Page 132 of Tortured Soul
My jaw dropped. I wasn’t expecting such an explanation.
“Wait,” I started. “Guardian angels are a real thing?”
Carter nodded. “It is. No angel is born as one, though. Oh, and notallfallen become one either.”
“So, what—does it strike you out of nowhere? Is it like a soulmate thing? A fallen can only become a Guardian if he meets the right soul? Or—”
“We don’t know.” Carter shrugged. “At first, I thought it was happening as some sort of redemption. Like God was giving me a chance to revert the fall.”
He paused and I waited, balanced on the edge of my seat, my arms crossed on the table in front of me. How couldCarterof all Divines be a Guardian angel? I mean, they all were kind of obnoxious asses, but he was their fucking king.
But Carter kept silent, lost in his thoughts, staring at his full plate. Arc released a long breath. “We don’t know much about Guardian angels,” he said, his mismatched eyes soft as they looked between Carter and me. “All Divines are mostly clueless about them, and Carter is the only one I’ve ever met. The redeeming theory checks out, but it’s been over a century now. One would think if it was some sort of test, he would have passed it by now.”
Or not. Those two might be friends and getting along, but Arc was the only one who had the patience to deal with his crap. I doubted theBig Old Dudeupstairs approved of Carter’s behavior.
Not to mention the fact that Carter’s mate was a Succubus probably made him lose points with hisAlmighty Daddy, no matter that he didn’t get a choice in the matter.
Arc frowned and shook his head at my obvious inner turmoil. I rolled my eyes. If he thought I would hide what I thought about Carter’sredeeming qualities, he was kidding himself.
“Anyway,” he said as Carter seemed to slowly come back to himself. “What about you, Lola?”
Clearing my throat, I thought about all the things I felt comfortable enough to share, stopping on something that I already mentioned briefly during our date.
“I already told you how I killed my father, and that it was one of the reasons that led me to sell my soul.”
Arc nodded, as Carter’s head tilted toward me in interest.Great.
“My family was a bit strange. I mean, the way we lived was not uncommon back then, but still. I had a twin brother, who was my only full blooded sibling. Our father had…many wives. Our mother was his Maiden, the wife above the others as she carried his heir. She was only supposed to have one pregnancy, but she wasunlucky enough—depends who you asked—to have carried twins.
“It didn’t matter how many kids my father had with his other wives, my brother and I were the only ones considered to become the clan’s leaders.”
Carter’s eyes sparked as his face scrunched up in thoughts.
“Unsurprisingly, he chose Aghen to take over after him, and I think for a while, our father didn’t really know what to do with me. But Aghen didn’t want to succeed him, and, after I learned I was supposed to be married off as another Clan Leader’s Maiden, things started to fall downhill.
“As my arranged future husband was on his way to our clan for a formal introduction, I met Dimitri. It was a chance encounter, really, but we spent time together in secret for the whole year, while my future husband was back in his faraway land. When I confided in Aghen a couple of days before I was supposed to leave, he freaked out.
“He tried to push me to escape and finally take Dimitri to bed, as I would have been worthless as a Maiden if I was no longer a virgin, but I knew I would be hunted down. After a few days, Aghen managed to convince me to talk to our parents, to try and make them side withus, and namemeheir to fix both of our problems. I would have been rid of my supposed future husband, and my brother free to do whatever he wanted to do. But they didn’t.”
Both Arc and Carter listened to me without a word, drinking in everything I said. I forced myself to swallow through my clogged throat as I continued.
“My father launched at Dimitri, and I jumped in the way. I don’t remember exactly how Dimitri’s blade ended up in my father’s heart,myhand on the handle. But I do remember the look on his face as Aghen yelled at me and Dimitri to run away.”
I gulped, purposefully omitting a few details. Their faces were unreadable, a mixture of many emotions and thoughts that I couldn’t pick up from one another.
“I sold my soul so the demon would bring my father back, and make them all forget about what happened and about me. Because I killed him out of selfishness, and I wanted to be selfish again, and live with my mate, not with some asshole who would have probably abused me for years.”
Little did I know that my father and mother might have forgotten about me, but my brother hadn’t. Neither did Amyntas. I often wondered what happened to Aghen after all that…If what he stole from our father and gave to me as he ordered me to run had allowed him to live the free life he so desired.
“I regret selling my soul, but not saving my father. Not following Dimitri,” I said. “I only wished I had thought of better options.”
Arc gave a slow nod. The wheels in Carter’s eyes turned as he nibbled on his bottom lip.
“Anyway, that’s pretty much the whole story.”Or at least, the one I was willing to share.“I’m—”
“Did you ever go back?” Arc asked. “To your clan, I mean. To see if your father was indeed alive and if your brother was still around.”
My clammy hands were rubbing small circles over the fabric of my dress.
