Free Illusion: Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page B

that had ended both the Malachai and Sephirii bloodlines, the Arelim had risen to be the Guardians of Order and Truth. They were charged with ensuring that the human world didn’t end.
    That the Malachai remained forever dormant.
    Karma shook her head. “You can’t be an Arel and a ghost. They’re born immortal.”
    “As was I. But even immortals can die under the wrong circumstances. And you’re right. I wasn’t born an Arel. Because of the blood of my parents, I was chosen to be one. I’m a nekoda, and all of my kind are selected from those who’ve died.”
    Finally, the light of recognition that they were on the same team sparked in Karma’s eyes. “You’re a soldier.”
    Kody hesitated at the label that didn’t quite fit. “More of a guardian. I fight when I have to, but that’s not my primary role.”
    Karma cocked her head as she continued to study Kody and read her aura. “I’m still confused. You said Nick killed you, and yet you’re here to protect him? Why?”
    That was definitely the question. And it was one Kody asked herself constantly. At times, she wasn’t sure, either. But whenever she looked into those vibrant blue eyes that showed her Nick’s soul, she had clarity.
    If only it would last.
    Sighing, Kody walked around the small foyer that held traces of Karma’s past and showed the very things the sorceress valued most. Her family. The walls were lined with pictures of Karma and her sisters and aunts and mother. Many were with their father, who smiled proudly in the midst of his nine daughters.
    Tears choked her as Kody remembered her own father looking at her like that, of him holding on to her, afraid of letting her go and more terrified of keeping her with him because of the things that had been sent to kill them. Like Nick, her father had possessed a kind and, oddly enough given the viciousness of his past, innocent soul. Even in spite of the fact that her father had been one of the fiercest ancient soldiers. A general of legend who had fought back the ancient gods until they’d been forced to resort to trickery to defeat him. Maybe that was why she was so drawn to Nick. He reminded her a lot of her father and brothers. A lot of her uncle. That indefatigable spirit that refused to buckle under any fight or obstacle.
    Over, under, around, or through, there’s always a way . You don’t give up and you never give in. They can scar your body and take your freedom, but only you can surrender your heart and soul. Nothing is worth compromising yourself for. Stand fast and stand true. Always. That had been her father’s motto that had seen him through centuries of horror, torture, and suffering.
    It was the motto Nekoda clung to even in her darkest hours.
    She faced Karma. “Life is never simple. It’s messy, complicated, and at times debilitating. When I fought Nick as a living demigod, I alone drove him back. I had the Malachai and his army on the run.”
    “Then how did he kill you?”
    “I had been wounded in a previous battle and my brother refused to let me fight alone. While he was a fierce and skilled warrior in his own right, he didn’t have the powers I did. And when he died protecting me, I lost all reason. Even though I knew better, I let my anger grab hold of me and I attacked in a blind rage. The Malachai didn’t defeat me so much as I defeated myself.”
    “Is that why you were chosen to be a nekoda?”
    Kody nodded. “I’m the only one left who can defeat a Malachai. The Nasaru—”
    “The what?”
    “The elite Arelim. They are the ones born to their positions and they’re the ones who select the nekodi from the fallen. They knew that I alone possess the powers to take down a Malachai, and so here I am.”
    That suspicious light returned to Karma’s eyes. “I know there’s more to this than you’re telling me. But I still don’t understand why you’re helping the boy who killed you.”
    Kody wrapped her arms around herself as her memories of the Ambrose