A quick flash of lightning flickers fromabove.
My mother’s affect flattens as if she didn’t see this coming, but I don’t buy that for a hot and holy minute. “Hold hands. Outline theterms.”
Chloe huffs in disbelief, “Just likethat?”
“Don’t doubt me, daughter.” My mother is quick to cut her down with the lash of her tongue, but it’s the term of endearment she chose to give her that unnervesme.
I take up Chloe’s hands, and my mother shakes her head at thesight.
“Not like that.” She manually crosses both our hands until we’re conjoined in a fleshly figure eight. “Like this. Now outline the terms.” She looks to me, hard and stern. “Carefully, mindyou.”
“Carefully.” I give Chloe’s hands a quick squeeze, fully aware she can read my every thought at this point. “Chloe Jessica Bishop, I, Skyla Laurel Oliver, enter into a holy covenant with you, on this day, in this hour, effective this very moment. These terms that I outline with you are permanent andbinding.”
Chloe gives a solemn nod, and suddenly it feels as if we’re exchanging wedding vows, and sadly, this is tantamount to exactlythat.
“You, Chloe, will be my right hand. You will do my bidding. What I decree will be so. I will take into account all of your thoughts, your wants, your dreams as far as Celestra and the Nephilim people are concerned. We are in unity for the advancement of our people. To serve, to protect, to guide with love is our chief resolution. There is nothing we will not consider when it comes to the well-being of our people. We are Celestra. You and I are as close to pure as there has ever been. We will act in one mind from this moment on to shield our race from those that wish to destroy it. There will be no day like today ever again when powers unite in the name of all that is holy and true. We will move swiftly and without regret to extinguish the actions and on occasion the very beings that stand in our way. Our people are in peril, and we will create a shield over them under the banner of ourlove.”
“Amen.” Chloe gives my mother a cheekygrin.
“And”— I tip my nose in the air, my eyes still locked over Chloe’s shallow pools of murky darkness—“you will not harm my family. You will not plot to harm nor carry out actions to harm my sons, Barron or Nathan, and you will not harm my husband, Gage Oliver. You will not harm Logan, Marshall, my earthly mother, her husband, my sisters, or anyone we hold near and dear—and that goes for pets as well. You shall not harm a hair on my head.” I bear into her with something just this side of hatred. “It will not even enter your mind. You will not harm the Celestra people or the Nephilim nor go against any of my ordinances. And if you do, the repercussions are uniquely mine alone, and whatever punishment I decree will be binding on earth as it is inheaven.”
Chloe averts her eyes to my mother before sneering my way. “That’s our Skyla, always sucking all the fun out of everything.” She gives my hand a violent tug. “Yes, my God, yes, Skyla. That’s why I’m here. I will be your subordinate, your subservient. I will be the sickly worm that crawled under a rock, and you will be the sun, warming me, welcoming me back to life. And, yes, I understand fully that your interest in me is our unified love for our people—Celestra first, then the Nephilim in turn. I am against everything Wesley Bastard Edinger stands for. May his destruction, his grotesque misuse of his powers fall squarely over his rotten head. I am not interested in moving forward the agenda of my husband, but of my sister’s—that would be you, Skyla.” That mean shiver returns once again, shaking my vertebrae like fingers scaling the keys on a piano. “We will work together to restore all that Celestra has lost, to secure the lot of our people so they no longer live in fear of the Counts or the Barricade, or any nefarious dealings the Fems might have instore. They have sided with the Counts, but Celestra has sided with the Sectors. Though the intimate details of their battles are not ours to have, we understand our people’s rise to power coincides with theirs, and therefore, we are inseparable and will bolster the Sectors’ needs along with our own. It is under the Master’s love and His banner that we stand, and both you and I, Skyla, understand that He gifts us the knowledge, the wisdom, the power to stand in the presence of our enemies. We will be swift with retribution to whomever stands in our way, and I will not dream of harming a hair on the head of those you love.” Her left eye comes shy of winking as if those words pained her on some level. “And if I do—you, Skyla Laurel Messenger—Oliver—may instate the punishment you see fit. From this moment on, I am your right hand—just a little lower than your equal. All of my thoughts, my ways, my every move will be yours to monitor. I am a living sacrifice, yours to utilize as you please.” Her fingers press into mine, hard, bone over bone. “Skyla—” She steps in, her breathing erratic. There’s a pleading, a fear in her eyes that I have seen only once before, and that was the day my mother doled out her fate and sent her to the Transfer. “I need you to promise you won’t harm me—that this isn’t some setup to send me to a worse fate than the one that I’m escaping. I need to know that you mean what you say and that your word is binding and true. In order for us to be successful, I need to be assured that we are truly on the same team.” She tips her chin up, those ebony eyes falling hard over mine. “Woe to the hour you turn on me, Skyla. There will be a darkness in your life like never before or after it. I will be swift with my punishment, for my spirit is a wildfire—this slash-and-burn heart of mine is primal, and though intrusive to many, it is one I cannot control. My rage is the brightest kind of flame. It cannot be tempered. Even I cannot douse the fire. My anger, my hatred has always stemmed from hurt, from pain, from being denied what was rightfully mine. I have always believed you took my place, and yet I am yielding all of my primal tendencies to act against you so that I may standwithyou, shoulder to shoulder. Together we can, and, we will, rule the world. Assure me of my safety before weproceed.”
I swallow hard. “Fine. Mother, search my heart and hers, and assure us both we are true and right with ourintentions.”
My mother steps forward and places a warm hand over my forehead and the other on Chloe’s as if reading a fever. Her hair lights up, each follicle its own filament of lavender, blue, pink, and the palest shade of yellow. My mother is a vision with her fiber optic appeal, and my body buzzes with delight with those feel-good vibratronics that pour out ofher.
She pulls her hands back and straightens. “It is as the two of you suggest. Any furtherstipulations?”
“Yes.” I offer a peaceable smile to the girl who was once a sworn enemy, the killer of my father, my husband. “You can live on Paragon as we agreed. But I have the full power to send you back to the Transfer, or worse. From this moment on, your morphing abilities will be disabled. Take a moment to mold yourself in the exact likeness you will live out your days.” A thought comes to me. “And, also, on your behalf, I will have full access toTobie.”
Chloe flinches. “You want the brat? Wesley won’t haveit.”
“That’s why I want you to fight for your rights with the girl. When it’s your time with her, she will be with me. I will be the mother to her that you refuse tobe.”
“Good grief.” She grunts as if the idea made her physicallyill.
“I will love October Edinger as if she were my own.” Because I have to. The only thing more dangerous than your enemy is your enemy’schild.
Chloe belts out a bubbling laugh. “Yes, Messenger. Have at her. She can swing off your tits all day while she suckles away. I don’t give a flying rip. Hell, you can let Wes swing off the other nipple. I couldn’t care less about the wanderingidiot.”
“Perfect.” I give a little curtsey. “And just to be clear, my husband is off-limits to you. Gage Oliver is mine. He is the crown of life I wear on my head, our children the jewels of God pressed into the center. My family is sacred, an unapproachable throne that you may nevertouch.”
“We’ve covered this.” Her features harden as if her patience were wearing thin. “And I’ve alreadyagreed.”
“Wonderful. To our newfound partnership. Here’s to the preservation and prosperity of ourpeople.”
My mother offers up a dull applause. “Great. Now let’s move on with our day.” She turns as if to hop off the stone, and I pull her back by the silk sleeve of her winter whiterobe.
“Whoa, so that’s it? You’re not going to say a few words? No thunder—no ring oflightning?”
She rolls her eyes as she looks to Chloe. “That’s our Skyla, always a flair for the dramatic.” I’m not liking my mother and Chloe unified on anything, least of all not when it comes to bashing me soopenly.
Chloe gives a sly smile. “But then, we’ve always thought so, haven’twe?”
My radar sounds its internal alarm. Red fuckingalert.
“That’s right.” My mother chortles. “We have, haven’twe?”
