Embrace the Desire Read Free Page A

isn’t a woman alive that holds a flame next to Bastilla.”
    “That concubine from his past? He still holds that wench in such high regard?”
    Varick shrugged. “To each his own. But I’m telling you right now, Payne won’t take any female through the Burning. Just isn’t going to happen.”
    “Granted, Payne wouldn’t have been my first choice, but he’s the only one strong enough to do this. Your job is to make sure he does his duty and that she lives.” Gyth walked around the bar and poured himself a shot of vodka. “Chanta’s destiny and her life is of great importance in the Heavens.
They
will try to take her down as she enters the Burning and her presence is revealed.”
    “Then hide her presence.” Varick paused. “You can’t, can you? And who are ‘they’?”
    “The Angels, an ever-loving thorn in my backside.” Gyth shook his head. “I have very little control over her life. I cannot hide her, I cannot force her against her will, and I cannot interfere with the Burning.”
    Suspicious, Varick stared hard at Gyth. “Why?”
    For a moment, Gyth wasn’t sure he wanted to answer that question. “Because she is an enigma, part angel, part goddess. I cannot interfere with angel affairs, no matter how great or small. Angels are literally another pantheon of their own, one that I do not and cannot control. I can at best only make bargains with them. Its part of the gods-be-damned laws.”
    There was a lot more at stake than just Payne’s destiny. Not that he cared about what happened to Payne, but Chanta’s future was another matter. She had to survive, especially now that her original destiny had been unwritten.
    The Angels were always and forever after the throne, especially Chanta’s mother. She was the biggest thorn in Gyth’s backside and unfortunately, it was of his own doing.
    If Chanta didn’t survive the Burning, there would be consequences in the Heavens. And Gyth wasn’t about to lose the throne. He had forfeited too much and fought too damn hard to simply let Chanta’s mother take it.
    Gyth swallowed the shot. The bitter, sweet burn lingered in the back of his throat. “I had a deal with the Angels and that bargain cannot be broken. I agreed to let Chanta live as normally as possible on earth—to live as a human, until she turned twenty one.”
    “Does Chanta know she’s part angel?”
    Gyth slowly shook his head. “She understands that she is descended from the gods but she has no idea that her mother is an angel.”
    “That doesn’t explain why you can’t protect her now or hide her here on earth.”
    “Chanta Timbers isn’t just part Angel.” He watched Varick uneasily as he made his way around to the front of the bar. “She’s your sister.”
    Varick slammed his fists on the bar. “Then why in the nine hells is she on earth?”
    “Angels aren’t gods.” Gyth grimaced as Varick grabbed the bottle of vodka from the bar and tipped it to his lips. “When angels are born, they are sent to earth to reside here and learn human nature. And as you know, only full-blooded gods and full-blooded angels can reside in the Heavens.”
    “There’s more to this, isn’t there?”
    Gyth nodded and stared into his son’s eyes. “Gods make mistakes and meddle in things that they shouldn’t regardless of the consequences.”
    “What mistake did you make?”
    “Chanta was my mistake. I wanted a daughter at any cost. Her mother offered me a bargain and I took it. The bottom line is if she dies, I will lose the throne and the Heavens will fall to the Angels. If I lose the throne there will be nothing to stop Damon from rising from the Underworld and unleashing hell on Earth.”
    Varick tipped the bottle to his lips, swallowed, and leaned against the bar. “Does Damon know about her?”
    Gyth sat down on a barstool, his legs suddenly feeling like Jell-O. “Damon does have an interest in her. He could have killed her, but at the time he didn’t know she was my daughter. Now