Sin & Surrender (Demigod of San Francisco #6)(15)

This grievance would’ve been deemed bad enough. Daisy was embarrassing Kieran in front of his peers. She was hurting his chances of success. She was making him a laughingstock.

Kieran clenched his jaw and his fists, freezing. He dared not move a muscle. He was not like his father. Whatever this cost him in status, he would not lash out. He was better than that, stronger, securer. He could bounce back. He had allowed Daisy to come, and so he was ultimately at fault for her actions.

Lexi pulled her ward back a step, but then she hesitated. Into Dara’s continued stare, she said, “Look, we’re forever grateful to you, you know that. I think I gushed enough for a lifetime when you were in magical San Francisco. You saved our lives. Mordecai is right—this is a bad time—but just in case you and Kieran don’t see eye to eye down the road…” Lexi brushed her hair away from her face, the wind no one else felt still blowing her clothes, reminding everyone what she was. “I stand by what I said way back then. If you need backup, call me. I owe you that and more. I might be rolling by myself, because no way would I let the kids endanger themselves again, but I’ll do what I can.”

Lexi nodded, seemed to notice her dress swirling around her legs, and suddenly the spirit wind stopped. She nodded again, and then marshaled Daisy and Mordecai back into place. She put her finger in Daisy’s face. “Do something like that again, and you will rue the day, do you hear me? Rue the day. And you!”

She moved her finger in front of Mordecai, who now topped her height and breadth by quite a lot. It mattered not at all. Mordecai’s back bent and his head lowered.

“What did I do? I was helping,” he whined.

“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Her eyebrows settled low. “I will give you a thump you won’t soon forget, do you understand me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mordecai said glumly. Daisy stared in defiance.

Kieran could hardly control his anger when Lexi resumed her place by his side. He hardly knew where to look, or how quickly to start walking. His focus had been shattered, his hold on the situation lost. In any other place, he’d just call it a night and go home, but he couldn’t do that here.

Reaching for the one thing that had always balanced him, he took Lexi’s hand and slowly let out a breath.

“Demigod Kieran, might I have a word?”

It took him a moment to realize it was Dara who’d spoken to him.

She hadn’t moved, blocking the path just as he was. Her eyes had warmed, and her body language had defrosted.

She gestured to the side, indicating they might find a couple of benches and have a chat.

He couldn’t do much more than stare at her in confusion.

“She means you, dummy,” Daisy said through clenched teeth.

He wasn’t sure if he was awake. Had he slipped into some sort of strange dream turned nightmare?

Lexi stepped forward and all but dragged him along. He allowed her to lead him, their group stopping to wait for Dara’s group to go first, giving way to those of higher status. Even Daisy and Mordecai hung back, a show that they weren’t nearly as ignorant to the nature of this walk as they appeared to be.

“Just go with it,” Lexi murmured, warmth flowing through the soul link. “Just go with the crazy. It’ll work out. It always works out.”

“Can we speak plainly?” Dara said once they were off the path and seated on a wide bench, in clear view of those passing by.

“Yes, of course.” Kieran still struggled to regain focus. He was grateful Alexis sat beside him, grounding him.

“How you allowed Alexis to handle her ward just then reminded me why I stayed to help you keep magical San Francisco in order after Valens…” She let her voice trail away out of respect, he knew. Valens had been a tyrant, but he’d also been family. “It reminded me of why I didn’t oppose you taking his territory. Hell, why we came to help in the first place. There is no way in Hades’s underpants that Valens would’ve calmly stood by while one of his people stepped out of line. He would’ve painted the footpath red with them—I can think of a few examples.”

“I know,” he said, clenching his jaw.

“What I’m saying is, when you’re with Alexis and her kids, I see a side of you that I feel I can trust. A side of you completely unlike the composed man who approached me on this path. Which man are you? I’ve paid attention to your activities after I left magical San Francisco, and I can’t say I like what I’ve seen. You conquered the giant’s mountain, you infiltrated a Chester town and stole a rare talent… Sure, you managed to actually acquire those talents, which speaks to your ability, but the act of trying, when neither of them wanted to be bothered, is an issue. I will not support someone like your father. I’m sure you can understand that.”

Kieran clasped his hands together, hardly daring to breathe. This was a time for blunt honesty if ever there was one.

“We didn’t conquer anything—Jerry could’ve killed us many times over. He didn’t because Alexis was able to act as a middleman between him and his deceased fiancée. I wish I could say I convinced him to join us, but he came because of Alexis. Neither did we steal anything. Dylan, the Lightning Bolt, came to us after our battle with Demigod Flora. We’d left without him. You can check with the townspeople on that, since I doubt you’d believe Dylan.”