Free Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page B

freezing here."
    Tabitha reached out her hand and felt the arctic air that surrounded Valerius. It was colder than a freezer where he stood. "Why does he do this to you?"
    "He hates me."
    "Why?" She felt a wave of shame come over him. "What did you do to him?"
    He didn't answer. Instead, he breathed into his hands and headed down the street again.
    "Valerius," she said, stopping him even though she wasn't sure she didn't get frostbite to her hand for the effort. "Talk to me."
    "And say what, Tabitha?" he asked quietly. "I felt sorry for Zarek when we were children and every time I tried to help him, I only ended up hurting him more. He's right to hate me and everyone else in our family. I should have just left him alone and ignored him. It would have been better for all of us if I had."
    "It's not wrong to help someone."
    He gave her a dry stare. "My father always said, 'Nullus factum bonus incedo sinepoena'—No good deed goes unpunished. In Zarek's case, he made a point of proving it."
    She was dismayed at what he was telling her. "I thought my family was odd. You guys sound like you really were the dysfunctional crew."
    "You've no idea." He started back down the street.
    Tabitha followed, but to be honest, she felt really sorry for him. She couldn't imagine having one of her siblings hate her. It was true they didn't all get along all the time. With eight sisters and a wide assortment of fruits and nuts in the family, there was always someone who wasn't talking to someone over something, but in the end, family was family and anyone who threatened them quickly got a dose of Devereaux solidarity.
    Even if they weren't technically speaking to each other, they could always count on the family in a pinch. Even as kids. In high school, Tabitha had sworn she would never talk to her older sister Trina again because Trina had gone out with a guy she knew Tabitha had a crush on.
    When the jerk had broken Trina's heart by two-timing her with a cheerleader, Tabitha had let loose Aunt Cora's prized boa constrictor in the guy's car. He'd been so scared, he'd wet his jeans before Tabitha had pulled the snake out.
    It'd still taken two more days before she and her sister had reconciled. But they had reconciled. No one carried a grudge in their family for more than a few weeks. And no matter how angry they were, they would never, ever really hurt one another.
    Goodness, what kind of family did Valerius have that two thousand years later his brother was still hurling lightning bolts at him?
    By the time they reached her sister's shop, Val's eyebrows and lashes were frozen white. His skin had a terrible grayish tint to it.
    "Are you okay?"
    "It won't kill me," he said quietly. "Don't worry. He'll get bored in a few minutes and leave me alone for awhile."
    "How long?"
    "Usually a few months, sometimes longer. I never really know when he's going to strike. He likes to surprise me."
    Tabitha was aghast at what she was witnessing. "Does Ash know he does this to you?"
    "Zarek is a god now. What can Acheron do to stop it? Much like you with your brother-in-law, Zarek thinks it's fun to 'goof on me."
    "I'm never deliberately cruel to him. Well, maybe just the one time I sent him a box of Rogaine on his birthday, but that was just a gag gift until he opened the real one." She touched his ice-cold hands and realized he was shivering unmercifully.
    Her heart ached for him. She blew into her hands and rubbed them together before she placed them to his face, which was so cold that it instantly took the heat from her skin.
    He gave her a grateful look before he pulled back.
    Suddenly a cloud of sulphuric something engulfed them.
    Tabitha coughed at the rank smell before she held her nose and turned to see her sister Tia mumbling something she couldn't understand.
    "What are you doing?" she asked.
    "He got the evil funk of death on him. You weren't really going to bring him into my store like that, were you?"
    "Yeah." She snatched the small wooden bowl out