Caustic Charms: A Paranormal Reverse Harem Romance (Curses, Charms, and Incantations Book 2) by Jen Ponce

Author:Jen Ponce [Ponce, Jen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

BAPHOMET

My task was to accompany Xezbeth to her father’s shop to be transformed into a mortal. She’d had plenty of time to rest, I hoped, as she had one of those clever little time pockets her father was so enamored of. When I got to her home, she was eating with a single-minded intensity I admired. She didn’t apologize or slow down when she saw me, either, and I waited, watching her as she stuffed herself.

When she was finally done, when the last morsel disappeared between her lips, she stretched. “They never let us eat properly. Ever. They thought we could exist on power, I suppose. And we can but … there’s nothing like real food to satisfy a hungry belly.”

I hadn’t had quite the same experience. I’d gotten to eat more often than not. The magi family that had held me captive had been an unimaginative bunch. They’d treated me like a pet. No, I hadn’t liked it, but I would’ve liked starving less. Or being beaten.

“What things do you think, Baph?”

“That I am sorry for you and what you went through.”

Xezbeth rose, her chair squealing on the floor as she pushed it back with her knees. “I am sorry for all those still trapped and I will do whatever I must to free them all.”

“Up to and including sacrificing yourself to the cause?”

“If need be. What use is freedom for me if others are not so lucky?”

Such a different attitude than her father’s. “I’ve come to take you to Stolas.”

Xezbeth nodded. “Best to get things over with.” She didn’t make any move to go, however, and I sat patiently. “Do you think me a coward?”

“What?”

“For offering to become mortal?”

“I can’t imagine a worse fate than being vulnerable to death,” I said.

Xezbeth looked at me solemnly. “Can you not?” She didn’t let me answer, just wandered to a window that looked out over a lake of fire. “If I’m mortal, they can kill me, true. They can end my life, a life I thought would continue on into the far reaches of time but Baph, if I’m mortal, no matter what torment they visit upon me, I will know it has an end.”

My stomach did a little sick flipflop as I considered that. How bad had it been for Xezbeth? What had they done to her to make her think death was hope?

“I feel like as much of a coward as Stolas but I can’t make myself say no to this. I want it. I want to be safe, absolutely safe.” She finally looked over her shoulder, her battered, scarred face a testament to the torment she’d suffered for years. Centuries even. “Do you understand?”

I thought I did.

We went together to the shop where Stolas had hidden for so long and I wondered if I could really fault him for it, seeing Xezbeth and the memory of her time enslaved. Abaddon, I supposed, would never forgive Stolas, but I thought I understood his choices a little better.

Though had he fought for them, for us, he might have saved his daughter.

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