Kateri's heart ached in sympathy at the torment she saw in his obsidian eyes. In that one moment, his heart was bared to her. This wasn't a fierce immortal warrior standing by her side.
He was a man whose heart had been shattered.
She wanted to hold him and make it better, but she knew it wasn't that simple. Only in early childhood could everything be cured by a kiss and a hug. That was the saddest part about growing up. The biggest loss.
Some scars went too deep to ever be fully concealed. While you might succeed in hiding them from time to time, they always came out and reopened a wound that never fully healed.
And his were massive.
Ren moved his club to his other hand before he spoke again. "In a matter of minutes after reaching their shores, Apollymi destroyed the Keetoowah homeland and sank their island to the bottom of the ocean. But because of their superior skills and technology, many of them escaped to the mainland, where they sought shelter." He had a bitter catch in his voice.
"What happened?" she asked, knowing it had to be bad.
"Within a few weeks of setting up their new town, they were attacked by seventy tribes who blamed them for the destruction Apollymi had wrought. At least that was what they claimed. The truth was, they were jealous. They felt that the Keetoowah were more favored by the heavens, and since the Keetoowah were weakened by Apollymi's attack on them, the others saw it as a rare opportunity to go after them and kill them off before they had a chance to replenish their numbers."
That was beyond cowardly. But as her grandmother had so often said, envy was the root of the greatest evil in the world. Since the dawn of mankind, it had been used to fuel the worst acts of cruelty.
And while she'd heard a different version of the story, she wondered if one part had been true. "My grandmother told me that the Keetoowah won because of the Spirit Warriors who aided them in the fight."
A wry grin twisted his lips. "They weren't Spirit Warriors."
"What were they?"
Ren paused as they reached the end of town. He scanned the dark forest in front of them, wondering if it would be safer or more dangerous than to try and hide among the city dwellers.
The number of demons who lived here was staggering, both in the city and the outlying areas. But at least in the forest he'd feel more at home.
As a child, he'd spent hours upon hours hiding in the woods, pretending that he would never have to go home again.
But this wasn't the time to think about that.
Hefting the club, he used it to beat a trail through the thick foliage so that they could find shelter and give his body a chance to heal and his powers a chance to charge. "On the island that Apollymi had destroyed, the Keetoowah's main city was directly below the Pleiades constellation. Because of that, the seven goddesses who called it home were able to look down and watch them go about their daily lives."
He paused to glance back at her to ensure himself that she was safe and still following him. "One of the Pleiades, Sterope, fell in love with the chief's son.... She must have hit her head or something to give herself brain damage to love that bastard, but what the hell do I know?" he mumbled bitterly. Then louder, he continued, "For years, she watched over him, dreaming of a time when they might be together. And when the tribes attacked his people, she saw it as a prime chance to win his heart."
"I don't understand. Why didn't she help him with Apollymi?"
"She couldn't. The Greeks were the ones who'd pissed Apollymi off, and they were her prime target. Had Sterope reared her head during that fight, Apollymi would have taken it and stuck it on a pike. So Sterope didn't make her presence known to the chief's son until he was under fire from the seventy tribes. Unlike with Apollymi's attack, there were no gods rallying to stop the brutality. She knew if she didn't do something, they would all die."
Kateri was impressed with his depth of knowledge. He told the stories as if he'd witnessed them. "Were you there when all of this happened?"
He shook his head. "It was before I was born."
"How do you know so much about it, then?"
"I grew up with people who'd lived through it. When the elders would get together, they'd talk about it and warn the rest of us to be wary of those who might still want to do us harm because of it all."
Kateri took a second to digest everything he was telling her. And that made her curious over something. "How old are you?"
He laughed bitterly. "By the calendar you know ... over eleven thousand years."
She stumbled at that unexpected disclosure. Whoa ... that was old ... Even by her geology standard. "I have to say, you look great for an old geezer. What's your secret? You bathed in Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth as a kid?"
He gave her a droll stare. "Sold my soul."
Okay, between the red eyes and the fangs ...
What am I doing here?
"You're a demon, aren't you?"
"Not by blood."
A chill went down her spine. "What does that mean?"
"You don't have to be born demonic. There are plenty of people I've met who are worse than any demon ever born."
Those words calmed her a bit. He was right. She'd met a few of those herself.
He stopped and turned to face her. To her complete shock, he laid his hand against her cheek. "Don't be afraid of me, Kateri. While I lived at one time for no other purpose than to make the entire world tremble in my presence, I've long since put that battle to bed. I sold my soul, not for personal gain, but to make right a wrong I committed against the people I should have protected with every part of me."
"And did you make it right?"
He released a weary sigh. "It took a long while, but yes. I did. Eventually." He dropped his hand from her face. As he started away from her, she stopped him. He met her gaze with one arched brow.
There in the moonlight, with the play of shadows over his handsome face, he took her breath. Not because of the way he looked, but because of the vulnerability she saw in the heart of a man who seemed invincible.
"Why did you give me your moonstone?"
"To protect you on your journey." He said that like it was nothing, but she knew better.
She glanced down to his wounded shoulder. "You're the one who's fighting. Wouldn't you need it more than me?"
He shrugged. "Grandmother Moon never thought much of me. I was hoping she'd like you better."