort.

“Mortals and immortals can die. Let me rephrase. Only eternal creatures can kill another eternal creature.”

“So… you,” Kai says.

He shrugs his shoulders. “If she hadn’t been Marked, yes, I could have.”

“But again, my father’s?—”

“Doesn’t matter,” he cuts me off. “Ask the most important question.”

I hum. “Why wouldn’t I be able to kill her?”

“There you go. It’s because you have been Damned.”

My heart stutters. “What…”

“Good, now we are getting somewhere. I am going to ask you a question, and I need you to understand it isn’t meant to bring up any…

trauma.” I hate how cautious he is when speaking to me, as if I’m some fragile porcelain doll in need of constant coddling.

He could drop me—I might shatter—but I’ll pick myself back up, just as I have time and time again.

“Ask,” I demand.

“Was Tali able to control you?”

“Yes, completely. I had no will of my own.”

He rolls his lips and begins pacing. “What else?”

“Be more fucking specific.” I find myself wanting to pace too, but I stay resolute in my stance beside Kairhyse.

“Did you feel anything unusual?”

Feeling an arm brush against me, I look up at Kai who says, “I’m lost.”

“I killed her Mark.” At first, my words don’t register with him. The confusion still lingering between his dark eyebrows. “My father. I ate his heart…”

“You killed her Mark… shit, she Damned you,” he murmurs, a hollow look filling out his eyes.

“Did you, Xeraphine, feel anything unusual?”

I grit my teeth. “I don’t know, her touching me the way she did was pretty fucking unusual, Alaric.” My nose twitches as he pauses his walking. “Be. More. Specific .”

“Was your Amoro dormant? Gone, or otherwise just not there?”

Couldn’t that have been the fucking question? Why did he have to be so cryptic, godsdamn.

“Yes, any time I was around her my Amoro was… not there. I couldn’t feed on any of their lifeforces.” A low, feral sound rumbles from Kai, and his arm snakes over my shoulder. It isn’t a gesture of comfort for me, but for himself. I can smell the fury radiating from his skin.

Brice clears his throat. “So, being Damned, it isn’t exactly being pulled into the Beyond. That was my assumption.”

“I had a theory,” Alaric jumps in. “It’s been proven to be correct it would seem.

Succubae and Incubi can breed once with each other, and then a rupture occurs within the Succubus, causing them incapable of reproducing again.

They can also breed with their Mark, no matter their species, only once.

Now I understand why your kind have avoided doing the latter.

Incubi would regenerate their heart. Vampires, maybe, but other Dylox, and obviously Mundane, can’t. ”

Nodding, I instinctively lean into Kai. “It’s a damning of their own child.”

“Right, because your kind… cannot control each other. But because you were Damned, she does have that control.” My eyes round into circles, staring at Alaric as he rests against the back of the couch.

“You also can’t control the Divine, at least not with your Amoro.

You are unique in that your blood is what controls your victims.”

“Do they need any bodily fluids?” I ask, and while I still hate this man, he is giving me what I need: information. As I’ve told Kai on so many occasions, all I’ve ever worked for are connections, and this son of a bitch is becoming a valuable one.

“No, but I believe that Succubae connect easier when fluids of any kind are shared. This includes other species. Why do you ask?”

Heat rolls through my body, and as though I’m going through a desert, my throat feels dry. I don’t want to tell them she spit in my mouth and made me swallow it, nor do I want to tell them of the other things of her I had inside me. I can’t tell them she was grinding against my?—

“Hey, hey—” Kai’s hands grab my arms and turn me to him.

“W-What?” My voice shakes, and when I focus, I can feel the unsteady quivering coursing through my body. “Oh.”

The moment I start to close myself off, he pulls me into a silent embrace. My hands tremble as I wrap them around his back, letting my head rest against the steady rise and fall of his chest.

“I’m okay.” My tone is secure in that statement. I’m okay. I am …

“I know…” he murmurs, and with his gentleness, I forget the four pairs of eyes that might be watching us. In this moment, it’s just us.

One of his hands moves gently to the back of my head, tracing a slow, soothing path down my spine. The warmth of his touch anchors me, even as my thoughts spiral. “And if you weren’t, that’s okay too.”

Closing my eyes, I let my mind drift to the dream—the one where I let my walls crumble.

I’d admitted I wasn’t okay, let myself be vulnerable, and for once, it didn’t destroy me.

I wasn’t okay then, and maybe I’m not okay now, no matter how much I try to convince myself otherwise.

That dream version of me had felt lighter, freer.

“I’m fine.” I’m more assertive this time, because I can’t be this exposed in front of everyone.

He draws me away slowly, one of his strong hands coming to gently cradle the right side of my face.

A small, knowing smile pulls at the corner of his lips, soft and reassuring.

His eyes, full of understanding, meet mine and silently tell me that it’s okay not to say anything I don’t want to.

I choose what I share, no one else in this room does.