Luca’s gaze slowly crawled back, following the streaks of blood on the tile. “Don’t bullshit me. You’re bleeding. Why are you bleeding?” He grabbed a washcloth off the vanity outside the bathroom and dropped to his knees.
“I’m fine.”
“Where’s the knife?”
“There’s no knife.”
“You sliced open your leg.”
“There’s no knife, I promise.”
Luca wiped the cloth over Nox’s thigh. The fluid clung to his skin with the thickness of syrup and not blood. He wanted to stop Luca, but he’d have to take a hand off his shirt he used to cover himself. And once Nox touched Luca, he feared he wouldn’t stop. On an average day, he wasn’t sure that would be a good idea. Naked? Nox couldn’t risk it.
“There’s no cut.” Luca opened up the fabric. The dark red glowed against the white. “Where did all this blood come from?” Luca brushed his thumb over the place there should have been wounds. “Please tell me what’s going on.” Fear. Doubt. Realization. It all played across Luca’s face.
Nox dropped his chin to his chest. Fragmented memories continued to reform. Terrible truths he didn’t want to tell Luca. Sweat rolled down his nose and dripped onto his stomach. But it was better for Luca to know now than when it was too late.
“I’m unstable.”
“Which means what?” Luca swallowed so hard his throat clicked.
“The people who brought me back and made those monsters made me one of those monsters. I’m Anubis, just like the ones who were after you.”
Luca shook his head.
“And without Koda, I don’t know how long I can control it.” The thing inside him. The creature boiling under his skin.
“What you’re talking about can’t be real.” Luca said it like a plea. Like he begged Nox to tell him it was all one big lie.
“It’s real.”
“No.”
“Then how did I cut myself and where did the cuts go?”
Luca’s gaze scanned the floor, then returned to Nox’s leg and finally the cloth in his hand.
“There wasn’t a blade. I did it with my hands, and it’s already healed.”
“How?”
“The ichor, the Anubis, the same thing that brought me back from the dead.”
“The dead don’t come back. People can’t create monsters. Things like that don’t happen.” Another plea.
The agony flowing from Luca made Nox want to take it all back. “Then you tell me what you think is going on? Your brother died, and yet I’ve been with him for the past several years.”
Luca trembled. And god, Nox wanted to hold him.
“You saw the Anubis. You know they weren’t of this world. You could feel it. They’re a perversion of reality. They don’t belong here.” Nox closed his eyes for a moment. “I don’t belong here.” Why had Koda picked him? He could have chosen anyone on the team to protect his brother.
“Don’t say that.” Tears filled Luca’s eyes. “Please, don’t say that.” The only reason Nox didn’t argue was because of the broken expression Luca wore. This was a man who’d lived on the edge of death most of his life and saw dying as an oncoming train with no way to stop it. Of course he wouldn’t want Nox to talk about not being here. But if Luca truly understood what Nox meant, he was sure he wouldn’t think that way about Nox.
Luca lowered himself all the way to the floor and crossed his legs. “Will you tell me what you remembered?”
“You won’t believe me.”
But Luca would. Nox saw it in his eyes.