Page 147 of His Retribution

"Gahs, tiz iz goo."

I snort and take a bite of my own banana honey goodness. "Yesh."

We eat in an eerily comfortable silence, Zan wolfing down his meal and asking for the turkey sandwich as well before destroying the celery sticks and carrots too.

Big men eat a lot.

"You don't actually have anything to do with Nero at all, do you?" I ask after polishing off the salami and provolone.

He shakes his head and swallows hard. "I do not. I find that psychotic, sad excuse for a vampyr rather annoying and very misguided."

"Then who do you work for? And why are you after me?"

"It is a complex story, my gem, one that goes back further than you assume. Unless you are ready for some hard truths and spine tingling twists, now may not be the time for me to share."

I shrug and wipe my hands on my leggings. "Havok's busy for at least a few more hours and I have nowhere to be."

"And the eldest dragon won't mind sitting outside that door with your four legged companion while we discuss how we are linked?"

Well, that was a weird way of putting things.

But I just shake my head and get comfortable.

Looks like I'll be here for a while.

"Then let us start the sordid tale of how the rarest of gems found a way to throw off my entire purpose."

"Why do you call me that?"

His eyes soften the tiniest bit, the amethyst growing a little warm. "In due time, my queen. Just know that it will be contradictory as much of my story will be as well."

"Lay it on me, Zan. You have my undivided attention."

He nods and takes a deep breath. "I am a collector of souls, one whowheels and dealswith mortals in order to fulfill the task bestowed upon me by he who shall remain unnamed. Possession is part of that but not in the cinematic sense. If I possess a body it's for one of two reasons; to absorb their soul directly in return for some ridiculous or vain request, or it is to get close to the soul I need to obtain and have been unable to without extra efforts."

"Did you make a deal with Travis too or just Joyce?"

"Just Joyce. I merely seduced Travis into allowing me to use his body to get close to you. His soul remains intact."

"I'm sort of shocked Joyce had a soul for you to bargain with."

Zan chuckles. "It is black, a sad little addition to my collection. I may give it back purely based on the way it drops the value of the overall worth."

Yeah, despite everything, I fucking like this guy.

"As my kind were persecuted, most rightfully so, our numbers dropped severely and with it came the challenge of continuing my work. Mortals took greater precautions, found ways of making it difficult for me to enter or leave a body and as I said before, the longer I stay inside my host the harder it becomes to leave. One particular instance, and the most significant example of this, occurred during the summer of 1718."

Goosebumps raise all over my skin at the simple mention of the year I was born. I have a feeling I'm in for quite the rude awakening.Again.

"I had occupied my host well past the time needed to gain access to his swine of a father, indulged in the young boy’s innocence far too long, and his body became ill, started to deteriorate and the more he prayed to his god the more difficult it became for me to leave him." Zan looks toward the small window, the night sky creeping up over the mountain. "Until one day we stumbled across your mother, her belly round and swollen with young, healing a doe in the woods. I was so weak—wewere so weak that my host’s body collapsed into her arms and after a few days of healing the boy, Tolan extracted me from him much in the same way you did. In my delirium I gave them my name willingly and Ellida kept me in their home hidden away from the world with them in order to heal me as well. The boy was returned to his mother but I remained, against my will at first, but soon enough I felt the strange desire to stay."

"You found peace," I almost whisper. "For the first time in your life, you found peace."

Zan nods. "I did. It was strange, an odd concept, a demon who collects souls and causes mayhem should find peace and contentment with two fae, especially the king and queen who were actively hiding and fighting for their lives, for your life." He sighs and pushes a hand back through his hair. "I did not deserve their kindness, their trust. I definitely did not deserve their help or their love but I received it all just the same. Which is why when Ellida and Tolan confided in me that they were terrified for you and what your future had in store, I felt compelled to do something completely against my better judgement and true nature." Zan looks me right in the eye. "I offered to help."

He drops his elbows to his knees and hangs his head. "Nero cannot scent you, has been under the impression that you arevampyrbecause I was the one who made it so. After you were born, I sought out avampyr, your mate, to be perfectly honest, and began using his blood to protect you."

I blink.