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S imi crept quietly through the dark lands. Not the shadowy place where akri-Shadow lived or the hell realm where akra-Apollymi was trapped. This was the forbidden place that would make akri extremely angry if he learned Simi dared visit here.

Azmodea. The home of Azura and Noir.

There had been a time long, long ago when akra-Apollymi had called this place home, too. When the angry goddess had lived here with her brother and sissy. Noir and Azura. Simi didn’t know if they were older or younger than akra-Apollymi, not that it mattered.

They were no longer family because akra-Apollymi hated them with all her hearts. Simi wasn’t exactly sure why, but it had something to do with a baby born before akri. A baby boy she’d heard her matera and sissy whispering about when they thought no one else could hear them.

A boy called the Malachai that akra-Apollymi had been forced by her brothers and sisters to curse. That was why akra-Apollymi had been so incredibly angry about losing akri. Her heart had already been broken by having to lose one son. The last thing the goddess wanted was to be forced to lose another.

“What are you doing here, Simi?”

Simi froze at the sound of a deep, accented voice that kind of reminded her of akri’s. Only it wasn’t akri. This one was deeper and with a gruffer accent that wasn’t as musical and sweet as akri’s.

Turning around slowly, she faced a tall, dark-haired man who had two different colored eyes. One was a deep brown that reminded her of the nuts she liked to snack on, and the other was the bright green of yummy mint.

“Who are you?” she whispered, not sure if she was in trouble or not for her snooping.

His features softened. “Jaden.”

Ah. This being was definitely a god and a powerful one at that. His powers were old and extremely strong. He reminded her a lot of akra-Apollymi. Only he was a lot sadder …

Like akri. He had tons of aches in his eyes and heart.

Simi stepped closer to him so that she could stare up and the giant god who no longer scared her. “Hi, akri-Jaden.” She held her hand out to him. “The Simi’s pleased to meet you.”

That made him smile as he knelt down so that he could take her hand and kiss her knuckles. “You shouldn’t be here, Simi. It’s not safe for you in this realm.”

“I know, but the Simi wanted to see the dark gods.”

He frowned at her. “Why?”

“Well, akra-Apollymi is a dark god, but she’s very kind. Simi knows she doesn’t like her brother and sissy, but Simi was wondering if maybe they’re not so bad. Maybe they’s just been misadjudicated.”

He chuckled at her words. “I wish they were misadjudicated, Simi. They’re not. And they’re nothing like Apollymi. She has a heart where they don’t. Not even for their own children.”

“Then that is very sad indeed. How can someone not love their simis?”

He scooped her up in his arms and stood. “I don’t know. Sometimes it seems like people don’t love their babies when they do.”

“You have simis?”

“Yes, I do and I can’t be with them. That is its own kind of hell.”

She could only imagine.

Jaden let out a tired breath. “Then there are gods like Noir and Azura who really don’t love their children, and they don’t care what happens to them.”

“That’s so awful!”

“Indeed.”

Simi sighed heavily as she tried to imagine having parents who didn’t love her. It was impossible in her mind, especially given how much akri loved her. “Why would they have simis if they don’t want to love them?”

“So many reasons, little one. Some for power. Sometimes they do it to have control over another person.”

There was a note in his voice that made her achy in the heart. “You have a simi for that reason?”

“Their mothers had them for that reason. They wanted to control me. Even so, I still love them both. It’s not their fault their mothers lied to me. But I haven’t been the father they deserved. I didn’t dare let anyone know that I care about them because it would have made it worse on all of us.”

She didn’t understand that. Not even a little tiny bit. “How can loving someone be a bad thing?”

“Love isn’t easy, Simi. It’ll be a long time before you understand what I mean. It’s the greatest feeling in the world when you have it, but it’s one that leaves you more vulnerable than you’ve ever been. So long as the person you love loves you, you’re safe. But when they don’t love you … it’s the worst thing you can imagine. Truly, there’s no greater hell.”

Like akri and Artemis. Now, she understood. Akri had loved the goddess more than his life, and she had betrayed him horribly and left him to die. Hurt him in a way even worster than Apollo who had killed her akri. That pain never left akri’s eyes or his heart.

It was why Simi hated the ugly heifer goddess so much. No one should be so very mean to the person who loved them. Not for any reason.

And as she brushed her hand over Jaden’s back, he flinched. Gasping, Simi realized her hand had blood on it. “Akri-Jaden is bleeding?”

A deep grimace marked his handsome features. “It’s fine, Simi. I bleed so that my children don’t have to bleed worse.”

Still, she stared at the deep red color against her skin. It reminded her of her mother whenever she returned from battle.

I fight so that my children won’t have to.

That was what her mother had said, but it had never been that simple, and Simi knew her brother had fought battles even while their mother protested.

“Why do you live here, akri-Jaden?”

“Like Apollymi, I have no choice.”

“They made you a prisoner, too?”

He hesitated before he answered. “Something like that.”

Feeling terrible for him, Simi did what she’d been told never to do …

She healed his wounded back.

A look of extreme disbelief came over his features. “You’re a fide iuvit ?”

She put her finger to her lips and shushed him. When she spoke, it was in the lowerest of whispers. “We never speak of such a thing. They don’t exist.”

Because it was a very rare thing, and her mother had schooled her well on what could happen to her if others learned what she could do. They would covet her powers and take her away. She didn’t want to be taken from her akri or hunted.

Not even her brother or sissy knew what she could do. She’d promised her mother to keep it secret, but akri-Jaden seemed to need it.

And he was just as stern when he spoke as her mother had been. “Never let anyone know of your powers, Simi. Not even Acheron.”

“Akri would never hurt his Simi.”

“Never let anyone know,” he repeated.

That only confuzzled her more. “But why not akri?”

“Because there are others who can read his mind and learn what he knows. Those people might want to hurt him, and the best way to do that is to hurt his Simi.”

“Oh.” That was a terrifying thought. “You won’t hurt Simi, will you?”

He hugged her close to his side. “I will never harm you. Just be careful and stay away from this realm.”