Page 81 of Destined for Eternity
Bartol ran a hand through his golden-brown hair. “Two nerou, a few angels, and one nephilim.”
She took a moment to mourn the loss of the nerou, closing her eyes and holding her daughter close since she was one as well. Cori might have never met any of the students in Russia, but she still cared about their fate. It was too bad about the angels as well…but wait, did he say a nephilim died? “Which nephilim?”
“Zoe.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’re joking. I thought only archangels could kill nephilim.”
“A demon prince joined the battle this time.” Bartol took a seat and started pulling his boots off. “They’re strong enough to take us down.”
He could have died, and she would have never seen him again.
Cori’s chest tightened at the thought. “Did someone kill it?”
Bartol carefully set his boots aside. “I did.”
“Why would you be the one to fight it? Why not your father?”
“There was no time to do anything else. I was the closest one to intercept it before it could try to kill everyone else.” He slicked his hair back out of his eyes, revealing more lines of exhaustion on his forehead. “But I did have help from Zoe and Tormod. Without their help, I wouldn’t have been successful.”
Cori tried her best to rein in her terror at the idea of nearly losing her mate. “Zoe of all people helped you? And died for it?”
“She wanted to redeem herself in her daughter’s eyes.” Bartol took a deep breath. “I think it broke her in some way that she couldn’t be at Rebecca’s graduation. She didn’t want to die, I’m sure, but she was willing to do it if it meant her final act would count for something.” He went on to explain about a vision a nerou in Russia had, and that it was the only way she could protect her daughter and the other students.
“I almost want to be sad for her—almost.” Cori could understand how a child might change even the worst people. She’d never think of Zoe with fondness, but she could respect the woman for doing something good at the end.
“There’s more I must tell you,” Bartol said, voice reluctant.
She stiffened. “What?”
“Tormod didn’t know it, but he was being used by the demons as a spy.” He went on to explain how they found out, and how the situation was resolved.
“How is he now?”
“He woke up about an hour before we returned here.” Bartol stood and took the baby from her, heading for the changing table in their room. A nephilim could smell a dirty diaper even easier than a human. “I believe extracting the essence helped. He’s still not quite the same as before, but it appears a weight has been lifted from him.”
“That’s good to hear.” She’d worried the demon nerou would never get better.
Bartol pulled the dirty diaper off of Sybil, wrinkling his nose, and began to wipe her clean. “He’s horrified that he didn’t realize he was being used by the demons, and I think that’s going to bother him for a while, but we’ve reassured him it’s not his fault. None of us noticed it. With time, he should get past it.”
“It helps he has such a good support network.”
“True.” Bartol finished putting on a clean diaper and took Sybil to cradle her against his chest. A peaceful look came over his eyes, the tiny baby banishing all the darkness inside him.
Cori wanted to cry every time she saw her mate and child together. All the fears she’d had during pregnancy had passed, and she recognized how lucky she was that things had worked out in the end. For a few minutes, she sat quietly and watched as Bartol rocked their daughter to sleep. Once finished, he gently placed Sybil in the bassinet he’d made her. She still couldn’t believe he’d come up with such an amazing gift for their baby. If he’d bought her a rattle, Cori would have been happy. This was so much better.
“There is one more thing I need to tell you,” he said, speaking in a soft tone.
She joined him at the bassinet. “What?”
“I got our daughter’s time reduced to fifty years that she must serve the archangels.”
Cori’s eyes widened. It was all she could do to speak in a soft tone. “What? How?”
He went on to explain about acting as guard for the angel-demon summit. He gave her a hesitant look. “Did I do the right thing?”
“Yes.” She nodded, more thankful than she could ever explain to him. He was turning out to be the father she’d hoped. “Sybil will be fine here. I’ll protect her, and we’ll have plenty of others to help. There’s no way you could pass up that kind of a deal. I would have done the same.”
Relief filled his eyes. “I’m glad to hear that.”
