“Stop trying.” Trinity offered a reassuring smile. “You’re immortal now. You have all the time in the world to learn about who you really are. Nine times out of ten, over the next few months, you’re gonna learn a lot of things about yourself you didn’t know before. Believe it or not, that’s one of the good sides of the beast.” She tapped her stomach with a flattened hand. “Your goblin will let you know what’s good for you. You just have to decide if you listen.”
The clatter of heavy footsteps and rhythmic clicking filled the air as Logan opened her mouth to respond. She snapped it shut and watched as Syn burst through the doorway leading back to the main hall with Odin hot on his heels.
“Syn! Get your ass back here!”
She nearly fell over as the wolf skidded to halt next to her then pushed between her legs as if he were a horse. He pinned his ears back as Odin approached, displaying every sharp tooth he owned as a menacing growl vibrated against her legs.
She glared at Odin. “What did you do to him?”
Odin looked absolutely appalled. “I didn’t do shit. I was trying to keep him out of the training room since I knew Trin was doing some combat with you, but the bastard won’t listen.” He pointed down at Syn. “I’m telling Kerestyan you’re being difficult. And I swear to Christ, the next time you boost a bone from Dad’s chair, I’m gonna let him skin you.”
Syn snapped his massive jaws together and growled again.
Logan couldn’t help but laugh. Odin could paint the greatest picture with just a few crude words. So vivid and so damn funny, she was sure if he wasn’t such an asshole they might actually get along.
Might.
She reached down and scratched Syn’s head. “Don’t worry, Syn. I won’t let the Greek God of War hurt you.”
“Norse!” Odin boomed. He stabbed a finger in her direction. “I told you, Greek’s are pussies.”
“Hey!” Trinity yelled. “I’m Greek.”
He smiled at her, but there wasn’t a shred of sincerity anywhere to be found. “Sorry. But I’m right and you know it. All those columns everywhere, it’s like they were compensating for what wasn’t in their pants.” He clapped his hands together. “So what are we learning about? Do I need to take the mangy mutt elsewhere?”
Trinity rolled her eyes. “It’s not even worth arguing with you.” She shook her head in the same manner Logan often did when faced with Odin. “Logan and I were discussing the beast.”
Logan finally stopped laughing. “The goblin.”
He snapped his fingers and pointed at her in the shape of a gun. “Gotcha. Did you freak out yet?”
“No.” She backed away from Syn, who was still between her legs, then moved to stand next to him. “Trinity kicked me in the stomach, but all that did was make me feel sick.”
He cast a devilish glance to Trinity. “Want me to give it a shot? I bet I can get her to go.”
Logan stared between them. “Do I really need to ‘go’?”
“You should know what it feels like when the beast takes over,” Trinity advised. “Like I said, it’s different for everyone. If you know how the beast affects you and what kind of sensations it causes, then you can try to stave it off. The last thing I want is for you to be on the street in New York when it happens the first time. If you lose control and break the Veil,” she paused to whistle, “I don’t want to see K put in that kind of situation.”
Logan stiffened at her words. She didn’t want to see Kerestyan put in that situation any more than she wanted to be in the situation. “Okay,” she looked over at Odin, “have at it.”
He laced the fingers of both hands together then pushed back on them, filling the quiet air with a series of cracks. “This might just be therapeutic. You ready?”
She drew a deep, fortifying breath. “Not really, but I’ll live.”
He stared down at Syn. “Go over to Trinity. This is for Logan’s betterment and will only help Kerestyan. You stay out of it.”
Syn let out a long whine but lumbered over to Trinity, who’d moved to stand about ten feet away, and then plopped down next to her feet.
Logan stood still as Odin began to circle her, like he was some wild bird of prey and she was nothing more than an injured field mouse.
His lips curled into a snarl as he passed in front of her for the third time. “You’re a dirty street waif who isn’t worth the skin you’re printed on. You’re selfish. Detached. Disinterested. You’ve probably walked away or stood by and watched as some innocent person got hurt or abused, and chances are, you didn’t feel a damn thing while it was happening.”
She arched a brow at this feeble attempt. “You might want to try harder. Being called names doesn’t bother me, and considering how long I lived on the street, your last dig is a given.”
The malicious smile that spread across his lips was unsettling at best. “I’m just getting warmed up.” He walked around her again, and then stopped to stare into her eyes. “My brother, the only man I would go to war for and protect with every cell in my undead body, the man who’s given you more choices than he was ever given, deserves better than you. He deserves someone who knows what honor is, someone who understands what it means to believe in something with all their heart.” Disgust set into his familiar features. “You don’t have a heart.”
Logan steadied herself as an odd shifting sensation spread behind her belly button. She clenched her jaw tight and stared right back into his blacked out eyes. His words stung like a thousand dirty needles, but she refused to let it show. She should’ve known this was the tactic he’d use, but under no circumstances would she give him that victory.
“You don’t know what love is,” he spat at her. “You can’t even recognize the purest of all emotions. Kerestyan looks at you as though you’re the most precious treasure in this world. And you,” he paused to look her over, “you stare at him through your cold, dead eyes, as if he’s just another drug to you.”
She forced the words through her teeth, “Kerestyan is not my drug.”
He sneered. “Yes he is. You use him for what he can make you feel, and then you discard him as though he’s nothing more than a used syringe.”
Logan winced as fire erupted in her blood. Crimson fell over the room like a sheer curtain. Shadows danced like obsidian flames around Odin, taunting, beckoning her to strike out.
Reaching out with both arms, she shoved him back. “I would never discard him. You don’t know how I feel about him.” As the sound of his laughter reached her ears, the dark essence building inside her grew larger, filling her chest. “You don’t know me!”
“I know you lie there like an icy statue in his arms, and he feels it. Kerestyan feels your indifference and it tears him apart every single time. Does knowing you fill him with pain make you happy? Do you get some kind of sick pleasure out of knowing you can bring an Ancient to his knees? If one of his enemies comes knocking on your door, will you lure him into your arms so they can hold the blade to his throat? Or will you do it yourself? How long will it be before Kerestyan dies because of you?”
She squeezed her eyes closed. “I wouldn’t do that to him!” She struggled for a breath, but the air felt too thin, too light to sustain her.
“Your words are nothing but lies from the lips of a woman who can’t even be honest with herself. Lies,” the hiss of his cold breath stung her cheek. “My brother loves you…and we both know what you do to people who love you.”
The moment his last words broke over her, something in Logan changed. She felt the stranger inside her burst to life, felt the odd sensation of someone stepping into her, as if her body, her skin, was nothing more than a coat.
Her mind raced at the same frantic pace as her heart. Memories flashed behind her eyes as though she was staring through the windows of a speeding subway car. Her greatest moments of happiness merged with her darkest nightmares. Whispered voices from her past and present came from all directions, converging into a deafening scream before all but one fell silent.
“Kerestyan, an honorable knight imprisoned inside the very armor which holds and protects him.Odin, a fierce warrior leading droves of men to their death because the rage inside him inspires nothing greater.”
“You’re no better.” Logan heard the words leave her own mouth, but her voice was twisted, filled with a quiet rage. She opened her eyes and stared up at Odin through the scarlet fog. “How many times did you lead your own brother into a battle that could have killed him? How many nights did he lie broken on a bloody battlefield because of you?” She narrowed her eyes on him. “Is it me who doesn’t deserve Kerestyan’s love, or is it you?”
A glassy haze claimed Odin’s black eyes.
In the space of a single heartbeat, the stranger who’d taken control of Logan dissipated, leaving her with only one instruction. RUN!
She took off like a gunshot, heading for the doorway to the main hall as an angry, thundering roar shook the floor beneath her. She heard Trinity scream the same warning her mind had given just as she broke past the doors and into the hall.