18. Cadmus

I groaned when Remir threw me to the ground in the small, dismal cell. "Was it necessary to use so much force?" You idiot, I added silently. I didn't say much more, feeling around my cracked jaw.

Through swollen eyes, I saw Remir frown. "For someone who battled nearly my entire family just a few months ago, you didn't put up much of a fight tonight. Disappointing in a Storm Lord."

I had enough spirit left to prod his temper. "Not really," I rasped. "I just thought it would be more sporting if the next time I tangled with you lekharns that I'm half-dead. That way you'd have better odds of actually winning. We both know one-on-one, you'd never win."

Remir stared at me, then chuckled and shook his head. "You really are an asshole. Funny, but an asshole. Jonas was right."

"About what?" Jonas asked, appearing out of nowhere. He glanced at me and swore. "Shit, Remir. What the hell did you do to him?"

Remir shook my head. "Hey, don't look at me. If he'd learn to shut up once in a while, he wouldn't look so ugly. The insults to Ankard's sister didn't help. She did most of that to him."

"Hell, that really was a woman?" I gasped.

"You see?" Remir muttered under his breath and left at Jonas' command.

"You're such a prince." Jonas helped me sit up and walked me to a nearby bed, where I sat and nearly passed out.

I bit back a curse as the excruciating pain in my side increased.

"Yeah, looks like Diane broke a few of your ribs. Didn't the long hair and breasts clue you in?"

"Breasts? I thought that was battle armor." I groaned. "I'll have to make amends later. But honestly, I thought all you Djinn were pretty."

"Pretty? Thanks a lot. But Diane isn't all Djinn. Her mother was —"

"Don't tell me, an ogre."

"You know your Shadren. So tell me why you took such a beating when we both know you could have prevented it."

I closed my eyes. I didn't like apologizing, especially to a smart-ass like Jonas. But I knew I owed it to the man who'd saved my life on more than one occasion.

"I'm sorry about what happened earlier."

"I'm sorry, what?" Jonas leaned closer, and I gritted my teeth. The stupid Djinn could hear like a bat. He'd heard me just fine.

"I said I'm sorry about almost blazing the Dark out of you," I growled.

"How gracious. So I take it you now have full control over your Dark abilities?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You just apologized for trying to kill me. I'm to assume then that your attack was intentional."

"What? Of course it wasn't. I have no idea how I keep bursting in truth. I'm a Light Bringer, Jonas, with the emphasis on ‘Light.' It's awkward, and not a little disconcerting, to keep bursting into Dark flame."

"This has happened before?"

"A few months back when we were battling Sin Garu. Then again at Ellie's place."

"At Ellie's? Why? What happened there prior to you phasing in truth?"

I flushed, hoping the lighting in this dingy place was poor enough to conceal my embarrassment. "At the time, I might have been thinking about you and her, about how you keep calling yourself her cousin, but I know damned well you aren't. You're way too proprietary around her." I added under my breath, "To the detriment of your own health."

Jonas frowned and then started laughing. Really, really hard. "Cadmus, you're something else. You're lying here like death warmed over and you have the gall to threaten me, a full-blooded Djinn, over a woman you think I want as my own? Incredible." He chuckled. "Ellie really is my cousin. Several generations removed, but Ethim and I share the same grandfather. But as to your bursting in truth…

"You and Ellie share a connection all too rare in life. I've tried to deny it. Hell, I've tried to talk to her about it, but that young woman is as stubborn as her father. She won't discuss you and in fact wants to see you right now. You're both in love, you stupid Light Bringer. Only a tie that strong could pull Ellie's power into you, stimulating your own inert Darkness while allowing her to withstand your Light. I hate myself for asking this, but have you two, ah, been intimate?"

I grinned.

"Son of a bitch," Jonas muttered. "I knew it." He sighed. "Djinn sexuality is a tie that binds, Cadmus. Obviously, you love her, or you would never be displaying such Darkness, much of which, I'm delighted to say, is your own. Dark energy works by like tapping like, increasing and feeding on itself. The sexual connection Djinn share increases their power and binds their partners with emotional ties that are normally darker in nature. Sex is a Dark force, one you Light Bringers will never be able to fully tap since you refuse to search for the balance within yourselves. To a Djinn, no pleasure is too forbidden so long as both parties desire it."

I couldn't help remembering how I'd last taken Ellie and knew I'd just scratched the surface of our pleasures together.

"That look on your face. Stop it. Whatever's going through that head of yours, stop it right now. That girl is like my own sister."

A hoarse laugh shook me. "I thought you said the Djinn respect sex."

"We do. But visions of your sorry ass are making me ill." Jonas huffed in disgust, rousing more pained laughter from me. "On another note, Ellie's had a bad time of —"

"What happened?" I tried to shoot to my feet but had to grip Jonas to keep from falling on my face. "Is she okay?"

"Easy there. She's fine, physically. But she had a confrontation with her parents that shook her." He briefly relayed what had been said, squeezing my shoulder when I tried to stand again. "She wants to see you."

"Not like this. Can you call Lexa in here and have her heal me?"

Jonas blinked. "How do you know what she can do?"

"After nearly killing me earlier, she healed me."

"Have you noticed that everyone, within five minutes of meeting you, wants to kill you?"

"Only you Djinn and a few Dark Lords. And maybe a Storm Lord or two on a bad day."

Jonas shook his head. "Wait here." He vanished.

Like I'm going to go where? And he calls me stupid.

Jonas returned moments later with a pleased Lexa in tow. The woman was positively beaming, and I couldn't help flinching back when she neared. She could heal, but I recalled her painful touch all too clearly.

"Relax, Cadmus. I want you to console your affai. And you can't do that if you look like this."

"Affai?" Jonas looked shocked.

"Well, what the hell else do you think Ellie is?" I uttered in a voice thick with pain. "You're the one who told me how much I must love her. What do you think an affai is but the embodiment of a Storm Lord's true passion?"

Lexa shot Jonas an amused look, and he sighed. "I hadn't thought that far ahead."

She placed her hand on my jaw, then on my chest. I immediately tensed as my bones and muscles knit, but the pain didn't bother me anymore.

I sighed with relief. "That's amazing." I couldn't help thinking what a mistake Arim must have made so many years ago. Lexa had so many facets. Sure, she was Dark and no doubt lethal, but there'd been an odd shine of Light that speared her when'd I looked into her past.

The visions I'd seen earlier were brutal and confusing but contained a foreign taint I'd yet to encounter. I knew for a fact Lexa hadn't committed the terrible murders I'd seen. And I had a feeling Lexa and Arim's major falling-out stemmed from those killings.

"Thank you." She withdrew her touch. "You're the first Light Bringer to ever believe in my innocence."

I stared in surprise before belatedly raising my mental shields.

"Now, go to your affai and gift her your love. She'll need you now more than ever. Soon, Cadmus, the time will come when tests and trust meet truth. Cement your bond with Elliara before evil has a chance to rip it asunder."

She stepped back, studying Jonas and me with eerie intensity. "We don't have a lot of time. Sin Garu and the Netharat are coming. And there's nothing I can do to stop it this time. Not by myself."